ISLAMCIV 110: Major Works of Islamic Civilizations

Instructor: Khaled El-Rouayheb

This course offers a reading of a number of major works of Islamic Civilization, for example from the universal chronicle of al-Tabari (d. 923), the forty hadith of al-Nawawi (d. 1277), a work on the lives of the Shi’i Imams by al-Shaykh al-Mufid (d. 1044), the autobiography of al-Ghazali (d. 1111), the Gulistan by Sa’di (d. 1291), The Arabian Nights, the famous Introduction to History by Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406), a manual on Sufism by Aisha al-Ba’uniyya (d. 1516), and the description of Paris by al-Tahtawi (d. 1873). The course aims to give students an exposure to different, co-existing cultural traditions within Islamic civilization, including chronicles and hagiographies, Islamic creeds, Sufism, belles-lettres, popular folktales and travelogues.