Medieval and early modern Islamic states, societies, and historical scholarship, including the caliphates and Ottoman Empire. Religious beliefs and practices remain in World Faiths.
Test your knowledge with these top questions!
Suleiman the Magnificent's Turkish title "Kanuni" means what?
His legal reforms organized taxation and criminal penalties alongside Islamic religious law.
Suleiman the Magnificent ruled from which city?
Suleiman commissioned Istanbul's Süleymaniye Mosque, designed by the Ottoman architect Sinan.
Suleiman the Magnificent's army unsuccessfully besieged which city in 1529?
Rain and mud forced the army to abandon much of its heavy artillery on the march toward Vienna.
Janissaries formed an elite infantry force in which empire?
Unlike troops summoned only for campaigns, Janissaries belonged to a standing force paid by the sultan.
Suleiman the Magnificent ruled which empire?
Suleiman ruled for 46 years, longer than any other Ottoman sultan.
Which Ottoman system recruited Christian boys for training that could lead to Janissary service?
Boys taken through the levy converted to Islam, and some trained for palace administration instead of the army.
Ottoman Janissaries increasingly replaced bows with which weapons during the 1400s and 1500s?
A matchlock lowered a glowing cord into priming powder, allowing a trigger pull to ignite the main charge.
Ottoman Janissaries signaled a mutiny by overturning which everyday object?
Janissary units named officers after kitchen jobs, including a commander whose title meant "soup maker".
Persian physician Avicenna cured a ruling Sultan's severe illness to gain access to what?
After successfully treating the Samanid ruler Nuh ibn Mansur, Avicenna rejected wealth and instead asked to study the rare manuscripts in the royal archives.
Persian scholar Avicenna wrote The Book of Healing to cure ignorance by teaching what?
Despite its medical-sounding title, this monumental encyclopedia was intended to cure the soul of ignorance by covering logic, mathematics, and metaphysics.