Studies in Medieval Islamic History up to 1300

ADVANCED STUDIES IN MEDIEVAL ISLAMIC HISTORY HIST 531-01 HUM 243 WEDNESDAY 4: 30 - 7: 00 PM OFFICE HOURS: Wednesday 10-11:30 AM or by appointment Hayrettin Yucesoy Humanities Building, 3800 Lindell Blvd. Office # 211 Tel: (314 ) 977-3397 [email protected]

DESCRIPTION This course is designed to provide advance background for those wishing to prepare for a career as professional historian, to embark upon further research in the field of medieval Islamic history or to acquire a comparative perspective in medieval history. The objectives of the course are the following: 1) Focus on medieval Islamic political and social history up to the Mongol Conquests. 2) Survey pertinent scholarly literature in the field. 3) Discuss major interpretive issues that have been the focus of debate in the field.

CLASS REQUIREMENTS A) Completion of assigned readings for discussion when due. B) Attendance and participation. C) Periodic oral presentations on assigned readings accompanied by handouts, including full bibliographical information, as well as name and the date, to be distributed to classmates. D) Papers: a) short reports on each assigned presentation to be handed out. b) longer term paper displaying your best work in conceptualization, synthesis, and writing (20-25 pages excluding bibliography). By the third week of the semester, you should have a topic for your paper in consultation with the instructor. 1. Paper may be based on secondary scholarly literature mainly in English and any area language you may be competent in as applicable. Paper topic should be defined carefully to be completed in one semester. Paper must be submitted by December 10.

1 READING SCHEDULE

WEEK 1 (8/27) General Introduction, Scope, Sources, Themes Islam in the Medieval World.

WEEK 2 (9/3) The Near East on the Eve of Islam Reports 1) Byzantium and Christianity 2) Sasanid imperial ideology 3) Trade Routes For All 1. Hodgson, The Venture of Islam, pp. 1- 101 (for methodological and conceptual problems). 2. Kennedy, The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates, 1-15

WEEK 3 (9/10) Pre-Islamic Arabia (Topics for papers assigned) Reports 1) Social and political structure, organization, and life in traditional Arabia 2) Religion in Pre Islamic Arabia 3) Mecca and its milieu For All 1. Hodgson, The Venture of Islam, pp. 101-145.

WEEK 4 (9/17) Muhammad Reports 1) Medina 2) Judeo-Christian Context and the Qur’an 3) Western approaches to Muhammad 4) Apocalyptic issues 5) Muhammad’s political conduct For All 1. Rodinson, Maxime. "A Critical Survey of Modern Studies on Muhammad." In Studies on Islam. Edited by Merlin L. Swartz. Oxford; Oxford University Press. 1981. 2. Kennedy, 15-49.

WEEK 5 (9/24) The Formation and Evolution of Islamic Polity: The Caliphate Reports 1) Conquests: centralization vs. decentralization 2) Issues of the first and second civil wars 3) Early Shiism, the Khawarij

2 4) Umayyad administrative reforms 5) Umayyad Architecture For All 1. Hodgson, 187-231. 2. Kennedy, 50-122.

WEEK 6 (10/1) The Caliphate and its Opposition Reports 1) Abbasid Revolution 2) Shiism and Abbasid legitimacy 3) Baghdad 4) The fourth civil war: Amin and Ma’mun 5) Abbasid Administration For All 1. Hodgson, 233-279 2. Humphreys, IHFI, “Abbasid Revolution,” pp. 104-128. 3. Kennedy, 123-155.

WEEK 7 (10/8) Abbasid Absolutism and Aftermath Reports 1) The Mihna 2) Military ascendancy—Samarra 3) Shu’ubiyya 4) Shi’a For All 1. Hodgson, 280-314, 473-496.

WEEK 8 (10/15) North Africa and Spain Reports 1) Conquest of Spain 2) Arabs and Berbers in Spain 3) Sicily 4) Aspects of Convivencia For All 1. Richard Fletcher, Moorish Spain.

