Q 01/05

The Hajj is a pilgrimage to Islam's holiest city, in which modern country?

A) Saudi Arabia

B) Jordan

C) Bahrain

D) Kuwait

Answer · why

A) Saudi Arabia

Pilgrims usually visit Medina and the Prophet's Mosque on the same journey, but that is not part of the rite.

Q 02/05

How many times in a lifetime is a Muslim who is able required to perform the Hajj?

A) Once

B) Twice

C) Five times

D) Ten times

Answer · why

A) Once

Once, and only for those with the health and money to go; a Muslim too old or ill to travel may send someone else to make the pilgrimage on their beha...

Q 03/05

Besides the Hajj, which is a Pillar of Islam?

A) Avoiding pork

B) Giving alms

C) Memorising the Quran

D) Learning Arabic

Answer · why

B) Giving alms

Giving alms, or zakat, is a duty rather than a kindness: a levy on a Muslim's wealth for the poor and needy, which a few countries enforce by law.

Q 04/05

In which month of the Islamic calendar does the Hajj take place?

A) Rabi al-Awwal

B) Dhu'l-Hijja

C) Muharram

D) Ramadan

Answer · why

B) Dhu'l-Hijja

Dhu'l-Hijja, 'the month of the pilgrimage', is one of four sacred months in which warfare was forbidden, a truce older than Islam that let feuding tri...

Q 05/05

The Hajj falls about eleven days earlier each year because the Islamic calendar follows what?

A) The Sun

B) The Moon

C) Sirius

D) Venus

Answer · why

B) The Moon

The Moon: twelve lunar months make a year of only 354 or 355 days, so the Hajj slips back through every season and returns to the same date about ever...