The Islamic Empire of the Middle Ages - Humanities in Class Online Courses Forum https://humanitiesinclass.org/community/the-islamic-empire-of-the-middle-ages/ Humanities in Class Online Courses Discussion Board en-US Sat, 16 May 2026 01:18:12 +0000 wpForo 60 Histories. https://humanitiesinclass.org/community/the-islamic-empire-of-the-middle-ages/histories/ Mon, 05 Feb 2024 22:45:51 +0000     As a Spanish language instructor, the cultural focus has been more Western European - Christianity based with its interface with Islam for roughly seven hundred years in the Iberian Peninsula and with the “Reconquista” – the re-taking of the peninsula by Christian forces.

      Sadly, it seems that mankind will often fight with physical weapons to impose the values of one group on another or that “warriors” will attempt to satisfy rough and selfish ambitions to dominate.

The Abbasid Dynasty video re-enforced these thoughts: One group or figure dominates and then is deposed by another, and the cycle endlessly repeats.

     In thinking about how I would present the history of Islam, I would look for a general, relatively simple narrative to present as an introduction to the geographical areas and major names (Abbasid, Umayyad, etc.) and then try to pull out figures who were not only warriors, but those like Harun al-Rashid who helped foment scholarship, the arts, and organized governmental administrative practices.

    Although learning dates, geography, and political concepts is important, sometimes the human being gets lost in phrases like “And then for the next fifty years…”  Within those fifty years, there were so many daily lives: men, women and children who  performed daily tasks, worked at something to provide food and shelter, enjoyed leisure activities or maybe did not have access to them. This “intrahistoria” a term coined by the Spanish philosopher and author, Unamuno, needs to be recognized along with the big headline news of any time period.

     With the world “on screen,” studying individual human beings within their larger social and geographical context is important to cultivating empathy for, if not agreement with, cultures different in some ways than our own.

Carol Smolen

]]> The Islamic Empire of the Middle Ages Carol Smolen https://humanitiesinclass.org/community/the-islamic-empire-of-the-middle-ages/histories/ Islam and 6th Graders https://humanitiesinclass.org/community/the-islamic-empire-of-the-middle-ages/islam-and-6th-graders/ Mon, 05 Feb 2024 20:32:08 +0000 I teach Ancient History to 6th graders. The way I teach this topic is that I stick very close to the textbook. There is not a lot of detail in the lessons. One way I am starting to better understand the topic of the Middle Ages and the Middle East are the intricacies and connections between religion and government. I do teach my students how religious leaders in the ancient civilizations had a lot of power but I don’t dive too deep into how.

I would like to revise my curriculum in many ways, one being more intentional with connecting to the past. The first way is to teach them history as a story. At this point in history, there are so many leaders that we have actual evidence and records of existing. There were battles, agreements, discussions that were recorded. I will use this information to show them history that is documented. I will then have them make connections between current events to what happened in the past. They will compare, contrast, will out graphic organizers, and answer a variety of essential questions focused on making connections to the past. 

]]> The Islamic Empire of the Middle Ages Lou Inguito https://humanitiesinclass.org/community/the-islamic-empire-of-the-middle-ages/islam-and-6th-graders/ The Historiography of Medieval Islam https://humanitiesinclass.org/community/the-islamic-empire-of-the-middle-ages/the-historiography-of-medieval-islam/ Mon, 05 Feb 2024 01:45:20 +0000 As a high school history teacher in Vermont I do not currently teach antiquity studies. However, the historiography presented in the reading is something that I would absolutely use as a proof of concept example for discussions surrounding the idea that “how history is written” is just as important as the history itself. The singular focus on Western Antiquity and the Greco/Roman tradition that is so common in medieval studies truly does a disservice to discussions of the overall progression of Western civilization by excluding the important contributions that medieval Islam was responsible for.

Indeed, as the article mentions, historians such as Said attempted to change the Orientalist attitude so common amongst scholars of Western civilization and in the process provided “the ensuing field of postcolonial studies the freedom to see Islam as a dynamic force with a direction and a sense of purpose within its changing global context, which extended significantly beyond but always included Europe.”

For Said and others, medieval Arabia and Islam share a similar developmental trajectory to the dominant Roman Catholic Church, and while the former is more often than not ignored, it’s impact on culture, law, science, society, and economics brought about by the blend of peoples of Arabic, Buddhist, Manichean, Turkic, Indic, and Persian descent should not be understated. This is because medieval Islam played as much as a role in the development of the ideas of what we refer to as Western civilization as any of the other major monotheistic religions and their associated social, political, and economic structures.

