HST 386 History of Islam to ca. AD 1200
Will examine the history of the third great Western monotheistic religion: Islam. The course will examine the political, military, social, economic, intellectual and religious aspects of Islam, particularly as they relate to Western civilization and the Jews and Christians up to ca. AD 1200. The course will provide the historical background to Islam in the modern world by examining its origin, growth and development, expansion into both the Mediterranean basin as well as its movement eastward into India, and its division into Sunni and Shi'ite branches (among others) and will include not only the military interactions between Christianity and Islam, but also the cultural and intellectual interactions.