Muslim_world

qas: question: Islamic World is another way to refer to what?
answers: text: Muslim world

question: When speaking of religion, what does Ummah refer to?
answers: text: those who adhere to the teachings of Islam

question: When speaking about culture, what does Ummah refer to?
answers: text: Islamic civilization

question: Community, or Nation are direct translations of what word in reference to Islam?
answers: text: Ummah

question: World and group are the same as what Aribic word?

question: What civilization does Ummah refer to when used in a religious sense?

question: What teachings does Ummah refer to when used in a cultural sense?

question: What term refers to all countries where Muslims live?
context: The term Muslim world, also known as Islamic world and the Ummah (Arabic: أمة‎, meaning "nation" or "community") has different meanings. In a religious sense, the Islamic Ummah refers to those who adhere to the teachings of Islam, referred to as Muslims. In a cultural sense, the Muslim Ummah refers to Islamic civilization, exclusive of non-Muslims living in that civilization. In a modern geopolitical sense, the term "Islamic Nation" usually refers collectively to Muslim-majority countries, states, districts, or towns.

qas: question: When did the Islamic Golden age start?
answers: text: 622

question: What other age occurred at the same time as the Islamic Golden Age?
answers: text: the Middle Ages

question: There what is the latest year for the end of the Islamic Golden Age?
answers: text: 1492

question: What years did Abbasid caliph Harun ar-Rashid reign?
answers: text: 786 to 809

question: Where was the House of Wisdom held?
answers: text: Baghdad

question: What State was first established in the 6th century?

question: What golden age occurred at the same time as the Middle Ages?

question: What did the Mongolians sack in the 12th century?

question: What did the Christians reconquer in 1492?

question: What caliph reigned in the 7th and 8th century?
context: The Islamic Golden Age coincided with the Middle Ages in the Muslim world, starting with the rise of Islam and establishment of the first Islamic state in 622. The end of the age is variously given as 1258 with the Mongolian Sack of Baghdad, or 1492 with the completion of the Christian Reconquista of the Emirate of Granada in Al-Andalus, Iberian Peninsula. During the reign of the Abbasid caliph Harun ar-Rashid (786 to 809), the legendary House of Wisdom was inaugurated in Baghdad where scholars from various parts of the world sought to translate and gather all the known world's knowledge into Arabic. The Abbasids were influenced by the Quranic injunctions and hadiths, such as "the ink of a scholar is more holy than the blood of a martyr," that stressed the value of knowledge. The major Islamic capital cities of Baghdad, Cairo, and Córdoba became the main intellectual centers for science, philosophy, medicine, and education. During this period, the Muslim world was a collection of cultures; they drew together and advanced the knowledge gained from the ancient Greek, Roman, Persian, Chinese, Indian, Egyptian, and Phoenician civilizations.

qas: question: What type of ceramic art was popular from the 8th to the 18th century in the art of Islam?
answers: text: glazed ceramics

question: Which ceramic glazing was developed by those potters which were Islamic?
answers: text: Tin-opacified glazing

question: Where would one find the earliest examples of opaque glazes in the Muslim world?
answers: text: Basra

question: Around when were the first opaque glazes developed?
answers: text: 8th century

question: Where were stone-paste ceramics invented?
answers: text: 9th century Iraq

question: What was used in Islamic art from the 800's to the 1800's?

question: What is often formed into utilitarian pottery?

question: What ceramic glazing was adopted by islamic potters?

question: Where can you find the latest examples of opaque glazes in the Muslim world?

question: What was a center for innovative ceramic pottery in the 14th and 15th century?
context: Between the 8th and 18th centuries, the use of glazed ceramics was prevalent in Islamic art, usually assuming the form of elaborate pottery. Tin-opacified glazing was one of the earliest new technologies developed by the Islamic potters. The first Islamic opaque glazes can be found as blue-painted ware in Basra, dating to around the 8th century. Another contribution was the development of stone-paste ceramics, originating from 9th century Iraq. Other centers for innovative ceramic pottery in the Old world included Fustat (from 975 to 1075), Damascus (from 1100 to around 1600) and Tabriz (from 1470 to 1550).

qas: question: What is the most widely known fictional work from the Islamic world?
answers: text: One Thousand and One Nights

question: Arabian nights was originally based upon what Persian work?
answers: text: Hezār Afsān (Thousand Fables)

question: In what century was One Thousand and One Nights completed?
answers: text: 14th century

question: When did One Thousand and One Nights first get translated in the West?
answers: text: 18th century

question: Who was the first westerner to translate One Thousand and One Nights?
answers: text: Antoine Galland

question: What is the earliest Islamic work of fiction?

question: What reached its final for in the 1400's?

question: Arabian nights was originally based on what Arabian work?

question: What language was One Thousand and One Nights translated to in the 1800's?
context: The best known work of fiction from the Islamic world is One Thousand and One Nights (In Persian: hezār-o-yek šab > Arabic: ʔalf-layl-at-wa-l’-layla= One thousand Night and (one) Night) or *Arabian Nights, a name invented by early Western translators, which is a compilation of folk tales from Sanskrit, Persian, and later Arabian fables. The original concept is derived from a pre-Islamic Persian prototype Hezār Afsān (Thousand Fables) that relied on particular Indian elements. It reached its final form by the 14th century; the number and type of tales have varied from one manuscript to another. All Arabian fantasy tales tend to be called Arabian Nights stories when translated into English, regardless of whether they appear in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights or not. This work has been very influential in the West since it was translated in the 18th century, first by Antoine Galland. Imitations were written, especially in France. Various characters from this epic have themselves become cultural icons in Western culture, such as Aladdin, Sinbad the Sailor and Ali Baba.

qas: question: Layla and Majnun is an example of what kind of poetry?
answers: text: Arabic poetry and Persian poetry

question: Which era is Layla and Majnun from?
answers: text: Umayyad era

question: In what century does Layla and Majnun originate?
answers: text: 7th century

question: What kind of story is told in Shahnameh?
answers: text: a mythical and heroic retelling of Persian history

question: Who wrote Shahnameh?
answers: text: Ferdowsi

question: What ers dates to the 700's?

question: What Arabic and Persian poetry dates to the 700's?

question: What was inspired by Romeo and Juliet?

question: What is the national epic of Persia?

question: Who wrote the national epic of Persia?
context: A famous example of Arabic poetry and Persian poetry on romance (love) is Layla and Majnun, dating back to the Umayyad era in the 7th century. It is a tragic story of undying love much like the later Romeo and Juliet, which was itself said to have been inspired by a Latin version of Layla and Majnun to an extent. Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, the national epic of Iran, is a mythical and heroic retelling of Persian history. Amir Arsalan was also a popular mythical Persian story, which has influenced some modern works of fantasy fiction, such as The Heroic Legend of Arslan.

qas: question: What is another name for Ibn Tufail?
answers: text: Abubacer

question: What Arabic book is Ibn Tufail noted for writing?
answers: text: Hayy ibn Yaqdhan (Philosophus Autodidactus)

question: Who wrote Theologus Autodidactus?
answers: text: Ibn al-Nafis

question: What person wrote The Incoherence of the Philosophers?
answers: text: Al-Ghazali

question: Who was the main chracter of Philosophus Autodidactus?
answers: text: Hayy

question: Who where pioneers of the fictional novel?

question: What did Ibn Tufil write in response to the novel by Ibn al-Nafis

question: What did Al-Ghazali's write in response to Ibn Tufail's novel?

question: What book by Ibn al-Nafis write about kamil?
context: Ibn Tufail (Abubacer) and Ibn al-Nafis were pioneers of the philosophical novel. Ibn Tufail wrote the first Arabic novel Hayy ibn Yaqdhan (Philosophus Autodidactus) as a response to Al-Ghazali's The Incoherence of the Philosophers, and then Ibn al-Nafis also wrote a novel Theologus Autodidactus as a response to Ibn Tufail's Philosophus Autodidactus. Both of these narratives had protagonists (Hayy in Philosophus Autodidactus and Kamil in Theologus Autodidactus) who were autodidactic feral children living in seclusion on a desert island, both being the earliest examples of a desert island story. However, while Hayy lives alone with animals on the desert island for the rest of the story in Philosophus Autodidactus, the story of Kamil extends beyond the desert island setting in Theologus Autodidactus, developing into the earliest known coming of age plot and eventually becoming the first example of a science fiction novel.

