Hello Chums,

I had Islamic History as one of the optional subjects in CSS 2012 and I must submit that I fell in love with this subject .. Here, I intend to share all my preparation and paper techniques regarding Islamic History learned throughout my prep span ..

First of all let me eradicate some myths:

1- Islamic History is not a scoring subject ..
Well, remove this 'not' and you get my answer .. In fact it is highly scoring if properly prepared and attempted .. How, we'll discuss in this thread InshaAllah ..

2- It has a very lengthy syllabus ..
Well, to some extent it is true, but proper guidance and to the point preparation makes this lengthy syllabus a very brief one .. There are a few main topics which need to be studied extensively, the remaining bulk of topics need just to be gone through and not to be covered with much detail at all ..

3- It is a dry subject and chunks of material makes it boring ..
Again a wrong perception .. I feel no hesitation in submitting that I fell in love with Islamic History due to its variety and spice, the nobility of its characters, Islamic humour and the fun loving way with which I prepared it ..

Take one example of Islamic humour extract taken from Bernard Lewis' book 'Islam from Prophet Mohammad to the capture of Constantinople':

A man announced that he was God. He was brought before the Caliph Mutawakkil who said to him, "Last year there was someone here who claimed to be a prophet. He was executed." "That was well done," said the man, "for I had not sent him." Kitna barra fankaar tha ..

I watched some documentaries to make my preparation joyful .. I gained much knowledge and also some extra-ordinary quotes from those documentaries .. Specially knowledge relating architecture and Islamic boom in education and medicine was superbly described in them .. Here are some that I watched:

1- Islam - Empire of faith
2- The legacy of a Prophet P.B.U.H
3- When Moors ruled in Europe

You can download all these movies easily through torrents .. If you find any difficulty let me know and I will post the exact links .. I would recommend all Islamic History aspirants to watch these documentaries .. I got a lot of insight from them .. For example in 'When Moors ruled in Europe' while mentioning the difference in advancement of Muslim physicians in Spain and those of other European doctors, the English Historian Bettany Hughes notes from the accounts of a Muslim doctor:

They brought me a Knight who had an abscess in his leg and a woman suffering from consumption. I made a plaster for the Knight and his swelling opened and improved. For the woman I suggested a diet to regulate metabolism and cure her consumption. But then the Frankish doctor arrived and objected. 'Bring me a strong Knight with a sharp axe' he said. The Knight struck a powerful blow to his leg and wound burst, the Knight died having lost much of his blood. As for the woman he suggested that a devil must have entered her head and he cut her head with a blade in a cross shape and rubbed salt into it. The woman died instantly. 'I returned home, having learned much about the medicine of the Christians'. (Waisay aaj kal ye sab hamaray mulk mein ho raha hai) ..

Now you can note the way with which Bettany Hughes contrasts the caliber of Muslim and other doctors at the times of Spanish Islam. I used the above mentioned quote in my paper too.

Book Sources:

Dear friends, I'm a book lover and I do not personally believe in one book policy. I used as much as 8 or 9 books for Islamic History alone. But I won't recommend you to study that many books, because that might well be a reason for my low score (God forbid) Here are the books I suggest:

1- A short history of Islam - Mazhar ul Haq
2- History of Arabs - P.K Hitti
3- Spanish Islam - Reinhardt Dozy

Use Mazhar ul Haq's book for pet knowledge and the other two for contrasting views and quotes .. You can add criticizing comments of the above mentioned European writers in your answers but do not forget to defend Islam to the fullest. You have to negate any negative comments from them. This will show and extra in-depth and will fetch additional marks ..

So friends, do opt for this subject if you got love for it. Prepare by staying on the right track and it will fetch excellent marks for you InshaAllah .. You are free to ask any questions you have .. I'll keep posting remaining points and stuff InshaAllah ..

Best of luck ..

Regards ..

@Stunner

A good thread started by you.

I also opted the subject and studied only one book " Islamic History by K. Ali"

I got 50 in Paper one and 52 in paper two in 2011.

I found it an interesting subject.

