OSHER 633 - The Golden Age of Islam: The Middle East from the Rise of Islam to the Ottomans

Join us to investigate the foundations of Islam and early Islamic History in the context of world history to 1500. Specific topics will include the Middle East on the eve of Islam; the life and times of Muhammad and the early Arab conquests; the fundamental principles of Islam; the consolidation, centralization and fragmentation of the Muslim empire(s): c. 900-1258; the Mongol conquests and the early Ottoman period to 1453; and Ottoman expansion into the Arab world.