Deck 12: Abbasid Decline and the Spread of Islamic Civilization to South and Southeast Asia

Question 1

Which of the following was NOT a reason for the decline of the Abbasid dynasty by the 9th century C.E.?

A) The collapse of the cities
B) Constant civil violence trained the treasury
C) New construction trained the treasury
D) Peasant risings

Answer 1

The collapse of the cities

Question 2

Which of the following groups did NOT revolt against Abbasid rule?

A) Slaves
B) Peasants
C) Sunnis
D) Shi?as

Answer 2

Sunnis

Question 3

How did the Caliph al-Mahdi resolve the problem of succession in the Abbasid dynasty?

A) He specified the rule of primogeniture, the succession of the oldest son.
B) He accepted the Shi?a doctrine that only the person with the most direct relationship to Muhammad should succeed.
C) He accepted the radical proposition that only a man of demonstrable Islamic purity should succeed.
D) He failed to resolve the problem of dynastic succession with disastrous results.

Answer 3

He failed to resolve the problem of dynastic succession with disastrous results.

Question 4

What was al-Mahdi?s attitude toward the Shi?as?

A) He viewed them as opponents of his dynasty and attempted to eliminate them.
B) He appealed to the moderate factions of the Shi?as to support the Abbasid dynasty.
C) He accepted the fundamental doctrines of the Shi?as and abdicated.
D) In order to placate the Shi?as, al-Mahdi lived a pious life of poverty and simplicity.

Question 5

What was the fictional account of life at the court of the Caliph al-Rashid?

A) Shah-nama
B) The Treasure of Ali Baba
C) Analects
D) The Thousand and One Nights

Question 6

How did the administration of al-Rashid set a trend for subsequent Abbasid rulers?

A) He was at the outset of his reign heavily dependent on Persian advisors, a practice that became commonplace thereafter.
B) He divided the empire into a series of states each of which elected representatives to a Caliphal parliament at Baghdad.
C) He removed all regional governors and established strict absolutism from the court at Baghdad.
D) He stressed the importance of piety and simplicity, a position subsequently adopted by his successors.

Question 7

What was the result of the civil wars following the death of al -Rashid?

A) The Abbasid dynasty came to an end.
B) Candidates for the throne recognized the need to build up personal armies, often of slave soldiers.
C) Private armies were abolished in an attempt to curtail future violence over the succession.
D) The practice of electing Caliphs in Mecca was once again instituted.

Question 8

Which of the following statements concerning the mercenary armies of the later Abbasid era is NOT accurate?

A) Mercenary troops became a disruptive force in the life of Baghdad and other cities.
B) They were consistently a major player in the factional contests for control of the capital and the empire.
C) They often consisted largely of slave troops.
D) Despite their tendency toward random violence, they loyally defended the Abbasid Caliphs.

Question 9

What accounts for the disruption of the agricultural economy of the Abbasid empire?

A) The decline of the cities led to a fall in the demand for food supplies and consequent drops in agricultural prices.
B) Progressive desiccation of the region led to a diminution of the land available for agriculture.
C) Spiralling taxation, the destruction of the irrigation works, and pillaging by mercenary armies led to destruction and abandonment of many villages.
D) The government ordered regions of the empire populated by Shi?as abandoned.

Question 10

What was the innovation of the Abbasid court with respect to women?

A) The establishment of the harem
B) The legislation of multiple marriages for women
C) The creation of Islamic nunneries
D) Legislation against concubinage and prostitution

Question 11

What was the attitude of the Abbasids towards the institution of slavery?

A) The Abbasid dynasty forbade slavery in general.
B) The dynasty permitted slavery of Muslims, but forbade the enslavement of members of other religions.
C) The Abbasid elite demanded growing numbers of both male and female slaves for concubines and domestic service.
D) The dynasty forbade all slavery except for the mercenary armies loyal to the Abbasids.

Question 12

Why were the practices of seclusion and veiling seen as essential in Islamic society?

A) Women were believed to be possessed of insatiable lust from which men had to be protected.
B) Veiling allowed women to hide their identities and to avoid the rash of dynastic strife.
C) Women were only permitted to engage in business if their identities were hidden.
D) Veiling was seen as a means of halting the practice of concubinage.

Question 13

Which of the following statements concerning women during the Abbasid era is most accurate?

A) No Islamic women engaged in labor.
B) Women often married at puberty, set at age nine.
C) Rich women had many career outlets in Islamic cities.
D) Abbasid women had vastly greater freedom than did women in the first century of Islam.

Question 14

What was the regional splinter dynasty that captured Baghdad in 945?

A) Mongols
B) Buyids
C) Seljuk Turks
D) Ghazni

Question 15

What group successfully captured Baghdad in 1055?

A) Mongols
B) Buyids
C) Seljuk Turks
D) Ghazni

Question 16

What was the religious affiliation of the Seljuk Turks?

A) Christian
B) Shi?a
C) Sufi
D) Sunni

Question 17

In what year was Jerusalem captured by Christian crusaders?

