Do Now Get out a sheet of notebook paper and something to write with.

Cultures in the Middle East Study Guide for Test

1.Which do Kurds share as part of their ethnic group? the Kurdish language 2. Which are the 3 main religious groups of Southwest Asia? Christianity, Islam, Judaism 3. Which ethnic group is most numerous in Southwest Asia? Arabs 4. What modern country is the home to those who call themselves Persian? Iran

5. What is the religion of most Persians? Shi’a Muslim 6. What is the religion of most of the Arabs in Southwest Asia? Sunni Muslim 7. What is the religion of most of the Kurds? Sunni Muslim 8. What issue led to the split between the Sunni and Shi’a in Islam? They disagreed over who should lead the Muslim community after the death of Muhammad.

9. Why were the 4 leaders of the Muslims after Muhammad’s death called the “4 Rightly Guided Caliphs”?They had been friends of Muhammad. 10. What part of the population of Iran is Sunni? 9% 11. Which would be the BEST alternative for showing these data in another way? Use 2 circle graphs

12. Which question could be answered using information from the graph? “Which country has the highest proportion of its population as Shi’a Muslim?” 13. What is the main belief that distinguished the Jewish faith from the others in the ancient world? the worship of a single god rather than many gods. 14. Which is the holy writing of Judaism? Torah

15. The “Exodus” in the history of the Jewish people was the time when …Jews were freed from slavery in Egypt and returned to the land of Canaan. 16. Why did Jesus have trouble with both the Jewish leaders and the Roman authorities? Jews accused him of crimes against their teachings; Romans saw him as a threat to the Roman Empire. 17. What basic belief made Christianity different from Judaism? Christians believed Jesus was the Messiah, or savior of men.

18. Why was Christianity finally accepted by the Roman Emperor as a legal religion? Emperor Constantine recognized that many Romans had become Christians. 19. What is the relationship among Judaism, Christianity, and Islam? Islam includes much of the old and new testaments in its holy book, the Qur’an. 20. What did Muhammad believe the angel Gabriel was asking him to do? Tell the word of God to the people.

21. What is the importance of the Ka’aba to Muslims? They believe it was originally built by the prophet Abraham. 22. Why did Islam spread so quickly after Muhammad’s death? Muslim armies conquered empires that had weakened over the years. 23. What are the Five Pillars? Five basic obligations that Muslims are supposed to meet in their lives.

24. Why do Muslims call Jews and Christians “People of the Book”? Much of the Old and New Testaments in included in the Qur’an. 25. What generalization can be made about literacy and national wealth in a country? Literacy is usually higher in wealthy countries.