History 397ML - ST-Rise/IslamLateAntiqueContxt

What was the world like at the time of the Rise of Islam and how did the new religion change the Global World Order? The Historical circumstance of the rise of Islam is often misunderstood and shrouded in mystery, or obfuscated by partisan bickering. In this course we take a historical analytical approach to the History of Islam and Empire, We will put under scrutiny the religious structure of the Late Antique Near East, the Rise of Islam and the early Arab conquests, to the establishment of the first Arab Empire and its transformation into a new "Islamic Empire" under the hegemony of the Abbasids. No prior background assumed. All readings in English.