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Introduction to Modern History of the Middle East

(ISLA 355)(Winter, 2012)
Tuesday & Thursday: 11:35-12:55
Leacock Building, Room 232
Professor: Malek Abisaab
Office: Leacock room # 620
Office hrs: Friday 1:30-3:30 (put your name on the sign-up sheet)
(514)398-4400 Ext. 09325
Email: via myCourses
TA: Fadia Bahgat
Office: Morrice Hall, room 313
Office hours: Wed., 1:30-3:30
Email: Fadia.bahgat@mail.mcgill.ca
TA: Nathan Spannaus
Office: Morrice Hall, room 313
Office Hours: Wed., 1-2
Email: nathan.spannaus@mail.mcgill.ca

Course Description
This course assesses the historical transformation of the Middle East in the light of its
internal socio-economic changes, the colonial experience and encounters with Western
powers since the early 19th century. It also examines the historical conditions and
processes that led to Ottoman reforms, rise of nationalism and modern nation-states
including the Gulf States, and the first and second Gulf wars. It highlights selected
peasant and national revolts and explores the internal dynamics of most Middle Eastern
societies. The course also attempts to deconstruct the dominant paradigm of western
knowledge of the Middle East and Islam. It aims to teach students how to prepare an
analytical term paper with a well-argued thesis on the basis of a primary source.

Course Requirements
I- Quizzes and Exams:
There will be 3 pop-up quizzes: on maps, films, Islamic terms, schools of thought, or
special historical events. Students are required to write a Primary Source Analysis
(PSA) which is due on March 22, 2012, should be between 10-12 pages, typed-written
and double-spaced (electronic versions are not accepted).The Final Exam will cover the
material that we studied since the beginning of the semester. The definite date of the
final exam will be announced in proper time (April 30 @ 6PM). The final is an essaytype exam and based on both lecture and discussion topics. A week before the exam I
will give you a study Guide which aims to help you in drafting your essays. The exam
will be composed of 3 questions you have to answer only 2.
II- Discussion:
Thursday sessions will be dedicated for discussion. Questions from the lectures and new
material will form the topics of discussions. The policy on absence is very strict and only
in case of a health problem that students, with a medical report, are allowed to miss the
class. Attendance includes active participation in class discussion: answering and asking
questions and demonstrating your perspective on the assigned reading material. Passive
participation will affect the grade. Classrooms for the discussion sessions (conferences)
are the following: LEA 116 for the section 10907; EDUC 431, for the section 10908 and
EDUC 338 for section 10909. Students are expected to attend class regularly, both
lecture and discussion, and to engage in discussion of assigned materials and raise
questions on central historical points. Students are also expected to thoroughly read and
prepare the assigned materials and to be ready to respond to basic questions on them. A
make-up quiz is only given to students who can justify their absence by a medical note.
III- It is important to check WebCT regularly especially before coming to class as
the lectures outline, question for discussion and possible messages will be posted.
IV- Laptops in class are only allowed for note taking. Students will be penalized if
they use them otherwise.
V- Primary Source Analysis (PSA)
Jamal al-Din al-Afghani Answers Ernest Renans Criticism of Islam, May 18, 1883,
Akram Fouad Khater, Sources in the History, 29-35. (document will be posted to
myCourses).
VI- Final Grade:
Attendance & Discussion: 25%
3 Quizzes (Best grade of two quizzes):20%
Primary Source Analysis: 25%
Final Exam: 30%
VII- Books to Buy from McGill Bookstore:
1- Soha Bechara, Resistance: My Life for Lebanon (Brooklyn, New York: Soft
2

Skull Press, 2003).

2- Course Pack Material (CPM).

Reading Assignments
Jan. 10th

Week 1
. Introduction to the Course & Lecture: Geography and brief
Historical background of the Middle East since the birth of Islam.

Jan. 12th

. Film: Islam: An Empire of Faith

Jan. 17th

Jan. 19th

Week 2
. Lecture: Reforms and its Impact on the Ottoman Empire,
William Cleveland, A History of the Modern Middle East, Ch. 5
(Ebook)
Discussion: Michael Cook, The Expansion of the First Saudi
State: The Case of Washm, in C. E. Bosworth, The Islamic
World: From Classical to Modern Times, Pp.661-699 (CPM-1)
and Khalid Dakhil, The Rise of the Wahhabi Movement, Khalid
al-Dakhil, Ch. V, Pp. 215-254(myCourses)
Week 3

Jan. 24th

. Lecture: Reforms in Egypt and Iran, Cleveland, ch. 6 (Ebook)

Jan. 26th

. Discussion: Afaf Lutfi al-Sayyid Marsot, Egypt in the Reign of

Muhammad Ali, ch. 9 Expansion to what end? Pp. 196-231 &
Ussama Makdisi, The Culture of Sectarianism, chs.4 & 6 The
Faces of Reform, and The Return of the Juhhal, Pp 51-67 & 96118 (CPM-2)
Week 4

Jan. 31st

. Primary Source Analysis: Instructions

Feb. 2nd

. Discussion: Albert Hourani, Jamal al-Din Al-Afghani, ch. V &

Muhammad `Abduh, ch. VI in Albert Hourani, Arabic Thought
in the Liberal Age, 1798-1939, Pp.103-160. (Ebook)
Week 5

Feb. 7th

. Lecture: The Response of the Islamic World, Cleveland, ch. 7

(Ebook)

Feb. 9th

Discussion: Abbas Amanat, Introduction: The Royal Domain, in

3

Abbas Amanat, Pivot of the Universe: Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar

and the Iranian Monarchy, 1831-1896, Pp. 1-24(CPM-3) &
James D. Clark, Constitutionalists and Cossacks: The
Constitutional Movement and Russian Intervention in Tabriz,
1907-11, Iranian Studies, vol. 39, no. 2(June, 2006): 199-225
(myCourses)
Week 6
Feb. 14th

. Lecture: The Era of Young Turk and Constitutional Revolution

in Iran, Cleveland, Ch. 8 (Ebook)

Feb. 16th

. Discussion: Ernest Dawn, ch. one, The Origin of Arab

Nationalism, Pp. 3-30 and M. Sukru Hanioglu, ch. Two, The
Young Turks and the Arabs Before the Revolution of 1908, Pp.
31-49, in Rashid Khalidi, Lisa Anderson, Muhammad Muslih and
Reeva S. Simon, eds., The Origins of Arab Nationalism, Pp. 330& Rifa`at `Ali Abou-El-Haj, Theorizing Beyond the Nationstate, Pp. 73-in Rifa`at Abou-El-Haj, The Formation of the
Modern State, (CPM-4).
Week 7

Feb. 20-24th

Study Break
Week 8

Feb. 28th
March 1st

. Lecture: The Great Arab Revolt; the Birth of the Nation-state in

Iran and Turkey, Cleveland, Chs.9&10 (Ebook)
. Discussion: Ervand Abrahamian, ch.2 Reform, revolution, and
the Great War, Pp.34-62 in Ervand Abrahamian, A History of
Modern Iran, & Marion Farouk-Sluglett & Peter Sluglett, ch., 1
Iraq Before the Revolution of 1958, Pp. 1-46 and Ch. 2, 19581963, Pp. 47-84 in Marion Farouk-Sluglett & Peter Sluglett, Iraq
Since 1958: From Revolution to Dictatorship, (CPM-5).
Week 9

March 6th

.Lecture: The British Mandate and the Arab Struggle for

Independence, Cleveland, ch. 11 & the French Mandate and the
Arab Struggle for Independence, Cleveland, Ch. 12 (Ebook)

March 8th

. Discussion: Michael Provence, Druze Shaykhs, Arab Nationalists

and Grain Merchants, (myCourses); An Investigation into the
Local Origins of the Great Syrian Revolt of 1925, Pp. 138-153 in
Nadine Meouchy, ed., France, Syrie et Liban: Les ambiguts et les
dynamiques de la relation mandataire (Beirut: IFEAD, 2000)
4

(CPM-6); Malek Abisaab, Sh`ite Peasants and a New Nation in

Colonial Lebanon: The Intifada (Uprising) of Bint Jubayl, 1936.
(myCourses).
Week 10
March 13th

. Lecture: The British Mandate and the Question of Palestine,

Cleveland, ch. 13 (Ebook)

March 15th

. Discussion: Ervand Abrahamian, Iran between two Revolutions,

chs. 5&9, Pp. 225-280; 419-449 (Ebook)
Week 11

March 20th

. Lecture: Democracy and Authoritarianism & the Rise of Nasser

in Egypt, Cleveland, chs. 14&15 (Ebook)

March 22nd

. Film: Forget Baghdad (Samir Jamal al-Din, director)

The Primary Source Analysis is Due

Week 12
March 27th

. Lecture: The Middle East in the Age of Nasser: The

Radicalization of the Arab Politics, Cleveland, chs. 16&17
(Ebook)

March 29th

. Discussion: Soha Bechara, Resistance

Week 13

April 3rd

. Lecture: Changing Pattern of War and Peace: Egypt, Lebanon,

Syria and Lebanon, Cleveland, chs. 18&19 (Ebook)

April 5th

. Discussion: Juan Cole, ch. 1 The Struggle for Islamic Oil,

Pp.7-39 and ch. 3 The Wahhabi Myth, Pp.83-113 in Juan Cole,
Engaging the Muslim World, (CPM-7)
Week 14

April 10th

. Lecture: The Iranian Revolution and the Iraqi Invasion of

Kuwait, Cleveland, chs. 20&22 (Ebook)

April 12th

. Revision

Books for the Primary Source Analysis:

1. Charles Adams, Islam and Modernism in Egypt; a Study of the Modern Reform
Movement Inaugurated by Muammad Abduh, (London: Oxford University
Press, 1933).
2. Muhammad Zaki Badawi, The Reformers of Egypt: A Critique of Al-Afghani,
Abduh and Ridha (Slough: The Open Press, 1976).
3. William Cleveland, A History of the Modern Middle East, 4th edition (Boulder:
Westview Press, 2008).
4. Albert Hourani, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1798-1939 (New York:
Cambridge University Press, 1988).
5. Roy Jackson, Fifty Key Figures in Islam (London, New York: Routledge, 2006).
6. Nikki Keddie, Sayyid Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani: A Political Biography
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972).
7. Akram Fouad Khater, Sources in the History of the Modern Middle East
(Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company: 2004).
8. A Albert Kudsi-Zadeh, Sayyid Jamal al-Din al-Afghani: An Annotated
Bibliography (Leiden: Brill, 1970).
9. George Saliba, Islamic Science and the Making of European Renaissance
(Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2007).

