Cookie Policy

Our website uses cookies to understand content and feature usage to drive site improvements over time. To learn more, review our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Dar al-Islam

Driving Question: How did the spread of Islam influence human communities and networks in Afro-Eurasia during this period?

Dar al-Islam is Arabic for The House of Islam. It’s a way of describing the Islamic world—the vast regions controlled by Muslim rulers and linked by the Islamic faith. Stretching from West Africa to Indonesia, Dar al-Islam encompassed a vast array of cultures, languages, and traditions in this period, all connected by a shared Islamic culture.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Assess the role that the Islamic Golden Age played in Afro-Eurasian states and networks.
  2. Use the historical thinking practice of contextualization to assess how Mansa Musa was able to make his journey during this historical period.
  3. Use a graphic biography to support, extend, or challenge the overarching narratives of this period.

Vocab Terms:

  • belief system
  • contextualize
  • maritime
  • migration
  • mosque
  • profit
  • trade
STEP 1

Opener: Dar al-Islam

Teaching Tools

Looking for an at-a-glance explanation of how OER Project: World History approaches contextualization? Take a look at our one-pager on the topic.

STEP 2

Contextualizing History

Teaching Tools

Take a look at our claim testing one-pager if you’re looking for a quick refresher of this vital skill.

To see where we’re going, we have to remember where we’ve been. That might sound like something from a self-help book, but you’ll soon see why knowing the context for an event is so important.

STEP 3

The Golden Age of Islam

Teaching Tools

Want to know more about Islamic scholars from this time period? Take a look at what our Big History course has to offer on that topic.

A vast expanse of Afro-Eurasia was connected by the shared cultural and religious system of Islam. Even after empires declined, these cultural ties continued to thicken.

STEP 4

The Crusades

How did centuries-long wars between Christians and Muslims lead to productive cultural and scientific exchange? It doesn’t seem like war would be great for intellectual reciprocity, but stranger things have happened.

Causes and Consequences of the Crusades External link

The Crusades were a centuries-long struggle between Christian and Muslim kingdoms, as they struggled for control of the Holy Lands. Yet, these conflicts also created new connections and promoted new ideas.

Key Ideas

As this video progresses, key ideas will be introduced to invoke discussion.
STEP 5

Mansa Musa

Teaching Tools

Want to read about classes having fun with contextualization? Check out this conversation External link in the OER Project Teacher Community.

Did you know that the wealthiest person in world history lived in fourteenth-century West Africa? Learn how Mansa Musa embraced Islam and reshaped the economics of Afro-Eurasia.

Mansa Musa and Islam in Africa: Crash Course World History #16 External link

As trade recovered across Afro-Eurasia, new states expanded in parts of Africa. These states exerted influence over Islamic trade networks. History’s wealthiest man provides us a unique window on this period.

Key Ideas

As this video progresses, key ideas will be introduced to invoke discussion.
STEP 6

Closer: Dar al-Islam

Teaching Tools

Check out this tool to help students get the most out of reading graphic biographies.