Islamic Origins
During Late Antiquity, Arabia lay between these two great empires.
What are the Byzantine and Sasanian Empires?
WILD CARD: A protectorate of Britain until 1952, this country was the site of uprisings in 2011 that led to the resignation of Hosni Mubarak and the eventual rule of Abdul Fattah al-Sisi.
What is Egypt?
This Shi'ite dynasty governed Egypt and Syria after 969 and founded the city now known as Cairo.
Who were the Fatimids?
This Mongolian warlord united a vast tribal confederation of Mongol nomads that conquered an empire that stretched from Austria to Japan.
Who was Chinggis Khan?
The sacred scripture of Islam, it contains the recited speech of God as revealed to the Prophet Muhammad during his lifetime.
What is the Qur'an?
The prophet Muhammad belonged to the Banu Hashim clan of this Arabian tribe.
What is Quraysh?
According to Sunni Islam, the first four caliphs—Abu Bakr , Umar, Uthman, and Ali—were known as these.
What are the "Rightly-Guided" or Rashidun Caliphs?
This dynasty of Turkish origin oversaw the expansion of Islam into India and patronized Persian courtly literature, including the Shahnameh.
Who were the Ghaznavids?
This term is used by historians to refer to that part of the Middle East (mostly Iran) that fell under Mongol control.
What is the Il-Khanate?
Born of a noble patrician family, this man was a Christian priest who provided aid and solace to Egyptian Christians during the Persian invasions and performed miracles and advised politicians.
Who was St. John the Almsgiver?
WILD CARD! After the end of WWI, Britain controlled Palestine, Transjordan, and France controlled modern-day Syrian and Lebanon under this system.
What is the Mandate System?
In 661, the Umayyads moved the seat of the caliph from Arabia to this city.
What is Damascus?
It includes atabegs, mamluks, the Sunni revival, and urban autonomy.
What is the Seljuk toolkit?
WILD CARD! This Empire controlled most of the Middle East and involved it in World War I.
What was the Ottoman Empire?
Baghdad, the capital of the 'Abbasid caliphs, was built in this form in an effort to depict the city as a microcosm.
What is a circle?
In the year 622 CE, Muhammad and his followers moved from Mecca to this city, where they established the first Muslim polity.
What is Medina?
This Abbasid caliph centralized the government, required Arabic to be used for the bureaucracy, and introduced Arabic coinage.
Who is 'Abd al-Malik?
WILD CARD! This term refers to the belief that people should be united by a common sense of identity, history, language, ethnicity and allegiance to a particular state.
What is nationalism?
This Mongol Il-Khan was the first Mongol ruler in Iran to convert to Islam.
Who was Ghazan?
The chronicler Ibn al-Athir depicted the invasion of the Islamic world by these two peoples as signs that the Apocalypse was coming.
Who were the Franks and the Mongols?
The five pillars of Islam include the profession of faith, prayer, pilgrimage, fasting during Ramadan, and this.
What is almsgiving (zakat)?
Four years after the Abbasid Revolution in this year, the 'Abbasid Caliph al-Mansur built Baghdad as the capital of his new realm.
What is the year 750 CE?
He reconquered Jerusalem from the Franks and founded the Ayyubid dynasty.
Who was Saladin?
Timur, or Tamerlane, desperately sought legitimacy by depicting himself in this fashion.
What was a reviver of Chiggis Khan's legacy?
This "divine aureole" or "nimbus" surrounds the body of a ruler to distinguish him as having been recognized by Ahuramazda as a just king.
What is the farr?