Selected Bibliography:
Abrahamian, Ervand. Iran between Two Revolutions. Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press, 1982.
Abou-El-Haj, Rifa`at. Formation of the Modern State: The Ottoman Empire, Sixteenth
to Eighteenth Centuries, 2nd edition . Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2005.
Ahmed, Leila. Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of Modern Debate. New
Haven: Yale University Press, 1992.
Amanat, Abbas. Pivot of the Universe: Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar and the Iranian
Monarchy, 1831-1896. New York: IB Tauris, 1997.
Batatu, Hanna. Syrias Peasantry: The Descendants of its Lesser Rural Notables, and
their Politics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999.
------------. The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq: A Study
of Iraqs Old Landed and Commercial Classes and of its Communists, Ba`thists
and Free Officers. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1978.
Bechara, Soha. Resistance: My Life for Lebanon, translated By Gabriel Levine. New
York: Soft Skull Press, 2003.
Clark, James D. Constitutionalists and Cossacks: The Constitutional Movement and
Russian Intervention in Tabriz, 1907-11. Iranian Studies, vol. 39, no. 2(June,
2006): 199-225.
Cleveland, William L. A History of the Modern Middle East, 4th edition. Boulder:
Westview Press, 2008.
Cole, Juan R. I., Colonialism and Revolution in the Middle East: Social and Cultural
Origins of Egypts `Urabi Movement. Princeton: Princeton University Press,
1993.
Cook, Michael. The Expansion of the First Saudi State: The Case of Washm, in C. E.
Bosworth, The Islamic World: From Classical to Modern Times. Princeton, NJ:
6

The Darwin Press, Inc., 1989.

Al-Dakhil, Khalid. Social Origins of the Wahhabi Movement. PhD dissertation,
University of California Los Angeles, 1998.
Dawn, Ernest. From Ottomanism to Arabism: Essays on the Origins of Arab
Nationalism. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1973.
Ersahin, Seyfettin. The Ottoman Ulema and the Reforms of Mahmud II, Hamdard
Islamicus, vol. XXII, no. 2(April/June, 1999): 19-40.
Farouk-Sluglett &Peter Sluglett, Iraq since 1958: From Revolution to Dictatorship.
London, New York: I.B. Tauris, 2001.
Gelvin, James. The Social Origins of Popular Nationalism in Syria: Evidence for a New
Framework, International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 26(1994): 645661.
Haj, Samira. The Making of Modern Iraq: Capital, Power and Ideology. Albany, New
York: State University Press, 1997.
Hourani, Albert. A History of the Arab Peoples. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University
Press, 1991.
--------------. Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1798-1939. New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1988.
Al-Khatib, Muhammad Kamil. Just like a River. New York: Interlink Books, 2003.
Khalidi, Rashid; Lisa Anderson; Muhammad Muslih and Reeva S. Simon (eds). The
Origins of Arab Nationalism. New York: Columbia University Press, 1991.
Khoury, Philip S. Syria and the French Mandate: The Politics of Arab Nationalism,
1920-1945. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1987.
Lockman, Zachary. Contending Visions of the Middle East: The History and Politics of
Orientalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Marsot, Afaf Lutfi al-Sayyid. Egypt in the Reign of Muhammad Ali. New York:
Cambridge University Press, 1984.
Meouchy, Nadine, ed. France, Syrie et Liban: Les ambiguts et les dynamiques de la
relation mandataire. Bierut: IFEAD, 2000.
Munif, Abdul Rahman. Cities of Salt. New York: Random House, 1987.
Norton, Augustus Richard. Ritual, Blood, and Shiite Identity: Ashura in Nabatiyya,
Lebanon. The Drama Review, 49, 4. Winter, 2005: 140-155.
Al-Qattan, Najwa. Dhimis in the Muslim Court: Legal Autonomy and Religious
Discrimination. International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, vol. 31, no.
3(1999): 429-444.
Quataert, Donald. The Ottoman Empire, 1700-1922. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2000.
Schulze, Reinhard C. Schulze. Colonization and Resistance: The Egyptian Peasant
Rebellion, 1919, in Farhad Kazemi and John Waterbury, Peasants and Politics
in the Middle East. Miami: Florida International University Press, 1991.
Tibi, Bassam. Arab Nationalism: between Islam and the Nation-state, 3rd edition. New
York: St. Martins Press, 1997.