Deck 5: Muslim Traditions

Question 1

The community in which the Prophet Muhammad was born was, by and large, ________.

A) Christian
B) Jewish
C) non-religious
D) polytheistic

Answer 1

D

Question 2

The "night journey" was the time that the Prophet Muhammad ________.

A) had dreams in which God spoke to him
B) travelled from Mecca to Jerusalem in one night and then ascended to heaven
C) ascended to heaven one night from a cave near Mecca
D) fled Mecca at night to establish a community in Medina

Answer 2

B

Question 3

In seventh-century Medina, Jews were given freedom and equality if ________.

A) they supported the state
B) they recognized Muhammad as the Messiah
C) they married a Muslim
D) they converted to Islam

Answer 3

A

Question 4

The Arabic word ummah means ________.

A) leaders
B) devotees
C) community
D) followers

Question 5

The Sunni Muslims believe that ________.

A) Abu Bakr became the successor of Muhammad
B) 'Ali bin Abi Talib became the successor of Muhammad
C) there should be no successor of Muhammad
D) Zayd bin Harithah became the successor of Muhammad

Question 6

The Shi'a Muslims believe that ________.

A) Abu Bakr became the successor of Muhammad
B) Zayd bin Harithah became the successor of Muhammad
C) 'Ali bin Abi Talib became the successor of Muhammad
D) there should be no successor of Muhammad

Question 7

An Islam, a rasul is ________.

A) a prophet whose message is universally binding sacred law
B) a judicial leader
C) a military leader
D) a prophet whose message is for a specific people at a specific time

Question 8

The term Qur'an is derived from the root meaning ________.

A) to submit
B) to profess
C) to recite
D) to believe

Question 9

The Arabic word hadith means ________.

A) tradition
B) leadership
C) truth
D) action

Question 10

Islamic theology holds that God's essence is ________.

A) unknowable
B) male
C) imbedded into time and space
D) both human and divine

Question 11

The first and most important of the Islamic religious sciences is ________.

A) law
B) theology
C) botany
D) astronomy

Question 12

In Islam, shari'ah is ________.

A) a sacred tradition
B) sacred law
C) the location of the Muslim community
D) the teachings of Muhammad

Question 13

Early Islamic philosophy drew heavily on the philosophy of ________.

A) Jesus
B) Daoism
C) Aristotle
D) Sikhism

Question 14

For Shi'a Muslims, the Imam is ________.

A) the one individual held to be the divinely mandated leader of the Muslim community
B) anyone who serves as the leader of prayer at the mosque
C) anyone who serves as a community leader
D) Muhammad, the Prophet, alone

Question 15

For Sunni Muslims, the imam is ________.

A) anyone who serves as the leader of prayer at the mosque
B) Muhammad, the Prophet, alone
C) the one individual held to be the divinely mandated leader of the Muslim community
D) anyone who serves as a community leader

Question 16

In Islam, Ashura is the anniversary of ________.

A) the formation of the Muslim community
B) the birth of Muhammad
C) the death of Muhammad's grandson, Husayn
D) the death of Muhammad's son-in-law, 'Ali

Question 17

The "Sevener" Shi'a Muslims are also known as ________.

A) the Sunni
B) the Isma'ilis
C) the Sufis
D) fundamentalists

Question 18

Early Muslim mystics were said to wear a garment of coarse wool over their bare skin in emulation of ________.

A) Moses
B) 'Ali
C) Jesus
D) Muhammad

Question 19

The mystic Rabi'a al-'Adawiyah of Basra was the first ________ in Islam.

A) to use the language of erotic love to express love for God
B) woman to wear a head scarf
C) to use the language of parental love to express love of God
D) woman to not wear a head scarf in prayer

Question 20

In Islam, the mystic Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj is known for ________.

A) rejecting the love of God
B) pursuing absolute union with God
C) using the language of erotic love to express love for God
D) using the language of parental love to express love of God

Question 21

The shaykhs of Sufi orders are similar to the saints of the Catholic Church in that ________.

A) they are recognized through official canonization
B) they usually lived in hermitages
C) they are only men
D) they are ascribed miracles or divine favours

Question 22

The sama' is a distinctly Sufi practice in which devotees ________.

A) read the Qur'an
B) repeat the name of God
C) offer prayers to the shaykhs
D) listen to hypnotic chanting of mystical poetry

Question 23

In its first century, Islam spread through ________.

