This course will trace Islamic history, paying keen attention to the development of the Islamic religion as wee as the political, social, cultural, gender, and legal history of Muslin societies.  Beginning with an examination of the pre-Islamic societies and the traditions from which Islam arose, the course explores the coming of Mohammed, the spread of Islam, the Crusades, the Ottoman Empire, Islamic nationalism and fundamentalism into the twenty-first century, and the Israel/Palestine conflict.