Misc
The name of the holy book of Islam
What is the Qur'an?
Elegant handwriting.
What is calligraphy?
A Muslim official who would call out a summons to prayer from a minaret.
What is a muezzin?
Nomads from central Asia who invaded India.
Who are the Mughals?
A hired soldier
What is a mercenary?
After Muhammad's death, Islam split into these TWO branches.
What are Sunni and Shi'ite?
These were constructed to plot the movement of the stars, which enabled Muslim scholars to calculate dates for religious ceremonies and contributed to advances in navigation.
What are observatories?
Ruled the Ottoman Empire at the height of it's power, from 1520-1566. Reformed the legal system and inspired a cultural era.
Who is Suleyman I?
A Shi-ite dynasty and rival of the Sunni Ottomans.
Who are the Safavids?
The sympathy for the beliefs and practices of others
What is tolerance?
Followers of these two religions were considered "people of the book" by Muslims.
What is Christianity and Judaism?
A type of design that consists of patterns of flowers, leaves, vines, and geometric shapes. The patterns often repeat in a seemingly endless way.
What is arabesque?
A four-line rhyming poem known as a quatrain was made popular by this Persian poet, who lived from 1048 to 1131.
Who is Omar Khayyám?
A dynasty of Turkish muslims, ruled by a sultan. Ruled from the 1290's until the end of World War I.
Who are the Ottomans?
A ruler of the Ottoman Empire
What is a Sultan?
This Islamic empire put an end to the Byzantine Empire.
What is the Ottoman Empire?
A collection of entertaining stories from India, Persia, and Arabia. It features such well-known characters as Aladdin and Sinbad the Sailor.
The Thousand and One Nights
A Muslim physician from al-Andalus who wrote influential books on medicine. He was also a famous philosopher.
Who is Ibn Rushd?
Descendants of Muhammad's uncle who overthrew the Umayyad caliphate in 750 CE and reigned until it was destroyed by the Mongol invasion in 1258.
Who are the Abbasids?
A ruler of the Safavid Empire. The Persian title for "king"
What is a shah?
This Ottoman sultan commissioned work on restoration of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, and built magnificent mosques and palaces.
Who is Suleyman I?
Extremely tall, slender towers that were designed to dominate the skyline and call attention to the importance of the mosque.
What are minarets?
An Arab Muslim physician in al-Andalus who pioneered surgical procedures and invented instruments, some of which are still used today.
Who is al-Zahrawi?
A Muslim dynasty that ruled the Islamic world from AD 661 to 750.
Who are the Umayyads?
A highly trained and disciplined soldier in the Ottoman army
What is a janissary?