We use cookies to enhance your experience on our website. By continuing to use our website, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time. Find out more

World Religions: Western Traditions: Chapter 5

Instructions: Instructions: For each question, click on the radio button beside your answer. When you have completed the entire quiz, click the 'Submit my answers' button at the bottom of the page to receive your results.

Question 1:


a) Piety
b) Devoted one
c) Submission
d) Monotheist

Question 2:


a) Abu Talib (his uncle)
b) Waraqah bin Nawfal (a learned Christian of his acquaintance)
c) Khadija (his wife)
d) Abu Bakr (his faithful friend)

Question 3:


a) The occasion of Muhammad receiving his first ‘call to prophecy’ from the Angel Jibreel (Gabriel).
b) Muhammad’s ‘night journey’ to Jerusalem and his audience with the Divine.
c) The unexpected Muslim ‘victory’ at the Battle of Badr.
d) The ‘migration’ of the nascent Muslim community from Mecca to Medina.

Question 4:


a) Prophet of God
b) God’s appointed ruler
c) God’s appointed general
d) All of the above.

Question 5:


a) Abu Bakr
b) Umar
c) Uthman
d) 'Ali

Question 6:


a) Abraham
b) John the Baptist
c) Jesus
d) Muhammad

Question 7:


a) Abu Bakr
b) Umar
c) Uthman
d) 'Ali

Question 8:


a) Allah, as creator and judge, is a masculine deity.
b) The term ‘Allah’ is simply a generic word for God, meaning ‘Lord of all beings.’
c) It is considered a sin to ascribe divinity to anything but God.
d) God can be known through the attributes of the created world.

Question 9:


a) They are thought to record the prophet’s normative utterances on a variety of subjects.
b) A ‘hadith’ text will include two components: a narrative and a chain of transmission (leading back to Muhammad himself).
c) The term ‘hadith’ can literally be translated as ‘example’ (i.e., Muhammad’s exemplary conduct)
d) The Islamic tradition accepts six canonized collections of ‘hadith’.

Question 10:


a) ‘Mustahabb’
b) ‘Haram’
c) ‘Halal’
d) ‘Makruh

Question 11:


a) Al-Ghazali
b) Ibn Rushd
c) Al-Farabi
d) Ibn Sina

Question 12:


a) The death of ‘Ali (the fourth caliph)
b) Muhammad’s ‘night journey’
c) The death of Husayn (‘Ali’s son)
d) The birth of Mahdi

Question 13:


a) Hasan of Basra
b) Al-Hallaj
c) Abu Qasim al-Junayd
d) Ra’bia

Question 14:


a) All religious paths ultimately lead to Truth (i.e., God).
b) Human beingsare literally one with God; there is no distinction between them.
c) Though humans require God for their existence, God requires humanity in order to be known.
d) The mystic’s heart, through love, can penetrate the diversity of religious traditions to find their common core.

Question 15:


a) The authority of Sufi leaders (shayks) is determined by their teaching lineage, which must extend back to Ali (or one of the other companions of the Prophet).
b) Deceased ‘shayks’ are understood to provide ‘barakah’ (healing power) to their devotees.
c) Sufis practice ‘dhikr’ (remembrance of the Divine Name) through a variety of practices, from quiet contemplation to ecstatic dancing.
d) Women are prohibited from participating in Sufi orders, such that even the shrines of Sufi saints are closed to them.

Question 16:


a) They were permitted to continue practicing their respective religious faiths.
b) They were exempted from military service.
c) The term ‘dhimmi’ literally means ‘People of the Book.’
d) Some groups classified as ‘dhimmi’ people included Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians, and Hindus.

Question 17:


a) Spain
b) North Africa
c) Central Asia
d) Sub-Saharan Africa

Question 18:


a) Central Asia
b) China
c) Sub-Sarahan Africa
d) South Asia

Question 19:


a) North Africa
b) Central Asia
c) Southeast Asia
d) South Asia

Question 20:


a) Salat (prayer)
b) Zakat (almsgiving)
c) Fasting (during the month of Ramadan)
d) Jihad (struggle)

Question 21:


a) Muslims are required to pray five separate times per day.
b) Most Muslims prayers were written by Muhammad, though some are credited to later ‘caliphs’.
c) Before praying, Muslims must perform ritual ablutions.
d) Each cycle of prayers involves moving through various bodily postures (standing, bowing, kneeling, and prostration).

Question 22:


a) A large open area for worshipers to perform their prostrations.
b) A library (‘maktaba’) containing the classics of Islamic theology and jurisprudence.
c) A pulpit, from which the prayer leader can deliver a Friday sermon.
d) An unornamented niche indicating the direction to Mecca (‘qibla’).

Question 23:


a) Portraits of ‘Ali (Muhammad’s son-in-law)
b) The winged horse that carried Muhammad on his night journey.
c) Calligraphic representations of phrases from the Qur’an.
d) Icons depicting Muhammad’s reception of the Qur’an from the Archangel Gabriel.

Question 24:


a) Shi’a belief and practice
b) Sufism
c) The principle of ‘ijtihad’
d) Uncritical application and inheritance of past legal traditions

Question 25:


a) Usman dan Fodio: Nigeria
b) Muhammad al-Sanusi: Libya
c) Mirza Ghulam Ahmad: India
d) Muhammad Ahmad al-Mahdi: Sudan

Question 26:


a) He argued that Turkey should be administered according to the precepts of shariah law.
b) He attempted to expel all non-Muslim foreigners from Turkey.
c) He tried to modernize Turkey through a policy of extreme secularism.
d) He attempted to embody the principle of jihad through his various military conquests.

Question 27:


a) The Brotherhood of Islam
b) The Islamic Society
c) The Society of Muslim Brothers
d) The Islam-Truth Movement

Question 28:


a) Sudan
b) Indonesia
c) Iran
d) Egypt

Question 29:


a) Hijab
b) Purdah
c) Burqa
d) Ummah

Question 30:


a) Many of the Islamic revivalists who fought in Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion (the ‘mujahidin’—precursors to al-Qaeda) were trained and funded by Americans.
b) Mainstream Islam (and key Islamic teachings) support the actions of al-Qaeda.
c) Osama bin Laden publicly argued in favour of overthrowing the Saudi government, issuing a legal ruling (‘fatwa’) on that issue.
d) The name ‘al-Qaeda’ literally means ‘the base,’ a reference to their role as trainers and financiers of the mujahidin.