TEACHING STRATEGIES FOR



8

THE WORLD OF ISLAM

630-1517

Teaching Strategies and Suggestions

THE REASONS FOR INCLUDING A SEPARATE CHAPTER ON THE ISLAMIC WORLD ARE SELF-EVIDENT, AND PROVIDING THE STUDENTS WITH AT LEAST FOUR LECTURES WILL SUPPLEMENT THE INFORMATION IN THE TEXTBOOK. CHAPTER 8 COVERS THE ISLAMIC WORLD TO ABOUT 1500. THE INSTRUCTOR, OF COURSE, CAN LECTURE ON DEVELOPMENTS AFTER THIS DATE. AS IN THE OTHER CHAPTERS, WE HAVE SKETCHED IN THE HISTORY (30% OF TEXT) AND FOCUSED ON CULTURAL TOPICS (70% OF TEXT).

Using the Historical Overview, the instructor might wish to expand the text's treatment of the Islamic dynasties, the growth and spread of Islamic power and influence, and the political and social structure of these dynasties from 632 to 1500. The time line in the text can be helpful in identifying the dynasties and their reigns.

A Reflection/Connections lecture to examine how Islam influenced Islamic culture--the visual arts, learning and scholarship, and literature--and also the Western world. Using slides from the McGraw Hill slide package, illustrations from the text, and selections from the Reader will supplement this lecture.

A Comparison/Contrast lecture on the similarities and differences among Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. A comparison of the respective founders of the three religions, their contributions, roles and how their followers honor and view their founders will tie together Chapters 6 and 8. Also a comparison of theology, rituals, and, in particular, literature since all three religions have literary origins and traditions. A comparison of how the visual arts and architecture serve, enhance and reflect the values of each religion.

A Case Study as to why the Islamic World faded and the West moved ahead between 1000 and 1500. Values and attitudes, religion, education systems, technology and inventions and their applications should be examined as reasons for these developments.

Lecture Outline

I. The Islamic World

A. Overview of Islamic civilization

1. Meaning of islam and muslim

2. Geographic setting

3. The pre-Islamic Arabs

a) Desert Bedouins

b) Urban Arabs

4. Jewish and Christian neighbors

B. History of Islam

1. Life and teachings of Muhammad

a) The Quraish tribe

b) The cities of Mecca and Medina

c) Jihad and the expansion of Islam

d) The purification of the Kaaba

2. The Islamic Empire and Muhammad’s successors

a) Theocracy and the role of the Caliph

b) The Abbasid dynasty, the golden age of Islam, 754–1258

c) Collapse of the caliphate and the rise of mutually

hostile Islamic states

C. Islamic religious and cultural developments

1. Brilliance of Islamic civilization

a) Brief survey

b) Central role of religion in Islamic life

2. Islamic religion

a) Two central beliefs

b) Relation to Jewish and Christian

prophetic tradition

c) The Koran

d) The Hadith, or the Tradition

e) Five Pillars of the Faith

(1) The affirmation of faith

(2) Prayer

(3) Fasting

(4) Alms-giving

(5) Pilgrimage

f) The Shari’a, or holy law

3. History

a) Various types

b) The pioneering work of Ibn Khaldun

4. Science

a) Link between Roman science and medieval

Western science

b) Original contributions

(1) Medicine

(2) Mathematics

c) Adaptations from Hindu science

5. Art and architecture

a) Complex adaptations of sources

(1) Greco-Roman influence

(2) Byzantine influence

(3) Persian influence

(4) Impact of the koranic prohibition against

figurative art

b) Decorative art

(1) Arabesques

(2) Calligraphy

(3) Mosaics

(4) Other

c) The dominant structure: the mosque

(1) A typical mosque

(2) The congregational mosque:

Ibn Tulun Mosque, Cairo

(3) The teaching mosque

(4) The Minbar

d) Persian miniatures

(1) Origins

(2) Characteristics

II. The Legacy of Medieval Islam

Learning Objectives

To learn:

1. The leading features of the Islamic religion and the role that it plays in Islamic culture

2. The outstanding achievements in Muslim science and mathematics

3. To recognize visually the Islamic artistic style and to identify major examples of Islamic art and architecture

4. The various cultural influences operating in Islamic civilization

5. Islamic contributions to the West: transmission of the basic philosophical and scientific texts from the ancient world; original contributions in algebra and mathematics; transmission of the concept of zero, Arabic numerals, and the pointed arch

6. The historical reasons for poor relations between Islam and the West

Suggestions for Films, videos, cd-roms

The Bridge: How Islam Saved Western Medicine. Films for the Humanities, 51 min., color.

Christian, Jews, and Moslems in Medieval Spain. Films for the Humanities, 33 min., color.

Crescent and Cross: The Rise of Islam and the Age of Crusades. Films for the Humanities, 59 min., color.

Everything Under the Sun: Astronomy, Mathematics, and Islam. Films for the Humanities, 25 min., color.

The Five Pillars of Islam. Films for the Humanities, 30 min., color.

Islamic Art. Films for the Humanities, 32 min., color.

Islam, the Prophet and the People. Texture Films, 34 min., color.

Islamic Science and Technology. Films for the Humanities, 30 min., color.

Orient/Occident. Films for the Humanities, 30 min., color.

Persian Miniatures from the Shahnameh. Films for the Humanities, 30 min., color.

Suleyman the Magnificent. Films for the Humanities, 51 min., color.

Suggestions for Further Reading

Armstrong, K. Islam: A Short Introduction. New York: Modern Library, 2002. Admirably unbiased, well-written survey.

_____. Muhammad: A Western Attempt to Understand Islam. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1992. A sympathetic treatment of Muhammad’s life and teachings, prefaced by a plea for the West to understand the Prophet and his religion.

Dunlog, D.M. Arab Civilization to a.d. 1500. London: Longman, 1971. A valuable work focusing mainly on cultural achievements.

Esposito, J. L. Islam: The Straight Path. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. This introductory text covers Muhammad’s life, the formative years of Islam, its beliefs and practices, and modern-day Islam. Very useful for the student who desires an overview.

Frishman, M. and H-U. Khan, eds. The Mosque: History, Architectural Development, and Regional Diversity. London: Thames and Hudson, 2002. Another beautiful Thames and Hudson book, in which architecture is discussed as a reflection of the Islamic belief system.

Goodwin, J. Lords of the Horizon: A History of the Ottoman Empire. New York: Picador, 2003. A picturesque history.

Hourani, A. A History of the Arab Peoples. New York: Belknap, 2003, second ed. Broad survey. Central themes are the spread of Islam and the quest for unity.

James, D. L. Islamic Art: An Introduction. London: Hamlyn, 1974. A brief survey by a distinguished scholar; good for the beginning student.

Lewis, B. Islam: From the Prophet Muhammad to the Capture of Constantinople. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987. In two volumes, one of the outstanding scholars of Islam examines the political, religious, and social history generated by Islam; much more than an overview, and a worthwhile read.

Maalouf, A. The Crusades Through Arab Eyes. New York: Schocken, 1989. Topical.

Menocal, M.R. The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain. New York: Back Bay, 2003. Argues persuasively that the culture of Moorish Spain foreshadowed the Renaissance by hundreds of years.

Reston, J.R. Jr. New York: Anchor, 2002.Warriors of God: Richard the Lionheart and Saladin in the Third Crusade. Compelling biographical narrative that is sympathetic to both protagonists.

Rodinson, M. Europe and the Mystique of Islam. Translated by R. Veinus. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1987. A study of how Islam is viewed by the West.

Stierlin, H. Islamic Art and Architecture: From Isfahan to the Taj Mahal. London: Thames and London, 2002. Beautiful and accessible survey with over 500 color illustrations of mosques, palaces, tombs and minarets.

Key Cultural Terms

Qur’an

arabesque

calligraphy

mosque

minaret

ada

ghazal

maqamah

Persian miniatures

microtone

Windows on the World Background

History

AFRICA

East Africa Madagascar. Madagascar is an island of paradox. Its inhabitants, the Malagasy people, do not consider themselves African, despite some physical resemblance to Africans and their geographic proximity to the African continent. Instead, they claim kinship with peoples of Indonesia who first settled Madagascar in about 700. The island’s flora and fauna are equally anomalous, differing from that of Africa and being rather unique. Evidence for contact with Bantu peoples is reflected in Bantu words and phonetic influences in Malagasy language.

