Instructor: Rabia Anne Mounah Geha Gregory
Office: Imaginary location with nice view and lots of books
Office hours: after class… or by appointment
Email: rabiagregory@ihaveajob.edu
Perspectives and Perceptions: Islamic civilization and its permeable borders
Tuesday/Thursday 2:00-3:15 in a nice room with big windows and comfortable chairs
Class description
This is an introductory-level course. No prior knowledge of the history of Islam is expected. Class
sessions will consist of both lecture and discussion, with at least half of each class meeting devoted
to student participation as we grapple with the assigned readings. In this course, learning history and
questioning stereotypes, expectations, and presumptions will go hand in hand. This is not a course
on theology, nor is it an expansive survey of the many histories of Islamic peoples and empires
touched by Islam. Rather, we will approach history with a keen awareness of sources, attitudes, and
stereotypes. Our reading of history will be enriched with careful interrogations of primary sources
both from Islamic authors and from those living on the borders, travelers, missionaries, and
onlookers whose fear, fascination, and general ignorance have contributed so much to modern
preconceptions of Islam. We will begin in pre-Islamic Arabia and end in the seventeenth century.
Our regional focus is primarily on North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean, our agenda to
explore and dismantle the many and varied presentations of Islam in the pre-modern world. We will
be looking at both Muslim and Western views of Islam during the period, examining the many
portrayals of Muslim and Arab culture against the backdrop of a dualistic historical narrative, one
which employs the voices of both modern scholars painfully aware of the critiques of Orientalism
and of long-dead Arabs and Christians whose approach to history is entirely void of our modern
concerns for accuracy and cultural sensitivity. By the end of this semester, students will have a better
awareness both of the history of Islamic civilization and of western and eastern views of this
civilization. Though we will not carry our discussion into the last centuries of imperialism and
religious warfare, the issues explored this semester will provide insight into the tensions and
stereotypes that characterize the relationship between this modern world’s “Islam” and “The West.”
Required texts
Hourani, Albert Habib, and Malise Ruthven. A History of the Arab Peoples. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap
Press of Harvard University Press, 2002. $11.55
Ibn Khaldun, Abd al Rahman Abu Zayd ibn Muhammad. The Muqaddimah: An Introduction to History.
Translated by Franz Rosenthal. Edited by N. J. Dawood. London: Routledge & K. Paul in
association with Secker and Warburg, 1967. $29.95
Southern, R. W. Western Views of Islam in the Middle Ages. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1962.
Out of print. Photocopy available online
Additional readings are available as photocopies or in .pdf format through the course blackboard
site.
Grading and Assignments
Participation: 17%
Attendance: 5%
Weekly essays: 13%
3 Quizzes: 5% each for 15%
Midterm: 25%
Final: 25%
This course is primarily a reading and discussion course, though lecture will be a part of
every class meeting. This means that a large portion of your grade will consist of class participation.
Completing each week’s assigned readings, attending each class session, and participating in
discussion will all be necessary to succeed. During this semester we will read through all of Ibn
Khaldun’s Muqqadimah. This is a long work, even in its abridged and translated form. I suggest you
read ahead, and learn when to skim. We are using a large amount of primary sources in this course.
Please examine the guide on how to approach primary sources (on blackboard), and remember that
each text we have, whether modern or ancient, must be treated as a hostile witness.
Any more than three unexcused absences will lead to a reduction in your final grade. After
three absences, it will be impossible to earn higher than a B in this course. After six absences, the
grade cap will be a C. Please contact me if you must miss a class. Sleeping in is not an excused
absence. An expected flat tire might be. Funerals and weddings certainly are. Documentation for any
such excuse is still expected, however.
Each week, students will write a 1-2 page essay. These essays are expected to demonstrate
awareness of major issues in the readings, and provide students with an opportunity to express
themselves. Each essay should provide a discussion of the main points of the assigned reading and
voice any questions or comments the student may have. Each week’s set of readings will include
essay prompts, though these prompts are offered as a starting place, rather than a set of questions to
be answered by rote. Essays are due at the beginning of class each Thursday meeting.
Three 15 minute quizzes will be given during the semester. Each quiz is worth 5%.