A) the example of the early Muslims
B) missionary activity
C) military conquest
D) colonization

Question 24

Under the 'Abbasids in 762 CE, the centre of Arab Islamic culture shifted from Syria to ________.

A) Damascus and Baghdad
B) Jerusalem and Mecca
C) Qayrawan and Cordoba
D) Baghdad and Cairo

Question 25

When Arab forces arrived on the Iberian Peninsula in 711 CE, the local Jews saw them as ________.

A) conquerors
B) the Messiah
C) barbaric
D) liberators

Question 26

Islam first spread to sub-Saharan Africa by ________.

A) missionaries
B) traders
C) intermarriage
D) military conquest

Question 27

The Khoja community in East Africa is comprised of ________.

A) Muslims of European descent
B) Muslims of East African descent
C) Shi'i Muslims of Indian descent
D) Sunni Muslims of Arab descent

Question 28

Under the Samanid dynasty in the ninth and tenth centuries, ________ culture flourished.

A) North African
B) Persian
C) Chinese
D) Arab

Question 29

In the eleventh century, the Samanids were succeeded by ________ in the Middle East.

A) the Abbasids
B) the Umayyads
C) the Turks
D) the Spanish

Question 30

The Mongol conquest of Persia and Central Asia resulted in ________.

A) a flourishing of culture and prosperity
B) an increased Muslim presence
C) peace among Muslims and Christians
D) a decline in culture and prosperity

Question 31

The Uighurs are ________.

A) Chinese Muslims
B) Spanish Muslims
C) Eastern European Muslims
D) East African Muslims

Question 32

The Muslim rulers of India came from ________.

A) Spain
B) Iran and Central Asia
C) North Africa
D) India

Question 33

The Islamization of Southeast Asia was particularly influenced by ________.

A) the Uighurs
B) the Sufis
C) the Isma'ilis
D) the Turks

Question 34

Shahadah refers to ________.

A) the pilgrimage to Mecca
B) the fast of Ramadan
C) obligatory alms giving
D) the declaration that there is no god except God, and that Muhammad is the Messenger of God

Question 35

The Islamic festival 'Id al-Fitr concludes ________.

A) the ritual year
B) the celebration of the birth of Muhammad
C) Ramadan
D) the hajj pilgrimage

Question 36

Arab nationalism was influenced by ________.

A) Sufism
B) Chinese philosophy
C) Wahhabism
D) European secularism

Question 37

The aim of the Society of Muslim Brothers was to establish ________.

A) a military occupation of Europe
B) peace between Muslims, Christians, and Jews
C) the total Islamization of society
D) mosques in every country of the world

Question 38

Most Muslim contemporary revivalist movements have not rejected ________.

A) capitalist democracy
B) modern science and technology
C) women's liberation
D) the free mixing of the sexes

Question 39

In 1969, Gaafar Mohamed el-Nimeiri made shari'ah the law in ________.

A) Saudi Arabia
B) Iran
C) Sudan
D) India

Question 40

A person who professes Islam is called ________.

A) a Mohammedan
B) a Jihadist
C) a Islamiscist
D) a Muslim

Question 41

Human islam is an islam by ________.

A) choice
B) nature
C) instinct
D) command

Question 42

The Ka'ba is ________.

A) a place of pilgrimage for Muslims
B) a place where Muslims congregate every Friday
C) a promise God made to Abraham through Ishmael
D) a written source which describes the Prophet's escape to Medina

Question 43

In Medina, Muhammad established ________.

A) a socially homogenous community
B) a theocratic state
C) a state governed by a number of prophets
D) the first Islamic monarchy

Question 44

In the seventh century, the Jews in Medina ________.

A) rejected both Muhammad's claim to be a prophet and the Qur'an's claim to be a sacred book
B) accepted both Muhammad's claim to be a prophet and the Qur'an's claim to be a sacred book
C) rejected the authority of revelation given to Muhammad
D) accepted Muhammad's advice on ethical matters

Question 45

The Prophet Muhammad was buried in ________.

A) Damascus
B) Medina
C) Jerusalem
D) Mecca

Question 46

An interpretation or commentary on the Qur'an is not based on ________.

A) Prophetic hadith
B) personal beliefs
C) the Qur'an itself
D) the opinions of the Prophet's successors

Question 47

The "almsgiving" pillar of Islam requires Muslims to donate ________.