WEEK 9 (10-22) Age of Crusades Reports 1) Saladin 2) Konya and Seljuks of Rum 3) The Assassins 4) Madrasa

3 For All 1. Hodgson, 2: 1-152.

WEEK 10 (10-29) Transformation of the Middle East under Islamic Rule Reports 1) Madina-Islamic City 2) Khilafa-Caliphate 3) Ulama 1) Sultan 4) Iqta holding-Land grants For All 1. Humphreys, IHFI pp. 209-227, "Islamic Law and Society," "A Cultural Elite: the role and status of the ulama’ in Islamic society,” 187-209, "The Voiceless Classes of Islamic Society,” pp. 284-308. 2. Hodgson, 2: 152-254. Skim and read places of interest.

WEEK 11 (11/5) Women, Muslims and Non-Muslims/Presentations 1) Ahl al-Dhimma-Non-Muslim minorities 2) Conversion to Islam 3) Women in Islamic society For All 1. Hodgson, 2: 255-328. 2. Humphreys, IHFI, "Non-Muslim Participants in Islamic Society," 255-284.

WEEK 12 (11/12) The Formation of Islamic Thought Reports 1) Islamic law 2) Hadith-prophetic traditions 3) Hallaj al-Mansur 4) Kharijites For All 1. Hodgson, 1: 315-409.

WEEK 13 (11/19) Theology, Philosophy, and Literature Reports 1) Kalam-Islamic theology 2) Mu’tazila 3) Reason and revelation 4) Adab For All 1. Hodgson, 410-473.

4 WEEK 14 (11/26) Thanksgiving.

WEEK 15 (12/3) Historiography/Presentations Reports 1. Khabar 2. Sanad 3. Tarikh For All 1. Humphreys, IHFI, “Sources”, 25-104.

5 FURTHER READINGS

WEEK 1 (8/27) General Introduction, Scope, Sources, Themes Islam in the Medieval World.

WEEK 2 (9/3) For reports and further reading 1. Z. Rubin, “Sasanian Monarchy,” Cambridge Ancient History, XIV, A. Cameron, B. Ward-Perkins and M. Whitby, eds. (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press). 2. H. Kennedy, “Syria, Palestine and Mesopotamia,” Cambridge Ancient History. 3. P. Crone, Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam (Oxford, 1987). 4. R. Frye, The Heritage of Persia (London, 1964). 5. G.W. Bowersock, Roman Arabia (Cambridge, MA., 1092). 6. J. Haldon, Byzantium in the Seventh Century (Cambridge, 1990). 7. Alan Walmsley, “Byzantine Palestine and Arabia: Urban Prosperity in Late Antiquity,” in Christie and S. T. Loseby (eds.), Towns in Transition: Urban Evolution in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, 126-58.

WEEK 3 (9/10) For reports and further reading 1. R. Hoyland, Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam (London, 2001). 2. Jaroslav Stetkevych, Muhammad and the Golden Bough: Reconstructing Arabian Myth. 3. Kister, M. J. Society and Religion from Jâhiliyya to Islam. Hampshire: Variorum Reprints, 1990. 4. The Arabs and Arabia on the Eve of Islam / edited by F.E. Peters. Brookfield, Vt.: Ashgate, 1998: a. Eric Wolf, “The Social Organization of Mecca and the Origins of Islam,” Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 7 (1951), 329-56. b. Yehuda D. Nevo and Judith Koren, "The Origins of the Muslim Descriptions of the Jahili Meccan Sanctuary, " Journal of Near Eastern Studies 49 (1990), 23-44. c. G. R. Hawting, "The Origins of the Islamic Sanctuary at Mecca," in G. H. A. Juynboll (ed.), Studies on the First Century of Islamic Society, 25-47. d. M. Lecker, "Idol-Worship in Pre-Islamic Medina (Yathrib)," Le Muséon 106 (1993), 331-46.

WEEK 4 (9/17) For reports and further reading 1. The Biography of Muhammad: the issue of the sources / edited by Harald Motzki. Boston, MA : Brill, 2000. 2. Watt, W. Montgomery, Muhammad at Mecca. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1953. 3. Watt, W. M. Muhammad at Medina. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1956.

