MODULE I – The Rise of Islam

Sec 1 • Normativity & Religion: A Primer on Method

1.1 Islam in a Public College
1.2 The Scholar’s Toolkit: the Nonsectarian Method
1.3 Knowledge, Belief, & the Insider/Outsider Problem
1.4 Descriptive vs. Normative Claims

Sec 2 • Pre-Islamic Arabia & Muhammad ﷺ

2.1 The Ka’ba & the Age of Jahiliyyah
2.2 Monotheism in 7th-century Arabia
2.3 610 CE: Muhammad ﷺ, Khadija, & the Call
2.4 The First Muslims & the Eve of the Hijra

Sec 3 • Jihad & the Holy City of Medina

3.1 The Hijra & the Constitution of Medina
3.2 The Medina Reforms: Women, Hijab, & Hadith
3.3 Jihad: Two Doctrines & the War with Mecca
3.4 Jews, Christians, & the Return to Mecca

Sec 4 • After Muhammad ﷺ

4.1 The Succession Crisis: Abu Bakr & the Riddah Wars
4.2 Omar’s Conquests & Uthman’s Codex
4.3 Fitnah: The Camel & Siffin
4.4 The Party of Ali & the Umayyad Turn

Sec 5 • Kalam & Shia Islam

5.1 Orthopraxy: The Five Pillars
5.2 Salat: The Pillar That Gathers the Rest
5.3 Karbala: The Making of Shia Islam
5.4 The Imams, the Mahdi, & Shia Iran

MODULE II – The Noble Qur’an

Sec 6 • Philosophy & the Qur’an

6.1 The Qur’an as Text: From Recitation to Codex
6.2 Al-Fatiha & the Divine Face
6.3 Rationalists & Traditionalists: Reading the Qur’an
6.4 Sharia & Fiqh: The Law & Its Making

Sec 7 • Qur’anic Ethics: War & Tolerance

7.1 The S-L-M Root & the Norm of Peace
7.2 Just War & the Sword Verse in Context
7.3 Tasamuh vs. Tolerance
7.4 People of the Book & the Five Injunctions

Sec 8 • Qur’anic Ontology: Evil & the Afterlife

8.1 Evil, Shaytan, & Divine Mercy
8.2 Al-Dunya & al-Akhirah: Resurrection & Judgment
8.3 Al-Jannah: The Hidden Garden
8.4 Jahannam, Gehinnom, & the Limits of Language

MODULE III – The Golden Age

Sec 9 • Umayyads & Abbasids

9.1 From Ummah to Empire: The Umayyads
9.2 The Conquest Map: Jerusalem to Tours
9.3 The Abbasid Revolution
9.4 Baghdad: The Crown Jewel of the Age

Sec 10 • Islamic Intellectualism & Mysticism

10.1 Falsafa: Reason Meets Revelation
10.2 Baghdad’s Loanwords: from Algebra to Coffee
10.3 The Sufi Way: Rabia of Basra
10.4 The Conference of the Birds: Fana & Rumi

Sec 11 • Invasions East & West

11.1 The Coming of the Turks
11.2 1099: The Crusades
11.3 Saladin & Richard
11.4 1258: The Mongol Storm & Baghdad

MODULE IV – Islam & Modernity

Sec 12 • Europe & the Three Empires (1300–1850)

12.1 Europe Reborn: Banks, Ships, & the Age of Discovery
12.2 The Ottomans: The Sick Man of Europe
12.3 Safavid Iran & Mughal India
12.4 The East India Company & the Great Game

Sec 13 • Philosophical Responses to Modernity

13.1 All Figured Out: Islam Meets Modernity
13.2 3 Responses: Salafism, Secularism, & Islamic Modernism
13.3 Constitutionalism & the Majlis
13.4 Nationalism, the Great War, & Sykes-Picot

Sec 14 • The Islamic Today

14.1 New Nations: Atatürk, Pan-Arabism, & Oil
14.2 Israel & Palestine: A Tale of Two Peoples
14.3 Nasser, Qutb, & the Six-Day War
14.4 On Histories Talking Past Each Other