A) 985
B) 1099
C) 1142
D) 1245

Question 18

What was the impact of the Seljuk conquest of Baghdad on the Abbasid empire?

A) The empire continued to crumble as a result of the military successes of Fatimid Egypt and the Byzantine empire.
B) The imposition of a Christian government in the name of the Abbasid Caliphs temporarily restored order.
C) The Seljuks abandoned the Middle East for further conquests in the Indian subcontinent.
D) It actually restored the ability of the empire to meet the challenges of Egypt and the Byzantine empire.

Question 19

Who was the Muslim leader responsible for the reconquest of most of the territories belonging to the Christian crusaders?

A) Firdawsi
B) Muhammad ibn Qasim
C) al-Ghazali
D) Saladin

Question 20

What accounts for the success of the First Crusade?

A) The overwhelming military superiority of Western military technology
B) The contemporary emergence of the Christian Seljuk Turks in Baghdad
C) Muslim political fragmentation and the element of surprise
D) The support and cooperation of the Jewish community of the Holy Land

Question 21

The fall of Acre, the last crusader stronghold, occurred in what year?

A) 1099
B) 1135
C) 1193
D) 1291

Question 22

What was the impact of the Crusades on the Christian West?

A) Christians adopted military techniques, words, scientific learning, and Arabic numerals among other things.
B) Christians rejected most Muslim influence, although they did gain a taste for Muslim wines and liquors.
C) There was no Muslim influence on the Christian West.
D) The Crusades interrupted the trade of the Mediterranean and cut off the West from Islam until 1293.

Question 23

What was the impact of the Crusades on Islam?

A) The Muslims adopted military technology, words, and scientific knowledge, among other things from the West.
B) Although they resisted most influence, the Muslims did acquire a taste for Western cuisine.
C) There was minimal Western impact on Islam.
D) The Crusades temporarily cut off all exchange between the West and Islam.

Question 24

What was the trend of urbanization during much of the Abbasid empire?

A) Because the Abbasids abandoned Baghdad for other capitals, cities within the empire tended to wither and die.
B) Successive invasions led to a decline in urbanization.
C) Despite political disintegration and a decline in the agricultural economy, towns continued to grow rapidly.
D) Towns established in the early years of the dynasty were able to hold their own, but there was little growth.

Question 25

What was the level of trade in the Abbasid empire?

A) Long-distance trade with Africa, the Mediterranean, India, and China continued to flourish despite periodic interruption.
B) Trade with the East grew, but the Crusades eliminated the western trade routes.
C) Trade with Africa and the Mediterranean continued to expand, but the wars in India disrupted the eastern trade routes.
D) As a whole, long-distance trade along the traditional caravan routes virtually ceased during the Abbasid empire.

Question 26

What was the primary written language of the later Abbasid court?

A) Arabic
B) Persian
C) Latin
D) Greek

Question 27

What was the Shah-Nama?

A) The name given to the first wife of the Caliph
B) The title of the commander of the slave mercenaries
C) The title given to the oldest son of the Caliph
D) The history of Persia from creation to the Islamic conquests

Question 28

Which of the following was NOT a literary figure during the Abbasid Empire?

A) Firdawsi
B) Sa?di
C) Muhammad ibn Qasim
D) Omar Khayyam

Question 29

Which of the following statements concerning the Sufi movement within Islam is most accurate?

A) The Sufi movement stressed an increasingly restrictive conservatism within Islam.
B) The Sufi movement stressed withdrawal from other believers and isolation into monastic communities.
C) The Sufi movement incorporated mysticism with a trend toward evangelism.
D) The Sufi questioned the Islamic interest in the Greek traditions in science.

Question 30

Which of the following statements concerning the ulama is most accurate?

A) It stressed an increasingly restrictive conservatism within Islam, particularly with respect to scientific inquiry.
B) It stressed withdrawal from the rest of the community of believers and the creation of Islamic monasteries.
C) It brought mysticism into Islam and emphasis on evangelism.
D) It embraced the full consequences of fusing Greek and Qur?anic traditions willingly.

Question 31

What group captured Baghdad in 1258?

A) Buyids
B) Seljuk Turks
C) Crusaders
D) Mongols

Question 32

How did the political center of Islam change after the Mongol invasions?

A) Baghdad remained the capital of Islam, but under the control of successive Mongol dynasties.
B) The center of Islam passed with the withdrawal of the invaders into the steppes of central Asia.
C) Baghdad became a provincial backwater, supplanted by Cairo to the east and soon thereafter Istanbul to the north.
D) The political center of Islam was removed to sub-Saharan Africa.

Question 33

What was the difference between the Islamic invasions of India and previous incursions of the subcontinent?

A) With the Muslims, the peoples of India encountered for the first time a large-scale influx of invaders with a civilization as sophisticated as their own.
B) With the Muslims, the peoples of India encountered for the first time an invasion from the west rather than the east.
C) The Muslims were rapidly able to unify all of India into a single empire.
D) The Muslims, unlike previous invaders, bypassed the Gangetic plain in preference for southern India.

Question 34

How did Islam and Hinduism differ?

