Early Islam: 600-800 AD Quiz | History

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. By Islamic tradition the Arabs are descended from Abraham's and Ishamael, the first son of a slave named Hagar. However, the later birth of Isaac (the Jews' ancestor) to Sarah caused friction between the two women, and so Abraham took Hagar and Ishmael to Mecca and left them. What Muslim holy site did God give to Ishmael there?

Answer: The Well of Zamzam

The story goes Hagar and Ishmael had been left with provisions to keep them alive but they soon ran out. Hagar was getting frantic with worry. However one day Ishmael was dragging his feet through the sand and a spring of cool water bubbled beneath his foot. This became the Well of Zamzam, a holy site for Muslims that would stand next to the Kaaba (built by Abraham).

2. What was the name of Medina before the Hegira?

Answer: Yathrib

The Hegira was the flight of Muhammad and his followers on 16 July 622 from persecution in Mecca to Medina (Yathrib). It was here that Muslims first began to act as a community, and the Hegira marks the first day of the Muslim calendar (measured in AH - After Hegira)

3. Muhammad died in 632 and the problem arose as to who to should lead the Islamic community. The first four leaders (Caliphs) after Muhammad were known as the 'Rightly guided'. They were (in no particular order) Abu Bakr, Umar, Ali and...?

Answer: Uthman

Al-Walid was a general that led troops in the early conquests, Quarysh was the name of the tribe that Muhammad came from and Abu Talib was the name of one of Muhammad's uncles, the father of Ali and Muhammad's guardian after the death of his grandfather. Abu Talib himself died in AD619.

4. The years after Muhammad's death gave rise to the mass expansion of the Arab world. In just five years the Arabs were strong enough to challenge the mighty empires of Byzantium and Sassanian Persia. In 636 AD the Persian Empire was defeated at what battle?

Answer: Qadisiya

Also in that year Jerusalem was captured, Damascus having been taken two years earlier.

5. What was the name of the religious sect that assassinated Ali (the fourth Caliph and cousin of the Prophet)?

Answer: Kharijite

The Kharijite originally supported Ali. However during the civil war with Muawiya, Ali agreed to arbitration. The Kharijites saw this as cowardly and not befitting a Caliph. In 661, Ali was stabbed with a poisoned dagger.

6. What was the name given to non-Arab Muslims?

Answer: Mawalis

During the years of expansion the number of Mawalis skyrocketed. Though the Muslims were religiously tolerant (that is they didn't persecute non-believers) they imposed a rather harsh tax on non-Muslims. This tax and also the appeal of the religion itself led many conquered people to convert.

7. Upon the death of Ali a new Dynasty rose to power, the Umayyads. What was the name of the first Umayyad Caliph?

Answer: Muawiya

When Ali became Caliph he was faced with the first civil war. First the joint effort of Meccan elders Talha and Al-Zubayr and Muhammad's widow Aisha tried to take the Caliphate but were subsequently defeated at the Battle of the Camel. Then Muawiya lead an army against Ali for not punishing the assassins of his cousin and former Caliph Uthman. Ali was assassinated and Muawiya became Caliph.

8. The Second Civil War (684-692) started with the death of the third Umayyad Caliph Muawiya II. Two claimants to the Caliphate arose; one was Marwan (a member of the Umayyad family). Who was the other?

Answer: Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr

Marwan was chosen as Caliph and gained control of Egypt and Syria. Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr (the son of the al-Zubayr that rose in revolt against Ali) had control of Persia and Iraq. Abdullah also had trouble of his own as many Iraqis supported a rebel named Al-Mukhtar. Abdullah defeated al-Mukhtar and by 692 Marwan's successor, Al-Malik, defeated Abdullah but in the process destroyed half of Mecca and the Kaba.

9. Caliph Abd Al-Malik ruled from 685-705 and was responsible for the introduction of Arabic coinage instead of Byzantium and Sassanian coinage. He also ordered the construction of a famous building completed in 692. What was that building?

Answer: Dome of the Rock

The Dome of the Rock was build as a shrine to the rock on top of Mount Moriah. This Rock is said to the place where Abraham offered his son Isaac to God and where Muhammad made his miraculous night journey to heaven. (Muslims believe that the intended sacrifice was Ishamel, not Issac).

10. In the eighth century many Muslims grew discontented with the Umayyad rule. In the Persian Province of Khurasan an ex-slave named Abu Muslim started a revolt against the Umayyads. What year was this?

Answer: 747

In 747 the Khurasan Governor loyal to the Umayyads was deposed and Abu Muslim, a commanding general, lead his army (joined by the Abbasid family) west. In 749 they entered Kufa, Iraq, to popular acclaim. In 750 the Umayyads were defeated and the Abbasids took over and the leader made Abu governor of Khurasan.

However in 754 Al-Mansur inherited the Caliphate and grew jealous of Abu Muslims popularity and eventually had him murdered.

11. In Abu Muslim's revolt, what colour did the rebels use to represent their resistance?

Answer: Black

Black was also the colour of protest in Palestine in 1925 when Lord Balfour visited to open the Hebrew University. It was Lord Balfour that had issued a declaration giving British consent for the mass immigration of Jews to Palestine at this time. This caused many acres of land that once belonged to Arabs being sold to the Jewish immigrants and, in turn, mass homelessness for Arabs.

Many Arabs were angry at this, the wealth and the favour of the Jews with the British who were in control of Palestine at this time.

Hence they protested.

12. Abu Muslim's revolt was very well organised. It had the clear intention of overthrowing the Umayyads and instating Abu Al-Abbas, desendant of Muhammad's uncle, Abbas, as caliph. Abu Al-Abbas had a nickname, Al-Saffah. What did this mean?

Answer: Blood-Spiller

Al-Saffah (as he was commonly known) was indeed very blood-thirsty. One of his first acts as Caliph was to behead all the remaining Umayyads (except Abd al-Rahman) and scourge the corpses.

13. What was the name of the battle in which Al-Saffah (Abu Al-Abbas) and Abu Muslim defeated the Umayyads in 750?

Answer: Great Zab

As for the alternatives in the question, Ctesiphon was the capital of the Sassanian Empire (not a battle), Qadisiya was the defeat of the Persians (mentioned earlier in the quiz) in 637 and the Ditch was in 627 when Muhammad defended Medina against a Meccan onslaught.

14. Al-Mansur succeeded Al-Saffah as Caliph in 754. One of his first actions was to move the capital of the Islamic Empire from Damascus to a newly founded city. What city was it that Al-Mansur founded in 762?

Answer: Baghdad

Al-Mansur (full name Abu Jafar Abd-Allah Al-Mansur) was the brother of Al-Saffah and the great-great-grandson of Muhammad's uncle Abbas. He named Baghdad the "City of Peace".

15. Charlemagne had diplomatic relations with which Abbasid ruler?

Answer: Harun Al-Rashid

Harun Al-Rahid was prehaps the most famous of the Abbasid Caliphs and is said to the ruler in the story of "Arabian Nights".

Source: Author personx

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
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Early Islam: 600-800 AD Trivia Quiz

This quiz is mainly concerned with the early years of expansion, the Umayyads and early Abbasids. If you know your stuff it shouldn't be too hard.

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