014035 SE M2: Faith (2025S)

This lecture offers a well-founded introduction to the historical development of Islam from its pre-Islamic origins to the consolidation of Seljuk rule. In doing so, it considers central political, social and religious transformation processes in a longue-durée perspective that shaped the genesis and structural formation of the Islamic world.

The first part of the lecture is dedicated to the pre-Islamic Arabian Peninsula as a religiously and culturally heterogeneous space. In addition to local Arab, henotheistic traditions, the role of so-called Pagan Monotheism and the Ḥanīfs as a religious movement of seekers will be discussed. The Jewish and Oriental Christian communities in Arabia will also be examined, as their presence and theological concepts were important for the later Islamic discourse.

This is followed by a detailed analysis of the biography of the Prophet Muhammad (Sīra), divided into the Meccan phase, which was characterised by Qur'anic revelation and social tensions, and the Medinan period, in which the first political community of Muslims was established. Particular attention is paid here to the religious and legal implications of the prophetic period and to interreligious relations with Jewish and Christian actors.

The political consolidation of Islam after the death of Muhammad is the focus of the next section. The phase of the four ‘righteous’ caliphs is discussed as a formative period of Islamic rule, in which the question of political succession (ḫilāfa) caused the first profound conflicts within the Umma. These inner-Islamic tensions culminated under the Umayyads, who transformed the caliphate into a centralised system of rule by establishing a hereditary dynasty. In addition to the political structures, the question of a possible paradigm shift in religious thought is discussed, particularly with regard to the early history of Islamic theology (Kalām) and the emerging discourse on a ‘cultural Islam’.

The Abbasid change of power marks the beginning of a new phase in Islamic history, one that was accompanied by an increasing fragmentation of political authority. At the same time, however, the Abbasid period marked a golden age of Islamic scholarship and science, while the Sunni-Shiite antagonism became further institutionalised. In this context, the genesis of Shiite Islam will be treated from both a historical and theological perspective, including the development of central beliefs and ritual practices.

The lecture concludes with the Seljuq period, which is considered to have paved the way for the systematic institutionalisation of Sunni scholarship. Particular attention is paid to the establishment of the madrasas as centres of education, the promotion of theological discourse and the development of Islamic mysticism (tasawwuf). The Seljuk expansion is also contextualised in terms of its significance for the political reorganisation of the Islamic world.

This lecture provides an analytically sound understanding of the historical development of Islam up to the Seljuk period and enables a reflective examination of the structural dynamics that shaped the Islamic world up to the modern era.