A) 2.5 per cent of income
B) 5 per cent of income
C) 2.5 per cent of all accumulated wealth
D) 5 per cent of all accumulated wealth

Question 48

Islamic tradition asserts that a person returns from a hajj ________.

A) cleansed of the burden of physical sin
B) is considered to have been filled with wisdom
C) is considered to be an elder regardless of his or her age
D) free of all sin as of the day of his or her birth

Question 49

The mystical tradition in Islam is known as ________.

A) Gnosticism
B) Kabbalah
C) Scholasticism
D) Sufism

Question 50

Sufis believed the Divine to be ________.

A) male
B) without gender
C) dimorphic
D) female

Question 51

Some consider Sufi traditions "un-Islamic" because ________.

A) it has no tradition of jurisprudence
B) it permits dancing
C) of the power it affords to women
D) it does not provide for forms of charity

Question 52

Early mosques functioned as ________.

A) meeting rooms for Qur'anic study only
B) places where the Qur'an was read aloud
C) meeting places for prayers only
D) meeting places for prayer as well as treasuries, law courts, and educational establishments

Question 53

It remains the ideal of Islamic reform to establish ________.

A) an International Islamic brotherhood
B) a state removed from Western influence
C) a transnational Islamic caliphate
D) a homeland for Palestinian refugees

Question 54

The ethnic makeup of the Muslim communities in Europe was largely determined ________.

A) as a consequence of economic necessity
B) by colonial ties
C) irrespective of Islamophobic immigration policies
D) by migration policies

Question 55

In Canada Islam is ________.

A) illegal
B) the second-largest religion
C) decreasing in population
D) still a small exotic minority

Question 56

The Qur'an emphasizes that marriage is a contract between ________.

A) the prospective husband and the woman's father or guardian
B) a couple and the Divine
C) the husband and the wife based on mutual consent
D) the two families of the husband and wife

Question 57

The existence of honour killings such as have happened in Canada ________.

A) is the result of fundamentalist Islam
B) is a result of gangland revenge
C) is rooted in honour/shame culture and not religion
D) is a consequence of shari'ah law

Question 58

The Qur'an (9: 71-2) makes it clear that men and women ________.

A) are not equal in terms of religious obligations
B) have different but equivalent religious duties
C) have the same religious duties and obligations
D) have different religious duties

Question 59

According to the Qur'an, women ________.

A) are to wear the hijab in the presence of men
B) are to wear the hijab whenever there is the possibility of being seen by a man
C) are to wear the hijab in public
D) are never mentioned as having to wear the hijab

Question 60

On Mount Hira during the month of Ramadan, the Prophet Muhammad was visited by the angel ________.

A) Raphael
B) Azrael
C) Michael
D) Gabriel

Question 61

Allah is an Arabic name for the God worshipped specifically by Muslims.

Question 62

The idea of a prophet was unfamiliar to Muhammad's people prior to the formation of Islam.

Question 63

Medina was the location of the first Islamic theocratic state.

Question 64

Mecca is significant in Islam because it is the location of the tomb of Muhammad.

Question 65

According to Islam, Muhammad was the only prophet of God.

Question 66

When Muhammad died in 632 CE, the official text of the Qur'an was not yet formed.

Question 67

In Islam, men and women are equal before God.

Question 68

The Qur'an is a legal manual.

Question 69

Insofar as Islamic theology addresses human faith and conduct, it is part of the science of jurisprudence.

Question 70

Twelver Shi'as believe that the twelfth Imam went into hiding at the age of four.

Question 71

Asceticism was the central practice of Sufism.

Question 72

In the West today, it is primarily Sufi piety that is attracting non-Muslims to Islam.

Question 73

Islam is not a missionary religion.

Question 74

The Umayyad Caliphate established its capital in Damascus.

Question 75

In Spain, Muslims, Christians, and Jews lived together for centuries in mutual tolerance.

Question 76

There are several categories of persons who can be exempted from fasting during Ramadan.

Question 77

Ramadan ends with a festival called 'Id al-Fitr.

Question 78

The hajj represents a form of resurrection or rebirth.

Question 79

Islam is a religion more of action than of abstract speculation about right belief.

Question 80

The Qur'an places kindness and respect to parents next in importance to the worship of God.