Reading Islam’s History: Explorations in Scholarship Discussion of the book Islam: A New History by John Tolan

This discussion group is for people with different relationships to Islam: people who want to learn about the history of Islam for the first time, people who grew up in the faith and studied its history in school, and scholars who research its history as part of their training and work. We will read Islam: A New History one chapter at a time to ask:

1. Does a historian’s religion, country of origin, country of residence, and values shape the history that they write? 
2. How do histories of Islam differ when written  by a believer vs. someone who belongs to another faith tradition?
3. Would this history be written differently if the writer were based in the UAE?
4. What are the facts and what are the opinions in histories of Islam? How do we know?
5. What kinds of arguments do historians make and how do these arguments show up in their work?
6. What are the sources that historians use to write histories? 
7. How do we evaluate the work of historians?

You may join one session, all sessions, or some sessions. Please purchase the book from our bookshop; this helps us cover the costs of our operations which in turn allows us to offer programs like this one.

You can join the discussion even if you did not have the time to read the book chapter. Each session will begin with a summary of the chapter and discussion will be guided in a way that everyone can participate.