Chapter 8 - Rise of Islam

Question 1

Mecca

Answer 1

City in western Arabia; birthplace of the prophet Muhammad and ritual center of the Islamic religion.

Question 2

Muhammad

Answer 2

Arab prophet; founder of religion of Islam

Question 3

Muslim

Answer 3

An adherent of the Islamic religion; a person who ‘submits’ (in Arabic, Islam means ‘submission’)to the will of God.

Question 4

Islam

Answer 4

Religion expounded by the Prophet Muhammad on the basis of his reception of divine revelations, which were collected after his death into the Quran. In the tradition of Judaism and Christianity, and sharing much of their lore, Islam calls on all people to recognize on creator god-Allah-who rewards or punishes believers after death according to how they led their lives.

Question 5

Medina

Answer 5

City in western Arabis to which the Prophet Muhammad and his followers emigrated in 622 to escape persecution in Mecca

Question 6

umma

Answer 6

The community of all Muslims. A major innovation against the background of seventh-centruy Arabia, where traditionally kinship rather than faith had determined membership in a community.

Question 7

Caliphate

Answer 7

Office established in succession to the Prophet Muhammad, to rule the Islamic empire; also the name of that empire.

Question 8

Quran

Answer 8

Book composed of divine revelations made to the Prophet Muhammad between ca.610 and his death in 632; the sacred text of the religion of Islam

Question 9

mamluks

Answer 9

Under the Islamic system of military slavery, Turkic military slaves who formed an important part of the armed forces of the Abbasid Caliphate of the ninth and tenth centuries. Mamluks eventually founded their own state, ruling Egypt and Syria.

Question 10

Ghana

Answer 10

First known kingdom in sub-Saharan West Africa between the sixth and thirteenth centuries. also the modern West African country once known as the Gold Coast.

Question 11

Mosque of Ibn Tulun in Fustat

Answer 11

Completed in 877, this mosque symbolized Egypt becoming for the first time a quasi-independent province under its governor. The kiosk in the center of the courtyard contains fountains for washing before prayer. Before its restoration in the thirteenth century, the mosque had a door to an adjoining governor’s palace.

Question 12

Tomb of the Samanids in Bukhara

Answer 12

This early-tenth-century structure had the basic layout of a Zoroastrian fire temple: a dome on top of a cube. However, geometric ornamentation in baked brick marks it as an early masterpiece of Islamic architecture. The Samanid family achieved independence as rulers of northeastern Iran and western Central Asia in the tenth century

Question 13

Ulama

Answer 13

Muslim religious scholars. From the ninth century onward, the primary interpreters of Islamic law and the social core of Muslim urban societies.

Question 14

Hadith

Answer 14

A tradition relation the words or deeds of the Prophet Muhammad; next to the Quran, the most important basis for Islamic law.

Question 15

Baghdad Bookstore

Answer 15

With the advent of paper making, manufacturing books became increasing common and inexpensive. As a result, bookstores also became more common.

Question 16

Caravan Trade

Answer 16

Caravan trading provided a rare link among peoples. Return caravans brought manufactured products form Mesopotamia and Syria.

Question 17

Early Expansion of Muslim Rule

Answer 17

Arab conquests of the first Islamic century brought vast territory under Muslim rule, but conversion to Islam proceeded slowly. In most areas outside the Arabian peninsula, the only region where Arabic was then spoken, conversion did not accelerate until the third century after the conquest.

Question 18

Shi’ites

Answer 18

Muslims belonging to the branch of Islam believing that God vests leadership of the community in a descendant of Muhammad’s son-in-law Ali. Shi’ism is the state religion on Iran.

Question 19

Umayyard Caliphate

Answer 19

First hereditary dynasty of Muslim caliphs (661 to 750). From their capital at Damascus, the Umayyads ruled an empire that extended from Spain to India. Overthrown by the Abbasid Caliphate.

Question 20

Sunnis

Answer 20

Muslim belonging to branch of Islam believing that the community should select its own leadership. The majority religion in most Islamic countries.