General Knowledge
This Middle Eastern country is a member of the acronymic organization known as NATO
Turkey
Who was the president of Egypt before Mubarak ?
Anwar Sadat
She is the most famous Lebanese diva singer from the 1970s and 1980s
Fairouz
These two famous historical rivers flow through the middle of Iraq where the ancient Mesopotamian and Sumerian cultures once thrived
Tigris & Euphrates
Participation in the BoC earns me _______ credit points
Zero
Arabic is a ________language, closely related to languages like Aramaic, Hebrew, and Phoenician.
(Central) Semitic
He was the first Prophet in Islam
Adam
The European Union has how many member countries/states?
28
The GCC, or the political and economic alliance of six Middle Eastern countries—Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman, is an acronym which stands for
Gulf Cooperation Council
They are the largest ethnic group in the Middle East
Arabs
This singer’s funeral in 1975 was reportedly attended by around 4 million Egyptians.
Umm Kulthūm
This is the only island country that is geographically in the Middle East.
Bahrain
Joakim’s last name is ________.
Parslow
There are more than _______ million Arabic speakers across the world.
300 million
______ is the name of the first wife of the Prophet Muhammad.
Khadijah
What country makes up Asia minor (Anatolia)?
Turkey
The currency of Lebanon is the
Lebanese pound/lira
The first Gulf War began in what year?
1990 (August)
The “J” in J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series, stands for what?
Joanne
Iraq shares most of its border with this country
Iran
This is a powder made from a plant to dye hair, skin, or fingernails and can be used as temporary body art (staining) based on those dyes (see also mehndi).
Henna
_______, which is colloquial (spoken) Arabic, has many forms that are used in ordinary conversation,and it varies from country to country, and even town to town
Aammiyya
According to Muslim belief, the angel _______ appeared to Muhammad and told him, "You are the messenger of God."
Gabriel
This leader was the first Muslim to receive a Nobel Prize.
Anwar al-Sadat
The University of Oslo has produced how many numbers of Nobel prize winners
5
The first female pilot from the Middle East came from which MENA country?
Egypt [Luṭfiyya al-Nādī, 1933]
This is a short-neck lute-type, pear-shaped stringed instrument commonly used in Persian, Greek, Turkish, Arabian, Armenian, North African, Somali and Middle Eastern music.
Oud
The Jordan River flows into which body of water?
Dead Sea
The head of the IKOS department is (full name) ____.
Bjørn Olav Utvik
The Arabic word for the Arabic language is ______.
al-ʿArabiyyah
The Koran consists of this many number of chapters?
114
He was the first Arab writer to receive the Nobel prize in literature in 1988.
Naguib Mahfouz
This is the capital of the U.A.E
Abu Dhabi
In what decade of the 1800s was the first female student enrolled to the University of Oslo?
1880s (1882)
Aladdin, Sinbad and Ali Baba are enchanting characters in this famous literary work from the region
1001 (Arabian) Nights
The region of North Africa comprises of how many countries or territories in total?
Seven
One of the holiest sites in Shia Islam, containing the grave of Hussein ibn Ali, grandson of the prophet Muhammad, is located in which Iraqi city?
Karbala
This dialect of Arabic, __________ also called "Darija" is spoken by about 70 million people in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Malta
Maghrebi Arabic
Muslims have to perform …(number) ritual prayers per day.
5
Besides Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Kurdish, what is another widely spoken language in the Middle East?
Berber
The coffee term “mocha” derives its name from the city of Mocha in which country?
Yemen
What country uses qanats (gently sloping underground channels or tunnels) to irrigate water underground?
Iran
The first form of Arabic literature was
Poetry
Tunisia and Egypt both border this North African country
Libya
The main ingredient in hummus is_______?
Chickpeas
Arabic is the official (or co-official) language of how many countries?
22
This ancient city was the first direction of prayer in Muhammad's lifetime, before the Ka'bah in Mecca
Jerusalem