Concepts

Question 1

Five pillars of Islam

Answer 1

1. Professing of the faith (Shahada)
2. Pilgrimage to Mecca (Hadj)
3. Five daily prayers (salat)
4. Fasting during Ramadan (sawm)
5. Charity to the needy (Zaqat)

Question 2

Shahada

Answer 2

The professing of the faith

Question 3

Hadj

Answer 3

The pilgrimage to Mecca

Question 4

Zaqat

Answer 4

Charity to the needy

Question 5

Hijra

Answer 5

Muhammad’s emigration to Medina in 622

Question 6

Medina

Answer 6

First named “City of the Prophet”, previously Yathrib

Location: Saudi Arabia

Question 7

Qur’an

Answer 7

“Recitation”; literally the word of God in text form

Question 8

Caliph

Answer 8

Successor of Muhammad; new leader of the Muslim community

Not a prophet

Question 9

Emirate

Answer 9

Political territory that is ruled by a dynastic Islamic monarch styled emir.

An emirate is usually within a caliphate.

Question 10

Caliphate

Answer 10

Territory under the leadership of an Islamic steward known as a caliph

Question 11

Minaret

Answer 11

a tall slender tower, typically part of a mosque, with a balcony from which a muezzin calls Muslims to prayer.

Also a symbol of the presence of Islam

Image: Minaret in Samarra

Question 12

Muezzin

Answer 12

person who calls Muslims to prayer from the minaret of a mosque

Question 13

Qibla

Answer 13

The direction (towards the Ka’aba) faced during prayer.

Question 14

Masjid

Answer 14

Pre-Islamic word meaning mosque. Means “the place where one bowns before God”.

Plural masajid.

Question 15

Imam

Answer 15

Leader of prayer

Question 16

Minbar

Answer 16

a short flight of steps used as a platform by a preacher in a mosque for the Friday sermon.

Can also be seen as a symbol of authority

Question 17

Mihrab

Answer 17

niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the qibla

Image: Mihrab of the Great Mosque of Córdoba, c. 768

Question 18

Sahn

Answer 18

• Courtyard of the mosque
• In many mosques, the large prayer hall is adjoined to an open courtyard
• In the courtyard there’s often a fountain fountain, important for the ablutions (ritual cleansing) before prayer.

Question 19

Umma

Answer 19

Islamic community, term appears in 7^th century

Question 20

Hypostyle Mosque

Answer 20

• Mosque in which the prayer hall is formed of rows of vertical supports, or columns, that can multiply indefinitely.
• Large courtyard is surrounded by long rooms supported by columns

Image: Sahn and minaret of the Great Mosque of Kairouan, Tunisia, c. 836-75

Question 21

Qubba

Answer 21

Dome. Most mosques have one or more qubba.

Question 22

Iwan

Answer 22

Vaulted space that opens to a courtyard

Developed in pre-Islamic Iran

Image: Iwan in Ctesiphon, Iraq, c. 560

Question 23

Four-iwan mosque

Answer 23

• Mosque in which each wall of the courtyard is punctuated with a vaulted hall (an iwan)
• Qibla iwan is often the largest and most decorated one
• Developed in 11^th century and became widespread in the 12^th century

Image: Plan of the Great Mosque of Isfahan, Iran, 11-17^th centuries.

Question 24

What does calligraphy in Islamic art state?

Answer 24

Qur’anic verses and often the name of the patron and artist.

Question 25

Indicate the relation between patronage and zaqat.

Answer 25

• The commissioning of a mosque would be seen as a pious act on the part of a ruler or other wealthy patron because of the zaqat.
• But patronage also emphasized the power of the ruler

Question 26

What are the two types of mosque?

Answer 26

1. Common oratory mosque for daily rituals like the salat
2. Congregational mosque for the Friday prayers (masjid al-Jami)

Question 27

What are the functions of the mosque?

Answer 27

• A meeting place for prayers, ritual ablutions, reading of sacred texts, and discussions on theology and all issues related to the Muslim community life.
• Originally, the mosque was altogether a council chamber, courtroom, treasury, military quarter and asylum.

Question 28

What are the three main holy sites of Islam?

Answer 28

1. The Ka’aba
2. Medina, where Muhammad built the first mosque
3. Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock (on the site of Solomon’s Temple) in Jerusalem, associated with Muhammad’s isra and miraj

Question 29

Which conquests occurred in 633-40?

Answer 29

Syria, Palestine (Byzantine territories) and Iraq (Sasanian)

Question 30

642

Answer 30

Conquest of Egypt

Question 31

651

Answer 31

Conquest of western Iran

Question 32

710

Answer 32

Muslim army reaches Indus river

Question 33

711

Answer 33

Conquest of (most of) Spain

Question 34

751

Answer 34

Muslims reach Tachkent (Uzbekistan)

Question 35

Who were the Berbers?

Answer 35

Indigenous people from North Africa who helped the Muslim Arab army with some conquests, like the 711 conquest of Spain (except Galicia and Asturias)

Source: The Met

Question 36

Haram al-Sharif

Answer 36

The Temple Mount.

Location of the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque