Name: ______

Date: ______

Period: ______

Middle East 600-1450 Multiple Choice

Choose the answer that is best for the question

___1. The Mamluks were

  1. European mercenaries who traveled from the Byzantine Empire to Jerusalem
  2. Turkic mercenaries in the Abbasid caliphate who rose to control powerful Muslim states
  3. A Turkic nomadic group who migrated to Central Asia and established independent kingdoms
  4. A sub-sect of Islam that developed shortly after Muhammad’s death

___2. All of the following are characteristics of Islam EXCEPT

  1. A monotheistic belief in one god that must be worshipped as the only god
  2. A belief in a community of believers unified by their faith above all else
  3. A tradition of passing down the central teachings of their faith orally
  4. A belief in the importance of prayer, fasting & charity

___3. The Caliph

  1. Always ruled over one extended area of land from Spain to India
  2. Was a position that dissolved a short time after Muhammad’s death
  3. Was a position passed down through one family that traced its roots to Mecca
  4. Was considered to be the successor of Muhammad as well as a political leader

___4. The Sunni/Shi’ite split resulted from disagreement over

  1. Whether Muhammad was a god
  2. The content of the 5 Pillars
  3. The role of the Ka’ba in Islam
  4. Who should succeed Muhammad

___5. The word Islam means submission and refers to Muslim’s obligation

  1. To submit to the single authority of the caliph
  2. To submit to the teachers of the ulama
  3. To complete a pilgrimage to Mecca
  4. To submit to the will of God in all of life

___6. The group in control of Jerusalem at the time of the Crusades was the

  1. Mongols
  2. Persians
  3. Seljuk Turks
  4. Abbasid caliphate

___7. Cities were important in Islam for all of the following reasons EXCEPT

  1. They were places to learn Arabic
  2. They were administrative centers for government
  3. They encouraged the exchange of new ideas
  4. They were the only places where women could travel freely

___8. The Mongols

  1. Destroyed all knowledge of the intellectual contributions of the Muslim world
  2. Spread the bubonic plague through overland trade routes into Europe
  3. Allied with the Europeans to defeat the Abbasid caliphate in 1258
  4. Defeated the mamluks at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071

___9. The Silk Road flourished under Mongol rule because

  1. Unlike the Muslims, who looked down on merchants, the Mongols encouraged trade
  2. The Mongols controlled all parts of the Silk Road, which allowed for relatively easy exchange
  3. The Turks hired Mongol armies to protect the Silk Road
  4. The Silk Road came into existence only during the period of Mongol rule in Eurasia

___10. Timur was notable for all of the following reasons EXCEPT

  1. Helping to spread Muslim knowledge along the Silk Road
  2. Patronizing Muslim art and learning in a variety of ways
  3. Conquering former Il-Khan territories even though he was not a Mongol
  4. Creating the concept of tax farming in the Middle East

___11. The Arabic peninsula is characterized by

  1. Lush oases dotting the peninsula
  2. Arid desert throughout the majority of the peninsula
  3. Coastal cities and agricultural villages close to sources of water and a large empty quarter in the central areas
  4. A uniform arid climate, which can support only sparse nomadic populations throughout the peninsula

___12. The universal language of the Muslim Empire was

  1. Semitic, because it was the common language of the Christians, Muslims, and Jews
  2. Persian, because scribes and other governmental officials considered it to be the most beautiful of languages
  3. Spanish, because most of the translators and philosophers studied in Andalucia, the Spanish are of the empire
  4. Arabic, because it was the language of the Qu’ran

___13. The Muslim caliphate is significant in world history because

  1. It is the first Afro-Eurasian empire
  2. It is peacefully incorporated many different cultural groups
  3. It became the largest empire in history
  4. It significantly improved the living standards of all its subjects

___14. The Crusades are an important even in world history because

  1. They were the first manifestation of belligerence between Muslims and Christians
  2. They provided an opportunity for the diffusion of technology, ideas, and warfare tactics
  3. They provided an occasion for the Christian pope to prove to his detractors that he had secular power throughout western Christendom
  4. They gave many western Europeans an opportunity to get closer to God

___15. As a result of the forcible concentration of scholars initiated by Timur

  1. Scholars in Samarkand improved on Greek and Chinese ideas in astronomy and mathematics and also made many literacy innovations
  2. Most scholarship died because of the harsh conditions under which the scholars worked
  3. Greek scholarship in astronomy and mathematics continued
  4. Scholars were forced to work on scientific innovations, but because of their enslaved nature, scholars exaggerated much of their findings