Middle eastern hist

Which group had more influence over Islamic culture, society, religion, and politics, and why: the Byzantines, the Sasanians, or the pre-Islamic Arabs? 

What are the major themes in Islamic religious and theological thought in the Early and Middle Islamic periods?

How would you characterize relations between Muslims and non-Muslims in the Middle East in the period between 632 and 1600?   

What were the biggest challenges faced by the Muslim community after the death of Muhammad? Were those challenges the same throughout the periods we have studied in the first half of this semester or was the period immediately following Muhammad’s death unique?
Why were the Abbasids successful? (make sure to compare them to other regimes!)

Compare and contrast the Seljuk conquests, the Mongol conquests, and the Crusades. Which invasion had a larger impact on the Middle East and why?

Based on what you have read, what is the impact of the Islamic religion on Middle Eastern culture and society? Should we call the culture and society that emerge in the Atlantic to Indus region “Islamic” or “Middle Eastern”?

n looking at al-Khatib al-Baghdadi’s work The Art of Party Crashing, do you think that the themes that al-Baghdadi expresses are typical of Middle Eastern thought in the Medieval period?