75728 - History and Institutions of the Muslim World (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

After completing the course, students obtain specific and advanced skills in the history of the Islamic world and its institutions. They examine the sources from a historical-critical and socioanthropological point of view, and orient themselves in the specialized bibliography. They are able to collect, also thanks to the use of specific databases, relevant literature in order to document themselves and adequately deepen their skills both in the field of research and in the working environment. They can search and critically examine materials, bibliographic and documentary sources of different types, in order to organize the material and conduct historical-religious investigations. They explain and communicate the contents learned and formulate valid judgments in the historical field and are able to give form to the results of their own research in the field of Islam, documenting accurately the information on which they base their conclusions and giving an account of the methodologies of investigation used.

Course contents

This course is the first module of a 'corso integrato', titled History of Islam. The aim of this module is to introduce students to the early history of Islam and to the main historical problems that scholars face and have faced in the study of this period. For those who choose to take both modules, this module provides the background for the study of a broad but more focused topic, that of the relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims, especially in areas where Islam became the religious affiliation of majority of the population.

The course focuses on the emergence and development of Islam in the Near and Middle East (600-750). It examines the gradual emergence of a new religion in the context of the late-antique Near Eastern world, the society of the conquests and the development of an early Islamic administration. Specific attention will be paid to methodological issues, the various approaches adopted in the study of early Islam and the crucial question of sources.

Week 1: The Near Eastern world of late antiquity and early Islam: a change of paradigm. 
Week 2: The conquests: facts and interpretations.
Week 3: The figure of the Prophet: sources, problems, reading strategies.
Week 4: The development of an Islamic administration: the Caliphate.
Week 5: Transitions: the so called Abbasid 'revolution'.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
The formative objectives of the course are:
- To introduce students to the history of Muslim civilisation, its problems, complexities and diversity;
- To introduce students to critical issues of historiographical debate;
- To encourage an analytical and participatory approach in learning.

Readings/Bibliography

Reading List for Attending Students

(i.e. students who have attended at least 75% of the classes)

One of the following two books (please choose one):

• Chase Robinson, Abd al-Malik, New York: Oneworld Publications, 2012.

• Stephen Humphreys, Muʻawiya Ibn Abi Sufyan: From Arabia to Empire, New York: Oneworld, 2006.

and all the following articles:

• Greg Fisher, “Kingdoms or Dynasties? Arabs, History, and Identity before Islam”, Journal of Late Antiquity 4/2 (2011), pp. 245–267.

• Iwona Gajda, “Remarks on Monotheism in Ancient South Arabia”, in Michael Cook - Carol Bakhos (eds.), Islam and Its Past: Jahiliyya, Late Antiquity, and the Qurʾan, Oxford University Press, 2017, pp. 247–256.

• Arietta Papaconstantinou, “Administering the Early Islamic Empire: Insights from the Papyri”, in John Haldon (ed.), Money, Power and Politics in Early Islamic Syria: A Review of Current Debates, Farnham: Ashgate, 2010, pp. 57–74.

• Robert Hoyland, "Reflections on the Identity of the Arabian Conquerors of the Seventh-Century Middle East", al-ʿUsur al-Wusta 25 (2017).

• Luke Treadwell, “ʿAbd al-Malik's Coinage Reforms: The Role of the Damascus Mint”, Revue Numismatique 2009, pp. 357–381 (available on Persée).

• Chase Robinson, Empire and Elites after the Muslim Conquest. The Transformation of Northern Mesopotamia, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000, chapter 1, pp. 1–32: “Conquest History and Its Uses”.

For students who have never taken a course in Islamic history, the following textbook is recommended as a helpful reference:

 
Jo van Steenbergen, Storia del mondo islamico. Impero, formazioni dinastiche ed eterogeneità nell’Asia occidentale islamica pre-moderna (600–1800), edited by Luca Patrizi, Brescia: Morcelliana, 2024 (you can consult the book in its original Engish version).

Alternative Program (for students who do not read English):

• Françoise Micheau, Les débuts de l’Islam. Jalons pour une nouvelle histoire, Paris: Téraèdre, 2012.

