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

The course is the first module of the “corso integrato”, History of Islam.

This module traces the history of the beginning of the Muslim world, with particular attention to its first century (600–750 CE). We will examine the gradual emergence of a new religion within the context of the Late Antique Near East, the early conquest society, and the formation of a distinctive “Islamic” administration. Methodological and theoretical issues, the different scholarly approaches to the study of early Islam, and the crucial question of sources will be central to our discussions.

For students enrolled in both modules, this first one provides the foundation for the subsequent study of a broader, though more focused, theme: the relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims, especially in the late medieval and early modern Islamic Mediterranean, where Islam gradually became the majority religion.

 

Weekly Schedule

Week 1

• The Late Antique world and early Islam: a paradigm shift.
• Literacy and Arabian languages before Islam.
• Who were the Arabs? Tradition; recent studies.

Week 2

• Pre-Islamic religiosities.
• The Qur’an as a source.

Week 3

• The expansion: people, facts, interpretations.
• Documentary sources; Historica writing.

Week 4

• Muhammad as a foundational figure: sources, problems, strategies of interpretation.

Week 5

• The gradual evolution of an “Islamic” administration: the Caliphate.

Learning Objectives

The intended learning objectives of the course are:

• to introduce students to the early history of the Arabic-speaking Muslim world in its “central” regions, with its problems, complexities, and diversities.
• to familiarize students with the main historiographical debates concerning the period under scrutiny.
• to encourage analytical, critical and engaged learning.

 

Readings/Bibliography

For attending students (at least 75% of the classes):

Week 1 – The Late Antique world and early Islam: a paradigm shift

• Antoine Borrut, “An Islamic Late Antiquity? Problems and Perspectives," Journal of Late Antique, Islamic and Byzantine Studies 4 (2025), pp. 1–27.
• Greg Fisher, “Kingdoms or Dynasties? Arabs, History, and Identity before Islam,” Journal of Late Antiquity 4/2 (2011), pp. 245–267.
• Fred Donner, “Scripts and Scripture in Late Antique Arabia: an Overview,” in Fred Donner and Rebecca Hasselbach-Andee (eds.), Scripts and Scripture: Writing and Religion in Arabia, circa 500–700 CE(Chicago: Oriental Institute, 2022), pp. 1–15.

Week 2 – Pre-Islamic religiosities; the Qur’an

• Iwona Gajda, “Remarks on Monotheism in Ancient South Arabia,” in Michael Cook and Carol Bakhos (eds.), Islam and its Past: Jahiliyya, Late Antiquity, and the Qurʾan (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017), pp. 247–256.
• Nicolai Sinai, The Qur'an: A Historical-Critical Introduction (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2017), pp. 59–78.
• Patricia Crone, “How Did the Quranic Pagans Make a Living?” in Patricia Crone, The Qurʾānic Pagans and Related Matters. Collected Studies in Three Volumes, ed. Hanna Siurua (Boston–Leiden: Brill, 2016), pp. 1–20.

Week 3 – The expansion. Documentary sources and historiography

• Fred Donner, “Talking about Islam’s Origins,” Bulletin of SOAS 81/1 (2018), pp. 1–23.
• Reza Huseini, “The Diverse Processes of the Conquests of Sasanian Iran: the Example of The Region of Qom,” Emco Commons (September 4, 2019), [online: in: https://emco.hcommons.org/2019/09/04/the-diverse-processes-of-the-conquests-of-sasanian-iran-the-example-of-the-region-of-qom/ ]
• Chase Robinson, “Conquest History and its Uses,” in C. Robinson, Empire and Elite after the Muslim Conquest. The Transformation of Northern Mesopotamia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), pp. 1–32.

Week 4 – Muhammad as a foundational figure

• Patricia Crone, “What do we actually know about Muhammad?”, Open Democracy (2008), available online.
• Stephen Humphreys, Islamic History: A Framework for Enquiry (Princeton, 1991), sections on the Constitution of Medina.
• Stephen Shoemaker, A Prophet has Appeared: The Rise of Islam through Christian and Jewish Eyes(Oakland: University of California Press, 2021), chapters 1, 5, and 6 (translated sources provided on the Virtuale platform).

Week 5 – The gradual evolution of a distinctive “Islamic” administration: the Caliphate

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

*Some modifications to the bibliography may be introduced before or during the course.

For students without previous knowledge of the course topics the following book may be used as a helpful reference:

 
Jo van Steenbergen, Storia del mondo islamico. Impero, formazioni dinastiche ed eterogeneità nell’Asia occidentale islamica premoderna (600–1800), ed. Luca Patrizi (Brescia: Morcelliana, 2024) [ English original available in the Departments library]

All course materials discussed in class are part of the reading.list

Alternative syllabus 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, vol. I (Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf, 2019), 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), chap. VII, pp. 321–338.

For non-attending students (less than 75% attendance):

Andrew Marsham, The Umayyad Empire (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2024).

Plus one of the following:

• Chase Robinson, ʿAbd al-Malik (New York: Oneworld, 2012).
• Stephen Humphreys, Muʿawiya 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.
• Peter Webb, Imagining the Arabs: Arab Identity and the Rise of Islam (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2016). 
  

The following is a non-compulsory reading list of useful references:

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

  Ø Bianquis, Thierry - Guichard, Pierre - Tillier, Mathieu (a cura di), Les débuts du monde musulman (VIIe-Xe siècle). De Muhammad aux dynasties autonomes, Nouvelle Clio, PUF, 2012.

  Ø 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, Belgium: Brepols, 2024).

  Ø Borrut, A.- Cobb. P (a cura di), Umayyad Legacies. Medieval Memories from Syria to Spain (Leiden: 2010).