North Africa The Maghreb (from Arabic, “West”) was inhabited by Berbers, a pastorialist people living mainly in mountainous and desert areas. Over time their land was occupied—by Phoenicians, Romans, Vandals, and Byzantines—but these invaders isolated themselves in coastal settlements and erected a frontier against the Berbers. Hence, Berber life remained relatively unchanged until the 7th and 8th centuries when the Maghreb was conquered by the Arabs. Unlike earlier invaders, the Arabs imposed their religion (Islam) and the language (Arabic), bringing the region into the Muslim orbit. Beginning in the late 9th century the Maghreb was united for the first time and freed from outside control by the Fatimids (909–1171)—a Shi’ite Muslim dynasty who set up a new capital in Cairo (969–973).

Northeast Africa Axum culture. A Christian state; dominated trade in the Red Sea until the coming of the Arabs in the 7th and 8th centuries. Controlled western Arabia briefly in 6th century. Rulers minted coins bearing their likenesses. Its culture included: the Ge’ez language written in a modified South Arabian alphabet; sculpture and architecture based on South Arabian models.

West Africa Ghana (West Sahara). The greatest state in West Africa, 8th to 13th century. A network of markets, linked to its control of gold trade; gold from Senegal and Niger valley exchanged for salt from the Sahara. Towns supported by farming; rule by kings; kings levied tribute on villages and taxed trade; urban areas had a king’s town and a Muslim Merchants’ town. In about 990, Ghana made contact with Muslims in the Sahara—the first recorded meeting between black Africa and the Muslim Mediterranean, a portent of future events.

AMERICAS

Andes Moche culture. End of culture in about 600 may be due to prolonged drought. Tiwanaku culture (Lake Titicaca) and Wari culture (Peru’s southern highlands), 500–800. Tiwanaku and Wari may represent the southern and northern spheres of two empires, sharing a rich iconographic system in their art. Tiwanaku was the more dynamic, with Wari being the influenced culture. Tiwanaku (zenith: 200–600) (also spelled Tiahuanaco) was the capital of a vast empire, supported by raised-field farming. Wari (zenith: 600–1000) (also spelled Huari) was capital of a militaristic empire.

Mesoamerica Mayan culture. Major cities included Tikal, Uaxactún, Copan, Bonampak, and Palenque. At its height the Mayan population was perhaps 2 million, most of whom lived in what is now Guatemala. After about 900, cultural decline accelerated in the southern lowlands, leading to an abandonment of the urban centers—perhaps the result of warfare or agricultural exhaustion. However, in the northern lowlands, Mayan culture still flourished in cities such as Chichén Itzá, Uxmal, and Mayapán. Teotihuacán culture Teotihuacán power waned after 600; local states jockeyed for supremacy among themselves. In about 750 central Teotihuacán burned, perhaps during a rebellion or a civil war. Much of the city fell into ruin, but later the Aztecs visited it as a pilgrimage site.

Native North America Hohokam culture, Colonial period, 500–900. Hohokam is Pima for “those who have vanished.” Centered in present-day southern Arizona; villages continued; ballcourt imported from Mesoamerica. Canal building intensified using improved construction methods; cotton farming began. In the Sedentary period, 900–1100, Hohokam culture contracted; villages were given walls. Mastery of the casting of copper bells in wax molds. Anasazi culture. In the Modified Basket Maker Period, 500–700, farming became the major occupation of the Anasazi, with bean crops added and turkeys domesticated. Villages were either underground in caves or on the surface with some rooms, such as storage rooms, belowground. Sun-dried pottery began. In the Developmental period, 700–1050, dwellings grew larger and stone masonry replaced mud-and-pole construction. Aboveground rooms were used exclusively as domiciles. Basketry gave way to varieties of pottery.

ASIA

China Sui Dynasty, 581–618. After having been fragmented for 400 years with North and South China going separate ways, the country was united briefly under the Sui rulers. The Sui also planted the seed of an artistic and cultural renaissance that flowered under the succeeding T’ang Dynasty. Confucian rituals were reestablished in government, and Buddhism was fostered. Capitals at Ch’ang-an and Lo-yang. T’ang Dynasty, 618–906. A golden age built on the Sui foundation. Efficient imperial bureaucracy; expansion of civil service examinations based on Confucian classics. A varied and cosmopolitan society. Revival of imperial ceremonies, using orchestras and dancers. Western music and dance (brought by Arab and Persian sailors) were introduced at both the imperial court and the taverns. Empress Kao-tsung (649–683), a remarkable woman and a strong ruler. A great age of poetry; about 50,000 works by 2,000 poets survive. Five Dynasties, 907–960. Despite political chaos, China’s cultural renaissance continued. Printing using wooden blocks was fully developed; first printing of Confucian classics (953) completed; flower painting, formerly done only by Buddhists, became a subject of nonreligious art; and tz’u, a T’ang poetic form set to music, grew in popularity.