6 4. F. E. Peters, Muhammad and the Origins of Islam. Albany : State University of New York Press, c1994. 5. G. Hawting, The Idea of Idoltary and the Rise of Islam. 6. Crone P. and Cook, M. Hagarism: The Making of the Islamic World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977). 7. Suermann, Harald. “Muhammad in Christian and Jewish Apocalyptic Expectations,” Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations 5 (1994). 8. R. B. Serjeant, “The Constitution of Medina,” IQ 8 (1964), 3-16. 9. J. Fück, “The Originality of the Arabian Prophet,” in M. Swartz, Studies on Islam, 86-98. 10. Fred M. Donner, “From Believers to Muslims: Confessional Self-Identity in the Early Islamic Community,” al-Abhath (2003). 11. Elias Shoufani, The Riddah and the Muslim Conquest of Arabia, Univ. of Toronto 1973.

WEEK 5 (9/24) For reports and further reading 1. Fred M. Donner, The Early Islamic Conquests (Princeton, 1981). 2. Wilferd Madelung, The Succession to Muhammad. 1. H. A. R. Gibb, “The Fiscal Rescript of ‘Umar II,” Arabica 2 (1955), 3-16. 2. Michael Bates, “Byzantine Coinage and Its Imitations, Arab Coinage and Its Imitations: Arab-Byzantine Coinage,” Aram 6 (1994), 38 1-403. 3. Wadad al-Qadi, The Religious Foundations of Late Umayyad Ideology and Practice in Saber religioso y poder politico en el Islam: Actas de simposio internacional (Granada, 15-18 Octubre, 1991) (Madrid, 1994). 4. Khalid Blankinship, The End of Jihad State. 5. Muhammad Shaban Islamic History I. 6. Hamilton Gibb. The Arab Conquest in Central Asia. 7. Martin Hinds, Studies in early Islamic history, Ed. By J. Bacharach. Pp. 1-143. 8. J. B. Simonsen, Studies in the Origin and Development of the Early Caliphal Taxation System. 9. Donald Whitcomb. “The Misr of Ayla,” in The Byzantine and Early Islamic Near East, II: land and Settlement Patterns, GRD King and Averil Cameron, eds. , pp. 155-171. 10. George T. Scanlon, “al-Fustat,” The Byzantine and Early Islamic Near East, II: land and Settlement Patterns, GRD King and Averil Cameron, eds., pp. 171-181. 11. Michael Morony, “Land and Settlement Patterns in Late Sasanian and Early Islamic Iraq,” The Byzantine and Early Islamic Near East, II: land and Settlement Patterns, GRD King and Averil Cameron, eds., pp. 221-231. 12. Bashear, Suliman. “Apocalyptic and Other Material on Early Muslim-Byzantine Wars: A Review of Arabic Sources,” JRAS 1 (1991). 13. Elad, Amikam. "Why did `Abd al-Malik Build the Dome of the Rock?: A Re- examination of the Muslim Sources." In J. Raby and J. Johns (eds.) Al-Haram al- Sharîf: `Abd al-Malik's Jerusalem. Oxford Studies in Islamic Art. Vol. ix, pp 33- 58.

7 14. Oleg Grabar, The Formation of Islamic Art (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1973).

WEEK 6 (10/1) For reports and further reading 3. Moshe Sharon, Black Banners from the East (Jerusalem and Leiden, 1983). 4. Dominique Sourdel, “The Abbasid Caliphate” in Cambridge History of Islam I. 5. Hugh Kennedy, The Early Abbasid Caliphate: A Political History. 6. Hugh Kennedy, “Central Government and Provincial Elites in the Early Abbasid Caliphate,” BSOAS 44 (1981), 26-38. 7. Khalid Yahya Blankinship, The Tribal Factor in the Abbasid Revolution, JAOS 108 (1988), 589ff. 8. Goitein, “Turning Point in the History of Muslim State,” in his Studies in Islamic History and Institutions, Brill, 1966. 9. Athamina, Khalil. “The Black Banners and the Socio-Political Signifīcance of Flags and Slogans in Medieval Islam,” Arabica 36 (1989).