Additionally, there will be a midterm and a final exam. The final exam is cumulative. If you must
miss any of these examination dates, a written medical excuse is required to schedule a make-up
exam. If you have a conflict with any of the quiz or test dates, please speak with me at the earliest
opportunity and we will work something out. The quizzes will be fact-based, while the midterm and
final will expect students to demonstrate interpretive and analytical skills. If you have not kept up
with readings and try to pull an all-nighter to cram for the exams, you will find yourself in a pit of
despair, totally incapable of writing a passing exam. In contrast, lecture notes and the readings in
Hourani will be sufficient to conquer quizzes.
Grading Scale:
A: Superb work, combining analysis with beautiful writing. To earn over an A- a student must
display brilliance and creativity. As are not given out like Halloween candy, but instead as rewards
for exceptionally fine work.
B: Solid work. All facts have been grasped, or at least most of them. This is the typical “good” paper
or exam. There is nothing wrong, but much more could have been done.
C: A reasonable attempt was made. However, there is a lack of detail, or a lack of analysis, or a
genuine breakdown in writing ability. The main fault which leads to a C, however, is lack of analysis
or a sense that the assignment was written in less than twenty minutes, without thought or care—
either impression will result in a C.
D: Although something was handed in, the assignment shows only rudimentary awareness of what
we are doing in class. Effort made is rewarded, but as little effort was made, little reward can be
given.
F: Utterly disappointing work, often displaying a failure to keep up with reading, or, in some cases,
turn in the assignment on time or at all.
Schedule and Assigned readings
Week 1 Arabia before the Prophet Mohammed
Arabia's heathen females will be your judges, who cover not only the head, but the face also, so entirely, that they are
content, with one eye free, to enjoy rather half the light than to prostitute the entire face. Tertullian “On the Veiling
of Virgins” c. 200 AD
Hourani: 7-14 ; Ibn Khaldun: 35-43, 91-122; Ancient Accounts of Arabia online:
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/arabia1.html
Pre -Islamic Arab Poetry online: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/640hangedpoems.html
Essay prompt: What do you think of the Bedouins? What do our authors think of the Bedouins?
How does pre-Islamic Arabia compare to the world you imagine, and how much do you think things
change after Mohammed?
Week 2 A Prophet in the Desert
Hourani 14-21; Ibn Khaldun 5-32; The Life of Mohammed by Ibn Ishaq online:
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/muhammadi-sira.html
Excerpts from the Qu’ran online: http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/ read chapters 1, 9, 89,
113 for discussion
Sunnah and Hadith online: http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/ read
what looks interesting to you, but everyone please take a look at the Sunan abu-Dawud for class
discussion
Essay prompt: What sort of man was Mohammed? What about his message is new or different?
How does Mohammed fit into the pre-Islamic Arab world we discovered last week? Would you
describe Islam as a religion of belief or a religion of practice, or a bit of both?
Week 3 Faith and Institution
Hourani 22-82, 147-188 (you may skim); Ibn Khaldun 123-261 (skim, we will return to these pages
in week 5)
Essay prompt: Was early Islamic civilization secular in government? To what extent did the
expanding borders of this new empire coincide with the expanding borders of Islamic conversion?
What do you think of Ibn Khaldun’s theory of nomadic and sedentary societies, and how do you
think it applies to his descriptions of the dynasties and ranks of the new caliphate?
Quiz 1
Week 4 Islam and Empire: the early conquests
Southern, Lecture 1; Ibn Khaldun p. 263-295;
The Coptic account from The History of The Patriarchs of Alexandria and an Arab account - AlBaladhuri: The Conquest of Alexandria: Accounts of the Arab Conquest of Egypt, 642 CE
Ibn Abd-el-Hakem: The Islamic Conquest of Spain
Anonymous Arab Chronicler: The Battle of Poitiers (Tours)
Arabs, Franks, and the Battle of Poitiers (Tours): Three Accounts
Song of Roland online: http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/OMACL/Roland/
Essay prompt: Ibn Khaldun’s depiction of new Muslim settlements continues his depiction of a
cyclic civilization and his ambivalent portrayal of the Bedouin. How does his description of
settlement and conquest fit in with more contemporary accounts of the progress of Muslim armies?
How does the description of the Muslim foe in the Song of Roland compare to the accounts of the
Battle of Poitiers or Ibn Khaldun’s presentation of Islamic Civilization? Do you feel that Southern’s
lecture title “The Age of Ignorance” is appropriate after having read through the Song of Roland?