A) Hinduism stressed the egalitarianism of all believers, while Islam was more rigid in terms of orthodox belief.
B) Islam stressed the egalitarianism of all believers, while Hinduism was more rigid in terms of orthodox belief.
C) Islam stressed the egalitarianism of all believers, while Hinduism embraced a caste-based social system.
D) Hinduism stressed the egalitarianism of all believers, while Islam embraced a caste-based social system.

Question 35

What was the date of the first Muslim raids into India?

A) 650
B) 711
C) 750
D) 1243

Question 36

How did the Muslim conquerors of Sind treat the Hindu and Buddhist residents of the region?

A) All non-Muslims were put to death
B) Hindus and Buddhists were treated as dhimmis or ?peoples of the book?
C) Most of the Muslims converted to Hinduism
D) Forced conversions of the native population followed the Muslim military successes

Question 37

What was the most critical cultural advance as a result of the increased contact between Muslims and Indian civilization?

A) Muslims adopted the Hindu pantheon of gods.
B) Muslim commerce was increasingly dominated by the merchant caste of India.
C) Muslims adopted the system of mathematical notation later referred to as Arabic numerals.
D) Muslims adopted the highly stratified social system common in Indian civilization.

Question 38

The commander of the first Islamic incursion into the Sind in 711 was

A) Muhammad ibn Qasim.
B) Ibn Batuta.
C) al-Ghazali.
D) Mahmud of Ghazni.

Question 39

What descendant of a Turkish slave dynasty in Afghanistan led a series of expeditions into India to seize booty in the 11th century?

A) Mahmud of Ghazni
B) Muhammad ibn Qasim
C) Hajjaj
D) Muhammad of Ghur

Question 40

What ruler was associated with the transition from raiding to the establishment of an Islamic empire in the Indian subcontinent?

A) Mahmud of Ghazni
B) Muhammad ibn Qasim
C) Hajjaj
D) Muhammad of Ghur

Question 41

Where was the capital of the Islamic kingdom established after 1206 on the Gangetic plain?

A) Bombay
B) Kanauj
C) Isoleta
D) Delhi

Question 42

What groups were responsible for the conversion of Indians to Islam?

A) Traders and Sufi mystics
B) Ulama and Sunni evangelists
C) Soldiers and Shi?a exiles
D) The Mongols and Seljuk Turks

Question 43

Why were the Sufis effective missionaries within the Indian subcontinent?

A) They enjoyed the support of the Hindu princes because of their support for brahmin ritual
B) In both style and message they shared much with Indian mystics and wandering ascetics
C) They were supported by huge armies of Arabs who migrated to India in search of land
D) They rejected low caste Hindus in preference for converts among the brahmin elite

Question 44

What groups in India were most likely to convert to Islam?

A) Brahmins and merchants
B) Raja and warriors
C) Members of the administrative machinery of the Islamic kingdoms
D) Buddhists and low-caste Hindus

Question 45

How did Hinduism respond to the challenge of Islam?

A) Hindus abandoned their emphasis on many deities in favor of monotheism in the person of Shiva.
B) Hindus placed greater emphasis on the devotional or bhaktic cults of gods and goddesses such as Shiva and Vishnu.
C) Hindus converted to Islam in increasing numbers, until Muslims outnumbered Hindus in the subcontinent.
D) The brahmins accepted Islam as a variety of orthodox Hindu belief, while anticipating the incorporation of the Muslim immigrants into the Indian caste system.

Question 46

The spread of Islam to southeast Asia was delayed until the fall of the Buddhist trade empire of

A) Borneo.
B) Sumatra.
C) the Celebes Islands.
D) Shrivijaya.

Question 47

In general, how did Islam spread in southeast Asia?

A) Port cities were points of dissemination to other links in trading networks.
B) Most of southeast Asia was converted to Islam after the military victories of Qutb-ud-din Aibak.
C) Islam was carried to southeast Asia from China.
D) Trade to southeast Asia from Africa and Persia established Islamic centers on the mainland from which conversion took place.

Question 48

What was the nature of Islamic religion that developed in southeast Asia?

A) Because most of the missionaries were ulama from Arabia, the religion most closely resembled Islam as practiced in the first generations after Muhammad.
B) Because Islam came to southeast Asia from India and was spread by Sufi holy men, it developed a mystical nature that incorporated much of indigenous religion.
C) Because Islam was carried to southeast Asia from China, it bore many of the characteristics of Buddhism.
D) Because Islam was carried by conquering warriors from India, it rejected the native Buddhism and Hinduism in preference for more conservative Islamic orthodoxy.

Question 49

Explain the reasons for the political disruption of the Abbasid empire prior to the rise of the Buyids.

Question 50

Describe the social position of women during the Abbasid empire.

Question 51

Discuss the religious trends of the Abbasid era and their impact on the expansion of Islam.

Question 52

In what sense did the Muslim incursions into the Indian subcontinent result in Islamic influences on Hindus? To what extent were Muslims affected by Indian culture?

Question 53

By what means did Islam spread to southeast Asia?