Department of Islamic History and Civilization

Praise be to Allah Alone and peace be upon the Last Prophet,

The mainstay of higher education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was marked by the establishment of the College of Shari'ah and Islamic Studies in Makkah in 1369 A.H. by the order of King Abdul-Aziz bin Abd Al-Rahman Al Sa'ud, may he rest in peace.

The Department of Islamic History and Civilization was founded in 1385/1386 A.H. and it was the third one besides the departments of Shari'ah and Arabic language. This denotes the importance of history in the life of nations as it is closely related to Man and the stages of his development. History is also associated with the Shari'ah; Military campaigns of the Prophet; the basis of history, was inspired by the science and scholars of Hadith. 

It is well-known that Makkah, may Allah bless it, is the cradle of Islam. It is where the call for monotheism started, the heart of the Islamic nation lies, and the origins of Islamic culture were formed. Therefore, it was the duty of the ancient university Umm Al-Qura to include a department that teaches Islamic history in courses starting from the dawn of Islam to the present day besides the history of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the history of humanity throughout the ages. In addition, the department is concerned with teaching Islamic civilization and systems.    

The Department's objectives can be summed up as follows:

(1) Enhancing studies of history and civilization, reviving Islamic heritage and highlighting the achievements in construction, industry, Islamic systems in politics, economy, education, management and other fields that Muslims presented as effective examples of development.

 (2) Graduating teachers specialized in history and Islamic civilization to work in the Ministry of Education.

 (3) The department seeks to graduate learned individuals who are specialized in history and Islamic civilization and have the capability to work in some fields that require a background knowledge of history and civilization such as The Muslim World League and its subsidiaries distributed all over the world as well as the Ministry of Interior, Foreign Affairs, Culture and Media, Research Administration and the cultural subsidiaries in embassies and consulates all over the world, Tourism, Heritage and others.

 (4) The department also seeks to find academics and researchers in Islamic history and civilization because this is the basis for the BA degree that the department grants so as to make up for the shortage in teaching staff in the department as well as the department of historical and civilizational postgraduate studies.

The Department has undergone many stages of change and development in its administrative authority and academic content in which it worked on enhancing its curricula regularly in an effort to meet the needs of the nation and the job market. It has become a specialized academic authority in Umm Al-Qura University, the edifice of knowledge in our great country.  

A. Establishment:

The Department of Islamic History and Civilization was founded during the academic year 1385/1386 A.H. to graduate teachers and individuals specialized in history. As from the academic year 1389/1390 A.H, it started to admit female students. In 1395/1396 A.H. the specialization in civilization became an independent department (The Department of Islamic Civilization and Regimes) and in 1421 A.H, it was integrated with the Department of Islamic History and became known under its first name (Department of History and Islamic Civilization). The department requires a student's successful fulfillment of 148 credit hours in eight levels, ranging from 14 to 21 credit hours for each, for four years of study. It awards the Bachelor's Degree in Islamic History and Civilization. All teaching staff is Saudi Arabian with the exception of one staff member, specialized in ancient history.