Important Questions: The Central Islamic Lands | History for Grade 11 PDF Download

Very Short Answer Type Questions

Q1: What was Aramaic?
Ans: It was a language of Hebrew and Arabic family or group of languages. This language can be seen on the Ashokan pillars.

Q2: How was Islam came into being in Arabia?
Ans: It was due to the rise of Muhammed, the chief of the Quraysh tribe as a prophet and with his declaration as rasul (messenger) of Cod.

Q3: Whether you think, raid and loot of caravans was not theft but labor?
Ans: Actually, Islam has considered theft confine to mere defraud or cheat not involving the use of force, tricks, etc. which tantamount to exhort things that genuinely and legally not one’s owned or earned.

Q4: Who are Muslims?
Ans: Followers of Islamic order or religion are Muslims because since Prophet Muhammed’s ruling, coincide religion made integral parts to constitution and raids for booty were not considered “theft” however; abstain from theft was the feature of eligibility to become a member of Umma.

Q5: Who brought messages to Muhammed?
Ans: He was a divine figure reckoned with Archangel Gabriel (Jibril). His first word was Iqra from which has come to the term Quran.

Q6: Who opposed the Muslims at the beginning of Islam?
Ans: Those were the groups of affluent Meccans. They took it as negligence to their deities, they worship under idolatry system. They thought this new religion may bring their image till then formed in the popular down and the prosperity as well.

Q7: What is Hijri Era?
Ans: The counting of year system like B.C. in the Gregorian calendar in Islamic empire is called Hijri Era. It is counted the day, Muhammed left Mecca with his followers to Medina.

Short Answer Type Questions

Q8: What were the two art forms that emerged in the Islamic religion?
Ans: These art forms were:

• Calligraphy (Art of beautiful writing) and,
• Arabesque (geometric and vegetal designs).

Calligraphic art has been best preserved in manuscripts of the Quran dating from the eighth and ninth centuries. Plant and floral designs, based on the idea of the garden, were used in buildings and book illustrations.

Q9: Describe a morning scene in Basra.
Ans: Basra is a city that falls in IraQuestion Here were settled Arab soldiers (Jind) who formed the backbone of the administration. It was a garrison city. There were a number of companies (branches of troops) parading in the morning. Military headquarter we see here. We could see them doing prayer in a mosque because such was made mandatory under Islamic administration.

Q10: Describe the consequences of crusades conducted by Christians and Muslims during the period between 1095 and 1291.
Ans: These crusades left a lasting impact on two aspects of Christian-Muslim relations. One was the harsher attitude of the Muslim state towards its Christian subjects which resulted from the bitter memories of the conflict as well as the need for security in areas of mixed populations. The other impact was the greater influence of Italian mercantile communities from Pisa, Genoa, and Venice in the trade between the East and West even after the restoration of Muslim power.

Q11: Discuss the causes and consequences of the Abbasid revolution.
Ans: It was named as Dawa movement and it brought down the Umayyads and replaced them with another family of Meccan regions, the Abbasids in 750 CE. Abbasids were the descendants of Abbas, the Prophet’s uncle. This revolution broke out in Khurasan (eastern Iran) where a mixed Arab-Iranian population was mobilized. Arab soldiers were from Iraq and resented the dominance of the Syrians. The Umayyad regime had not reduced the taxes and their demand for privileges left unaccepted. Iranian Muslims (Mawalis) were discriminated against by Arabs. Thus, Umayyad’s Caliph Marwan was defeated in a battle at the river Zab and thereafter, Abbasid Caliphate formed.

Q12: Describe the Sufis and their new method of devotion.
Ans: Sufis were religious minded people in medieval Islam. They preached knowledge of God through asceticism (Rahbaniya) and mysticism. These people sought to renounce the world (Zuhd) and rely on God alone (Tawakkul). Mysticism attained new heights by the idea of pantheism and love. Pantheism is the idea of the oneness of God and His creation which implies that the human soul must be united with its maker. Ishq or intense love can only help in the merger of the soul with god. Sufis used musical concerts (Sama) to introduce ecstasy and stimulate emotions of love and passion. Rabia and Bayazid Bistani were some Sufis. Sufism was beyond the boundaries of caste, race, religion, and creed. According to theory, religion is more personal and less institutional.

