HST 372  Spring 2008

Take-Home Essay

Answer one of the following - I would think on the order of 3-5 pages.  Be sure to refer to the course readings where appropriate.

1.  Discuss some topic/issue across at least 3 of the following:  Rome in the East, Muhammad's Medina and the Rashidun Caliphs, the Ummayad state, the Abbasid state (for example, position of non-Muslims, the military system, the legal system, urban life, intellectual life, the economy- but you can come up with your own.  The important feature is not the topic itself, but the discussion of comparison and development (or not development) across three of those historical entities.

2. What were the major issues confronting the early Muslim community which resulted in one of the three early civil wars (fitnas) - i.e., Mu'awiya vs. the family of Ali, the Umayyads vs. the Abbasid partisans.

3.  How are/were the "Crusades" viewed by the "crusaders" and their societies on the one hand and the local peoples of the Middle East?  How do historians today assess the crusades - is this assessment different from both of the first two?