← The rise of Islam: from Mecca to Damascus (610–750) ·
The rise of Islam: from Mecca to Damascus (610–750)
Grade 11 · World History to the End of the Fifteenth Century, Grade 11, University/College Preparation (CHW3M) · Strand C · C1, C2 · 75 min
Mapped by the museum, not endorsed by the Ministry.
A CHW3M pathway following the rise of a new community in Arabia and its transformation within a century into a state stretching from al-Andalus to Central Asia: the setting, the revelation, the Hijra, the Constitution of Medina, the first battles, the Rashidun caliphate and Umayyad Damascus.
Lesson goal
Students analyse the social and political structures on which the first Muslim community rested and the factors that contributed to its stability and expansion to 750.
What the lesson does, in the museum's words
The lesson presents the first Muslim society (610–750) as a flourishing civilisation from a specific region and period: its social, economic and political structures (the tribe, the Constitution of Medina, the caliphate) and the factors that led to its stability and expansion (the Hijra, alliances, the conquests, Umayyad administration). It serves as one of the three societies the strand requires.
The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 11 and 12: Canadian and World Studies, 2015
Seventy-five minutes over a lesson and a half: the eight steps are read in pairs, leaving twenty minutes for the worksheet. Traditional dates are marked as traditional in the museum: a good way into the concept of evidence in strand A.
Lesson steps
- Arabia before Islam — Tribes, trade and the surrounding powers: Byzantium, Persia and Abyssinia. · Pre-Islamic Arabia · Mecca
- The Prophet Muhammad and the first revelation — A man of Quraysh at forty, a cave near Mecca, and the start of a message. · Muhammad · The first revelation
- The Hijra — 622: the community moves to Yathrib, and a calendar begins. · The Hijra
- The Constitution of Medina — A pact between the emigrants, the Ansar and the Jews: what the document says about the new society. · The Constitution of Medina
- Badr and after — The first battles with Quraysh: their causes and consequences as the sources tell them. · The Battle of Badr
- Hudaybiyya and the conquest of Mecca — A treaty, then an entry into Mecca almost without fighting: negotiation as a political tool. · The Treaty of Hudaybiyya · The Conquest of Mecca (Fath Makka)
- The Rashidun caliphate — How the four caliphs were chosen, and how a land from Egypt to Persia was governed. · Rashidun Caliphate
- The Umayyads and Damascus — A hereditary state in an ancient capital: administration, coinage, language and the great mosques. · Umayyad Caliphate · Damascus
Worksheet
Answer in your own words after each step; every question points back to a museum page.
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Which three powers surrounded Arabia in 600, and how did they affect Mecca's trade?
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Read the Constitution of Medina in the museum: name two clauses and what they say about relations between groups.
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Why do historians treat Hudaybiyya as a greater turning point than Badr?
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Compare how the caliph was chosen in the Rashidun period with Umayyad hereditary succession.
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Which factor do you judge most important in the state's expansion to 750? Support it with a step from the pathway.
Answer key
Each worksheet question is answered by one step; the number points to the step.
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Which three powers surrounded Arabia in 600, and how did they affect Mecca's trade?
1 Arabia before Islam — Tribes, trade and the surrounding powers: Byzantium, Persia and Abyssinia. · Pre-Islamic Arabia · Mecca
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Read the Constitution of Medina in the museum: name two clauses and what they say about relations between groups.
4 The Constitution of Medina — A pact between the emigrants, the Ansar and the Jews: what the document says about the new society. · The Constitution of Medina
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Why do historians treat Hudaybiyya as a greater turning point than Badr?
6 Hudaybiyya and the conquest of Mecca — A treaty, then an entry into Mecca almost without fighting: negotiation as a political tool. · The Treaty of Hudaybiyya · The Conquest of Mecca (Fath Makka)
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Compare how the caliph was chosen in the Rashidun period with Umayyad hereditary succession.
7 The Rashidun caliphate — How the four caliphs were chosen, and how a land from Egypt to Persia was governed. · Rashidun Caliphate
8 The Umayyads and Damascus — A hereditary state in an ancient capital: administration, coinage, language and the great mosques. · Umayyad Caliphate · Damascus
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Which factor do you judge most important in the state's expansion to 750? Support it with a step from the pathway.
3 The Hijra — 622: the community moves to Yathrib, and a calendar begins. · The Hijra
6 Hudaybiyya and the conquest of Mecca — A treaty, then an entry into Mecca almost without fighting: negotiation as a political tool. · The Treaty of Hudaybiyya · The Conquest of Mecca (Fath Makka)
8 The Umayyads and Damascus — A hereditary state in an ancient capital: administration, coinage, language and the great mosques. · Umayyad Caliphate · Damascus
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