India Northern: Pala Dynasty. In this chaotic period, the Palas controlled lands in Bihar and Bengal, from the 8th to the 12th century (zenith: 8th–10th century). Their capital was Mudgagiri in Bihar. The Palas supported Buddhism. Southern: Pallava Dynasty. The Pallavas, rulers of the Dravidian region, adopted Tamil ways and supported Buddhism, Jainism, and Hinduism; they were great patrons of music, painting, and literature. Conquered by the Cholas in about 880. Pandya (or Panya) Dynasty, before 4th century B.C.–A.D. 16th century. A dynasty of great antiquity, the Pandyas sent an embassy to Rome in A.D. 361. Rulers converted to Jainism to worshipers of Shiva. Through family ties, they ruled extensive lands. The Pandyas are celebrated in early Tamil poetry.

Japan Asuka to Nara periods, 552–794. Two main influences: Chinese culture and Buddhism. Chinese language and literature studied; Chinese characters adapted to Japanese writing; Chinese manuscripts, especially Buddhist writings, copied; the Kaifuso, a group of Chinese poems by Japanese poets, composed. Centralized government based on Chinese model; Japan’s rulers take title tenno, translated from the Chinese “heavenly emperor.” Buddhist art in temples. Heian Period, 794–1185. Capital moved from Nara to Heian-kyo (Kyoto) (794); Chinese-style centralized rule by emperors abandoned. Zenith of court aristocracy, devoted to aesthetic refinement. New Buddhist cults introduced: Tendai and Pure Land.

CULTURE

AFRICA

West Africa Igbo-Ukwu (in modern Anambra State, Nigeria) Altar Stand. Created in the tenth century, this stand was part of a collection of bronzes that were buried probably for religious reasons or to prevent being stolen. Little is known about the people who cast the bronze. This artwork attests to the vibrant artistic tradition which continued in this region, after the demise of Nok culture in about 500.

AMERICAS

Andes The Friar. Tiwanaku sculpture is characterized by square eyes, columnar shapes, and rich details. The blocklike form is softened by rounded edges and limbs depicted close to the body. The figures typically hold ritual objects, such as a qero (cup), shell, or baton. The monoliths probably represent priests, engaged in some ceremonial function.

Mesoamerica Mayan culture Temple of the Inscriptions. Palenque has been described as “the most beautiful of modern sites.” Of all its buildings the most impressive and best preserved is the Temple of the Inscriptions, named for its hieroglyphic inscriptions. Built on nine levels, the temple is set directly into the hill behind, which frames it against the landscape. At the base of the pyramid is a tomb, discovered in 1952, of king Pacal, who apparently ordered the structure built.

ASIA

China Pallava Dynasty Shore Temple. This temple reflects the Pallavas’ reputation as ocean traders. In the 700s it was built at Mamallapuram, then a thriving port city. The city’s name derives from Mamalla, “Great Wrestler,” the nickname of the king who founded it. Constructed of granite blocks, the temple originally was covered with carvings, but little remains because of centuries of weathering by the sea.

Encounter background

The conquest of Alexandria by Islamic armies in A.D. 640 marks the beginning of Islamic science. The great library at Alexandria contained Greek and Indian manuscripts; there they were preserved for translation and study. Arab scholars combined Hellenistic knowledge and their own with the encouragement and support of the Abbasid caliphs of Bagdad who came to power about 760 A.D. By about 1200 A.D. Islamic scholars had a virtual monopoly in science and mathematics. These scholars were interested in both pure and applied science. Mathematicians used digits and a zero symbol (hence our Arabic numerals) as they dealt with complex problems found in algebra, analytical geometry, and spherical trigonometry. Advances in knowledge were also made in astronomy, botany, anatomy, geology, and a number of other areas of study. Sometime in the fifteenth century Islamic science declined in importance. Islamic scholars transmitted Greek and Oriental science to the Europeans.

During the centuries when Islamic science was one achievement of a brilliant civilization, those in the pursuit of knowledge truly were an international community of scholars. From Spain to Persia there was an exchange of ideas and knowledge - all bound together by the Arabic language. (For more information see Islamic Science: An Illustrated Study.)

personal perspective background

Abu’l Faraj al-Isfahani, Marketing a Product.