Q13: Describe the condition of agriculture in the Central Islamic Lands.
Ans: Condition of Agriculture

• It was the principal occupation of the settled populations.
• Ownership inland was that of small and big farmers. The large estates were owned by the state:
• Kharaj was the land revenue paid by the peasants. It was varied from half to a fifth of the products according to the conditions of cultivation (i.e. irrigated, fallow, fertile, sandy, etc.). The concession was given to Muslim peasants as they were charged in proportion to one-tenth (Ushr) of the produce.
• Irrigation system supported by the state in Nile Valley. Construction of dams, canals, and digging of wells given priority. Tax concession was given to the people who brought forest land under cultivation. Crops like cotton, oranges, bananas, watermelons, Spinach, and brinjals were grown and exported to Europe.

Q14: What was the treatment of Franks (Firangis or Christians) with Muslims in Central Islamic Lands? Explain.
Ans: We can conclude about the treatment of Christians with Muslims as mixed type. It differs from one territory to another. It has been seen that the earliest of the crusaders settled down in Syria and Palestine were more tolerant to Muslims than those who came later. The early comers were properly associated with Muslims hence, there was fraternity among them. An instance of their treatment with the Muslim community has been given in this chapter extracted from Kitab al- Inbar. The author says that he had a friend Chief Theodore Sophia’s in Antioch.
He once was invited by that friend. He met a retired old knight who owned property in Antioch. Here he offered not Frankish but Muslim food to him. He heard him saying while on the dining table that he had appointed an Egyptian woman as a cook and ate never the pork meat. However, when they were strolling in the market place, a crowd of Franks collected against him to attack. That was because they mistook him for another Arab who once had killed their brother. Anyhow, his friend could cool them down by saying that the author was a businessman.
Hence, a mixed type of treatment with Muslims in territories under Franks can be concluded.

Q15: Enumerate the business and trade in the Central Islamic Lands.
Ans: The Central Islamic lands witness ample growth in business and trade particularly, the topography supported their trading maneuver. Muslim empire was spread between the Mediterranean and the Indian ocean. The Arab and Iranian traders, therefore, monopolized regularly the maritime trade between China, India, and Europe.
Two major routes of that trade were:

• The Red Sea and
• The Persian Gulf.

Spices, textile, porcelain, and gunpowder were shipped from India and China to Aden and Aydhab i.e. ports at the Mediterranean. The ports of the second route i.e. the Persian Gulf were-Siraf and Basra. Camel caravans were used to transport the mercantile from the ports of Aden and Aydhab of the first route and Siraf Aijd Basra of the second route to the warehouses (Makhan) of Baghdad i.e. the capital of Abbasids Caliphate. Warehouses were also established in Damascus and Aleppo.
It was then disbursed for local consumption or onward transmission. Jewish merchants had handled exports to Europe from the port of Alexandria. Subsequently, Cairo emerged as a center of commerce which had increased the importance of the Red Sea route. In order to buy paper and other goods of Central Asia origin, Iranian merchants set-out from Baghdad along the Silk Route to China via the oasis cities of Bukhara and Samarqand. Bukhara and Samarqand were the cities linking commercial networks extended north to Russia and Scandinavia. For exchange of European goods (fur and slaves).

Q16: Outline the fiscal system adopted in die Central Islamic lands.
Ans: Fiscal System-Owing to the rapid growth of urban centers, cities, towns and the trade, income, and expenditure of the state had also spurt-up. This increased the importance of money in the central Islamic Lands. In order to pay for goods and services, coins of gold, silver, and copper were minted and circulated in bags sealed by money-changers.
Gold was brought from Sudan in Africa, silver from Europe (Zarafshan valley), and precious metals and coins were also brought from Europe. Demand for money inspired dead people to release their accumulated reserves and idle wealth into circulation. Credit facilities were also developed. Letter of Credit (Sakk) and bill of exchange (Suftajer) was used for the transfer of money from one place to another. Commercial papers like promissory notes, cheques, etc. freed merchants from the need to carry cash everywhere. It made their journey safer. Salaries to soldiers or rewards to poets and minstrels were paid in Sakk (cheques). Investment increased and partnership businesses opened. Thus, the fiscal system under Islamic land was approximately in modem line.

