Membership in the Islamic community known as the umma was based on a common
A) territory. B) belief. C) language. D) tribe.

B

Which of the following is true of pre-Islamic Arabia?
A) Arabia had no contact with the long-distance trade networks of Eurasia.
B) The Arabian Peninsula enjoyed long periods of peace under the Bedouins.
C) Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians lived among the established Arab populations.
D) A centralized state had ruled over Arabia since the fourth century.

C

What initiated the division within Islam between the Sunnis and Shias?
A) Fear that Muslims in conquered lands were abandoning Islamic teachings
B) The imam Ali's new revelation and elaboration of the teachings of Islam
C) The belief that Husayn, the son of Ali, was the real messiah
D) Disagreement over who should assume leadership in the Islamic world

D

Which of the following was the most thoroughly Islamized region in the period from 600 to 1500?
A) Anatolia B) West Africa C) India D) Southeast Asia

A

Which of the following contributed to the rapid expansion of the Islamic/Arab Empire in the century following the death of
Muhammad?
A) The weakness of the Byzantine and Persian empires C) The violent campaigns against Christians and Jews
B) A smooth succession of caliphs selected by election D) The uniting of all Arabs behind Muhammad's relative Ali

A

Which of the following religious traditions blended elements of Hinduism and Islam?
A) Sunni Islam B) Shia Islam C) Sikhism D) Sufism

C

Which of the following statements expresses a view of women found in the Quran?
A) Women were to remain veiled and secluded. C) Women were spiritually equal to men.
B) Women were to blame for the evil in the world. D) Women were socially equal to men.

C

In contrast to the Umayyad dynasty, the caliphs of the Abbasid dynasty
A) were not challenged by the forces of local autonomy. C) did not identify themselves as Arabs.
B) allowed non-Arabs to play a prominent role in society. D) rejected Persian cultural influence.

B

Which of the following is a distinctive feature of Sufism?
A) Rejection of the idea that one can have direct or personal contact with Allah
B) The pursuit of an interior life in order to attain spiritual union with Allah
C) An exclusively male movement with no place for women
D) A trend toward secularism, materialism, and republicanism

B

Which of the following was a force that helped bind the Islamic world together?
A) The expulsion of all nonbelievers from Islamic territories
B) The successful suppression of competing religious orders
C) Political leadership over the Islamic world by Arab caliphs
D) The system of Islamic education created by the ulama

D

Which of the following was a feature of Islam that ran counter to Hinduism in India?
A) The religious inclusivity of Islam C) The eroticism of Islamic art
B) The notion of the equality of all believers D) The secular values of the Quran

B

Sufi practitioners facilitated the conversion to Islam of people living in Anatolia and India by
A) promoting the enforcement of the sharia by local Islamic rulers.
B) emphasizing personal experience of the divine rather than the law.
C) initiating campaigns to close Christian and Hindu schools.
D) freeing large numbers of slaves who agreed to convert.

B

In which region was conversion to Islam motivated by a desire to expand trading networks rather than from the result of conquest
and Islamic rule?
A) India B) Anatolia C) West Africa D) Spain

C

Which of the following was a result of the cross-regional ties created in the expanding Islamic world?
A) The disappearance of the Silk Roads as trade shifted to the Mediterranean
B) The exchange of agricultural products and practices from one region to another
C) The emergence of new systems of slave labor based on plantation crops
D) The emphasis on secularism, democracy, and reason in politics and education

B

Which of the following refers to the pilgrimage to Mecca that Muslims should try to make at least once in their lifetime?
A) Hijra B) Umma C) Jihad D) Hajj

D

The Arab Empire that accompanied the spread of Islam stretched from
A) Spain to India. B) Russia to Australia. C) the Andes to the Himalayas. D) the Gulf of Mexico to the Red Sea.

A

Why was the city of Mecca important?
A) Jews, Christians, and Muslims all regarded it as the Holy Land.
B) It was the birthplace of Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad.
C) It was the meeting point for all the major long-distance trade routes.
D) It was the site of the Kaaba, where pilgrims congregated.

D

Which of the following is a requirement for all Muslims?
A) Confession B) Almsgiving C) Baptism D) Meditation

B

Which of the following events marked the beginning of the new Islamic calendar?
A) Muhammad's birth C) Muhammad's emigration to Yathrib/Medina
B) Muhammad's realization that he was Allah's messenger D) Muhammad's conquest of Mecca

C

Which of the following contributed to the mass conversion of people living in the Middle East to Islam by the eighth century?
A) Conversion to Islam offered many financial and social benefits.
B) Subjects were forced to convert to Islam upon penalty of death.
C) Those who refused to convert to Islam were sold into slavery.
D) No religious tradition in the Middle East competed with Islam.

A

Which of the following describes the effect of Islam on West Africa?
A) Merchants rejected Islam because of its hostility toward trade.
B) Islam had the greatest influence on rulers and urban elites.
C) Farmers constituted the majority of converts to Islam.
D) The Arabic language was used by both Muslims and non-Muslims.

B

Which of the following resulted from Muslim rule in Spain?
A) The harmony and tolerance of Muslim Spain was used as a model for Christian Europe.
B) Islam became Christianized even as all of Europe came under the rule of Muslim rulers.
C) A new hybrid religion developed that blended elements of Christianity and Islam.
D) The secular aspects of Islamic learning influenced the shaping of a new European civilization.

D

Which of the following is an example of a role assumed by the ulama?
A) Ruler B) Warrior C) Judge D) Doctor

C

Which of the following was a goal of the education offered at the madrassas?
A) To preserve an established body of Islamic learning
B) To prepare young men and women for military service
C) To revise the Quran to make it relevant for contemporary society
D) To train young scholars in logic, reason, and the laws of nature

A

Which of the following refers to the sayings and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad?
A) The Quraysh B) The Islamic Green Revolution C) The Pillars of Islam D) The hadiths

D

Which of the following was an Arab innovation?
A) Papermaking B) Rockets C) Numerical notation D) Algebra

D

Islam had roots in which set of religious or philosophical traditions?
A) Hinduism, Buddhism, and Manichaeism C) Judaism, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism
B) Legalism, Daoism, and Confucianism D) Sufism, Sikhism, and Greek rationalism

C

Which of the following aspects of Arab tribal life was reinforced in the Quran?
A) Solidarity B) Hierarchy C) Pursuit of wealth D) Independence

A

In contrast to the spread of Buddhism and Christianity, the early spread of Islam
A) occurred at a much slower pace. C) was limited to the immediate vicinity of its birthplace.
B) gave rise to a large empire. D) was checked by older civilizations that surrounded it.

B