Middle East

Question 1

The shahada

Answer 1

The testimony, the declaration of faith, they believe that there is only one god; Muhammad is a messenger or prophet

Question 2

The salat

Answer 2

Mandatory prayers preformed 5 times daily (dawn, noon, late afternoon, sunset, before bed) wash before praying, face mecca and use prayer rug, go to mosque on Friday

Question 3

The zakat

Answer 3

Almsgiving (charitable donations) muslims believe that all things belong to god, zakat means “purification” and “growth”, about 2.5% of their income goes to church

Question 4

The sawm

Answer 4

Fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, considered a method of self purification, no eating or drinking from sunrise during Ramadan

Question 5

The Hajj

Answer 5

The pilgrimage to Mecca, must be done at least once in a muslims life time, 2-3 million Muslims make the pilgrimage each year (Kaaba= the most sacred site),

Question 6

Significance of the Dead Sea

Answer 6

The lowest point on dry land, its famous hyper saline waters make it easy to float (impossible to drown) no animal life

Question 7

Drip irrigation

Answer 7

A drip irrigation system delivers water directly to the root zone of a plant, where it seeps slowly into the soil one drop at a time. Almost no water is lost through surface runoff or evaporation, and soil particles have plenty of opportunity to absorb and hold water for plants.

Question 8

River valleys of ancient mesopotamia

Answer 8

The Tigris and Euphrates river run predominantly through iraq in the ancient region of mesopotamia

Question 9

Country with the most oil reserves

Answer 9

Saudi Arabia has almost one-fifth of the world’s proven oil reserves and ranks as the largest producer and exporter of oil in the world

Question 10

Region with the most oil reserves

Answer 10

The Middle East

Question 11

3 monotheistic faiths in chronological order

Answer 11

Judaism, Christianity, Islam

Question 12

Sacred sites in Jerusalem

Answer 12

Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Christians)
The western wall (Jewish)
Dome of the rock (muslims)

Question 13

Kurds

Answer 13

Fourth largest ethnic group in the northeast, the majority are Sunni Muslims

Question 14

Muhammad

Answer 14

is considered by Muslims to be the last messenger and prophet sent by God to guide humanity to the right way

Question 15

The empty quarter

Answer 15

The Rub’ al Khali is the largest contiguous sand desert in the world, encompassing most of the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula

Question 16

6 day war

Answer 16

Israel more than doubles the size of their country; country for the jewish, fought over w the arabs

Question 17

Qanut fossil water

Answer 17

Qanut- Iran (gently sloping underground channel or tunnel constructed to lead water from the interior of a hill to a village below)
fossil water- sealed away in an aquifer for a very long time

Question 18

Creation of Israel (1948) and boundary changes

Answer 18

Creation of Israel- fighting for Jews of the terrible wrong of the holocaust, Arab saw the event as a catastrophe, went to war w Israel, the Jewish double the size of their country, land was taken away from the Palestinians

Question 19

PLO

Answer 19

Government of the Palestinian people who are trying to get a country for their people (Palestinian= Muslims that don’t agree with Israel)

Question 20

First to make peace with Israel and why?

Answer 20

Egypt- in exchange for the return of the Sinai peninsula

Question 21

Jewish diaspora

Answer 21

The dispersion of Jews out of their ancestral homeland and the communities built by them across the world

Question 22

Oslo peace accords of 1993

Answer 22

attempt at peace between Israel & PLO, the Oslo Peace
Accords: Palestinians given self-rule in Gaza, and parts of the West
Bank (Jericho)

Question 23

The Taliban

Answer 23

Islamic fundamentalist political movement in Afghanistan currently waging war within that country

Question 24

Sunni vs shiites

Answer 24

The group now known as Sunnis chose Abu Bakr to lead the Muslim state, Shiites favored Ali, Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law (after Muhammad died)

Question 25

Aral Sea

Answer 25

Shrunk by 80%, problem caused by ussr, caused by large scale irrigation diverted water away from 2 rivers that fed into the lake; example of HEI

Question 26

OPEC

Answer 26

Controls production, price, and exportation of oil in the Middle East

Question 27

Ottoman Turks

Answer 27

Ottoman Empire  (current day Turkey) ! last Islamic empire
controls region: 1300s to 1918

Question 28

UN partition

Answer 28

The United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine was a proposal by the United Nations, which recommended a partition of Mandatory Palestine at the end of the British Mandate

Question 29

Right to return

Answer 29

The law to return gives Jews the right of return and the right to live in Israel and to gain Israeli citizenship.

Question 30

Secular definition

Answer 30

denoting attitudes, activities, or other things that have no religious or spiritual basis.

Question 31

Sharia

Answer 31

Islamic law prescribing both religious and secular duties and sometimes have punishment for someone’s wrong doing for law breaking

Question 32

Stateless nation

Answer 32

political term for ethnic/national minority that does not possess its own state (group of people who share a common religion/ language/ culture, ext)

Question 33

Strategic importance of the strait of Hormuz

Answer 33

Connects the Persian gulf with the gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea; represents one of the worlds most important oil checkpoints

Question 34

Strategic importance of the Bosphorus strait

Answer 34

Separates Europe and Asia, considered one of the worlds most strategic waterways

Question 35

Subsistence farming

Answer 35

farmers focus on growing enough food to feed themselves and their families, mostly in areas that aren’t looking for trade

Question 36

Why is the sues canal important?

Answer 36

Considered to be the shortest link between the east and west; saves time, distance, and cost for vessels that transit

Question 37

Zionism

Answer 37

the development and protection of a Jewish nation in what is now Israel

Question 38

Theocracy

Answer 38

A government in which a god or goddess is the source of which all authority derives