Islam

Question: When was Prophet Muhammad born?

Answer: Muhammad, founder of Islam and the proclaimer of the Qurʾān, is traditionally said to have been born in c. 570, in Mecca and died in 632 in Medina. Most of the biographical information that the Islamic tradition preserves about Muhammad occurs outside the Qurʾān, in the so-called sīrah (Arabic: “biography”) literature.

Question: What is the Islamic sermon delivered during Friday prayer?

Answer: In Islām, Khutbah is the sermon, delivered especially at a Friday service, at the two major Islāmic festivals (ʿīds), at celebrations of saintly birthdays (mawlids), and on extraordinary occasions.

Question: What does the term Islām mean?

Answer: Islam major world religion promulgated by the Prophet Muhammad in Arabia in the 7th century CE. The Arabic term islām, literally “surrender,” illuminates the fundamental religious idea of Islam. The believer (called a Muslim, from the active particle of islām) accepts surrender to the will of Allah (in Arabic, Allāh: God).

Question: Who was the first wife of Prophet Muhammad?

Answer: Khadījah was a merchant who was the first wife of the Prophet Muhammad. She was born in the 6th century CE to merchants of the Quraysh tribe, which ruled Mecca. The Sīrah of ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Hishām characterizes her as “resolute and noble” and commanding significant respect within the tribe. She employed Muhammad when he was in his early 20s to manage a caravan to Syria and subsequently offered him marriage. According to most sources, she was about 40 years old with children from her previous marriages, and Muhammad was about 25. That she bore him several children, however, suggests that she may have been younger.

Question: Which book records the traditions and sayings of Prophet Muhammad?

Answer: Hadith, also spelled Hadīt, is the record of the traditions or sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, revered and received as a major source of religious law and moral guidance. It is second only to the authority of the Qurʾān, the holy book of Islam.

Question: Who founded the Islamic sect Ahmadiyya?

Answer: Mīrzā Ghulām Aḥmad, an Indian Muslim leader founded an Islamic religious movement known as the Aḥmadiyyah. It is a modern Islamic sect and a name shared by several Sufi (Muslim mystic) orders. The sect was founded in Qādiān in the Punjab, India, in 1889.

Question: In Islāmic mythology, what is Dhū al-faqār?

Answer: Dhū al-faqār, in Islāmic mythology, is the two-pointed magical sword that has come to represent ʿAlī, the fourth caliph and son-in-law of Muḥammad. Originally owned by an unbeliever, al-ʿĀṣ ibn Munabbih, Dhū al-faqār came into Muḥammad’s possession as booty from the Battle of Badr (624). He, in turn, passed it on to ʿAlī, and the sword, said to have borne an inscription ending in the words lā yuqtal Muslim bi-kāfir (“no Muslim shall be slain for [the murder of] an unbeliever”), eventually rested with the ʿAbbāsid caliphs.

Question: Who succeeded Prophet Muhammad after his death?

Answer: Abū Bakr, Muhammad’s closest companion and adviser, succeeded the Prophet’s political and administrative functions, thereby initiating the office of the caliph. On Muhammad’s death (June 8, 632), the Muslims of Medina resolved the crisis of succession by accepting Abū Bakr as the first khalīfat rasūl Allāh (“deputy [or successor] of the Prophet of God,” or caliph).

Question: Which battle was led by Prophet Muhammad during the month of Ramadan?

Answer: In Islamic history, the Battle of Badr was a major military victory led by the Prophet Muhammad that marked a turning point for the early Muslim community (ummah) from a defensive stance toward one of stability and expansion. The prestige of the battle in the Islamic consciousness is marked by the fact that it is the only battle mentioned by name in the Qurʾān.

Question: Which is the holiest site on Earth for Muslims?

Answer: The Kaaba, also spelled Kaʿbah is the most sacred shrine on Earth for Muslims. It is a small shrine located near the center of the Great Mosque in Mecca. Muslims orient themselves toward this shrine during the five daily prayers, bury their dead facing its meridian, and cherish the ambition of visiting it on pilgrimage, or hajj.

