1. Who were the Mamluks and how did they rise to power in Egypt?

2. How did the development of new sea routes by Europeans affect Mamluk power and prosperity?

1. What role did the Seljuk Turks play in challenging Abbasid authority in the Middle East?

1. Why did European Christians organize Crusader armies, and what change in policy prompted this response?

1. What was the significance of the Mongol conquest of the Abbasid Empire in 1258?

1. How did shifts in trade routes away from Baghdad contribute to the decline of the Abbasid Empire?

2. What specific problems resulted from Baghdad's loss of wealth and population?

1. What were three major ways Islamic scholars preserved and transmitted knowledge from other cultures?

1. What were the major contributions of Nasir al-Din al-Tusi to Islamic scholarship and science?

2. How did Ibn Khaldun and 'A'ishah al-Ba'uniyyah represent different intellectual traditions within Islamic civilization?

3. What was Sufism and how did Sufi missionaries contribute to the spread of Islam?

1. Why were merchants held in high regard in Islamic society compared to other contemporary societies?

2. How did Islamic policies regarding non-Arab populations and non-Muslims change over time?

3. What were the key differences between slavery in Islamic societies and hereditary slavery in other regions?

4. What opportunities and limitations did enslaved women face in Islamic society?

1. What specific policies did Muhammad implement to improve the status of women in Islamic society?

1. What legal and economic rights did Islamic women possess compared to Christian and Jewish women?

2. How did the rise of towns and cities affect women's rights in Islamic-ruled areas?

1. What was the significance of the Battle of Tours in 732 for Islamic expansion into Western Europe?

1. How did Umayyad rulers in Córdoba create conditions for prosperity and coexistence among different religious groups?

2. What role did dhows play in Islamic trade networks in Spain?

1. How did al-Andalus serve as a center of learning and cultural exchange among Muslims, Christians, and Jews?

2. How did Islamic scholarship from Spain influence European intellectual development, particularly through figures like Ibn Rushd and Maimonides?