WEEK 7 (10/8) For reports and further reading 1. Crone, Patricia, God's caliph : religious authority in the first centuries of Islam. Cambridge and New York : Cambridge University Press, 1986. 2. Jacob Lassner, The shaping of ‘Abbãsid Rule. (Princeton, 1980). 3. Muhammad Qasim Zaman, Religion and politics under the early ‘Abbasids: the emergence of the proto-Sunni elite, Leiden ; New York : Brill, 1997. 4. John Nawas,“A Reexamination of Three Current Explanations for al-Ma’mūn’s Introduction of the Mih na” IJMES 26 (1994). 5. El-Hibri, Tayeb. Reinterpreting Islamic Historiography: Hārūn al-Rashīd and the Narrative of the ‛Abbāsid Caliphate (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999). 6. Ira Lapidus, “The separation of state and religion in the development of early Islamic society,” IJMES 6 (1975), 363-385. 7. O.S.A. Ismail, “Mu’tasim and the Turks,” BSOAS 29 (1966), 12-24. 8. Bosworth, C.E. “An Early Arabic Mirror for Princes: T āhir Dhū l-Yamīnain’s Epistle to his Son ‛Abdallāh (206/821),” JNES 29 (1970). 9. Daniel Elton, The Political and Social History of Khurasan under the Abbasid Rule. Minneapolis: Bibliotheca Islamica, 1979. 10. Bonner, Michael David., Aristocratic violence and holy war : studies in the jihad and the Arab-Byzantine frontier. New Haven, Conn.: American Oriental Society, 1996. 11. A. Popovic, The Revolt of African Slaves in Iraq. 12. David Waines, “The Third Century Internal Crisis of the Abbasids,” JESHO 20 (1977), 282-306. 13. Chejne, Anwar. The Succession to Rule in Islam (Lahore, 1960).

WEEK 8 (10/15) For reports and further reading

8 1. Jamil Abu Nasr, A History of the Maghrib in the Islamic Period. 2. Roger Collins, The Arab Conquest of Spain. 3. Janina M. Safran, The Second Umayyad Caliphate: The Articulation of Caliphal legitimacy in al-Andalus. 4. David Wasserstein, The Caliphate in the West. 5. D. Wasserstein, The Rise and Fall of Party Kings.

WEEK 9 (10-22) For reports and further reading 1. Claude Cahen, Pre-Ottoman Turkey: A general survey of the material and spiritual culture and history c. 1071-1330, Sidgwick & Jackson; (1968). 2. P. M Holt, The Age of the Crusades. 3. Stephen Humphreys, From Saladin to the Mongols. 4. Bosworth, CE. The Political and Dynastic History of the Iranian World, in Cambridge History of Iran vo. 5. 5. Hamilton Gibb, The Life of Saladin, Oxford 1933. 6. D.S. Richards, The Rare and Excellent History of Saladin, Ashgate 2001. 7. Gabrieli, Arab Historians of the Crusades. 8. Carole Hillenbrand, The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives. 9. Philip Hitti, An Arab-Syrian Gentleman and Warrior in the Period of the Crusades. 10. Maloof Amin, The Crusades through Arab Eyes. 11. Rober Burns, Islam under the Crusades. 12. James M. Powell, Muslims under Latin rule. 13. Farhad Daftary, The Assassin Legends. 14. Humphreys, IHFI, Seljuks: Ideology and Propaganda, 148-169. 15. Gary Leiser, A History of the Seljuks, 1988.