Week 5 Islamic Culture and Society
Hourani: 83-146, go back over Ibn Khaldun 123-261
Al-Tanûkhî online: Ruminations and Reminiscences
Firdawsi: The Epic of Kings, 1010 CE For class discussion please read “Rustem and Sohrab”
Read over the Rubiyat of Omar Khayyam http://www.therubaiyat.com/
Essay prompt: Most of you have heard a line or two of the Rubiyat without realizing its source (“a
jug of wine, a loaf of bread and thou” is a familiar bit of love-poetry almost entirely severed from its
medieval Islamic context). After reading about the Golden Age of Islam and some literature of the
period, how would you characterize the period? Is Ibn Khaldun’s presentation of his own
civilization accurate? Problematic? Incomplete? Unsatisfying? What, if anything, does he leave out?
MIDTERM
Week 6 Islam and Byzantium
Meyendorff, John. "Byzantine Views of Islam." Dumbarton Oaks Papers 18 (1964), 115-32. Reprinted
in John Meyendorff. The Byzantine Legacy in the Orthodox Church. 89-114. Crestwood NY: St.
Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1982. (photocopy on blackboard)
Shahid, Irfan. Byzantium and the Arabs in the Fifth Century. Washington, D.C. 1989. , p 528 ff [Online]
An Arab Ambassador in Constantinople late 10th century online:
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/byz-arabambas.html
Ibn Battuta in Constantinople: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1354-ibnbattuta.html
(scroll down)
Alexia Comnena, The Alexiad http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/AnnaComnena-Alexiad.html
read book 9 (scroll down)
Essay prompt: A traditional depiction of Islam’s encroachment north and west suggests that the
weakened and decadent eastern Rome fell easily to the hunger of nomadic Turks and the zeal of
newly converted Muslims. What do you think of this version of history in light of your recent
readings? How did the Byzantines view their new neighbors? How did Muslims traveling to
Constantinople feel about the remains of Rome?
Week 7 Islam and the Rus
Pritsak, Omeljan. “Introduction.” Origin of Rus. (photocopy on blackboard)
Ibn Fadlan. Risala 921 CE
The Pilgrimage of the Russian Abbot Daniel in the Holy Land 1106-1107 A. D. By C. W. Wilson.
London, 1888 http://chass.colostate-pueblo.edu/history/seminar/daniel.htm
Tver Afanasiy Nikitin, “A Journey beyond three seas 1466-1472.” (photocopy on blackboard)
Essay Prompt: Each of these readings describes encounters made on a journey, whether for political,
economic, or religious purposes. How does the presentation of Muslim and Rus’ change in each
text? What can we say about these two neighboring civilizations relations? When the Abbot Daniel
describes pirates, do you think he is talking about Christian or Muslim foes?
Week 8 The Franks and the Crusades
Urban II’s Speech at Clermont http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/urban2-5vers.html
Amin Malouf The Crusades Through Arab Eyes Ch. 1 (photocopy on blackboard)
Oussama Ibn Munqidh, excerpts in An Arab-Syrian Gentleman and Warrior in the Period of the Crusades.
Alexia Comnena, Alexiad http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/AnnaComnena-Alexiad.html Book 11
William of Tyre history of Deeds Done Beyond the Seas http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/tyre-cde.html
Wolfram von Eschenbach, Parzival ch. 1, 15
Essay prompt: Knights in shining armor liberating the holy lands from barbarous pilgrim-murdering
Muslims… or savage, filthy religious madmen plundering and raping the holy lands? What do you
think? How did the Crusading era change and influence Christian and Muslim stereotypes and
perceptions?
Quiz 2
Week 9 Sir. Richard Burton and the erotic/exotic orient
Be warned: this is not a G-rated week. If you have objections to the contents of this week’s reading,
please speak with the professor. An alternate assignment will be made available.
Hourani 189-199
Introductions to The Perfumed Garden (Jim Colville’s introduction is available as a scanned photocopy
on blackboard. Richard Burton’s introduction can be found along with his translation at: Sheikh
Nefzaoui: The Perfumed Garden, 16th Cent. CE/c. A.H 925, translated by Sir Richard Burton) Flip
through The Perfumed Garden and read what you find most interesting.
The thousand nights and a night available at http://www.wollamshram.ca/1001/ everyone read “The
story of King Shayrar and his Brother” and then choose one further tale you found interesting or
amusing. Please e-mail the class with your choices by no later than Wednesday at noon, so that we
can all glance over these sections.
Essay prompt: Naked belly dancers and harems filled with exotic and beautiful women… is this
portrayal of Islamic sexuality the work of western imagination or the scandalized but fascinated
response of a sexually repressed society’s encounters with a more tolerant and open civilization?