My question is that

the books which you have mentioned in the thread except Mazhar ul Haq can be found on Net.
If u know the links so please share with us.

What is ur opinion abt Suhail Bhatti's Book?

__________________
Mitta do apni hasti ko, agar kuch martaba chahiye,
k dana khak men mil kar gul-i-gulzar banta hai.

Assalam o Alaikum again folks,

Let me now make the study of Islamic History easy for you .. We'll discuss the topics or portions of Islamic History to be covered for a Boom-Boom paper ..

Part one of the subject deals with the following topics:

1- World at the advent of Islam

You need a brief study of the social, political, religious and economic aspects of the world at the time of advent of Islam .. You need not to study this topic in much detail, rather bullet points and understanding would do the work .. However, do add some quotes from the renowned books .. It is a frequently asked question and covering this means having covered 20 marks paper.

2- Major incidents of the life of Holy Prophet P.B.U.H

This is where your in depth study should start from. Topics in this portion are the Call (Revelation), early difficulties of Prophet P.B.U.H, Taif visit, Oaths of Aqaba, Hijrah (Migration), Pact of Madina, Battles like Badr, Ohad, Ahzab, Conquest of Makkah, Khyber and Hawazin, Role of Jews .. After you have covered these topics you'll have sufficient knowledge InshaAllah to answer questions like:
Administration policy of the Prophet P.B.U.H, Prophet as a Judge, Him as a Peacemaker, Political social and economic revolutions brought by the Prophet P.B.U.H and other analytic questions.

A proper study of this portion will ensure covering another 20 or even in some cases 40 marks paper.

3- Khulfa e Rashideen
Khulfa e Rashideen or the Rightly guided Caliphs portion includes the lives and works of Hazrat Abu Bakr R.A, Hazrat Umar R.A, Hazrat Usman R.A and Hazrat Ali R.A .. You'll need to study their elections, conquests during their times, their administration policy, difficulties they faced and problems arisen within Islamic society during their times .. Cover these and you get another 20 marks covered ..

4- Umayyads and Abbassids
Under these topics you need to cover some personalities like Abdul Malik bin Marwan, Walid Bin Abdul Malik and Umar Bin Abdul Azeez .. You need to cover their administrative policy and the reforms they brought .. While in Abbassids you need to cover the scientific, philosophical and educational boom of the Muslims under Abbassids .. This is an important topic, especially the Abbassid part, as it is interlinked with the overall revolution brought by the Muslims. One or even two questions are always expected from this portion of Islamic History and it may even be asked in Paper 2 ..

5- Ottoman Empire
The documentary I mentioned above named 'Islam - The Empire of Faith' has part two entirely focused on the Ottoman Empire .. It is also a two-fold topic and can be asked in Part 2 as well .. I skipped this topic during my preparation but I would suggest you to cover it .. The exam trend has changed and selective study seems to be strongly discouraged by the examiners ..

So folks, above is the whole Islamic History Part 1 mentioned for you .. If you cover these topics you'll be able to answer all 7 questions in exam InshaAllah and even the objective portion .. You can of course pick and choose the topics for a speedy coverage of the syllabus but I would recommend you to go through all the syllabus .. A dedicated and focused study routine will enable you to cover Part 1 in 10 or 15 days at most ..

Paper 2 and other points to cover and attempt Islamic History well enough will follow soon InshaAllah .. Any queries will be welcomed ..

Regards ..

__________________
You Have To Keep Breaking Your Heart Until It Opens .. !! Rumi ..

I bought these books, so I'm not sure if they are found on net ..

Well you'd find a number of books .. I'm not even a fan of the Mazhar ul Haq book as it contains copy - paste material .. But it is good and bulky enough to provide a fair amount of knowledge on the topics .. So in order to understand the topic properly I would recommend Mazhar ul Haq's book and for additional knowledge and quotes the other two and documentaries .. If you find Sohail Bhatti's book appealing, you can follow that too ..

You do, however, need to skip the unwanted topics and detail mentioned in Mazhar ul Haq's book ..

Regards ..

