SS-421 Merchants,Scholars, and Mystics: Islam In Martitime Asia

3 Credits

This course follows the spread of Islam beyond empires-across the Indian Ocean to South and Southeast Asia, regions that today are home to more than a quarter of the world’s Muslims. Beginning at the time of the Prophet Muhammad, the course charts the role of maritime merchants, scholars, and Sufi mystics in creating this critically important and diverse sphere of the Islamic world to the present day. Today these regions contain the world’s largest Muslim democracy and some of the emerging Asian economies that play increasingly influential roles in shaping our world.