Chapter 9 Vocabulary (Long Definitions)

Question 1

Sasanid Empire

Answer 1

Iranian empire, established around 224, with a capital in Ctesiphon, Mesopotamia. The Sasanid emperors established Zoroastrianism as the state religion. Islamic Arab armies overthrew the empire in 651.

Question 2

Mecca

Answer 2

City in western Arabia; birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad and ritual center of the Islamic religion.

Question 3

Muhammad

Answer 3

Arab prophet (570 - 632 CE); founder of the religion of Islam.

Question 4

Muslim

Answer 4

An adherent of the Islamic religion; a person who “submits” to the will of God. (In Arabic, Islam means “submission”.)

Question 5

Islam

Answer 5

Religion expounded by the Prophet Muhammad on the basis of his reception of divine revelations, which were collected after his death into the Quran. In the tradition of Judaism and Christianity, and sharing much of their lore, Islam calls on all people to recognize one creator god - Allah - who rewards or punishes believers after death according to how they led their lives.

Question 6

Medina

Answer 6

City in western Arabia to which Muhammad and his followers emigrated in 622 to escape persecution in Mecca.

Question 7

Umma

Answer 7

The community of all Muslims. A major innovation against the background of seventh-century Arabia, where traditionally kinship rather than faith had determined membership in a community.

Question 8

Caliphate

Answer 8

Office established in succession to the Prophet Muhammad to rule the Islamic empire; also the name of that empire.

Question 9

Quran

Answer 9

Book composed of divine revelations made to the Prophet Muhammad between around 610 and his death 632; the sacred text of the religion of Islam.

Question 10

Shi’ites

Answer 10

Muslims belonging to the branch of Islam believing that God vests leadership of the community in a descendant of Muhammad’s son-in-law Ali. Shi’ism is the state religion of Iran.

Question 11

Umayyad Caliphate

Answer 11

First hereditary dynasty of Muslim caliphs (661 - 750). From their capital at Damascus, the Umayyads ruled an empire that extended from Spain to India. Overthrown by the Abbasid Caliphate.

Question 12

Sunnis

Answer 12

Muslims belonging to branch of Islam believing that the community should select its own leadership. The majority religion in most Islamic countries.

Question 13

Abbasid Caliphate

Answer 13

Descendants of the Prophet Muhammad’s uncle, al-Abbas, the Abbasids overthrew the Umayyad Caliphate and ruled an Islamic empire from their capital in Baghdad (founded 762) from 750 to 1258.

Question 14

Mamluks

Answer 14

Under the Islamic system of military slavery, Turkic military slaves formed an important part of the armed forces of the Abbasid Caliphate of the ninth and tenth centuries. Mamluks eventually founded their own state, ruling Egypt and Syria (1250 - 1517).

Question 15

Ghana

Answer 15

First known kingdom in sub-Saharan West Africa between the sixth and thirteenth centuries CE. Also the modern West African country once known as the Gold Coast.

Question 16

Ulama

Answer 16

Muslim religious scholars. From the ninth century onward, the primary interpreters of Islamic law and the social core of Muslim urban societies.

Question 17

Hadith

Answer 17

A tradition relating the words and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad; next to the Quran, the most important basis for Islamic law.