Q17: Whether the thoughts of Abdul-Latif, a twelfth-century legal and medical scholar of Baghdad about an ideal student as extracted in this chapter are relevant to a student today?
Ans: We think the suggestions are all relevant to a student today provided that one could construe the meaning and implication of this extract in a positive manner. We can sum up the main points suggested as under-

• Self-conscience without the proper guidance of teachers ipso- facto is unscientific as it may be mere fiction.
• Don’t think the limitation of the teacher but take all good that he delivers as your review, introspection, and churning on the same would lead you to the facts.
• Don’t cram but understand the topics so better way as the physical presence of the book is no more required.
• Histories, biographies, and Geography are the subjects that introduce a man to his surroundings. Analyze and compare the cause and effects of all events and activities.
• Frame opinion after study on biographies of great men cautiously by taking your nature as innocent as a child.
• Once the conclusion has arrived, stay undeniable there even if the world criticizes you.

On the basis of the above points, the study becomes perfect and scientific for which no options remain. Here literally suggested submission before the Prophet and distrust your nature but its implication leads to the scientific process of the study. We can replace prophet with. the generalization which is made after experiments done impartially. Similarly, distrust of your nature implies cleanliness of head and heart while in a study which is necessary to grasp the sense in its basic form and generalization thereafter would automatically provide with the apparent light in the matter so churned.
Hence, we can state that cramming and studying are useless even in modem sense and curriculum and the same has been started and suggested in the aforementioned extract.

Q18: Discuss the influence of Greek philosophy, mathematics and medicine added to the curriculum of schools under the central Islamic Lands?
Ans: Studying these subjects promoted critical inquiry and had a profound influence on Islamic intellectual life. Scholars with a logical bent of mind Eg. Mutazila started using Greek logic and methods of reasoning (Kalam) to defend Islamic beliefs. Philosophers (Malaysia) posed wider questions and provided fresh answers. Books on medicines were confused like al-Qanun fil Tibb (Canon of Medicine) by Ibn Sina. The poetry of that period is called Nazm and prose is called nature. Ode (qasida) is a poetic composition by poets of the Abbasid period.
Abu Nawas composed classical poetry on themes like wine and male love. Sufis glorified the intoxication caused by the wine of mystical love. An Arabic vocabulary was developed. The Father of the new Persian poetry was Radaki, a court poet under Samanids. Rubai and Ghazals were composed. The rubai is a four-line stanza in which the first two lines set the stage, the third is finely poised and the fourth delivers the point. Umarkhayyam of Bukhara was a famous poet who composed rubai. Diwans and Mathnavi (anthologies and epic poetry) were composed during the period of Mahmud of Ghazni. Firdausi composed Shahnama (Book of King) and Kitab-Al-Fihrist describes a large number of works written in prose for the moral education and amusement of readers.
Other books written during this period were Kalilawa Dimna, Stories of Alexander and Sindbad, The Thousand and One Nights, Kitab al-Bukhala, Akhlaq, Mirrors for Princes Tarikh (Ansab al-Ashraf) and Tarikh al-Rusul Wal Muluk, Rihla and Ahsan al-Taqasim, Muruj al Dhahab and Tahqiq mail-Hind.

Q19: Explain the Quran and the difficulties in case of it as source material for the history of early Islam.
Ans: The Quran is a book in Arabic consisting of 114 chapters (Suras). Chapters are in descending order of length i.e. the shortest chapter is the less. Only first Sura is a short prayer (al-Fatihah. This book is considered as a collection of messages which God gave to Prophet Muhammad between 610 and 632, first in Mecca and then in Medina. It was completed in 650 CE. The verses engraved on the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and oh the coins in the seventh century are the earliest.
Problems for the use of the Quran as source material for the history of early Islam have arisen. The one is to understand it literally as the theologians believe these as the speech of God (Kalam Allah). The rationalists have given a wider interpretation of the Quran. Such dual position raises controversy in arriving at the conclusion. The second problem is that of events not narrated by the Quran. It only refers to the events therefore, Medieval scholars have to make sense of many verses with the help of hadith. We see, there are many hadiths written to help in the reading of the Quran.

Q20: What is excellent or unique in the history of the Central Islamic lands?
Ans: A unique in the history of the central Islamic lands was a merger of three important aspects of human civilization i.e. religion, community, and politics into one. We can see them as three circles that merge and appear as one in the seventh century. It could separate in the next five centuries. Later on, the influence of Islam over state and government became nominal and politics involved many things that have no sanction in religion and thus, the circles of religion and community were overlapped by politics. Politics became a separate circle. The only way the circles of religion and community could have separated was through the progressive secularisation of Muslim society. Philosophers and Sufis advocated this, suggesting that civil society should be made autonomous and rituals be replaced by private spirituality.