Quiz  /  Caliphs and Caliphates Quiz

  • 1. 
    The word caliph, from the Arabic khalīfah, means:

  • priest
  • successor
  • poet
  • king

  • 2. 
    How was Abū Bakr chosen as the first caliph?

  • He was designated by Muhammad.
  • Nobody else wanted to be caliph.
  • He declared himself caliph.
  • Senior members of the community came to a consensus.

  • 3. 
    The first four Caliphs are traditionally referred to as “rightly guided,” which in Arabic means:

  • Rashomon
  • Muhājirūn
  • Rāshidūn
  • Ahl al-Kitāb

  • 4. 
    In the decades following the death of Muhammad, Muslim armies conquered large amounts of territory that had previously belonged to which two empires?

  • Byzantine and Sasanian
  • Assyrian and Babylonian
  • British and Galactic
  • Ottoman and Safavid

  • 5. 
    Which caliph’s murder touched off the first Muslim civil war (656-661)?

  • ʿUthmān
  • ʿUmar
  • ʿAlī
  • ʿAbd al-Malik

  • 6. 
    Which caliph is credited with ordering the construction of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem?

  • ʿAlī
  • ʿUthmān
  • ʿAbd al-Malik
  • ʿUmar

  • 7. 
    Which city was the capital of the caliphate during the Umayyad period (661-750)?

  • Medina
  • Damascus
  • Mecca
  • Baghdad

  • 8. 
    Where did the last surviving member of the Umayyad house set up a new dynasty after the Umayyads overthrown by the ʿAbbāsids?

  • Iberia
  • Somalia
  • Sicily
  • Afghanistan

  • 9. 
    What was the name of the Ismāʿīlī Shīʿite dynasty that rejected the authority of the ʿAbbāsid caliphs and instead declared its own caliphate in North Africa?

  • The Ghaznavids
  • The Ottomans
  • The Fāṭimids
  • The Sāmānids

  • 10. 
    In what city were ʿAbbāsid caliphs maintained as powerless figureheads following the Mongol sack of Baghdad in 1258?

  • Cairo
  • Fès
  • Mecca
  • Istanbul
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