MLS 610B-81
Spring 2003

WEEK 1: Monday, January 13.
Introduction to the Course & the Rise of Islam
The primary aim of this course is to contextualize (or historicize) part of the modern Islamic world in order to better understand the global environment in which we now reside.

The Rise of Islam
        a. Pre-Islamic Arabia:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Features of pre-Islamic Arabia:
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b. Muhammad & the Spread of Islam:

Revelation:
 
 
 

“The Arabic word for one supreme God, Allah, refers to the monotheistic deities of Judaism and Christianity as well as Islam.  It is thus incorrect to employ the term Allah in an exclusively Islamic context.  The term translates as God, and that is how it should be employed and understood.”  William Cleveland, A History of the Modern Middle East, first edition (1994), p. 9.

Muhammad’s message:
 
 
 
 
 
 

Miraj (ascension):
 
 
 
 
 
 

Hegira:
 
 
 
 
 
 

In Medina Muhammad’s status and reputation rose dramatically; he became the head of a small state and eventually the dominant figure in Arabia.  He did so through a combination of warfare, negotiations, and preaching/peaceful conversion.

Events of the Medina Phase of Muhammad’s career (622-632):
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Less than two years after the recapture of Mecca in 630, most of the remaining tribes of Arabia converted to Islam.  Three months after taking one last pilgrimage, Muhammad died in Medina in June 632, by which time Islam had spread to cover a large part of the Arabian Peninsula.