Question: Which of the following is not a source of Shari’ah (Islamic law)?

Answer: A fatwa is a decision issued by a judicial scholar.

Question: Where is the Prophet’s Mosque located?

Answer: The Prophet’s Mosque is located in the courtyard of the Prophet Muhammad in Medina, Arabian Peninsula.

Question: What is Sajjāda in Islam?

Answer: Prayer rug or Sajjāda, is one of the major types of rug produced in central and western Asia, used by Muslims primarily to cover the bare ground or floor while they pray. Prayer rugs are characterized by the prayer niche, or mihrab, an arch-shaped design at one end of the carpet.

Question: What is salat in Islam?

Answer: Salat is the daily ritual prayer enjoined upon all Muslims as one of the Five Pillars of Islam (arkān al-Islām). Within Muhammad’s lifetime, five obligatory prayers, each preceded by ablution, were observed: ṣalāt al-fajr (dawn), al-ẓuhr (midday), al-ʿaṣr (afternoon), al-maghrib (sunset), and al-ʿishāʾ (evening).

Question: What is the name given to the devil in Islam?

Answer: In Islam, Iblīs is the personal name of the Devil. It is the counterpart of the Jewish and Christian Satan, is also referred to as ʿAduw Allāh ( “Enemy of God”), al-Aduw (“Enemy”), or, when portrayed as a tempter, al-Shayṭān (“Demon”).

Question: Which is the largest branch of Islam?

Answer: Sunni, Arabic Sunnī are members of one of the two major branches of Islam, the branch that consists of the majority of that religion’s adherents. Sunni Muslims regard their denomination as the mainstream and traditionalist branch of Islam—as distinguished from the minority denomination, the Shiʿah.

Question: What is the religious leader of Islam called?

Answer: Imam is the one who leads Muslim worshippers in prayer. The word Imam is used to refer to the head of the Muslim community (ummah). The origin and basis of the office of an imam were conceived differently by various sections of the Muslim community, this difference providing part of the political and religious basis for the split into Sunni and Shiʿi Islam.

Question: Muslims mark the month of Ramadan by which particular practice during daylight hours?

Answer: Fasting is incumbent upon all Muslims who are physically capable during daylight hours in the month of Ramadan.

Question: How many chapters are there in the Qurʾān?

Answer: The Qurʾān is divided into 114 chapterlike units called “sūrahs,” a word used within the Qurʾān to designate revelatory passages of an unspecific length (e.g., 9:64). All sūrahs are traditionally known by names—many of them by more than one—which appear to have emerged only after the Prophet''s death. Sūrah names are usually derived from some conspicuous word in the respective text, such as “The Cow” (the second) or “The Poets” (the 26th), though they do not necessarily identify a text’s main theme.

Question: What is the journey of Muhammad and his followers to Medina called?

Answer: Hijrah, also spelled Hejira or Hijra is the the Prophet Muhammad’s migration (622 CE) from Mecca to Yathrib (Medina) upon invitation to escape persecution. After arriving, Muhammad negotiated the Constitution of Medina with the local clans, thereby establishing the Muslim community as a sociopolitical entity for the first time. The term has also been applied to the emigrations of the faithful to Abyssinia (later known as Ethiopia) and of Muhammad’s followers to Medina before the capture of Mecca in 630.

Question: What is the first chapter in the Quran?

Answer: Fātiḥah, also called fātiḥat al-kitāb is the “opening” or first chapter (surah) of the Muslim book of divine revelation, the Qurʾān. In contrast to the other surahs, which are usually narratives or exhortations delivered by God, the seven verses of the fātiḥah form a short devotional prayer addressed to God, and in oral recitation, they end with the word amīn (“amen”).

Question: Who is the founder of Hanbali school?

Answer: Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal was the compiler of the Traditions of the Prophet Muḥammad and formulator of the Ḥanbalī, the most strict traditionalist of the four orthodox Islāmic schools of law.

Question: Mecca is the holiest city in Islam and the focus of the pilgrimage, or hajj, that every Muslim strives to make at least once in life. Which of the following is the third holiest city in Islam?

