Chapter 11 Vocab

Question 1

Abbasid caliphate

Answer 1

Dynasty of caliphs who ruled an increasingly fragmented Islamic state from 750 to 1258, eventually becoming little more than figureheads.

Question 2

al-Andalus

Answer 2

Arabic name for Spain (literally “the land of the Vandals”), most of which was conquered by Arab and Berber forces in the early eighth century C.E.

Question 3

Anatolia

Answer 3

AnatoliaAncient name of Asia Minor, part of the Byzantine Empire that was gradually overrun by the Turks and that now is the Republic of Turkey.

Question 4

Battle of Talas River

Answer 4

Arab victory over the Chinese in 751 C.E. that checked Chinese expansion to the west and enabled the conversion of Central Asia to Islam.

Question 5

Bedouins

Answer 5

Nomadic Arabs.

Question 6

dhimmis

Answer 6

“Protected subjects” under Islamic rule, non-Muslims who were allowed to practice their faith as “people of the book” in return for their paying special taxes.

Question 7

al-Ghazali

Answer 7

Great Muslim theologian, legal scholar, and Sufi mystic (1058-1111) who was credited with incorporating Sufism into mainstream Islamic thought.

Question 8

hadiths

Answer 8

Traditions passed on about the sayings or actions of Muhammad and his immediate followers; hadiths rank second only to the Quran as a source of Islamic law.

Question 9

hajj

Answer 9

The pilgrimage to Mecca enjoined on every Muslim who is able to make the journey; one of the Five Pillars of Islam.

Question 10

House of Wisdom

Answer 10

An academic center for research and translation of foreign texts that was established in Baghdad in 830 C.E. by the Abbasid caliph al-Mamun.

Question 10

hijra

Answer 10

The “flight” of Muhammad and his original seventy followers from Mecca to Yathrib (later Medina) in 622 C.E.; the journey marks the starting point of the Islamic calendar.

Question 11

Ibn Battuta

Answer 11

Fourteenth-century Arab traveler (1304-1368) who wrote about his extensive journeys throughout the Islamic world.

Question 12

Ibn Sina

Answer 12

One of the greatest polymaths of the Islamic world (980-1037), a Persian who wrote prolifically on scientific (especially medical) and philosophical issues; he is often known as “Avicenna,” the Latinized form of his name.

Question 13

imams

Answer 13

In Shia Islam, leaders with high religious authority; the twelve imams of early Shia Islam were Muhammad’s nephew Ali and his descendants.

Question 14

jihad

Answer 14

Arabic for “struggle,” this term describes both the spiritual striving of each Muslim toward a godly life and armed struggle against the forces of unbelief and evil.

Question 15

jizya

Answer 15

Special tax paid by dhimmis in Muslim-ruled territory in return for freedom to practice their own religion.

Question 16

Kaaba

Answer 16

Great stone shrine in Mecca that was a major pilgrimage center for worshippers of many different deities before it was reconsecrated to monotheistic use by Muhammad.

Question 17

madrassas

Answer 17

Formal colleges for higher instruction in the teachings of Islam as well as in secular subjects, founded throughout the Islamic world beginning in the eleventh century.

Question 18

Mecca

Answer 18

Key pilgrimage center in Arabia that became the birthplace of Islam.

Question 19

Mozarabs

Answer 19

“Would-be Arabs” in Muslim-ruled Spain, referring to Christians who adopted much of Arabic culture and observed many Muslim practices without actually converting to Islam.

Question 20

Muhammad Ibn Abdullah

Answer 20

The Prophet of Islam (570-632 C.E.).

Question 21

Muslim

Answer 21

Literally, “one who submits”; the name was adopted by Muhammad and his followers to describe their submission to God.

Question 22

Pillars of Islam

Answer 22

The five core practices required of Muslims: a profession of faith, regular prayer, charitable giving, fasting during Ramadan, and a pilgrimage to Mecca (if financially and physically possible).

Question 23

Marco Polo

Answer 23

The most famous European traveler of the Middle Ages (1254-1324), whose travel account of his time in China was widely popular in Europe.

Question 24

Rightly Guided Caliphs

Answer 24

The first four rulers of the Islamic world (632-661) after the death of Muhammad.

Question 25

Quran

Answer 25

Also transliterated as Qur’án and Koran, this is the most holy text of Islam, recording the revelations given to the prophet Muhammad.

Question 26

sharia

Answer 26

Islamic law, dealing with all matters of both secular and religious life.

Question 27

shaykhs

Answer 27

Sufi teachers who attracted a circle of disciples and often founded individual schools of Sufism.

Question 28

Sikhism

Answer 28

A significant syncretic religion that evolved in India, blending elements of Islam and Hinduism; founded by Guru Nanak (1469-1539).

Question 29

Sufis

Answer 29

Islamic mystics, many of whom were important missionaries of Islam in conquered lands and who were revered as saints.

Question 30

Sultanate of Delhi

Answer 30

Major Turkic Muslim state established in northern India in 1206.

Question 31

Timbuktu

Answer 31

Great city of West Africa, noted as a center of Islamic scholarship in the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries.

Question 32

ulama

Answer 32

Islamic religious scholars.

Question 33

Umayyad caliphate

Answer 33

Family of caliphs who ruled the Islamic world from 661 to 750 C.E.

Question 34

umma

Answer 34

The community of all believers in Islam.