Muslims Cities Then and Now: A Supplementary Social Studies Unit for Third Grade This unit is the fourth in a series of supplementary units for use in Muslim school social studies programs. The underlying assumption is that most such schools will use mainstream curricula as a starting point. While it is certainly desirable and necessary to produce a complete Islamic social studies curriculum, it is a task best taken on step by step. In the meantime, it seems most productive to design supplements that are integrated into topics typically studied at a given grade level, while introducing content vital to the development of Muslim identity, values and world view. At the same time, it is hoped that the issues covered in these units are of such importance that they might become integrated into a complete Islamic curriculum. An important requirement in the design of this supplementary series is that each unit feature skills and concepts typical for the scope and sequence of the social studies curriculum in its grade level. In this way, the teacher can introduce information about the Islamic heritage using material that is well integrated into the existing social studies program. This feature of the design also makes it possible to substitute this material for unsatisfactory or unnecessary material from standard textbooks, to avoid overburdening the students. Susan Douglass has an M.A. in Arab Studies from the Georgetown University Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, and a B.A. in History from the University of Rochester. She is a doctoral candidate in world history at George Mason University. During 2006, she served as Senior Researcher for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations initiative, and served as an Affiliated Scholar with the Council on Islamic Education for a decade. Major publications include World Eras: Rise and Spread of Islam, 622-1500 (Thompson/Gale, 2002), teaching resources for the Council on Islamic Education and the National Center for History i…