Originally Posted by Stunner

Dear friends,

Please find below the syllabus and relevant portions to cover for Islamic History Part 2 ..

1- Islam in Africa and Spain

In this section you'll have to cover the topics relating to conquests of Africa and Spain .. Text books have marked them as easy conquests .. Find out in the mentioned books why these conquests were easy and what strategy the Muslims had when they took over these parts .. ? Read about Musa and Tariq Bin Ziad for Spain part, about their rivalry and what fate did they meet later .. ? Their end is a dark part of Islamic History and you have to study role of Sulaiman in all that and why such heroic Generals were ridiculed .. ? The most accpeted view relates to racism and discrimination .. You can quote such examples even when answering any downfall question ..

Later cover the spread of Islam and boundaries of Islamic empire in these parts .. Roles on Abdur Rehman 1, Abdul Malik, Abdur Rehman 2 and 3 .. The strengthening and weakening of the empire .. Read on tax policy by later rulers and role of mercenaries in weakening the defence there ..

Relevant books for this part: 'Spanish Islam' by Reinhardt Dozy, 'Preaching of Islam' by Sir Thomas Arnold and pet knowledge from Mazhar ul Haq's second book on Spanish Islam, but do not quote him in paper .. Also watch the documentary by Bettany Hughes 'When Moors ruled in Europe' ..

One can easily and thoroughly cover this part in 3 - 5 days ..

2- Muslim achievements in Natural and Social Sciences:

Schools of Baghadad, Spain and Iran, Muslim contribution to History, Science. Medicine and other branches of human civilization.

This is a very important part of Islamic History paper 1 and 2 as it relates to the legacy of Muslim empires, rulers and societies .. You can relate the knowledge gained for this section to any answer in Paper 1 or 2 ..
Read philosophers, scientists and historians, like Ibn e Sina, Al Razi, Ibn e Khaldun and Ibn Al-Haitham etc ..

For a comparison of knowledge and society you can watch documentaries mentioned in earlier posts .. Note that in those times Western nations considered the study of Aristotle and other Greek legends as Blasphemous .. The Muslims studied them, translated their works, excelled from the knowledge, later even challenged their works and made new discoveries .. Those works done by Muslims spread the illumination of knowledge and technology to whole of Europe and West overall .. So the Rainassance of Europe is indebted to the works of these great people ..

You can relate the difference of Muslim and other doctors as I mentioned in the first post of this thread .. Bettany Hughes makes an excellent analogy there .. Also you can draw diagram of devices like Astrolobe which the Muslims invented and later helped in navigation of ships .. Its simple and can be drwan in exam within a minute ..

P.S: Read these portions as both Fatimid and Umayyad .. One can cover this part in 2 - 3 days ..

3- Muslim Arts

Muslims' contribution in architecture, music, painting, handicrafts, pottery, calligraphy, etc.

Study this part exactly as the one above .. For architecture read on places like Cordoba, Al-Hambra, Zahra palace and Spanish architecture overall .. I drew a diagram on Mathematical explanation of Al-Hambra palace as was mentioned by Bettany Hughes .. Watch that documentary and draw that diagram in any question relating to Muslim advancement .. If you look at it you'll find how a master piece was created using a rope and a scale with amazing mathematical accuracy which even amazes the world today .. For painting, music and other stuff you'll come across knowledge while studying personalities like Abdur Rehman 3 and others .. Read about Dome of the Rock at Jerusalem that Abdul Malik re-modelled .. Also about great mosque of Damascus .. It is also an allround area and knowledge for this section can be adjusted any relevant question .. Study both Ummayyad and Fatimid parts ..

Also contrast and show the evolution of Muslim culture and society from the times of Prophet Muhammad S.A.W .. I can remember a quote from M.M Sharif's 'A history of Muslim Philosophy' where he states that:

'Arabia at the rise of Islam, does not appear to have possessed anything worthy of the name of architecture. Only a small portion of the population was settled and lived in dwellings which were scarcely more than hovels'.

You can have an idea of how quoting and relating knowledge works .. From here on you can write about advancement of Spanish and Fatimid empires and write how the society had progressed but as on antagonistic posts .. During the times of the Prophet the society and culture was one, later it evolved and progressed a lot but dividedly ..

P.S: Remember this is not only Islamic History Paper .. Its on 'Islamic History and Culture' and you would need to quote cultural examples along with history where ever it is relevant ..

4- Renaissance and Reformation

Origin of this intellectual revolution; Contribution of' Muslim Universities and Seminaries in Spain and Baghdad:
Dissemination of Muslim learning's in the West.

Read about inquisition in Spain and Rainassance .. All the knowledge required has been acquired above .. Just relate that to this section .. How the Muslims disseminated and how their works were handeled by the West .. ? The little that they preserved changed the world and was carried on by the West for many centuries to come .. Quote examples of works of Ibn e Sina that had been taught in Europe's Universities till only a couple of centuries ago .. Muslim advancement in surgery was preserved by West and their state now can be related to the quote by Bettany Hughes on comparison of Muslim and Europe's doctors at times of Spanish Islam ..

So basically if you have read and prepared the above mentioned topics, you'll now feel that you can answer any question by just relating the knowledge, quoting sources and giving your personal opinions backed by solid arguments ..

5- Modem World

Impact of Islam on Western thought, social institutions and economic policies.

This, again, is a general Islamiat like question and you can answer it well if the above mentioned parts have been studied in detail .. Impact on Western thought can be related to workd of Muslim philosophers whose work was carried on and translated by Western philosophers .. Islamic Welfare and social system had impact of Western social system and tried to develop more or less the same .. In economic policies you can quote examples of tax system and minimum interest or markup rate examples .. Even you can quote that in the present day interest rate in Muslim countries in around 10 to 12 % whereas in West it is around 2 to 3 % and which is ironic ..

This is all I can remember right now .. I have tried my best to guide you people well .. If there is something missiing you can cover it by searching yourself .. If there has been some error on my part please feel free to rectify it ..

Best of luck to all of you ..

Regards ..