Islam - Unit 3

“Islamic scientists were among the first to study and chart the movements of planets and stars, eclipses and the rotation of the Earth ...they were able to pinpoint their exact location on earth. This proved to be helpful for the Muslim daily ritual of prayer, facing toward Mecca.”

This evidence could best be used to support which claim?

• Islam believes in only one god.

• Muslims do not believe in science.

• They did not understand astronomy.

• They used science to help aid their religious beliefs.

Read the passage below. This passage is describing which of the Five Pillars of Islam?

I was in Mecca at last. Before me was the Ka'bah, a great black cube partly submerged in a torrent of white-robed pilgrims circling round and round. Around us, like a great dam containing the torrent, stood the massive walls and the seven slim minarets of the Sacred Mosque.  -- article by Michael E. Jansen

• Hajj

• Salat

• Sawm

• Zakat

In this excerpt, Mohammed gives choices to the leader of a Christian Arab tribe.

"Believe or else pay tribute [money]...obey the Lord and His Apostle [Mohammed], and he will defend you...But if ye oppose and displease them...I will fight against you and take captive your little ones and slay the elder..."

Which COMPELLING question would this source be relevant in answering?

• What people did the Muslims fight?

• What important innovations and adaptations did Muslims make?

• How can religion influence the world?

• How did the geography of the Arabian peninsula impact the people living there?

Imagine you are in a plane flying over the Arabian Peninsula. Which of the following statements BEST describes what you would see when looking down?

• You only see a vast desert from coast to coast.

• You see vast deserts dotted by oases (oasis). Coastal plains line the southern and western coasts. Mountain ranges divide these coastal plains from the desert.

• You see vast coastal plains and mountain ranges with a few small deserts and oases.

• You see mountain ranges from coast to coast with little to no deserts.

Which is of the following statements is a correct comparison of the religion of Islam with the religion of the Arabian peninsula at the time of Muhammad’s birth?

• Islam is a monotheistic religion while the Meccans were also monotheists.

• Islam is a polytheistic religion while the Meccans were monotheists.

• Islam is a monotheistic religion while the Meccans were polytheists.

• Islam and the religion of the Meccans were both polytheistic.

Which of the following statements is a correct comparison of how Muslims in the 600's viewed religion and government (creation of laws and policies) and the view of religion and government in the United States today?

• In the US, church and state are separate; this is exactly how the Muslim empire viewed religion and government.

• In the US, religion is used to guide the creation of laws; this is exactly how the Muslim empire viewed religion.

• In the US, church and state are separate; however, in the Muslim empire, Islamic beliefs shaped the laws.

• In the US, church and state are together, so all laws are guided by religion. In the Muslim empire, they were separate.

How did the people of the Arabian peninsula change their environment to meet their needs?

• They created aqueducts.

• They used slash and burn agriculture.

• They created dams to make hydroelectric energy.

• They carved terraces to increase farming.

What is the primary reason for division between Sunni and Shia Muslims?

• Sunni and Shi'a disagree on how the Quran should be interpreted.

• Sunni and Shi'a disagree on what Muslims can eat.

• Sunni and Shi'a disagree on how Mohammed died.

• Sunni and Shi'a disagree on who should have been caliph.

Which of the following was NOT a reason why Islam spread so quickly?

• The trade that passed through the Arabian Peninsula.

• The Bysantine and Persian empires were weak from fighting each other.

• The Islamic armies were successful in war.

• The Catholic pope converted to Islam and persuaded Europeans to do the same.

Which of the following was an ECONOMIC  reason why the Meccans initially rejected Muhammad's message? Focus only on the economic reason.

• Muhammed was not liked by some leaders.

• Muhammad's monotheistic teaching also disturbed Arabs who did not want to give up their gods.

• Merchants worried that if people stopped worshiping their gods, people might stop making trips to Mecca.