WEEK 10 (10-29) For reports and further reading 1. Hugh Kennedy, “From Polis to Madina: Urban Change in Late Antique and Early Islamic Syria,” Past and Present 106 (1985), 3-27. 2. Chase Robinson, Empire and Elites After the Muslim Conquests: The Transformation of Northern Mesopotamia. Cambridge University Press; (December 21, 2000). 3. Choksy, Jamsheed K. Conflict and Cooperation: Zoroastrian Subalterns and Muslim Elites in Medieval Iranian Society (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997). 4. Hoyland, Robert. Seeing Islam as Others Saw It, (Princeton: Darwin Press, 1997). 5. Peter von Sievers, “Taxation and Trade in the ‘Abbasid Thughur,” JESHO 25 (1982), 71-99. 6. Peter von Sievers, “Merchants and nomads: the social evolution of the Syrian cities and countryside, 780-969/164-358,” Der Islam 56 (1979), 212-44. 7. Abu-Lughod, Janet, The Islamic City, IJMES 19 (1987). 8. Kennedy, Hugh (Hugh N.), The armies of the caliphs: military and society in the early Islamic state, London ; New York : Routledge, 2001.

9 9. Boaz Shoshan, "High Culture and Popular Culture in Medieval Islam," Studia Islamica 73 (1991), pp. 67-107. 10. Mottahedeh, Roy P. “The Shu‛ūbiyya and the Social History of Early Islamic Iran,” IJMES 7 (1976). 11. A. L. Udovitch, "Formalism and Informalism in the Social and Economic institutions of the Medieval Islamic World," in A. Banani & S. Vryonis (eds.), Individualism and Conformity in Classical Islam. 12. Richard Bulliet, The Patricians of Nishapur, Harvard University Press; (1972), pp. 1-81. 13. Dols, Michael. “Plagues in Early Islamic History,” JAOS 94 (1974). 14. Adab al-ghurabaa'. English., The book of strangers : mediaeval Arabic graffiti on the theme of nostalgia / attributed to Abu 'l-Faraj Al-Isfah¯an¯i ; translated by Patricia Crone and Shmuel Moreh. Princeton : Markus Wiener, c2000. 15. George Makdisi, “On the Origin and Development of the College in Islam and the West,” in Islam and the Medieval West, Khalil Semaan, ed. 16. John Burton, “Qur’anic Exegesis,”in Cambridge History of Arabic Literature, pp. 40-56. 17. H. A. R. Gibb, “The Evolution of Government in Early Islam,” in his Studies on the Civilization of Islam, Stanford Show and William R. Polk, eds. (Boston: Beacon Press, 1962). 18. Roy P. Mottahedeh, Loyalty and Leadership in an early Islamic Society. St. Martin's Press; Revised edition (January 2001). 19. S. D. Goitein, "The Rise of the Middle Eastern Bourgeoisie in Early Islamic Times," Journal of World History 3 (1957), pp. 583-604 [reprinted in Goitein, Studies in Islamic History and Institutions, pp. 217-241]. 20. Boaz Shoshan, "The 'Politics of the Notables in Medieval Islam," Asian and African Studies 20 (1986), pp. 179-215. 21. S. D. Goitein, "Slaves and Slavegirls in the Cairo Geniza Records," Arabica 9 (1962), pp. 1-20.

WEEK 11 (11/5) For reports and further reading 1. S.D. Goitein, "Minority Selfrule and Government Control in Islam," Studia Islamica 31 (1970), pp. 101-116. 2. Bernard Lewis, The Jews of Islam. 3. Richard Bulliet, Conversion to Islam in the Medieval Period. 4. Yohanan Friedman, Tolerance and Coercion in Islam, Cambridge University, 2003. 5. Tritton, Caliphs and their non-Muslim Subjects. 6. Basim Musallam, Sex and Society in Medieval Islam. 7. Gavin Hambly, Women in the Medieval Islamic World. 8. Leila Ahmed, Women and Gender in Islam, 1-123. 9. Paula Sanders, "Gendering the Ungendered Body: Hermaphrodites in Medieval Islamic Law," in Nikki Keddie and Beth Baron (eds.), Shifting Boundaries: Women and Gender in Middle Eastern History.

10 10. Spellberg, D. A. Politics, Gender, and the Islamic Past: The Legacy of `A'isha Bint Abî Bakr. New York: Columbia University Press, 1994.

