HIS 256 The Islamic World to 1683

A look at the complex interplay between religion, nationalism and expansionism in an increasing global world.

This collection covers the major problems in the field, including classic texts, the newest research, and recent controversies about the origins of African history and Africa's contributions to non-Western world history. Its themes comprise: Africa and Egypt; Bantu Origins and Migration; African States and Trade; Islam in Africa; Women in African Societies; and, Slavery in Africa.

This collection of essays by some of the world’s leading authorities on Islamic social history focuses on the juridical and cultural oppression of non-Muslims in Islamic societies. The authors of these in-depth but accessible articles explode the widely diffused myth, promulgated by Muslim advocacy groups, of a largely tolerant, pluralistic Islam. In fact, the contributors lay bare the oppressive legal superstructure that has treated non-Muslims in Muslim societies as oppressed and humiliated tributaries, and they show the devastating effects of these discriminatory attitudes and practices in both past and contemporary global conflicts.

This book explores how Ottoman Muslims and Christians understood the phenomenon of conversion to Islam from the 15th to the 17th centuries. The Ottomans ruled over a large non-Muslim population and conversion to Islam was a contentious subject for all communities, especially Muslims themselves. Ottoman Muslim and Christian authors sought to define the boundaries and membership of their communities while promoting their own religious and political agendas.