How do these texts fit in with your own notions of sex and sexuality in a Muslim culture? What can
we say about Richard Burton’s decision to translate these particular titles? How does the Thousand
Nights and a Night change when presented as a children’s collection of fairy tales? What do you think
of Coville’s description of Burton’s editorial process, or his description of its reception in europe:
“discovered around the middle of the nineteenth century by the cultural wing of theoccupying
French army in North Africa, it was brought to Europe, suitabl dressed for the occaision, and
displayed in limited editions as an example of l’orientalisme exotique… however the nineteenth century
European invention of the Orient suggests nothing more exotic than a caricature of its own
fantasy.”
Week 10 A Scientific Exchange
Southern, Lecture 2, Ibn Khaldun 333-459 (skim)
Howard Turner, Science in Medieval Islam: an illustrated introduction. Ch. 6, 7, 9, 11, 14, (copy available on
blackboard)
Essay Prompt: As far as standard history goes, Islam preserved and translated the wisdom of the
Greeks, transmitting it to Europe through Spain, sparking the intellectual revolutions of
Scholasticism and the university-system. What is the problem with this western-centered view of
Islam and Science? What is the relationship between Science and Religion in the Islamic world? How
might we account for the shift of scientific enterprise westward in recent centuries?
Week 11 Convivencia? Al-Andalus
Olivia Constable, Medieval Iberia: Readings from Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Sources intro + selections
(copy available through blackboard)
L.P. Harvey, Islamic Spain, 1250-1500 ch. 1 (photocopy on blackboard)
The Poetry of the Spanish Moors, Selections
Essay Prompt: Jokingly, a Spaniard once said “every holiday celebrated in Spain involves pork and
wine, to tell who might be a Jew or a Muslim.” The period of Islamic presence in Spain is sometimes
held up as a model of religious tolerance and cultural/intellectual exchange. Yet several texts in
Medieval Iberia seem to describe a society of separation and tension. How would you characterize AlAndalus? How does religious (in)tolerance play out differently in Al-Andalus than in other Islamic
regions we have already studied (e.g. encounters with Byzantium, the crusader kingdoms, the
treatment of Christians and Jews?)
Week 12 After the Reconquista: The Moor in Spanish Imagination
Teófilo F. Ruíz Spanish Society, 1400–1600 ch. 1 (blackboard)
St. Teresa de Avila The Life of St. Teresa of Avila by herself ch. 1 (blackboard)
Cervantes, Don Quixote chapter LXIII (the strange adventure of the fair Morisco)
http://www.online-literature.com/cervantes/don_quixote/121/
Maria Zayas y Sotomayor Slave of her own lover and Venturing and Losing (blackboard)
Amin Malouf Leo Africanus 41-71 (blackboard)
Essay Prompt: How are the ideas of convivencia continued or reworked in Golden Age Spain? How
does Zayas’ presentation of moors as slaves and kings compare to the presentation of the fair
Morisco in Don Quixote? What do you think of St. Teresa’s girlhood desire to run away and be
martyred by the Moors? Are these portrayals of Muslims cases of the romanticized and exotic, or
does Spain’s history contribute an air of authenticity and accuracy to these fictional works?
Quiz 3
Week 13 The Turkish Horsemen of the Apocalypse
Southern, Lecture 3
New Testament Revelation of St. John
Hourani 209-248, 258-264
Robin Barnes Prophecy and Gnosis: Apocalypticism in the wake of the Lutheran Reformation p 1-13 (on
blackboard)
Excerpts from Luther’s On War against Turk, A Sermon Against the Turks, A Book on Life and Customs of
the Turks (Luther’s translation and preface) Appeal to Prayer against the Turks and Refutation of the Qu’ran
(again, Luther’s translation) all on blackboard
Essay Prompt: Encroaching Ottoman armies inspired fear and apocalyptic expectation in Western
Europe, but within the world of Islam, conquests into eastern Europe and receding borders in AlAndalus do not seem to have had the same powerful impact on cultural imagination. Why do you
think the Turkish threat was viewed through a biblical lens in this period? Have western views of
Islam changed since the descriptions we saw in the Song of Roland and Parzival? How are these views
of the Turks different from the Moors of Spanish literature?
Week 14 And what comes after… Orientalism, imagination, and memory
Said, Orientalism, Ch. 1 (on blackboard)
Hourani, 265-333 (skim for historical background) 434-458
No Essay this week
FINAL EXAM