HIS 256 — History of Modern Islam
A inquiry into the history of the Islam and the Middle East from the life of the Prophet Mohammed, through the cultural and political spread of Islamic peoples into Africa and Europe with the Caliphate, to the Islamic Renaissance of the Early Middle Ages, the Empires of the Ottomans, Safavids and Moguls and into the 20th century with the rise of oil and secular states. The course will complement existing courses on the religion of Islam to show the intersection of religion with political and cultural institutions as they spread from the core Islamic lands in the Arabian Peninsula to the broader world.