Q 01/05

The Arabic word sirah, used for the Prophet's biography, comes from a verb with what meaning?

A) To remember

B) To travel

C) To recite

D) To witness

Answer · why

B) To travel

To travel is the root sense: sirah comes from the verb sara, so a person's sirah is their journey through life, from birth to death.

Q 02/05

Which ruler, by Muslim accounts, tore up the Prophet's letter and told his Yemeni vassal to seize its sender?

A) The Negus of Axum

B) Khosrow II of Persia

C) The Muqawqis of Egypt

D) Hawdha of Yamamah

Answer · why

B) Khosrow II of Persia

Khosrow II of Persia, angry that a subject had written his name first, tore the letter up, and he was later deposed and executed on his own son's orde...

Q 03/05

Of what metal was the seal ring the Prophet had made for his letters, engraved 'Muhammad, Messenger of God'?

A) Gold

B) Iron

C) Copper

D) Silver

Answer · why

D) Silver

Silver was the metal, and the ring passed from the Prophet to Abu Bakr, Umar and then Uthman, who dropped it into the well of Aris, where it was never...

Q 04/05

On the Mi'raj, which prophet kept sending Muhammad back to plead for fewer daily prayers until fifty became five?

A) Moses

B) Abraham

C) Jesus

D) Adam

Answer · why

A) Moses

Moses warned that Muhammad's people could not bear fifty prayers a day, and once five remained, Muhammad said he was too ashamed to ask his Lord again...

Q 05/05

What, by the seerah, finally broke the confederates' siege of Medina after the trench had stalled their cavalry?

A) A sudden flash flood

B) A plague

C) A violent wind

D) A famine

Answer · why

C) A violent wind

A violent wind, recalled in Quran 33:9, blew out the besiegers' fires in the bitter cold, and the confederate armies withdrew.