Islam

Students will learn about:

• the physical features and describe the climate of the Arabian peninsula, its relationship to surrounding bodies of land and water, and nomadic and sedentary ways of life.

• the origins of Islam and the life and teachings of Muhammad, including Islamic teachings on the connection with Judaism and Christianity.

• the significance of the Quran and the Sunna as the primary sources of Islamic beliefs, practice, and law, and their influence in Muslims’ daily life.

• the expansion of Muslim rule through military conquests and treaties, emphasizing the cultural blending within Muslim civilization and the spread and acceptance of Islam and the Arabic language.

• the growth of cities and the establishment of trade routes among Asia, Africa,and Europe, the products and inventions that traveled along these routes (e.g., spices,textiles, paper, steel, new crops), and the role of merchants in Arab society.

•  the intellectual exchanges among Muslim scholars of Eurasia and Africa and the contributions Muslim scholars made to later civilizations in the areas of science,geography, mathematics, philosophy, medicine, art, and literature.