Studying at York
The Formation of the Islamic World, 750-950 - HIS00145I
- Department: History
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: I
- Academic year of delivery: 2024-25
Module summary
During the seventh and eighth centuries, Muslims established an empire (ruled by ‘caliphs’) that reached from Spain in the west to Central Asia in the east. In the mid-eighth century, the Abbasid family seized control of this empire and they continued to serve as caliphs over much of the Islamic world until the Mongol conquests of the mid-thirteenth century. The first century of Abbasid rule has often been seen as a ‘Golden Age’ of Islamic history, with the Abbasid capital at Baghdad in Iraq being one of the cultural capitals of the world. The unified Abbasid empire did not last long, however, and from the mid-ninth century the power and authority of the Abbasid caliphs became ever more fragmented and was increasingly challenged by competing rulers and military strongmen fighting over their legacy.
This module will challenge the simplistic model of a ‘Golden Age’ and subsequent decline by exploring the dramatic transformations of the Islamic world between 750 and 950. We will investigate how the nature of religious and political authority changed, first as the Abbasid family seized and consolidated their power, and then as the age of an Abbasid empire gave way to one of an ‘Islamic commonwealth’. We will look at the social and cultural ramifications of the often fractured politics of this period. Seminars will also confront two important issues in the history of the Islamic world: the crystallisation of Sunnism and Shi‘ism, and the developments in attitudes towards the non-Muslim subjects of the Muslim rulers, still perhaps the majority of the population in many regions of the Middle East.
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Semester 1 2024-25 |
Module aims
The aims of this module are:
- To provide students with the opportunity to study particular historical topics in depth
- To develop students’ ability to examine a topic from a range of perspectives and to strengthen their ability to work critically and reflectively with secondary and primary material
Module learning outcomes
Students who complete this module successfully will:
- Have acquired a deep knowledge of the specific topic studied
- Have developed their ability to use and synthesise a range of primary and secondary sources
- Be able to evaluate the arguments that historians have made about the topic studied
- Have developed their ability to study independently through seminar-based teaching
Module content
Students will attend a 1-hour briefing in week 1. Students will then attend a 1-hour plenary/lecture and a 2-hour seminar in weeks 2-4, 6-8 and 10-11 of semester 1. Weeks 5 & 9 are Reading and Writing Weeks (RAW) during which there are no seminars. Students prepare for and participate in eight 1-hour plenaries/lectures and eight 2-hour seminars in all.
Seminar topics are subject to variation, but are likely to include the following:
- The Abbasid Revolution
- Family rivalries: Abbasids and Alids
- Ancient knowledge, inquisition and political authority
- Sunnism and Shi‘ism
- Non-Muslims in the Abbasid world
- Turkish guards
- Anarchy and ‘decline and fall’
- Successor states or an ‘Islamic commonwealth’?
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Special assessment rules
None
Additional assessment information
For formative assessment, students will complete a referenced 1200 to 1500-word essay relating to the themes and issues of the module. This will be submitted in either the Week 5 or Week 9 RAW week (on the day of the weekly seminar).
For summative assessment, students will complete an Assessed Essay (2000 words, footnoted). This will comprise 100% of the overall module mark.
Summative assessments will be due in the assessment period.
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Module feedback
Following their formative assessment task, students will typically receive written feedback that will include comments and a mark within 10 working days of submission.
Work will be returned to students in their seminars and may be supplemented by the tutor giving some oral feedback to the whole group. All students are encouraged, if they wish, to discuss the feedback on their formative work during their tutor’s student hours. For more information, see the Statement on Feedback.
For the summative assessment task, students will receive their provisional mark and written feedback within 25 working days of the submission deadline. The tutor will then be available during student hours for follow-up guidance if required. For more information, see the Statement of Assessment.
Indicative reading
For term time reading, please refer to the module VLE site. Before the course starts, we encourage you to look at the following items of preliminary reading:
- Bennison, Amira K. The Great Caliphs: The Golden Age of the ‘Abbasid Empire. London: I.B. Tauris, 2009.
- El-Hibri, Tayeb. The Abbasid Caliphate: A History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021.
- Kennedy, Hugh. The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates: The Islamic Near East from the Sixth to the Eleventh Century. 3rd edition. London: Routledge, 2016.