The Isolation of the Arab Peninsula

The Rise of Islam, 650-750

In this course, Dr Amira Bennison (University of Cambridge) explores the rise and spread of Islam. The course begins by considering the situation in the Arabian Peninsula before the rise of Islam—focusing in particular on the extent to which the Arabs were connected with the outside world, as well as on the two cities of Mecca and Medina. In the third module, we think about the sources for early Islam, before moving on to consider the Muslim conquests themselves. In the fifth module, we spend some time thinking about the life of Muhammad himself, before focusing in the sixth module on the Rashidun, the 'rightly-guided' caliphs who succeeded the Prophet. In the seventh module, we think about the First Fitna, before moving on in the eighth and final module to focus on the rise of the Umayyad caliphate.

The Isolation of the Arab Peninsula

In this module, we consider the situation in the Middle East before the rise of Islam, thinking in particular about the isolation (or otherwise) of the Arabian Peninsula was in the sixth and seventh centuries CE.