Answer: Jerusalem is considered a holy city, though Mecca and Medina, respectively, are first and second in eminence.

Question: Who was the first Imam of the Shia Muslims?

Answer: Alī, in full ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, reigning from 656 to 661, was the first imam (leader) of Shiʿism in all its forms. He was born in c. 600, Mecca, Arabia (now in Saudi Arabia) and died in 661, Kufa, Iraq. He was the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, and fourth of the “rightly guided” (rāshidūn) caliphs, as the first four successors of Muhammad are called.

Question: Who introduced the Islamic calendar?

Answer: ʿUmar I or ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭtāb was the second Muslim caliph (from 634), under whom Arab armies conquered Mesopotamia and Syria and began the conquest of Iran and Egypt. He established the dīwān (a register of warriors’ pensions that over time evolved into a powerful governmental body), inaugurated the Islamic Hijrī calendar, and created the office of the qadi (judge).

Question: Where did Prophet Muhammad travel from Mecca on the night journey?

Answer: In Islam, Isrāʾ is the Prophet Muhammad’s night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem. As alluded to in the Qurʾān (17:1), a journey was made by a servant of God, in a single night, from the “sacred place of worship” (al-masjid al-ḥarām) to the “further place of worship” (al-masjid al-aqṣā).

Question: Which of the following is the largest minority group in Islam?

Answer: The Shi’a (Shi’ites) constitute the largest minority group in Islam, at about ten percent of the world’s Muslim population.

Question: Which day of the week is the Jumʿah prayer held?

Answer: Jumʿah is Friday of the Muslim week and the special noon service on Friday that all adult, male, free Muslims are obliged to attend. The jumʿah, which replaces the usual noon ritual prayer (ṣalāt al-ẓuhr), must take place before a sizable number of Muslims (according to some legal scholars, 40) in one central mosque in each locality.

Question: Which archangel revealed the Qurʾān to the Prophet Muhammad?

Answer: The Qurʾān, the sacred scripture of Islam was revealed by the angel Gabriel to the Prophet Muhammad. The revelation occurred in the West Arabian towns Mecca and Medina, beginning in 610 and ending with Muhammad’s death in 632 CE.

Question: What is the pulpit in a mosque called?

Answer: The Minbar is the pulpit from which the sermon (khutbah) is delivered. It is often constructed as a domed box at the top of a staircase and has a doorway that can be closed. During the first century of Islam, provincial governors also came to use the minbar, from which they made speeches and heard petitions, primarily in their capacity as rulers.

Question: In Islam, who calls to prayer from a mosque?

Answer: The muezzin is the official who proclaims the call to prayer (adhān) on Friday for the public worship and the calls to the daily prayer (ṣalāt) five times a day, at dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset, and nightfall. The muezzin stands either at the door or side of a small mosque, or on the minaret (manāra) of a large one.

Question: What does Dajjal in Arabic mean?

Answer: Al-Dajjāl (Arabic: “The Deceiver”) in Islam is a false messianic figure who will come forth before the end of time. After a reign of 40 days or 40 years, he will be destroyed by Christ or the mahdī (rightly guided one) or both, and the world will submit to God.

Question: What is Mutʿah in Islamic law?

Answer: Mutʿah in Islamic law is a temporary marriage that is contracted for a limited or fixed period and involves the payment of money to the female partner.

Question: What is the Muslim pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia called?

Answer: Hajj is the pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, which every adult Muslim must make at least once in his or her lifetime. The hajj is the fifth of the fundamental Muslim practices and institutions known as the Five Pillars of Islam.

Question: Which Islamic movement was adopted by the House of Saud in 1744?

Answer: Wahhābī (Wahābī) are any adherent of the Islamic reform movement founded by Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb in the 18th century in Najd, central Arabia. It was adopted in 1744 by the Saudi family. In the 20th and 21st centuries, Wahhābism is prevalent in Saudi Arabia and Qata

Question: On which day of Muḥarram do the Shiʿah commemorate the martyrdom of the Prophet’s grandson Al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī?