  Ø Bruning, Jelle - Janneke De Jong, and Petra Siijpesteijn, Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean World. From Constantinople to Baghdad, 500-1000 CE. (Cambridge University Press, 2022).

  Ø Cook, M. A history of the Muslim World: from its Origins to the Dawn of Modernity (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2024).

  Ø Crone Patricia, The Qur'anic Pagans and Related Matters. Collected Studies in Three Volumes, edited by Hanna Siurua, (Boston-Leiden: Brill, 2016).

  Ø Crone, P., Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987).

  Ø Crone, Patricia, The Nativist Prophets of Early Islamic Iran: Rural Revolt and Local Zoroastrianism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012).

  Ø Donner F. M. - R. Hasselbach-Andee (a cura di), Scripts and Scripture: Writing and Religion in Arabia circa 500–700 CE (Chicago: Oriental Institute, 2022).

  Ø Fisher G. (a cura d), Arabs and Empire before Islam (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015).

  Ø Garcin, J. Cl. et alii, États, sociétés et cultures du monde musulman médiéval. xe-xve siècles, 3 volumes (Nouvelle Clio, PUF, 1995 et 2000).

  Ø George A. – Marsham A. Haldon J. (a cura di), Power Patronage and memory in Early Islam (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018)

  Ø Haldon J. (a cura di), Money, Power and Politics in Early Islamic Syria(Farham: Ashgate, 2010).

  Ø Hawting, G.R., The First Dynasty of Islam (London, 1986 and 2000).

  Ø Hodgson, M.G.S., The Venture of Islam: Conscience and History in a World Civilization, 3 vols., 1974. (Un testo che ha fatto storia, un po’ datato ma importante)

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

  Ø Hoyland, R., Seeing Islam as Others Saw it: a Survey and Evaluation of Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian Writings on Early Islam (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997).

  Ø Humphreys, R.S., Islamic History: A Framework for Inquiry (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991 o la seconda edizione).

  Ø Humphreys, R.S., Mu ‘awiya ibn Abi Sufyan. From Arabia to Empire(Oxford: Oneworld, 2006).

  Ø Jallad (al-), A. The religion and rituals of the nomads of pre-Islamic Arabia: a reconstruction based on the Safaitic inscriptions (Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2022).

  Ø Macdonald, M., Literacy and Identity in Pre-Islamic Arabia (Farnham: 2009).

  Ø Marsham, A. (a cura di), The Umayyad world (London: Routledge, 2017).

  Ø [https://brill.com/search?f_0=author&q_0=Ilkka+Lindstedt], Ilkka Muḥammad and His Followers in Context. The Religious Map of Late Antique Arabia (Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2024).

  Ø Marsham, A., Rituals of Islamic Monarchy: Accession and Succession in the First Muslim Empire (Edinburgh, 2009).

  Ø Marsham, A., The Umayyad Empire (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2024).

  Ø Munt, Harry, The Holy City of Medina. Sacred Space in Early Islamic Arabia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2024).

  Ø Nef A., Révolutions islamiques. Émergences de l’Islam en Méditerranée(VIIe-Xe siècle) (Rome: École française de Rome, 2021).

  Ø Retsö, J., The Arabs in Antiquity: their History from the Assyrians to the Umayyads (London: Routledge, 2002).

  Ø Robinson, C.F., ‘Abd al-Malik (Oxford: Oneworld, 2005).

  Ø Robinson, C.F., Empire and Elites after the Muslim Conquest: The Transformation of Northern Mesopotamia (Cambridge, 2000).

  Ø Schoeler, G. The Oral and the Written in Early Islam, tr. by U. Vagelpohl(Oxford and New York, 1996).

  Ø The Cambridge History of Iran.

  Ø The New Cambridge History of Islam, Michael Cook (a cura di), Michael Cook (Cambridge - New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010).

  Ø Webb, Peter, Imagining the Arabs: Arab identity and the rise of Islam (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2016).

  Websites
•  
• http://www.islamic-awareness.org/
• http://www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/
• https://materialsourcesforearlyislamandlateantiqueneareast.hcommons.org
• https://ancientarabia.huma-num.fr/dictionary/A#toplist

Helpful databases for bibliographical search (all accessible via Unibo digital resources)

• Index Islamicus
• Encylopaedia Iranica: http://www.iranicaonline.org/ (open access)
• Encyclopaedia of Islam
• Brill Online Reference Works

Teaching methods

Lectures, presentations, group discussions, source readings in translation.

Assessment methods

Assessment

Students are considered “attending” if they have taken part in at least 75% of the classes.

Exams will be scheduled as follows: late March (academic calendar allowing), early June, early July, September, November, December. Dates will be published on AlmaEsami.

The exam consists of an oral interview designed to assess the students’ methodological and analytical skills. Students will be asked to engage with the reading list, the course contents, and the texts discussed in class.

Particular emphasis will be placed on the students’ ability to critically work with the relevant sources and reading material in order to identify and illustrate the key issues raised in the course.

Evaluation criteria:

• Mastery of content.
• Ability to aptly present and analyze the course contents.
• Capacity to express oneself appropriately in the specific language of the field.

Grading scale:

• Excellent (28–30L): a comprehensive grasp of the course topics combined with the ability to present the subject matter in appropriate scholarly language.

• Good/Very good (25–27): very good knowledge of the course topics, adequate analytical skills, expressed in correct though not always precise language.
  

• Sufficient (18–24): minimal knowledge with some gaps and/or inappropriate language.

• Fail: substantial gaps, inappropriate language, lack of orientation within the reading materials.

For the “corso integrato” the final grade will be the average of the grades obtained in each module.

Students with learning disabilities (DSA) or temporary/permanent disabilities are advised to contact the relevant university office well in advance (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/it/per-studenti ). Any request must be submitted to the instructor at least 15 days before the exam for approval.

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