Learn/ Educators/ Curriculum Resources/ Art of the Islamic World/ Unit One: Islam and Religious Art/ Suggested Readings and Resources

Suggested Readings and Resources

The Five Pillars of Islam

Armstrong, Karen. Islam: A Short History. New York: Modern Library, 2002.
High school

Bloom, Jonathan, and Sheila Blair. Islam: A Thousand Years of Faith and Power. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002.
Middle school; high school
Handbook to the PBS video Islam: Empire of Faith. See especially chapter 3.

"Sources of Faith." Islam: Empire of Faith. DVD. 163 min. Arlington, Va.: PBS Home Video, 2000. A series of three programs that trace the rise of early Islamic civilization through scholarly interviews, evocative reenactments, and an exposition of Islamic art, artifacts, and architecture. See also the companion website and handbook, Islam: A Thousand Years of Faith and Power, above.

Esposito, John L. What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam. 2d ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
High school
An excellent reference for students and educators, presented in question-and-answer format.

Khan, Hena, and Julie Paschkis. Night of the Moon: A Muslim Holiday Story. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2008.
Elementary school


The Prophet Muhammad and His Life

Armstrong, Karen. Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time. Eminent Lives. New York: Atlas Books/HarperCollins, 2006.
High school

Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet. Film website. Menlo Park, Calif.: Kikim Media, 2002.
See also a highly informative online companion to the film Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet.

Yalman, Suzan. Based on original work by Linda Komaroff. "The Birth of Islam." In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.
High school


The Mosque

Grazda, Edward, and Jerrilyn D. Dodds. New York Masjid: The Mosques of New York City. New York: powerHouse Books, 2002.
High school
An exploration of the mosques of New York with beautiful black-and-white photos.

Macaulay, David. Mosque. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003.
Elementary school; middle school
An in-depth look at the process of building a mosque in sixteenth-century Istanbul.


Previous Section Next Section