Islam Curriculum

Unit 0 – Orientation / Surveys & Sacred Text Aids

• Islam: A Short History — Karen Armstrong — Concise, accessible overview of origins to present.
• Islamic History: A Very Short Introduction — Adam J. Silverstein — Quick historiographical map.
• Islam: A Very Short Introduction — Malise Ruthven — Belief, practice, society.
• The Koran: A Very Short Introduction — Michael Cook — Context for reading the Qur’an.
• The Cambridge Companion to the Qur’an — Jane Dammen McAuliffe, ed. — Scholarly essays; read selectively.
• The Clear Qur’an: A Thematic English Translation — Read portions alongside historical chapters.

Unit 1 – Origins: Muhammad, Quranic Revelation, and the First Community (to 632 CE)

• Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources — Martin Lings — Devotional but close to early sira material.
• In the Shadow of the Sword — Tom Holland — Late antiquity context (read critically alongside Lings).
• What Every Christian Needs To Know About Islam! (YouTube) — Orientation video; pair with academic texts above.

Unit 2 – The Rashidun & Umayyads: Conquest, State, and Community (632–750)

• In God’s Path: The Arab Conquests and the Creation of an Islamic Empire — Robert G. Hoyland — Military, political, and social dynamics of early expansion.
• The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates — Hugh Kennedy — Standard narrative for 6th–11th c.

Unit 3 – Abbasids & the Classical Age (750–1258): Law, Theology, Philosophy

• Philosophy in the Islamic World — Peter Adamson — Survey of falsafa & kalam within broader history.
• Islamic Law: A Very Short Introduction — Mashood A. Baderin — Formation and evolution of sharia.
• The Muslim Discovery of Europe — Bernard Lewis — Cross‑cultural contacts.

Unit 4 – Frontiers & Plural Worlds (900–1500): al‑Andalus, Africa, Central & South Asia

• The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise — Darío Fernández‑Morera — Critical view; balance with broader social histories.
• Islam’s Black Slaves — Ronald Segal — Long‑distance slave trades.
• Race and Slavery in the Middle East — Bernard Lewis — Historical inquiry.
• Islam and the Abolition of Slavery — William Gervase Clarence‑Smith — Reform and abolition debates.
• The Trans‑Saharan Slave Trade — John Wright — Regional focus.

Unit 5 – Empires & Early Modern Transformations (1500–1800): Ottomans, Safavids, Mughals

• Women and Slavery in the Late Ottoman Empire — Madeline C. Zilfi — Law, gender, and society.
• The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2,000 Years — Bernard Lewis — Broad continuity and change.
• From Babel to Dragomans — Bernard Lewis — Essays on diplomacy, language, and ideas.

Unit 6 – Colonial Encounters, Reform, and Nation‑States (1800–1948)

• A History of the Arab Peoples — Albert Hourani — Canonical survey of modern Arab history.
• The Arabs: A History — Eugene Rogan — Social and political transformations.
• Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East, 1776 to the Present — Michael B. Oren — U.S.–Middle East relations.

Unit 7 – Iran Case Studies (1900–present)

• All the Shah’s Men — Stephen Kinzer — 1953 coup case study.
• Revolutionary Iran: A History of the Islamic Republic — Michael Axworthy — Post‑1979 trajectory.
• Immortal: A Military History of Iran and Its Armed Forces — Steven R. Ward — Defense and state lens.
• The Ayatollah Begs to Differ — Hooman Majd — Cultural‑political essays.

Unit 8 – Political Islam, Islamism, and Jihadist Movements

• The Many Faces of Political Islam — Mohammed Ayoob — Conceptual mapping of Islamism.
• Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam — Gilles Kepel — Movements since the 1970s.
• The Failure of Political Islam — Olivier Roy — Comparative diagnosis.
• Al Qaeda, the Islamic State, and the Global Jihadist Movement — Daniel Byman — Contemporary overview.
• The ISIS Apocalypse — William McCants — History and strategy of ISIS.
• Milestones — Sayyid Qutb — Primary ideological text (read critically and historically).

Unit 9 – Law, Liberalism, and Modern Debates

• Islam, Law and the Modern State — Arif A. Jamal — Legal theory in Muslim contexts.
• The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists — Khaled Abou El Fadl — Reformist arguments.
• Islam and the Future of Tolerance — Sam Harris & Maajid Nawaz — Dialogue format.
• Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think — Dalia Mogahed & John Esposito — Gallup data on beliefs and attitudes.
• Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam — John L. Esposito — Post‑9/11 analysis.

Unit 10 – Islam and the West: Conflict, Exchange, and Narratives

• The History of Terrorism: From Antiquity to al‑Qaeda — Gérard Chaliand & Arnaud Blin, eds. — Long view; use selectively.
• Sword and Scimitar — Raymond Ibrahim — Military conflict narrative; pair with broader histories.
• Defenders of the West — Raymond Ibrahim — Biographical counterpoint.
• From Babel to Dragomans — Bernard Lewis — Cross‑civilizational essays (cross‑list Unit 5).

Unit 11 – Arab–Israeli Conflict (context for modern Middle East)

• A History of the Arab–Israeli Conflict — Ian J. Bickerton & Carla L. Klausner — Standard textbook.
• The Great War for Civilisation — Robert Fisk — War reporting; read alongside more analytic works.
• The Missing Peace — Dennis Ross — Negotiation insider account.

Unit 12 – Contemporary Issues, Immigration, Identity (read critically, compare data)

• The Strange Death of Europe — Douglas Murray — Migration/identity thesis (controversial; pair with data‑driven studies).
• Islamophilia — Douglas Murray — Media critique.
• Prey: Immigration, Islam, and the Erosion of Women’s Rights — Ayaan Hirsi Ali — Case studies; check against official stats and peer‑reviewed work.
• Secret Affairs: Britain’s Collusion With Radical Islam — Mark Curtis — Foreign‑policy exposé.

Unit 13 – Primary Sources, Polemics, and Counter‑Polemics (handle with care)

• The History of Jihad: From Muhammad to ISIS — Robert Spencer — Polemical synthesis; contrast with academic histories.
• The Critical Qur’an — Robert Spencer — Commentary from traditional and modern sources (use selectively).
• Answering Islam — Norman Geisler & Abdul Saleeb — Christian apologetic response.
• Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder — Salman Rushdie — Aftermath of the fatwa‑related attack (memoir).
• The Satanic Verses — Salman Rushdie — Novel at the center of a major controversy.

Optional – South Asia & Partition

• The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan — Yasmin Khan — Human and political consequences.
• Midnight’s Children — Salman Rushdie — Literary lens on post‑Partition.

Optional – Slavery, Captivity, and Barbary

• White Gold — Giles Milton — European captives in North Africa.
• Legacy of Jihad — Andrew G. Bostom, ed. — Sourcebook; read with scholarly context.

Notes on Balance and Method

• Spine for historical narrative: Hourani; Rogan; Kennedy; Hoyland; Armstrong; Silverstein; Adamson; Axworthy. These provide structured, sourced accounts without requiring a confessional stance.
• Contrast & debate: Holland, Lewis, Ibrahim, Spencer, Murray, Hirsi Ali add arguments or polemics; read against primary sources and academic syntheses.
• How to pace: Treat each Unit as a 1–2‑week module. Pair a spine reading with a contrast or memoir, then add a topical study (law, slavery, or political Islam) as needed.