Abu Faraj al-Isafahni (897-976), Persian literary scholar, descended from Marwan II, the last Umayyad caliph of Syria. Despite the opposition of his family, he was a Shi i Muslim, joining those who upheld the rights of the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad to the caliphate. Abu Faraj enjoyed the patronage of the Buyid amirs in Baghdad, where he spent most of his life. His major literary work was Kitab al-aghani (“The Book of Songs”) in twenty volumes. It provides insight into the life and customs pre-Muslim and Muslim Arabs of the Umayyad and Abbasid periods. An encyclopedic work, the Kitab provides information about Arabic song, musicians and composers, and poets. It provides a broad view of the first four hundred years of Arabic art. Abu Faraj also wrote a book containing the biographies of Shi ah martyrs who descended from Ali, son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad.

Discussion/Essay Questions

1. What were the social, historical, and geographical conditions in the Arab peninsula on the eve of the founding of Islam?

2. What were the key events in the life of Muhammad, and how did these events affect the rise of Islam?

3. Discuss the role of Mecca and Medina in the development of Islam.

4. What are the principal theological beliefs found in the Qur’an and the Hadith?

5. Discuss the fundamental beliefs of the Shi’ah, Sunni, and Sufi Muslims. What were the principal differences between these factions?

6. What factors that caused the rule of the Abbasids to be characterized as the Golden Age of Islam?

7. Discuss the intellectual accomplishments of the Muslim scholars during the Abbasid Dynasty.

8. What were the strengths of Islamic civilization in about 900?

9. What elements of the Roman legacy were adapted to Islamic civilizatio?

10. What impact did Islam have on society, politics, art, architecture, and literature?

11. What part did Muslim science play in the chain of events that led to modern science?

12. What are the two types of mosques? Give an example of each type and list its chief features.

13. How did “Arabic” carpets and Persian miniatures reflect artistic stages of development in Islamic civilization?

14. How has Islam influenced the arts of the modern West?

15. What is the relationship of Islam to Judaism and Christianity?

16. How did the Crusades influence relations between Islam and Europe?

17. What were the most significant legacies of medieval Islam?

Multiple-Choice Questions

1. The word Islam means:

a. holy

b. pure

*c. submission (p. 203)

d. universal

2. A Muslim is:

*a. “one who has submitted” (p. 203)

b. a warrior of God

c. flexible in religious belief

d. a leader of the Ottoman Turks

3. True or false? Modern Islam is the world’s fastest growing religion and is second in size only to Roman Catholicism. (F, p. 203)

4. The Prophet Muhammad was forced to flee Mecca because:

a. he sought to convert the merchants there to polytheism

*b. he threatened the economy of the city by attacking the Kaaba, a local pagan shrine (p. 205)

c. his aristocratic origins posed a threat to the Arabs who had settled in the city

d. the materialism he taught was unacceptable to the city leaders

5. True or false? The Hegira (hijra) occurred in 622 and marked the transformation of Muhammad from religious reformer to leader of a new religion. (T, p. 205)

6. The practice of Islam included all the following except:

a. Medina was Islam’s model city and there religious leaders would govern

b. Muhammad was a ruler, not a consensus builder

c. faith, not blood or tribe, unified the believers

*d. the faithful would pray to Jerusalem (p. 205)

7. True or false? Muhammad sought to build a consensus among the Arabs and Jews as a means of uniting the people of the Arabian peninsula. (F, p. 205)

8. By 1632, on the eve of his death, Muhammad had succeeded in uniting the people of the Arabian peninsula and providing them all the following except:

a. a faith based on revelation

*b. an example of conversion by peaceful means (p. 206)

c. an ethical code of conduct

d. a monotheistic deity

9. True or false? Muhammad provided the Arabs with a religion based on the principles of Abraham and Jesus Christ. (F, p. 206)

10. The word caliph means “representative” or “successor.” (T, p. 206)

11. The Shi’ ites were distinguished from the Sunni, or mainstream Muslims, by their insistence that caliphs should be the descendants of:

*a. Ali, a blood relative of Muhammad (p. 207)

b. the Bedouin tribes of northern Arabia

c. the merchants of Mecca

d. Hegira and Fatima

12. The early caliphs of Islam invaded neighboring areas and, as conquerors, showed wisdom by:

a. preventing looting by the tribesmen they led

b. destroying the villages they captured

*c. governing through existing administrative systems (p. 207)

d. assassinating all the native political leaders

13. True or false? The early caliphs controlled conquered people by governing through existing administrative systems. (T, p. 207)

