GEOG3145: The Islamic World: A Global Introduction

The Islamic World provides a comprehensive introduction on Islam from its inception to today. The course’s journey begins with Islam’s dawn in the small desert oasis of Mecca in the Arabian peninsula over 14 centuries ago to today when it is a worldwide faith. One hundred years from its inception, Islam spread to what is today Syria, Iraq, the Horn of Africa, North Africa, and across the Mediterranean Sea. Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and Anatolia (Turkey) came under the sway of Islam leading to the emergence of three major Islamic civilization that dominated and enlightened the old world for several centuries. This era came to an end with the rise of Capitalist Europe and its colonization of much of the world including Muslim societies. Like many colonized peoples, Muslims threw the yoke of colonialism and joined the postcolonial World. Beyond this historical geographic survey, the course examines the Muslim World’s relationships with the West, democracy, and development. It will also explore how Muslim and Islam engage the seemingly contemporary topics such as human rights, gender relations, the monumental environmental crisis of our time, the war on terror and the terror of war, and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Soo Dhawoow (Welcome).

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