Islam, Iran, and the West

Iran and Islam have had a long and complicated relationship. This course covers the rise of Islam, its expansion in Iran, forms of resistance to and acceptance of Islamic ideas in Iran, the rise of Shiism and the impact of Iran on the development of Sufism. The influence of Muslim thinkers from Iran on the rise of the Renaissance in Europe is examined. And finally, the course focuses on the varieties of Islamic responses to modernity in Iran in the last century.