1. The Arabian Nights

3. Brief History of Medieval Islam
2000 BCE: Semitic people migrate from Mesopotamia to Arabian Peninsula
BCE: Records of Arabs trading with the Greeks and later the Romans
AD: Muhammad founds Islam after hearing the angel Gabriel
800 AD: Abbasid caliphs rule all of Western Asia and much of the southern Mediterranean from their city of Baghdad (setting for The Arabian Nights stories)
1453 AD: Beginning of the Ottoman Empire (date of earliest surviving manuscript of The Arabian Nights)

4. Dome of the Rock, First Masterpiece of Islamic Architecture, Jerusalem, 692 AD

5. Major Islamic Beliefs 650-1500
Belief in one God, Allah
Moses, Jesus and Muhammad are all holy men, prophets

6. Five Pillars of Wisdom God is the one God; there are no others
Pray directly to God five times a day, facing toward the holy place of Mecca (the Salat)
Give charity to the needy (Zakat, the poor’s dues)
Fast during Ramadan, the holy month, from dawn to sunset; celebrate during Eid, when you must forgive other people and especially remember the poor
Perform the Haj once in your lifetime

7. Other Major Beliefs Islam means “submission in peace”
Its tenets are revealed in
Scriptures revealed before Muhammad's birth
The Koran (Qur’an)
The prophets are the messengers of God
Life on earth is short, but heaven and hell are of infinite duration
Everything that happens on earth is controlled or destined by God; all events are part of his plan and man must submit

8. Islam’s Achievements
Extended rights to all individuals, even women and children
Discouraged slavery
Made state responsible for the needs of all its citizens
Encouraged the acquisition and propagation of knowledge
Science
Medicine
Astronomy
Mathematics
Books became readily available through mass production of paper: literacy rose

12. “For five centuries after Muhammad, the Muslims dominated the world both culturally and militarily as completely as Europe and America have done for the last two hundred and fifty years.”
--Sir John Glubb, The Life and Times of Muhammad

13. The Arabian Nights
Compiled during the height of the Abbasid Golden Age ( )
Ruled from Baghdad
Absolute monarchy
Highly centralized bureaucracy
Established the office of vizier as chief officer of the bureaucracy
Stories come from Persia, Arabia, India, and China
They reflect the Islamic World from Spain, across North Africa to Cairo, across the Arabian peninsula, up to Damascus and Baghdad, north to Samarkand, across Afghanistan, down to India, and beyond

14. Harun al-Rashid
The fifth Abbasid Caliph, some of whose exploits are detailed in The Arabian Nights
His vizier was Jafar, who accompanies him in the tales
Harun’s palace was the most elaborate ever built for a caliph and his forays among his subjects to check on their wellbeing led to his becoming a literary character after his death

15. Themes and Ideas in the Arabian Nights
Stories and Storytelling
Islam as a central belief system
Race, Class and Gender negotiations
Kings and their power
Forgiveness vs. Revenge
Destiny vs. Free Will
How does a person live a good life?
What is the nature of justice?