Answer: ʿĀshūrāʾ is a Muslim holy day observed on the 10th of Muḥarram, the first month of the Muslim calendar. For the Shiʿah, the 10th of Muḥarram is the day on which Al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī, the Prophet’s grandson by his daughter Fāṭimah and his son-in-law ʿAlī, and most of his small band of followers were killed by Umayyad forces in the Battle of Karbala (October 10, 680). Across the Shiʿi world, believers annually commemorate his martyrdom.

Question: What is the title given to the imams of the Nizari Ismaili sect?

Answer: Aga Khan in Shīʿite Islam is a title given to the imams of the Nizārī Ismāʿilī sect. The title was first granted to Ḥasan ʿAlī Shah (1800–81) in 1818, by the shah of Iran.

Question: Which part of the body is covered by hijāb?

Answer: Most Saudis continue to dress traditionally. The time-honored dress for women consists of a thawb beneath which is worn a loose-fitting pair of slacks known as a sirwāl. In public, women are expected to be fully veiled, and a long black cloak known as an ʿabāyah is worn. A veil called a ḥijāb covers the head, and another known as a niqāb covers the face.

Question: In the Islamic religion, what will ravage the earth before the end of the world?

Answer: In Islamic eschatology, Yājūj and Mājūj were two hostile, corrupt forces that will ravage the earth before the end of the world. They are the counterparts of Gog and Magog in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Testament.

Question: What creature carried the Prophet Muhammad to heaven?

Answer: Burāq is a creature said to have transported the Prophet Muḥammad to heaven. Described as “a white animal, half-mule, half-donkey, with wings on its sides . . . ,”. It was originally introduced into the story of Muḥammad’s night journey (isrāʾ) from Mecca to Jerusalem and back, thus explaining how the journey between the cities could have been completed in a single night.

Question: Sunni Muslims consider ‘Ali to have been the fourth “rightly guided” caliph (successor to the Prophet Muhammad).

Answer: The majority branch of Islam considers ‘Ali to have been the fourth caliph after Abu Bakur, ‘Umar I, and ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan. The Shi’ites, or the “Partisans [of ‘Ali],” consider ‘Ali to have been the Prophet’s rightful immediate successor.

Question: What tax does a non-Muslim subject pay under a Muslim ruler?

Answer: Jizyah, also be spelled jizya, is historically a tax (the term is often incorrectly translated as a “head tax” or “poll tax”) paid by non-Muslim populations to their Muslim rulers. The jizyah is described in the Qurʾān as a tax imposed on a certain erring faction from among the People of the Book (Ahl al-Kitāb, non-Muslims such as Christians and Jews recognized in the Qurʾān as possessing a divine scripture) who violate their own religious and ethical principles (9:29).

Question: Who was called Hanif in the Quran?

Answer: In the Qurʾān, Hanif is an Arabic designation for true monotheists (especially Abraham) who were not Jews, Christians, or worshipers of idols. The word appears to have been borrowed from a Syriac word meaning “heathen” and, by extension, designating a Hellenized person of culture.

Question: What were the first four major caliphs collectively called?

Answer: Rashidun is the first four caliphs of the Islamic community, known in Muslim history as the orthodox or patriarchal caliphs called Abū Bakr (reigned 632–634), ʿUmar (reigned 634–644), ʿUthmān (reigned 644–656), and ʿAlī (reigned 656–661).

Question: Who founded the Mawlawiyah Sufi order?

Answer: Mawlawīyah is a fraternity of Sufis (Muslim mystics) founded in Konya (Qonya), Anatolia, by the Persian Sufi poet Rūmī (d. 1273), whose popular title mawlānā (Arabic: “our master”) gave the order its name. After his death, his disciples were organized as the Mawlawiyyah order.

Question: What is the Muslim call for public prayer known?

Answer: Adhān is the Muslim call to Friday public worship (jumʿah) and the five daily hours of prayer. It is proclaimed by the muezzin, a servant of the mosque, as he stands at the door or side of a small mosque or in the minaret of a large one. The adhān was originally a simple “Come to prayer,” but, according to tradition, Muhammad consulted his followers to invest the call with greater dignity.

