Mers Makin' History: Chapter 11- The Worlds of Islam

Sunday, December 21, 2014

Afro-Eurasian Connections

600-1500

Learning Objectives:

Explain the causes behind the spread of Islam
Assess the dynamism of the Islamic World as the most influential of the 3rd Wave civilizations
Explain how religious divisions within Islam affected political development
Analyze Islam as a source of cultural encounters with Christian, African and Hindu cultures
Evaluate the accomplishments of the Islamic world

Big Picture Questions:

What distinguished the first centuries of Islamic history from the early history of Christianity and Buddhism? What sim/dif characterized their religious outlooks?
How might you account for the immense religious and military/political success of Islam in its early centuries?
In what ways might Islamic civilization be described as cosmopolitan, international, or global?
"Islam was simultaneously both a single world of shared meaning and interaction and a series of separate and distinct communities, often in conflict with one another." What evidence could you provide to support both sides of this argument?
What changes did Islamic expansion generate in those societies that encouraged it, and how was Islam itself transformed by those encounters?

Key Terms:

Mers Makin' History