• Antoine Borrut, “De l’Arabie à l’Empire. Conquête et construction de l’autorité califale dans l’Islam premier”, in: Le Coran des Historiens, Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf, 2019, vol. I, pp. 249–289.

• Antoine Borrut, Entre mémoire et pouvoir: L'espace syrien sous les derniers Omeyyades et les premiers Abbassides (c. 72–193 / 692–809), Leiden: Brill, 2010, chapter VII, pp. 321–338.

All materials discussed in class are also considered part of the exam bibliography.

The instructor does not provide reading lists via email, except in exceptional cases where the student is demonstrably unable to attend office hours.

Non-Attending Students

(i.e. students who attended less than 75% of the classes)

• Jo van Steenbergen, Storia del mondo islamico. Impero, formazioni dinastiche ed eterogeneità nell’Asia occidentale islamica pre-moderna (600–1800), edited by Luca Patrizi, Brescia: Morcelliana, 2024 – up to p. 144.

Plus one of the following books (choose one):

• Chase Robinson, Abd al-Malik, New York: Oneworld Publications, 2012.

• Stephen Humphreys, Muʻawiya Ibn Abi Sufyan: From Arabia to Empire, New York: Oneworld, 2006.

• Petra M. Sijpesteijn, Shaping a Muslim State: The World of a Mid-Eighth-Century Egyptian Official, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013 (up to p. 265).

• Greg Fisher, Between Empires: Arabs, Romans and Sasanians in Late Antiquity, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.

• Robert Hoyland, In God's Path: The Arab Conquests and the Creation of an Islamic Empire, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017.

Additional Bibliographical Tools and Readings

• Armando Salvatore (ed.), The Wiley Blackwell History of Islam, Wiley-Blackwell, 2018.

• George A., A.H. Marsham, J. Haldon (eds.), Power, Patronage and Memory in Early Islam, Oxford University Press, 2018.

• Bianquis, Thierry – Guichard, Pierre – Tillier, Mathieu (eds.), Les débuts du monde musulman (VIIe–Xe siècle). De Muhammad aux dynasties autonomes, Nouvelle Clio, PUF, 2012.

• Agha, S.S., The Revolution which Toppled the Umayyads: Neither Arab nor Abbasid, Leiden, 2003.

• Barkey, Karen, Empire of Difference: The Ottomans in Comparative Perspective, Cambridge University Press, 2008.

• Borrut, A. – Cobb, P. (eds.), Umayyad Legacies: Medieval Memories from Syria to Spain, Leiden, 2010.

• Borrut, A., M. Ceballos, A.M. Vacca, Navigating Language in the Early Islamic World: Multilingualism and Language Change in the First Centuries of Islam, Turnhout: Brepols, 2024.

• Cobb, P., White Banners: Contention in Abbasid Syria, 750–880, Albany, 2001.

• Cobb, P., The Race for Paradise: An Islamic History of the Crusades, Oxford, 2014.

• Cook, M., A History of the Muslim World: From Its Origins to the Dawn of Modernity, Princeton University Press, 2004.

• Cooperson, M., al-Ma'mun, Oxford: Oneworld, 2005.

• Crone, P., Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam, Princeton, 1987.

• Crone, P., Medieval Islamic Political Thought, Edinburgh, 2004.

• Crone, P., The Nativist Prophets of Early Islamic Iran, Cambridge University Press, 2012.

• Dale, S., The Muslim Empires of the Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals, Cambridge University Press, 2010.

• Garcin, J.-Cl. et al., États, sociétés et cultures du monde musulman médiéval, 3 vols., Nouvelle Clio, PUF, 1995 and 2000.

• Donohue, J.J., The Buwayhid Dynasty in Iraq, 334H./945 to 403 H./1012, Leiden, 2003.

• Encyclopaedia Iranica, London–Boston: Routledge, 1982–. Also available online (open access): http://www.iranicaonline.org

• Encyclopaedia of Islam, Brill. Second and third editions available via Unibo’s digital resources (search under AlamStart).

• Daftari, F., The Isma‘ilis, Cambridge, 1990 (Italian translation by Marsilio).

• Schoeler, G., The Oral and the Written in Early Islam, translated by U. Vagelpohl, Oxford/New York, 1996.

• Haldon, J. (ed.), Money, Power and Politics in Early Islamic Syria, Farnham: Ashgate, 2010.