14. Muawiyah (about 602-680), founder of the Umayyad Dynasty, did all the following except:

*a. end territorial expansion by Islamic armies (p. 207)

b. find converts to Islam by example rather than coercion

c. move the capital of their new empire from Medina to Damascus

d. levy a special tax on non-Muslims

15. True or false? During the Abbasid Dynasty, Baghdad became the commercial and cultural center of the Islamic empire. (T, p. 207)

16. The golden age of Islam occurred:

a. in the century after the death of Muhammad

* b. during the Abbasid dynasty of the eighth to thirteenth centuries (p. 207)

c. after the Abbasid dynasty, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries

d. when the Ottomans came to power in the fifteenth century

17. True or false? Persians, Turks, and Kurds began to play important roles in the administrative and military affairs of the Islamic empire during the time the nomadic Seljuk Turks. (F, p. 207)

18. The alarmed Byzantine rulers called upon Europe to rescue the Holy Land from the Seljuk Turks, thus beginning a series of:

*a. Crusades (p. 207)

b. uprisings against the Abbasid Dynasty

c. attempts to assassinate Saladin

d. disasters leading to the decline of Cairo as a center of learning

19. True or false? Saladin made Cairo a new center for Islam and launched a golden age of learning in the city. (T, p. 207)

20. The event that signaled the decline of the Islamic empire was:

a. the rise of the Seljuk sultans

*b. invasion of Muslim lands by the Mongols (p. 207)

c. the death of Ali and Fatima

d. none of the above

21. What are the two central beliefs of the Islamic religion?

a. “There are two gods, Ahuramazda and Ahriman, and Zoroaster is their Prophet.”

b. “There is but one god, Yahweh, and Muhammad is his Prophet.”

* c. “There is but one God, Allah, and Muhammad is his Prophet.” (pp. 207-208)

d. “There are two Gods, Yahweh and Satan, and Mani is their Prophet.”

22. The pre-Islamic Arabs trace their ancestry to:

a. Homer and the Minoans

b. Hannibal and the Carthaginians

c. Hector and the Trojans

*d. Abraham and the Hebrew patriarchs (p. 208)

23. True or false? Pious Muslims believe that the Qur’an is the uncreated or eternal word of God revealed through the angel Gabril to the Prophet. (T, p. 208)

24. Many converts to Islam were swayed by:

* a. the evocative language of the Qur’an (p. 208)

b. the inclusion of Jesus Christ in the panoply of Christian saints

c. commentaries on the Hadith

d. the division of the Qur’an into verses called sura.

25. Which of these does NOT have authority over devout Muslims?

a. the Qur’an

b. the Hadith

c. the Shari’a

* d. the Muqaddima (pp. 208-209)

26. True or false? The core of Muslim religious life rests on Five Pillars, or Supports, of the faith including a Jihad to Medina. (F, p. 209)

27. During the Golden Age of Islam, Islamic scholars:

a. preserved the works of Greek mathematics

b. adopted and transmitted the contributions of the Hindus

c. made original discoveries in mathematics and the sciences

*d. all the above (p. 210)

28. In the eighth century, Sunni Islam was challenged by the rise of Sufism, a mystical movement which:

*a. rejected the legalism and formalism that had crept into Islam (p. 211)

b. rejected the Five Pillars of Faith

c. insisted that silk garments were the proper attire for the faithful

d. concluded that all righteous Muslims should live in monasteries

29. Which of the following was practiced by medieval Muslim doctors?

a. Surgery.

b. A stress on diet.

c. Observation and experimentation.

*d. All of the above. (p. 211)

30. Ibn Khaldun argued that history should:

a. emphasize the role of divine forces.

* b. focus on the human desire to bond with certain groups. (p. 212)

c. stress the shaping power of economics.

d. concentrate on the central role of “great men” in events.

31. Muslim scholars did all of the following EXCEPT:

a. Translate the Greek scientific texts and preserve them.

b. Reconcile Islamic thought with the thought of Aristotle.

* c. Borrow from Chinese medicine. (p. 212)

d. Transmit their knowledge to medieval Christians.