WEEK 12 (11/12) For reports and further reading 1. Juynboll, GHA. Muslim Tradition. 2. Goldziher, Muslim Studies. 3. Muhammad Zubayr Siqqiqi, Hadith Literature. Islamic Texts Society, Cambridge 1993. 4. Norman Calder, Studies in early Muslim jurisprudence. Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1993. 5. Christopher Melchert, The Formation of Sunni Schools of Law 6. Wael Hallaq, A history of Islamic legal theories: an introduction to Sunni usul al- fiqh, Cambridge, U.K. ; New York, NY, USA : Cambridge University Press, 1997. 7. Schacht, Joseph, The origins of Muhammadan jurisprudence. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1959. 8. A‘zami, Muhammad Mustafa, On Schacht's Origins of Muhammadan jurisprudence. New York : Wiley, c1985. 9. Wilferd Madelung, Religious Trends in Early Islamic Iran. 10. Moojan Moomen, An Introduction ton to Shii Islam. 11. Andrew Newman, The Formative Period of Twelver Shiism. 12. Michale Brett, The Rise of Fatimids. 13. Farhad Daftary, The Ismailis: Their History and Doctrines 14. Matti Moosa, The Extremist Shiites: The Ghulat Sects. 15. Lewinsten, K. The Azariqa in Islamic heresiography BSOAS 54 (1991) 251ff. 16. Elie Salem, Political Theory and Institutions of the Khawarij (Johns Hopkins University Studies in the Social Sciences, Seventy-Fourth Series, 1956). 17. The cult of saints in late antiquity and the Middle Ages/ edited by James Howard- Johnston and Paul Antony Hayward. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1999: a. Prophecy and holy men in early Islam / Chase Robinson b. The etiquette of devotion in the Islamic cult of saints / Josef W. Meri. 18. Michael Sells, ed. Early Islamic Mysticism New York, 1996. Texts. 19. Ahmet Karamustafa, Sufism: The Formative Period. 20. Michael Bonner, “The Kitab al-Kasb Attributed to al-Shaybani: Poverty, Surplus and the Circulation of Wealth,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 121 (2001).

WEEK 13 (11/19) For reports and further reading 1. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Three Muslim sages. 2. M. Watt, The formative period of Islamic thought. [Edinburgh] University Press [1973]

11 3. Frank, Richard M., Beings and their attribute: the teaching of the Basrian School of the Mu‘tazila in the classical period. Albany : State University of New York Press, 1978. 4. Josef van Ess, “Early Islamic Theologians on the Existence of God,” in Islam and the Medieval West, Khalil Semaan, ed. 5. Peters, J. R. T. M., God's created speech: a study in the speculative theology of the Mu‘tazilî Qâdî l-gudât Abûl-Hasan ‘Abd al-Jabbâr bn Ahmad al-Hamadânî. Leyden : Brill, 1976. 6. Gutas, Dimitry. Greek Thought Arabic Culture: The Graeco-Arabic Translation Movement in Baghdād and Early ‛Abbāsid Society (2nd-4th/8th-10th centuries) (London and New York: Routledge, 1998). 7. Joel Kramer, Humanism in the Renaissance of Islam

WEEK 14 (11/26) Thanksgiving.

WEEK 15 (12/3) For reports and further reading 1. Fred Donner, Narratives of Islamic Origins. New Jersey: Darwin Press, 1998. 2. Chase Robinson, Islamic Historiography. 3. Tarif Khalidi, Arabic Historical Thought in the Classical Period. 4. Judith Koren and Yehuda Nevo, “Methodological Approaches to Islamic Studies.” Der Islam 68 (1991), 87-107. 5. Rippin, Andrew. "Literary Analysis of Qur'ân, Tafsîr and Sîra." In Approaches to Islam in Religious Studies. Edited by R. C. Martin. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1985, 151-163. 6. Abd al-Aziz Duri, The Rise of Historical Writing among the Arabs. 7. Albrecht Noth, Early Arabic historical tradition. 8. Maxime Rodinson, Europe and the Mystique of Islam, I.B. Tauris 2002. 9. Radke, Bernard. “Towards a Topology of Abbasid Universal Chronicles,” Occasional Papers of the School of Abbasid Studies 3 (1990 [published in 1991]).