The Five Pillars
This Pillar requires Muslims to pray five times a day while facing Mecca.
$100: What is Salah?
Islam began in this desert region, a "crossroads" for trade.
$100: What is the Arabian Peninsula?
This Baghdad library was a center for translating Greek and Indian texts.
$100: What is the House of Wisdom?
This branch of mathematics was pioneered by Al-Khwarizmi.
$100: What is Algebra?
This is the beautiful, decorative handwriting often used in the Quran.
$100: What is Calligraphy?
This is the holy month during which Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset.
$200: What is Ramadan?
These "ships of the desert" made trans-Saharan trade possible.
$200: What are Camels?
This holy book of Islam is believed by Muslims to be the word of God.
$200: What is the Quran?
We use these today (0–9) instead of Roman Numerals thanks to Islamic scholars.
$200: What are Hindu-Arabic Numerals?
This famous blue-domed shrine in Jerusalem is a masterpiece of architecture.
$200: What is the Dome of the Rock?
This is the term for the pilgrimage to Mecca that every Muslim should take once.
$300: What is the Hajj?
These Muslim "successors" led the empire after the death of Muhammad.
$300: Who are the Caliphs?
This city was the intellectual capital of the world during the Abbasid Caliphate.
$300: What is Baghdad?
This navigation tool was improved by Muslims to help find the direction of Mecca.
$300: What is the Astrolabe?
This style of art uses complex, repeating geometric or floral patterns.
$300: What is Arabesque?
This is the percentage of wealth (Zakat) that Muslims are expected to give to charity.
$400: What is 2.5%?
This major resource was traded from North Africa in exchange for West African gold.
$400: What is Salt?
This traveler spent 30 years visiting almost every part of the Islamic world.
$400: Who is Ibn Battuta?
Ibn Sina wrote a "Canon" on this subject that was used in Europe for 500 years.
$400: What is Medicine?
This is the name of a Muslim house of worship.
$400: What is a Mosque?
This is the first Pillar (Faith): "There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is His messenger."
$500: What is Shahada?
This group of mystical missionaries helped spread Islam through peace and poetry.
$500: Who are the Sufis?
This term describes the policy of religious tolerance often shown to "People of the Book."
$500: What is Dhimmi (or protection)?
He is the philosopher who traveled the empire and reconciled Greek logic with Islam.
$500: Who is Ibn Rushd (Averroes)?
This collection of folk tales includes stories like Aladdin and Sinbad.
$500: What is The Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights)?