Major Research Essay
HIST 2503/RELS 2503
Classical and Medieval History of Islamic Civilization
Length: 2,500 to 3,000 words (ca. 10-12 pages, double-spaced)
Due: April 6, 2016
Value: 25% of overall grade
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Full documentation in the form of footnotes and bibliography required
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Footnotes and bibliography must be in accordance with Chicago Manual
of Style. See http://www.dal.ca/~histwww/style_guide.htm
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Students are expected to make use of at least one (1) primary source.
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No (!!!) websites (e.g. wikipedia, msn Encarta, etc.) are allowed as sources
of research (this interdiction does not include web-based databases).
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Essays are due on the assigned date; no extensions will be granted.
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One person per topic, please. First come, first serve.
After reviewing the topics listed below, students will be expected to research and
organize notes for a comprehensive and analytical history essay focusing on a
particular aspect of Islamic civilization from the 7th to 17th centuries. The essays
are to be properly formatted (paragraphs, introductions, conclusions), and must
use proper grammar and spelling. While acknowledging the contribution of
major scholars on these issues is important, students are expected to construct
and develop an independent argument. Simply paraphrasing what others have
said is unacceptable.
Make sure that your introduction has a clear and explicit thesis statement (i.e.
what you propose to argue).
Topics:
1. Who were the Kharijites and why are they important to
early Islamic history?
2. How would you characterize the relationship between
Arab Muslims and non-Muslims in the first century of
Student Name
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Islamic expansion?
To what extent do pre-Islamic cultural and social
institutions and practices define the Arab Muslim state
between 632 and 850?
How did issues of Arab-Berber rivalry influence the
expansion of Islam across Africa into the Iberian
Peninsula?
How do we explain the rapid expansion of the Muslim
Arabs across Spain and southern France in the early 8th
century?
To what extent was early Islamic expansion into South
Asia influenced by interactions with Buddhism and
Hinduism?
Scholars discuss the `Abbasid Revolution and the
overthrow of the Umayyad dynasty in 750 in a multiple
of was (ethnic, religious, political, economic). What are
the major issues which have defined the debate
amongst scholars?
Discuss the concept of millenarianism (i.e. Apocalyptic
thought) in the Islamic context between 800 and 1000.
Select one particular feature of Hellenistic culture
(philosophy, ethics, logic, medicine, geography,
mathematics, astronomy) and relate how it was
transmitted from Greek to Arabic and the nature of its
influence on medieval Islamic civilization.
Debate the extent to which Baghdad was the greatest
city on earth in the 9th century.
How would you characterize the role of the caliph in
Umayyad and Abbasid times? To what degree do we
find a static understanding of this institution between
the 7th ad 10th centuries?
What unique political, religious, and cultural features do
we encounter with the Fatimid state of Egypt?
Compare and contrast Fatimid (Sevener) Shi`ism with
Imami (Twelver) Shi`ism.
Discuss the inquisition (mihna) of Caliph Ma’mun, its
outcome, and the general implications for the religious
intelligentsia and its role in medieval Islamic society.
Would you characterize the relationship of the different
'Abrahamic' communities (Jews, Muslims, and
Christians) in 9th and 10th-century Spain as fractured and
conflicted?
How was Islamic civilization introduced to Africa? Are
there elements to “African Islam” which make it unique
to other parts of the Islamic world?
Discuss the development of the madrasa education
system in the 11th century, and how it spread
throughout the Islamic world.
18. Discuss the medieval Islamic understanding of slavery
and its relationship with the institutions of court and the
military during the `Abbasid era.
19. How were dhimmis defined in a typical medieval (i.e.
before the Mongol invasion) Islamic state, and what was
their status and treatment by the authorities?
20. What impact did al-Farabi have on Islamic political
philosophy?
21. Focusing on the career of Ibn Sina, discuss how
medieval Islamic civilization understood the theory and
pragmatics of medicine.
22. How did the philosophical debate between al-Ghazali
and Ibn Rushd (Averroes) shape the Muslim world in the
12th century?
23. How did the Seljuks of Rum develop their state in
Anatolia?
24. Describe the extent to which diplomacy between the
Crusader states and the surrounding Muslim states
operated strictly on the basis of confessionalism (i.e.
Muslim-Christian).
25. What are the similarities/dissimilarities between the
Alexandrian literary romance traditions in Europe and
the Islamic world?
26. Describe the role of Sufism in the spread and
consolidation of Islam after 1300. Focus on a particular
orders (or tariqah) such as the Baktashi, Chisti, or Melevi
(other choices are available).
27. To what extent were the Mongols of Iran (Ilkhans) of the
late 13th and early 14th century motivated by religion?
28. Compare and contrast the response of the Muslim
intelligentsia to the Crusades and the Mongol invasions.
29. How did Timur succeed in establishing such an
extensive empire in the late 14th century?
30. How and why did the Timurid empire decline so rapidly
in the 15th century?
31. How did Ibn Arabi change the Islamic world in the 13th14th centuries?
32. How do you account for the relative ease with which the
Crusaders were able to establish ‘Latin’ states in the
Levant?
33. To what degree were the Crusaders separate and
isolated from their surrounding environments? Was
there any syncretism/acculturation?
34. To what extent did the Ottoman empire depend on
non-Muslims with respect to administration, military,
and bureaucracy?
35. To what extent does ‘ghazi’ culture help us understand
the successful expansion of the Ottoman state? How
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have historians debated its validity?
Describe the conquest of Constantinople and its gradual
“Ottomanification” in the 15th and 16th centuries
How did Akbar the Great develop a legitimacy which
reflected the heterogeneity of his state in northern
India?
How would you characterize the Ottomans’ ability to
adopt military technology? Innovative? Conservative?
Select a medieval architectural space (e.g. palace,
mosque complex, Sufi hermitage, tomb complex) and
analyze its development and arrangement.