Humanity

HUMA 2815: Islamic Tradition
Midterm Exam
Name __________________
Student number _____________
Tutorial leader: ______________

I. Multiple choice (5 questions, total 15%) Identify the correct answer:

1. During the Jahiliyya Period, most of Arab tribes venerated: a) Idols b) Shaykhs c) Jinnis d) Poets

2. During the Age of Jahiliyya, KAHINS were: a) Tribal leaders b) Soothsayers c) Clients of tribes d) Wealthy merchants

II. ID + textual analysis (total 2) 25% each Analyze TWO of the following four passages. The analysis should be both close textual (interpretation of the issues raised in the text), and historical (situating the text in the intellectual, political, and/or doctrinal history of Islam). In other words, ask yourselves the following questions:

1. What is this text about? 2. What key terms and expressions do I need to identify and focus on? 3. What larger issues do they relate to?

a) “When nine lunar months of the heavy pregnancy have passed, the time approached that his voice should manifest himself. In the night of the birth there were present with his mother, Asiya and Mary among the women from Paradise. The pains of labour ceases her and she gave birth to him – Pease be upon him – and light pearled around his glory, his face shining like the sun, illuminating the night; the night of the nativity which is joyful religion; the night in which Amina, the daughter of Wahb, received honor which He has never given to any woman. To her family came someone better that the Virgin Mary bore before her.” Mawlid al-Barzanji- The birth story of Muhammad

b) “He came to me,” said the Apostle of God while I was asleep with a coverlet of brocade whereon was some writing and said: “Recite!” I said, “What shall I recite?” He pressed me with it so tightly that I thought it was death: then he let me go and said: “Recite!” Ibn Hisham. The Life of Muhammad: Translation of Ishaq’s Sirat Rasul Allah.

c) “They worked separately, clan by clan, until the walls were high enough for the Black Stone to be built once more into corner. Then a violent disagreement broke out amongst them, for each clan wanted the honor of lifting it into its place. The deadlock lasted for four or five days and the tension had increased to the point of alliances being made and preparations for battle begun, when the oldest man present proposed a solution. “O men of Quraysh,” he said, “take as arbiter between you, about that wherein you differ, the first man who shall enter in though the gate…..The agreed to follow the old man’s counsel: and the first man to enter ….was Muhammad, who just returned to Mecca after an absence…” Martin Lings. Muhammad: His Life based on the Earliest Sources (“The Rebuilding of the Ka’bah”)

III. Write a short essay on ONE of the following three topics: (35%)

a) Discuss the importance of poetry in inter-tribal wars. b) Explain the dual nature of the Qur’an