pt. 1. The Formative Period, 610-950
Southwestern Asia in the seventh century
Dissolution of the Arab Empire
The development of sectarianism
�Ali and the politics of division
The center cannot hold: three caliphates
The Umayyad caliphate of Cordoba
The origins of Islamic law
The reception of science and philosophy
The development of an Islamic theology
pt. 2. A civilization under siege, 950-1260
Filling the vacuum of power, 950-1100
The Nizaris ("Assassins")
Barbarians at the gates, 1100-1260
The period of the Crusades
The consolidation of traditions
Consolidating institutions: Sufism
Consolidating institutions: Shi�ism
The transmission of knowledge
English words derived from Arabic
The city and the countryside
The issue of authority in the Muslim world
pt. 3. Mongol hegemony, 1260-1405
New centers of Islamic culture
Unity and diversity in Islamic traditions
Intellectual life in the fourteenth century
The varieties of religious expression.
