Deck 2: The Development of Islamic Civilization to the Fifteenth Century

Question 1

What process created the most significant agricultural revolution in world history between the adoption of sedentary agriculture and the European discovery of the Americas?

A) The transfer of crops from China to the Middle East and the Mediterranean basin
B) The transfer of crops from India to the Middle East and the Mediterranean basin
C) The transfer of crops from Africa to the Middle East and the Mediterranean basin
D) The transfer of crops from Europe to the Middle East and the Mediterranean basin

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Through their conquests and settlement of diverse climatic regions and the establishment of vast trading networks, the Arabs served as catalysts for ____________.

A) intense overpopulation
B) an agricultural revolution
C) commercial stagnation
D) political instability

Answer 2

B

Question 3

The Muslim day of communal worship is

A) Sunday
B) Saturday
C) Wednesday
D) Friday

Answer 3

D

Question 4

With whom did Muhammad associate the origins of the shrine Ka'ba in Mecca?

A) Abraham
B) Gabriel
C) The ummah
D) Early Baghdad merchants

Question 5

Muslims who believed that the successors to Muhammad should come from within his own family and who believed Muhammad chose his son-in-law and cousin, Ali, to succeed him as caliph are _____________.

A) Sunnis
B) Wahhabis
C) fundamentalists
D) Shi'as

Question 6

The Five Pillars of Faith include prayer, fasting, the pilgrimage to Mecca, alms (charity), and __________.

A) jihad
B) the proclamation of faith
C) sunnah
D) adherence to shari'ah

Question 7

In 1258 the Mongol invasions destroyed ____________, which was formerly an important center of commercial and intellectual life, as well as the symbolic center of Islam at the time.

A) Mecca
B) Medina
C) Damascus
D) Baghdad

Question 8

In 1260, which forces defeated the Mongols?

A) the Mamluks
B) the Seljuks
C) the armies of Timur Lang
D) the Quraysh

Question 9

At the beginning of the ninth century, which city was under the Abbasid administration?

A) Tripoli
B) Fez
C) Tunis
D) Samarkand

Question 10

During the Abbasid Empire, high Islamic society's intellectual adventures were limited to poetry and the arts.

A) False. High Islamic society preferred Greek philosophy over poetry and the arts.
B) False. Scholars, mathematicians, chemists, physicians and others were recruited by Abbasid administrators and made appearances in high courts.
C) True. Only religious poetry and art were allowed to be transported along the caravan routes and sea-lanes.
D) True. Secular ideas were not a part of high Islamic society.

Question 11

Which city came to be seen as a global center of commerce, art, and intellect between the ninth and thirteenth centuries?

A) Baghdad
B) Damascus
C) Mecca
D) Jerusalem

Question 12

The Abbasid conquests of diverse climatic regions and the establishment of vast trading networks led to which of the following developments?

A) The growth of large urban centers
B) The development of an international market
C) An agricultural revolution
D) All of the answers are correct

Question 13

Which of the following does NOT accurately describe the Islamic concept of jihad?

A) It is one of the five pillars of faith in Islam
B) It has been invoked by modern movements as an instrument of political protest
C) It can refer to an individual's internal struggle against sinful inclinations
D) It can refer to exceptional efforts performed on behalf of the Islamic community

Question 14

Muslims believe that Muhammad is:

A) The only prophet of God
B) The last prophet of God
C) The first prophet of God
D) A physical manifestation of God on Earth

Question 15

Which of the following most accurately describes Sufism?

A) It began as an ascetic movement among individuals who opposed the worldliness of the Umayyad court
B) It focused on formal intellectualism rather than emotional religious experience
C) Its doctrines were taught in madrasahs, where they developed a uniformity that was transmitted across the Islamic world
D) All of the answers are correct

Question 16

Which of the following men is considered the first prophet in Islam?

A) Abraham
B) Jesus
C) Muhammad
D) Ali

Question 17

Which of the following made significant scholarly contributions to revitalizing ancient Greek works during the reign of al-Ma'mun?

A) Ibn Rushd
B) Mu'awiyah
C) Galen
D) Ibn Battuta

Question 18

Paper manufacturing spread throughout the world of Islam in the late eighth century by way of:

A) Merchants from China
B) Minor changes made to the existing parchment and papyrus technology
C) Arab victory over a Chinese naval force
D) None of the answers is correct

Question 19

The majority of Shi'a Muslims believe:

A) That Abu Bakr was the rightful immediate successor to Muhammad
B) The imamate has continued uninterrupted to the present day
C) The Twelfth Imam disappeared in the ninth century and is expected to return at some point before Judgment DayD) The Hidden Imam is the Ayatollah Khomeini who led the Iranian Revolution of 1979

Question 20

Which of the following empires is seen as having set the stage for the Ottomans later coming to power in Anatolia?

A) The Mongols
B) The Mamluks
C) The Qajars
D) The Seljuks

Question 21

According to the Quran, if they an afford it, all Muslims should make the pilgrimage to Mecca and its shrine at least once in their lives.

Question 22

The fall of the Abbasid Empire in 1258 lead to a "dark age" of Islamic culture, because no regional empires/dynasties existed alongside the Abbasid Empire.

Question 23

Inheritance regulations in the Quran instituted major advances for women by establishing fixed shares of the deceased's estate to wives, daughters, sisters, and grandmothers.

Question 24

The threat to the Islamic world posed by the European Crusaders in the eleventh and twelfth centuries was greater than that posed by the Mongol conquests of the thirteenth century.

Question 25

Sunnis consider Imams to be divinely inspired vessels through which God provided his uninterrupted guidance to human society.

Question 26

Given the breadth of Islam's presence, unique regional practices and interpretations emerged. The __________________ unites all interpretations of Islam by issuing its core requirements.

Question 27

Disputes over the succession to the caliphate led to a Muslim __________________ that pitted the supporters of Ali against founders of the Umayyad dynasty.

Question 28

Shi'as consider ___________ to be divinely inspired; they are the vessels through which God provided his uninterrupted guidance to humansociety.

Question 29

During the ninth century, __________________, or Islamic mysticism, evolved into a devotional movement centered on the love of God.

Question 30

The ______________, a confederation of Turkish tribes, established domination over Iran by the middle of the eleventh century.

Question 31

Name and briefly explain the four sources that contribute to shari'ah.

Question 32

Explain the obligation of jihad.

Question 33

Compare and contrast the status of women in pre-Islamic Arabia and the status of women after Quranic reforms.

Question 34

Explain the Shi'a/Sunni divide.

Question 35

Who are the ulama? What role do they perform?

Question 36

How did the status of women in the Arabian Peninsula change with the advent of Islam in the territory?

Question 37

What is shari'ah? From which four sources are its precepts derived?

Question 38

What is sufism? How did it begin and how did it develop over the years?

Question 39

Briefly describe the effects that the Mongol invasions had on the Islamic world.

Question 40

Explain the source of the division between Sunnis and Shi'as? How has this affected the way in which each group respectively views religious leadership?

Question 41

Did the fall of the Abbasid Empire in 1258 lead to a "dark age" of Islamic culture? Explain.