32.True or false? A central theme in Islam’s literary culture was adab, or “refinement.” (T, p. 212)

33. Early Islamic poetry had all of the following as prominent themes EXCEPT:

a. love

b. religion

*c. war (p. 213)

d. the elegy for the dead

34. True or false? Although The Thousand and One Nights is the work of Islamic literature best known in the non-Muslim West, it has not been accepted as classical literature by Islamic scholars. (T, p. 214)

35. Which of the following was an influence on Islamic architecture?

a. the Greco-Roman arcade

* b. the Persian vaulted hall

c. the Byzantine pendentive

*d. all of the above (pp. 214-217)

36. Islamic artists and architects tended not to depict natural objects because:

a. there was little interest in nature in Islamic culture.

b. they were mainly working in an urban setting and thus had no access to the natural landscape.

*c. the Qur’an forbade the worship of idols, and over time artists were prohibited from depicting all living things. (p. 214).

d. they were so good at non-representational forms that they lost interest in nature.

37. The oldest extant Islamic monument, from the seventh century, is:

*a. the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem (pp. 214-215)

b. the Great Mosque of Kairouan in Tunisia

c. Ibn Tulun Mosque in Cairo

d. the Alhambra in Granada

38. The dominant architectural structure in Islam is the:

a. temple

b. fortress-palace

* c. mosque (p. 215)

d. tomb

39. True or false? The courtyards of mosques sometimes served as a public meeting place similar to the Greek agora and the Roman forum. (T, p. 216)

40. Which is NOT a characteristic feature of an Islamic mosque?

a. a nearby minaret for prayer calls

b. an open courtyard

* c. rows of benches to accommodate the faithful (pp. 215-216)

d. rich decorations of mosaics, Oriental carpets, and calligraphic friezes

41. A thin pointed tower in which a Muslim official calls the faithful to prayer is called:

a. a muezzin.

*b. a minaret.

c. a mosque.

d. a broadcast tower.

42. Which of the following architectural forms was borrowed and adapted to the Gothic style by architects in Western Europe during the Middle Ages?

a. The mosque

b. The minaret

*c. The pointed arch (p. 216)

d. The arabesque

43. A type of mosque that was the ancestor of the university in the Islamic world was called a:

*a. madrasa (p. 217)

b. Alhambra

c. minaret

d. none of the above

44. The last residence of Muslim rulers in Spain, which includes a rare example of representational art in its Court of the Lions, is called:

a. the Great Mosque.

*b. the Alhambra. (p. 217)

c. the Palace of the Winds.

d. the House of the Moors.

45. This type of Islamic art was developed in spite of the Qur’an’s prohibition against figurative art:

a. arabesque

* b. book painting (p. 217-218)

c. calligraphy

d. decorations of mihrabs in mosques

46. What important technology did Christian Europe learn from Islamic civilization in Spain?

a. Gunpowder.

b. Artillery.

*c. Paper making. (p. 219)

d. The architectural dome.

47. True or false? Early Islamic music used smaller intervals between sounds on the scale than any music in the West prior to jazz. (T, p. 219)

48. True or false? As a result of the Crusades, most of the musical instruments played in the Muslim world were banned from use in Western music. (F, p. 220)

49. What caused Muslim science and universities to become irrelevant by 1800?

a. The Crusades introduced Christian values into Islamic society and thus held them back.

*b. The Greek heritage fell into disrepute. (p. 220)

c. The Crusades destroyed Islamic universities and they had trouble rebuilding them.

d. None of the above.

50. Which of the following was an influence of medieval Islam on the West?

a. It transmitted the legacies of Classical Greco-Roman culture.

b. It reconciled religion with Aristotle’s philosophy.

c. It gave the West algebra, the pointed arch, and other technologies.

*d. All of the above. (p. 220)

51. Which of the following are among Islamic scholars?

a. Avicenna

b. Al Razi

c. Plotinus

* d. A and b

52. True or false? The Greco-Arabic Translation Movement lasted for two hundred years, from the 8th to the 10th century? (T)

53. Avicenna is credited with

a. the discovery of Alchohol

*b. the writing of the largest medical encyclopedia during the whole middle ages

c. being the father of pediatrics

d. discoveries in astronomy

PRIMARY SOURCES IN READINGS IN THE WESTERN HUMANITIES, VOL. I

Selections from the Qur’an

Ibn Khaldun, Selections from the Muqaddimah

Selection from The Arabian Nights

Rumi, Selections from the Masnavi

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