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: 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