]]> The Islamic Empire of the Middle Ages Robert Walls-Thumma https://humanitiesinclass.org/community/the-islamic-empire-of-the-middle-ages/the-historiography-of-medieval-islam/ Islamic Empires with 6th Graders https://humanitiesinclass.org/community/the-islamic-empire-of-the-middle-ages/islamic-empires-with-6th-graders/ Sun, 04 Feb 2024 20:40:02 +0000 I teach medieval World Cultures to 6th graders and have had a heavy hand in designing this course at my school, which is an independent K-12 day school in Houston, Texas. We have 4 major units and two mini units throughout the year, and The Islamic Empires (from the founding of Islam through the Abbasid dynasty) is one of our main units. Because I did not learn a lot about this time period in my own schooling, I've spent a lot of time pursuing professional development opportunities that increase my understanding and knowledge about this time period as well as the religion of Islam. This summer I had the good fortune to attend the Dar-al-Islam Teachers' Institute in New Mexico, where experts in their fields come from all over the world to give teachers a crash course in various topics regarding Islam. It is experiences like these and this course that are giving me a better understanding of the importance of Islam during the medieval period.

My students end our Islamic Empires unit by choosing a Muslim achievement or innovation to research and then we have a "House of Wisdom" event where they present their artifact and research to their parents and other students and teachers at school. Many students are quite surprised to find out how interconnected the world was at this time and what achievements came from the Islamic Empires like hospitals, algebra, and the astrolabe. One of the main revisions I want to make to my course is improving the lessons about the foundations of Islam, the Prophet Muhammad, and the early Islamic Empires. In the past, my own gaps in knowledge have left my students a little bit confused and as I learn more I'm able to teach this content in a more comprehensive manner. 

]]> The Islamic Empire of the Middle Ages Kaitlyn King https://humanitiesinclass.org/community/the-islamic-empire-of-the-middle-ages/islamic-empires-with-6th-graders/ The transformations of Late Antiquity https://humanitiesinclass.org/community/the-islamic-empire-of-the-middle-ages/the-transformations-of-late-antiquity/ Sat, 03 Feb 2024 20:22:51 +0000 I was lucky enough to study with Peter Brown in college, and it was my reading of his 1973 book, The World of Late Antiquity, at the end of my Roman history course in my freshman year that convinced me I wanted to specialize in late antique and early medieval history. I ended up focusing on modern France, but I've loved studying the early Islamic era ever since. I have never had the opportunity to teach it: the closest I've come is in teaching modern world history to ninth graders, where we've cherry-picked early-modern empires and focused on the Ottomans and Safavids; these days, I teach Romance languages and English. Like some of the other class members, I'm not yet sure how I would rework a hypothetical syllabus, but I would love to have the opportunity to take another version of a seminar on Mediterranean Islam that I took in my final semester of college, almost forty years ago. The regional approach appeals to me because it centers people and places and leaves room for migrations and shifting political boundaries. I'd love to take another class on Islam in the Indian Ocean, but above all, I'm excited about the way that this class enables me to shift my focus, learn about the changes of scholarship in the past forty years, and to rekindle old interests.

]]> The Islamic Empire of the Middle Ages Katharine Norris https://humanitiesinclass.org/community/the-islamic-empire-of-the-middle-ages/the-transformations-of-late-antiquity/ Rise of Islam Curriculum Ideas https://humanitiesinclass.org/community/the-islamic-empire-of-the-middle-ages/rise-of-islam-curriculum-ideas/ Sat, 03 Feb 2024 16:36:53 +0000 I teach a 9th grade World to 1500 survey type course. For each of the units I've tried to enhance the curriculum with some art history influences. For the past 20+ years I've taught this unit much along the lines of the TED-X video beginning with pre-Islamic Arabia through the fall of the Abbasids. We've emphasized the role of Arabic and the cosmopolitan nature of Baghdad and the subsequent scientific advancements. We've also leaned on this unit to transition from what students may view as ancient to, hopefully, an emerging modern world. Dribble in the Eastern Roman Empire, Crusading movement from the west, emerging Asian forces and growth from the Mongols and this has become an engaging unit for my students.

I hope I've be able to increase my own understanding of the subject to enhance my own storytelling, which I believe is the crux of effective teaching, as well as increase my body of resources to use along the way. 

I found the Rabbat reading fascinating and I'm looking forward to digging into some of those works he analyzes in his historiography. However the opening quote he uses from Graeber will prove extremely relevant in my curriculum in which he makes the observation that the parallels of a rising Islam mirrors much of what historians consider the "western tradition." The overarching theme we lean into through our course is the universality of the human experience. I'm looking forward to pointing this out for this unit now using this quote. Although I'll need to fill in the holes that I may not readily see just yet.

