Chapter 9

1. The sanctity of the Dome of the Rock at the heart of Jerusalem, is recognized
equally by the three great faiths of the western world___JUDAISM_____,
___CHRISTIANITY___, and ____ISLAM_____. (3 words)
2. Traditionally, all Muslims must make a pilgrimage to ____MECCA___ at least once
in their lives.
3. At the core of Muhammads revelations is the concept of submission to Godthe
word ____ISLAM____, in fact means submission or surrender.
4. Almost all Muslims regularly read the Quran in ____ARABIC____, and many have
memorized it completely. Since it is believed to be the direct word of God, it cannot
be modified, let alone translated.
5. In addition to the Quran, another important source of Islamic tradition are
collections of ____HADITH____, meaning narrative or reports, which consist of
sayings of Muhammad and anecdotes about his life.
6. In the Muslim world mastering the art of ___CALLIGRAPHY____ was (is), in a
sense, a form of prayer, and was (is) practiced with total dedication.
7. _____NASKH____ literally copying, was developed in the tenth century, and
refined into a fine art form in Turkey in the sixteenth century.
8. Based on ______LUNAR CYCLES______, (2 words) the Muslim year is about 11
days shorter than the Christian year, resulting in a difference of about three years
per century. The calendar began in 622 CE. Thus, in the year 2013, the Muslims
celebrated the start of the year 1434.
9. One of the most discussed and most controversial aspect of Muslim faith (even
among Muslims) is the ______HIJAB______, literally curtain, the requirement that
women be covered or veiled.
10. Following the death of the prophet in 632, the ____CALIPHS____, or successors
to Muhammad, assumed political and religious authority.
11. Those Muslims who believe that only descendants of Ali should rule are known
as _____SHIITES____, and they live largely in Iran and Iraq.
12. Those Muslims who believe that religious leaders should be chosen by the
faithful are known as ____SUNNIS___ and today, represent the Majority of Muslims.
13. By the eleventh century, a ____MADRASA_____, or teaching college, was
attached to mosques, and mosques became centers of learning. (The book fails to
say that about 526 Justinian shut down Platos Academy saying they were all
Pagans. Many of the teachers there fled for their life; ended up in Baghdad which
would become the greatest center for learning in the world. Later, the teachings of
the early Western philosophers would return to the West from Baghdad. Had it not
been for them, some of that great knowledge we now study may have been lost.)

14. The military exploits of the first Malian mansa, Sunjata, still survive in an epic
poem, the _____SUNJATA____.
15. According to Sunjata, a ___GRIOT____ is a vessel of speech, a repository which
harbor secrets many centuries old and for whom the art of eloquence has no
secrets, and without whom, the names of kings would vanish into oblivion. They are
the memory of (hu)mankind.
16. Muslim mathematicians in Spain invented algebra and introduced the concept of
_____ZERO____ to the West, and soon their Arabic numerals replaced the unwieldy
Roman system. (Take this with a grain of salt and be open minded. A great deal of
evidence shows the idea of the zero may have originated earlier in Egypt.)
17. A _____PYXIS_____ is a small, cylindrical box with a lid.
18. In the city of ____CORDOBA____ about half the population had running water
and lavatories in their homes while the main city streets were lighted by torchlight
at night.
19. The ceiling of the Hall of the Abencerrajes is decorated with
_____MUQARNAS____, small niche-like components unique to Islamic architecture
that are combined in successive layers to enclose a space and produce surfaces rich
in three-dimensional geometric compositions.
20. Between the eighth and thirteenth centuries, the _____ISLAMIC_____ world, from
Baghdad in the east to Crdoba in the west, developed artistic traditions and
practices compared to which the arts in Western Europe simply paled.
21. As a result of its book production, Abbasid Baghdad at the height of its
influence, from the ninth to the twelfth centuries, was the center of ____WORLD
CULTURE____. (2 words)
22. ____SUFISM___ embraces a wide range of mystical practices that all share a
belief in attaining visionary experience and divine inspiration by means of trances
achieved in the intense experience of music, poetry, and dance. (Much like the
Eighteenth century Quakers from England called Shakers.)
23. Rumis poetry, especially the _____MATHNAVI______ (Rhymed Discourses), an
epiclength verse collection of mystical stories composed of some 27,000 verse
couplets, is considered the masterwork of the Sufi tradition.
24. Islam is often considered outside the Western tradition, but its a fundamental
part of the ______WESTERN HERITAGE________. (2 words) As we have seen Western
musicindeed the Western orchestra originated Muslim musical traditions.
25. The spiritual depth of the love poem, as it comes to fruition in the work of the
medieval ____TROUBADOUR____ poets and the poets of the Renaissance, was first
developed in the Muslim world.