11.7: Review Questions

Review Questions

1.

What two empires were at war during much of Muhammad’s prophetic career?

1. the Mughal and the Sasanians
2. the Byzantines and the Sasanians
3. the Byzantines and the Aksumites
4. the Himyarites and the Holy Roman Empire

2.

According to Muslim belief, which of the following statements is true?

1. Muhammad was the first in a long line of monotheistic prophets.
2. Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad were the same person.
3. Muslims worship the same God as Jewish people and Christians.
4. Islam is a polytheistic faith.

3.

What is the holy scripture of Islam?

1. Quran
2. Torah
3. Bible
4. Kaaba

4.

What united the members of Muhammad’s ummah?

1. the use of the Arabic language and service to the Byzantine Empire
2. the belief in one God, Muhammad’s leadership, and mutual defense
3. previous membership in the Jewish faith
4. residence in the city of Mecca

5.

What state was defeated and assimilated into the early Islamic state?

1. Han China
2. Aksumite Ethiopia
3. Byzantine Empire
4. Sasanian Persia

6.

In the earliest decades of Muslim rule, what was the most important differentiator of status?

1. Muslim versus non-Muslim
2. Arab versus Persian
3. conqueror versus conquered
4. Byzantine versus Roman

7.

Who were the mawali in early Islamic society?

1. non-Arab converts to Islam
2. religious leaders of the young Muslim community
3. caravan traders traveling along the Silk Roads
4. the first dynasty of Islam

8.

What were the Ridda Wars?

1. a conflict between Muslims and other Arab tribes that began the conquest of Arabia
2. the Arab-Muslim invasion of Sasanian Persia
3. the first Islamic civil war
4. an uprising of enslaved people against the Umayyad dynasty

9.

Why did the Muslims create Baghdad as a new capital city?

1. No other cities were hospitable to the Arabs, so they needed to build their own.
2. The Abbasids wanted to return the capital of their empire to Arabia.
3. The Byzantines recaptured the old capital city of Damascus.
4. The center of the Islamic world was shifting eastward after the Abbasid Revolution.

10.

Where was the province of Khurasan located?

1. Western Arabia
2. Northeastern Persia
3. Southeastern Persia
4. North Africa

11.

What did the process of Islamization look like during the early Abbasid period?

1. Christians adopted the Arabic language and Islamic forms of dress while not necessarily converting to Islam.
2. The entire Indigenous population of the Middle East and North Africa converted to Islam.
3. People feared Muslims and the Muslim faith more generally.
4. Arab-Muslims refused to allow any non-Arabs to convert to Islam.

12.

What was a defining feature of the earliest supporters of Ali, who became the Shia?

1. the refusal to recognize Muhammad as an Islamic prophet
2. the elevation of the family of Muhammad through his son in-law Ali
3. a belief in multiple gods that are subservient to the one God of Islam
4. the refusal to support the Abbasid family over the Umayyads in the Abbasid Revolution