]]> The Islamic Empire of the Middle Ages Sam Knopik https://humanitiesinclass.org/community/the-islamic-empire-of-the-middle-ages/rise-of-islam-curriculum-ideas/ Adding to knowledge of world events https://humanitiesinclass.org/community/the-islamic-empire-of-the-middle-ages/adding-to-knowledge-of-world-events/ Fri, 02 Feb 2024 19:33:52 +0000 I'm sad to say that answering the question of how I teach this topic is very easy -- it's not something I've covered in a class before. I enrolled in this course not just because I enjoy the mental stimulation of learning, but also because I teach at a university with a diverse group of students, and I want to help them see themselves in the curriculum. Just in this first unit I'm learning a lot about re-thinking history I have always been taught (for instance, the end date of the Roman Empire) and about demystifying Islam for those who were not taught about it previously. In the future, I hope to model more inclusive curriculum in my humanities classes to help my students' sense of belonging and inspire my colleagues to think along similar lines.

]]> The Islamic Empire of the Middle Ages Lisa Ruch https://humanitiesinclass.org/community/the-islamic-empire-of-the-middle-ages/adding-to-knowledge-of-world-events/ Islam in the Middle Ages-Mark Herman https://humanitiesinclass.org/community/the-islamic-empire-of-the-middle-ages/islam-in-the-middle-ages-mark-herman/ Fri, 02 Feb 2024 12:39:25 +0000 I teach courses in Modern World Civilization 1300-1815, so I do not deal extensively with Medieval Islam, but I have a unit on Muhammad and the origins of Islam and its basic beliefs to introduce my treatment of the empires of the Ottoman Turks, Safavids of Iran, and the Mughals of India. I have not taught on the political, cultural, intellectual, or religious developments of the Islamic world 632-1258 AD (CE). The focus of the Nasser article is on periodization and the shift from the "Late Antiquity" model to the "First Millennium" and the Mongol Conquest of Baghdad in 1258 AD (CE) with an expansion of the geographical context. It is argued that during this period, Islam "synthesized" knowledge from other cultures, religions, and regions and "shaped our interconnected world." This is a new interpretive framework which replaces one which, in effect, had marginalized Islam which was "ignored and obscured during centuries of European triumphalism. . . ." I think it is premature to consider how to revise curriculum prior to completing this entire course's material, but I can begin rethinking periodization to focus on a longer view chronologically and expanding the geographic scope--from northern Africa and Spain to the west and to Central Asia in the east.

]]> The Islamic Empire of the Middle Ages Mark Herman https://humanitiesinclass.org/community/the-islamic-empire-of-the-middle-ages/islam-in-the-middle-ages-mark-herman/ Better understanding of the Islamic Empire in the Middle Ages https://humanitiesinclass.org/community/the-islamic-empire-of-the-middle-ages/better-understanding-of-the-islamic-empire-in-the-middle-ages/ Fri, 02 Feb 2024 04:11:04 +0000 Before beginning this course, I had very little knowledge about Islam during the Middle Ages or how it spread from the Arab peninsula throughout the mediterranean region.  I was unaware of how the Islamic faith divided into the two factions and of the life of the prophet Muhammad.  I learned about the timeline of the four caliphs directly following the death of Muhammad and the impact each one had on the expansion of the religion.  Twenty years ago in Paris, I learned a few things in an art history course about Islamic art and visited various sites in Paris that held artwork and artifacts.  At that time, I learned about the astrolabe and the connection to the famous 12th century love story of Heloise and Abelard whose tomb you can visit at Père Lachaise cemetery.  The focus of that course was about the art and not to develop an understanding of the Islamic Empire.  I am not a history teacher so I don't have any curriculum that includes this topic.  As a beginning level French language teacher, I would like to learn more about this topic so that I might be able to include connections with the Middle Ages in Europe, particularly France, with the Middle Ages of the Middle East.  

]]> The Islamic Empire of the Middle Ages Christine Boyde https://humanitiesinclass.org/community/the-islamic-empire-of-the-middle-ages/better-understanding-of-the-islamic-empire-in-the-middle-ages/ Broadening Perspective https://humanitiesinclass.org/community/the-islamic-empire-of-the-middle-ages/broadening-perspective/ Thu, 01 Feb 2024 03:41:41 +0000 As a language arts teacher, I do not currently teach this topic.  Through the materials in this course so far, I am learning so much about Islam that I never knew before. I had heard of the prophet Muhammad and of a caliph, but I never really understood anything besides the basics.  From this course, I am hoping to gain a broader perspective on this topic so that I can be a more well-rounded teacher.  Additionally, I am hopeful that there will be something in this course that I can use in my language arts classes.  We are currently in search of more diversity in our titles and authors for our class book studies.  Perhaps I will learn of some stories, poetry, or even novels that I can use in my classroom.

]]> The Islamic Empire of the Middle Ages Osena https://humanitiesinclass.org/community/the-islamic-empire-of-the-middle-ages/broadening-perspective/