Terms : Hide Images
| 49851996 | Bedouin | nomadic pastoralists of the Arabian Peninsula; culture based on camel and goat nomadism; early converts to Islam | 0 | |
| 49851997 | Shaykhs | leaders of tribes and clans within Bedouin society; usually men with large herds, several wives, and many children | 1 | |
| 49851998 | Mecca | most important city in the transcontinental trading system that stretched from the Mediterranean to East Asia; shrine called Ka'ba; place of truce in interclan feuds; original home of Muhammad | 2 | |
| 49851999 | Umayyads | clans of Quraysh that dominated politics and commercial economy in Mecca; later able to establish dynasty as rulers of Islam | 3 | |
| 49852000 | Ka'ba | most revered religious shrine in pre-Islamic Arabia; located in Mecca; focus of obligatory annual truce among Bedouin tribes; later incorporated as important shrine in Islam | 4 | |
| 49852001 | Medina | originally called Yathrib by Jewish people; located NE of Mecca; established in an oasis; wells and springs made agriculture possible; became refuge for Muhammad following flight from Mecca; trade center for Bedouin clans | 5 | |
| 49852002 | Angel Gabriele | in Islam, said to have transmitted the first of many revelations from Allah to Muhammad | 6 | |
| 49852003 | Ali | cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad; one of the orthodox caliphs; focus for Shi'a | 7 | |
| 49852004 | Umma | community of faithful within Islam; transcended old tribal boundaries to create degree of political unity | 8 | |
| 49852005 | Zakat | tax for charity; obligatory for all Muslims | 9 | |
| 49852006 | 5 Pillars | obligatory religious duties of all Muslims: confession of faith, prayer, fasting during Ramadan, zakat, and hajj | 10 | |
| 49852007 | Ramadan | Islamic month of religious observance requiring fasting from dawn to sunset | 11 | |
| 49852008 | Hajj | pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca to worhsip at the Ka'ba | 12 | |
| 49852009 | Caliph | religious and political successor to Muhammad | 13 | |
| 49852010 | Abu Bakr | one of Muhammad's earliest converts; succeeded Muhammad as first caliph of Islamic community | 14 | |
| 49852011 | Ridda Wars | wars that followed Muhammad's death in 632; resulted in defeat of rival prophets and some of larger clans; restored unity of Islam | 15 | |
| 49852012 | Jihads | holy wars launched to forcibly spread the Islam faith | 16 | |
| 49852013 | Copts | Christian sect of Egypt; tended to support Islamic invasions of this area in preference to Byzantine rule. | 17 | |
| 49852014 | Nestorians | A Christian sect found in Asia; tended to support Islamic invasions of this area in preference to Byzantine rule; cut off from Europe by Muslim invasions | 18 | |
| 49852015 | Mu'awiya | leader of the Umayyad Clan; first Umayyad caliph following Civil War with Ali | 19 | |
| 49852016 | Sunnis | political and theological division within Islam; supported the Umayyads as opposed to Ali; no veneration of saints; leadership isn't birthright-may be taken away; make up 85% of Muslims | 20 | |
| 49852017 | Shi'as | political and theological division within Islam; supported Ali as opposed to the Umayyads; Imam is sinless by nature; veneration of saints; reject traditions of the prophets | 21 | |
| 49852018 | Damascus | political center of the Umayyad community after the death of Uthman; caliphs there strove to build a bureaucracy that would bind together the vast domains they ruled | 22 | |
| 49852019 | Mawali | non-Arab converts to Islam | 23 | |
| 49852020 | Dhimmi | "people of the book"; inclusive term to Jews and Christians in Islamic territories; later extended to Zoroastrians and even Hindus | 24 | |
| 49852021 | Hadiths | traditions of Muhammad the prophet | 25 | |
| 49852022 | Abbasids | dynasty that succeeded the Umayyads as caliphs within Islam; victories against Umayyad communities led to the conquest of Syria and the capture of the Umayyad capital | 26 | |
| 49852023 | Baghdad | capital of the Abbasid Dynasty | 27 | |
| 49852024 | Wazir | chief administrative official under the Abbasid caliphate; initially recruited from Persian provinces of Empire | 28 | |
| 49852025 | Dhows | Arab sailing vessels with triangular or lateen sails; strongly influenced European ship design | 29 | |
| 49852026 | Ayan | wealthy land elite that emerged in the early decades of Abbasid rule | 30 |