• Halm, H., Shiism, 2nd ed., Edinburgh, 2004.

• Hawting, G.R., The First Dynasty of Islam, London, 1986 and 2000.

• Hoyland, R., Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam, London, 2001.

• Hoyland, R., Seeing Islam as Others Saw It, Princeton, 1997.

• Humphreys, R.S., Islamic History: A Framework for Inquiry, Princeton, 1991 (also the second edition).

• al-Jallad, A., The Religion and Rituals of the Nomads of Pre-Islamic Arabia, Leiden–Boston: Brill, 2022.

• Kennedy, H., The Court of the Caliphs, London, 2004.

• Hodgson, M.G.S., The Venture of Islam, 3 vols., 1974.

• Lange, Ch., Merit (eds.), The Seljuqs: Politics, Society and Culture, Edinburgh University Press, 2011.

• Lev, Y., State and Society in Fatimid Egypt, Leiden, 1990.

• Loiseau, J., Les Mamelouks XIIIe–XVIe siècle, Paris: Seuil, 2014.

• Marsham, A., Rituals of Islamic Monarchy, Edinburgh, 2009.

• Marsham, A. (ed.), The Umayyad World, London: Routledge, 2017.

• Marsham, A., The Umayyad Empire, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2024.

• Melchert, C., Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Oxford, 2006.

• Retsö, J., The Arabs in Antiquity, London, 2002.

• Robinson, C.F., Empire and Elites after the Muslim Conquest, Cambridge, 2000.

• Robinson, C.F., ʿAbd al-Malik, Oxford: Oneworld, 2005.

• Petry, C. (ed.), The Cambridge History of Egypt.

• The Cambridge History of Iran.

• The Cambridge History of Turkey, Cambridge University Press, 2006–2013.

• The New Cambridge History of Islam, ed. by Michael Cook, Cambridge University Press, 2010.

• Webb, Peter, Imagining the Arabs: Arab Identity and the Rise of Islam, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2016.

• Zaman, M.Q., Religion and Politics under the Early ‘Abbasids, Leiden: Brill, 1997.

Useful Websites

• http://www.islamic-awareness.org/

• http://www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/

• https://materialsourcesforearlyislamandlateantiqueneareast.hcommons.org

Databases and Bibliographic Resources

• Index Islamicus (available via Unibo's electronic resources).

• Brill Online Reference Works (available via Unibo's electornic resources).

• Encyclopaedia Iranica (open access): http://www.iranicaonline.org/

Teaching methods

Lectures, group discussions, source readings in translation.

Assessment methods

Attending students are those having attended at least 75% of the classes.

The exam will be conducted orally and will assess the student's command of the material studied in the course.

There will six examination sessions throughout the year: end of March, beginning of June and July, September, December, January (the extant dates are published on Almaesami).

The student will be assessed according to his/her ability to present and critically discuss the topics raised, making use of the exam bibliography and the course tools provided.

Top marks (28-30L) will be awarded to students displaying: an excellent command of the topic, a critical approach to the material, a confident and effective use of the appropriate terminology.

Average marks (25-27) will be awarded to students who are able to summarise the relevant topics, but are not familiar with historiographical and historical debates, nor display a full command of the appropriate terminology.

Low marks (18-24) will be awarded to students displaying a patchy knowledge of the relevant topics and do not command the appropriate terminology.

A student will be deemed to have failed the exam if he displays significant errors in his understanding and failure to grasp the overall outlines of the subject, together with a poor command of the appropriate terminology.

This course is one of a set of two courses composing a "corso integrato". The exam for each course will have to be taken independently and the final grade will be the avarage between the two assessments.

Students with learning disorders and/or temporary or permanent disabilities: please, contact the office responsible ( https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students ) as soon as possible so that they can propose acceptable adjustments. The request for adaptation must be submitted in advance (15 days before the exam date) to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of the adjustments, taking into account the teaching objectives.

Teaching tools

Additional reading materials will be uploaded on the e-learning platform (Virtuale).

Students who require specific services and adaptations to teaching activities due to a disability or specific learning disorders (SLD), must first contact the appropriate office: https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students .

Office hours

See the website of Caterina Bori