__________________
You Have To Keep Breaking Your Heart Until It Opens .. !! Rumi ..

I think that Mazhar ul Haq's book only covers part one because it comprises on three dynasties i-e From the Holy Prophet (Pbuh) to the Abassids.

So which book will u recommend for paper two?


Now if u look at the papers of 2012, the new trend has been introduced and the papers were totally distinctive from past papers. I mean to say that the paper two was tricky as there were some questions from Pak Affairs and from Sociology and Everyday Science (Ibn Khaldun and Ibn Sina) (Bakhti Movement).

So what should be done with papers and which strategy should be followed as it was already considered to be a difficult and lengthy paper. Which strategy can be a tool or weapon of getting good marks in paper two?

Regards
Asif Nawaz Abro

__________________
Mitta do apni hasti ko, agar kuch martaba chahiye,
k dana khak men mil kar gul-i-gulzar banta hai.

@ Asi01

Bro I intended to write all about Islamic History part 2 in my post regarding that paper later .. But I feel obliged to answer your queries first ..

There is another book of Mazhar ul Haq regarding part 2 of Islamic History .. I think its named 'A Short History of Muslim Spain' .. If you get hold of it, you can get much material from it .. However, as I wrote earlier that his books are based on copy - paste material, but they are much better than any other 'desi' books .. I personally used 'Spanish Islam' by Dozy along with Mazhar ul Haq's book and another bulky but awesome 2 volume set written by M.M Sharif named 'A History of Muslim Philosophy' ..

You are right that the trend changed in the recently concluded exams .. I do not however feel that it will be the same in coming exams .. I am of the view that the exam should be as difficult as it could get, but it should not be in a way that examiner asks Pak-Affair questions in Islamic History .. So my gut feeling is that he will abstain doing that in the future .. But to tell you the trick, even if he does that again .. Keep in mind the exam you are appearing on that particular date ..
For example, in the question that What was the impact of Colonial rule on Muslim society .. I wrote their impact on African, Asian and their rule on Spanish Muslim society after they got hold of the country again .. So, I never went astray and never thought that it was not an Islamic History part 2 paper .. I hope you get my point .. You just need to relate your knowledge to that particular question and paper basically ..

You can use the above mentioned strategy to get top marks in Paper 2 .. I personally got a lot benefit from the documentary of Bettany Hughes I mentioned in above post .. It gave me an insight into Spanish Islam and Paper 2 basically .. The impact of Muslims of Spain on Europe and the World ..

Ibn e Khaldun and Ibn e Sina were philosphers and theologians as well .. So they are well worth asked in Islamic History .. They cover both Part 1 and 2, as much of the philosophers came during Abbassid period ..

So get all the knowledge from different sources and use it properly in the exam, and you'll get top marks InshaAllah .. If you have anymore questions feel free to ask ..

Regards ..

__________________
You Have To Keep Breaking Your Heart Until It Opens .. !! Rumi ..

JazakALLAH khair for your posts stunner.. I am looking forward to your suggestions and guideline for part 2 paper.. Kindly shade some light over it .

Bro I'm terribly busy with my law exams .. However, I was collecting Muslim Law notes for CSS aspirants and not left with anytime for Islamic History at the moment .. I shall InshaAllah write all about Islamic History after my exams .. You can cover Part 1 by then .. Do not worry, just wait and after my exams end I shall guide you to Islamic History glory marks InshaAllah ..

Regards ..

__________________
You Have To Keep Breaking Your Heart Until It Opens .. !! Rumi ..

Ok bro, I'm free at last from my exams .. You can ask anything about Paper 2 now .. I planned to write all my stuff about Islamic History here but the publisher has stopped me from doing so .. ( I'm in the process of compiling a book for CSS Islamic History and will be ready in 3 to 4 months InshaAllah ) .. However, I can answer here whatever questions you have ..

Regards ..

__________________
You Have To Keep Breaking Your Heart Until It Opens .. !! Rumi ..

Kindly recommend me two brief and comprehensive books covering both papers
Need ur guidance
have no time, running fast with my job..
and studies as well
give me guideline to cover this subject as fast as possible
i find it interesting as well
make a plan for me to work on this subject
regards