Master Program - Arab-Islamic History

The Department of History offers an MA degree program in Arab-Islamic History consisting of 36 credit hours. This MA program gives students the opportunity to choose one of two tracks: writing an MA thesis, or completing two seminar courses and successfully passing the comprehensive oral exam.

Admission Requirements:
The council of the program and the Academic Council may require additional prerequisite courses for the applicant if he or she does not have a BA in history.

Program Requirements:
Students must complete at least 36 credit hours as detailed below: 

a. Core Courses:
Students must complete the following 15 required credit hours:

AMHI630 Methodologies of History.

AMHI631 Sources of Muslim History.

AMHI632 Sources of the Modern History of the Arab World.

AMHI633 Political Systems and Political Movements in Muslim History.

AMHI634 The West and Liberation Issues in the Modern Arab World.

b. Elective Courses:
Students should complete at least 15 elective credit hours from the following courses:

AMHI635 Sources of the Modern History of Palestine .

AMHI730 Political Transformation of Palestine in Modern and Contemporary History.

AMHI731 Muslim Armies in the Middle Ages.

AMHI732 Arabs under Ottoman Rule.

AMHI733 Muslim Economic Systems in the Middle Ages.

AMHI734 Social History of the Modern Arab World.

AMHI735 Egypt and Syria in the Middle Ages

AMHI736 Daily life in Muslim Medieval Societies.

AMHI737 Scientific Thinking in the History of the Muslims.

AMHI738 Islam and Modernity.

AMHI739 Special Topic.

* Students may take a maximum of six hours (two courses) from other MA programs at Birzeit University

c. Research Component: Finishing the requirements of one of the two following tracks:

After finishing 12 credit hours of the program’s requirements or more, students should choose one of the following two tracks. When taking a decision in this regard, the qualifications of the student and the Program’s capacities in track A are taken into consideration.

1. Track A: completion of AMHI 860 Thesis

2. Track B:

a. Completion of two seminar courses:

AMHI830 Selected Topics in Muslim History

AMHI831 Selected Topics in Modern Arab History

b. Passing the Comprehensive Oral Examination