Test: The Central Islamic Lands- 2 - UPSC MCQ

This was the origin of Islam.

God or Goddess was worshipped as an idol in a shrine.

Many Arab tribes were nomadic (bedouins), moving from dry to green areas (oases) of the desert in search of food (mainly dates) and fodder for their camels.

Tribes outside the Mecca considered the Kaba holy and installed their own idols at this shrine, making annual pilgrimages (hajj) to the shrine.

Mecca was located on the crossroads of a trade route between Yemen and Syria.

The Muslims soon faced considerable opposition from affluent Meccans who took offense to the rejection of their deities and found the new religion a threat to the status and prosperity of Mecca.

A date in the Hijri calendar is followed by the letters AH. The Hijri year is a lunar year of 354 days, 12 months (Muharram to Dhulhijja) of 29 or 30 days.

Each day of Hijri year begins at sunset and each month with the sighting of the crescent moon.

The Hijri year is about 11 days shorter than the solar year.

Gregorian calendar was established by Pope Gregory xiii in 1582 CE.

The umma was converted into a broader community to include polytheists and the jews of medina under the political leadership of Muhammad.

Muhammads died in 632, after which no one could legitimately claim to be the next prophet of Islam.

The first caliph was Abu Bakr. He suppressed the revolts by a series of campaigns.

The byzantine empire promoted Christianity, and the Sasanian empire patronised Zoroastrianism, the ancient religion of Iran.

The non-muslim population retained their rights to property and religious practices on payment of taxes (Kharaj and Jizya)

The caliphs adopted these innovations.

A well-organised movement, called Dawa, brought down the Umayyads and replaced them with another family of Meccan origin, the Abbasids, in 750.

In 810, a civil war broke out between supporters of Amin and Mamun.

In 945, the Buyids, a Shiite clan from the Caspian region of Iran, captured Baghdad.

Fatimids from their base in North Africa conquered Egypt in 969 and established the Fatimid caliphate.