Question: Which among the following is not the Pillars of Islam?

Answer: The Pillars of Islam are the five duties incumbent on every Muslim: shahādah, the Muslim profession of faith; ṣalāt, or prayer, performed in a prescribed manner five times each day; zakāt, the alms tax levied to benefit the poor and the needy; ṣawm, fasting during the month of Ramadan; and hajj, the major pilgrimage to Mecca, if financial and physical conditions permit.

Question: Which of the following is the largest Muslim country in the world by population?

Answer: Indonesia is the largest Muslim country by population.

Question: What was the purpose of Prophet Muhammad''s Hijrah?

Answer: Hijrah, also spelled Hejira or Hijra, is the Prophet Muhammad’s migration (622 CE) from Mecca to Yathrib (Medina) upon invitation to escape persecution. After arriving, Muhammad negotiated the Constitution of Medina with the local clans, thereby establishing the Muslim community as a sociopolitical entity for the first time.

Question: What is the night prayer in Islam called?

Answer: In Islāmic practice, Tahajjud is the recitation of the Qurʾān (Islāmic scriptures) and prayers during the night. Tahajjud is generally regarded as sunnah (tradition) and not farḍ (obligation). There are many verses in the Qurʾān that encourage these nightly recitations and other verses that indicate such practices should remain “a voluntary effort” (17:79).

Question: Which of the following statements is considered to be false according to Islamic tradition?

Answer: Islamic tradition holds that the Prophet Muhammad prophecy was “the seal of prophets” (i.e., that he was the last of a line of prophets).

Question: What is a madrassa?

Answer: The madrasah, English madrassa is an institution of higher education in the Islamic sciences. In Arabic-speaking countries, the word in modern times refers to any institution of education, especially primary or secondary education. Until the 20th century, the madrasah functioned as a theological seminary and law school, with a curriculum centered on the Qurʾān and the Hadith.

Question: On which night was the Qurʾān first revealed to the Prophet Muhammad?

Answer: Laylat al-Qadr, (“Night of Power”), is an Islamic festival that commemorates the night on which God first revealed the Qurʾān to the Prophet Muhammad through the angel Gabriel. It is believed to have taken place on one of the final ten nights of Ramadan in 610 CE, though the exact night is unclear. The date of the annual commemoration thus varies throughout the Islamic world but is most commonly observed on the 23rd night of Ramadan for Shiʿi Muslims and the 27th for Sunni Muslims.

Question: What does Bismillah mean?

Answer: In Islam, Basmalah is the prayer formula Bism Allāh al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm (“In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate”). This invocation, which was first introduced by the Qurʾān, appears at the beginning of every Qurʾānic surah (chapter) except the ninth (which presents a unique textual problem) and is frequently recited by Muslims to elicit God’s blessings on their important actions.

Question: What was the original color of the Black Stone of Mecca?

Answer: Black Stone of Mecca in Arabic Al-Ḥajar al-Aswad, is a Muslim object of veneration, built into the eastern corner of the Kaʿbah (small shrine within the Great Mosque of Mecca). According to popular Islamic legend, the stone was given to Adam on his fall from paradise and was originally white but has become black by absorbing the sins of the thousands of pilgrims who have kissed and touched it.

Question: What is Sharīʿah?

Answer: Sharīʿah (Sharia) the fundamental religious concept of Islam—namely, its law. The Sharīʿah (literally, “the path leading to the watering place”) represents a divinely ordained path of conduct that guides Muslims toward a practical expression of religious conviction in this world and the goal of divine favor in the world to come.

Question: Who constructed the Great Mosque of Damascus?

Answer: Great Mosque of Damascus is also called Umayyad Mosque. It is the earliest surviving stone mosque. It was built between 705 and 715 CE by the Umayyad Caliph al-Walīd I, who proclaimed to his citizens: “People of Damascus, four things give you a marked superiority over the rest of the world: your climate, your water, your fruits, and your baths. To these, I add a fifth: this mosque.”