qas: question: What was the life span of Ibn al-Nafis?
answers: text: 1213–1288

question: What type of book is Theologus Autodidactus the first type of?
answers: text: science fiction

question: What did Ibn al-Nafis use to explain the events in Theologus Autodidactus?
answers: text: scientific knowledge

question: What did Ibn al-Nafis write in the 12th century?

question: Who wrote a science fiction novel in the 12th century?

question: What events did Ibn al-Nafis give supernatural or mythological explanations?

question: Who used mythology to explain Islamic teachings?
context: Theologus Autodidactus, written by the Arabian polymath Ibn al-Nafis (1213–1288), is the first example of a science fiction novel. It deals with various science fiction elements such as spontaneous generation, futurology, the end of the world and doomsday, resurrection, and the afterlife. Rather than giving supernatural or mythological explanations for these events, Ibn al-Nafis attempted to explain these plot elements using the scientific knowledge of biology, astronomy, cosmology and geology known in his time. Ibn al-Nafis' fiction explained Islamic religious teachings via science and Islamic philosophy.

qas: question: Which year did a translation of Philosophus Autodidactus in Latin come to be?
answers: text: 1671

question: Who first translated Philosophus Autodidactus into latin?
answers: text: Edward Pococke the Younger

question: Simon Ockley translated Philosophus Autodidactus into English, in what year did he do that?
answers: text: 1708

question: Who wrote Robinson Crusoe?
answers: text: Daniel Defoe

question: What book is Robert Boyle believe to have written after being inspired by Philosophus Autodidactus?
answers: text: The Aspiring Naturalist

question: What work by Tufail was translated in the 16th century?

question: What did Edward Pococke the Younger translate in the 16th century?

question: Who translated Tufail's work to English in the 17th century?

question: What was Robert Boyle inspired to write by Tufail's work?
context: A Latin translation of Ibn Tufail's work, Philosophus Autodidactus, first appeared in 1671, prepared by Edward Pococke the Younger, followed by an English translation by Simon Ockley in 1708, as well as German and Dutch translations. These translations might have later inspired Daniel Defoe to write Robinson Crusoe, regarded as the first novel in English. Philosophus Autodidactus, continuing the thoughts of philosophers such as Aristotle from earlier ages, inspired Robert Boyle to write his own philosophical novel set on an island, The Aspiring Naturalist.

qas: question: In what year was Kitab al-Miraj likely translated into Latin?
answers: text: in 1264 or shortly before

question: Who wrote the Divine Comedy?
answers: text: Dante Alighieri

question: Which works by Shakespeare is believed to be inspired by The Moors?
answers: text: Merchant of Venice, Titus Andronicus and Othello

question: In what century is it believed that delegations of Moors began to influence western works by the likes of Shakespeare?
answers: text: 17th century

question: What aspects from Islamic works did the Divine Comedy feature?
answers: text: episodes about Bolgia from Arabic works on Islamic eschatology

question: What was translated to Latin in the 12th century?

question: Whose works influenced the Moors?

question: Who visited Elizabethan England in the 1700's?

question: Whose works featured Arabian Characters?
context: Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, derived features of and episodes about Bolgia from Arabic works on Islamic eschatology: the Hadith and the Kitab al-Miraj (translated into Latin in 1264 or shortly before as Liber Scale Machometi) concerning the ascension to Heaven of Muhammad, and the spiritual writings of Ibn Arabi. The Moors also had a noticeable influence on the works of George Peele and William Shakespeare. Some of their works featured Moorish characters, such as Peele's The Battle of Alcazar and Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, Titus Andronicus and Othello, which featured a Moorish Othello as its title character. These works are said to have been inspired by several Moorish delegations from Morocco to Elizabethan England at the beginning of the 17th century.

qas: question: What was the life span of Ibn Sina?
answers: text: 980–1037

question: How many books were said to have been written by Ibn Sina?
answers: text: 450

question: What subjects did Ibn Sina mainly write about?
answers: text: philosophy and medicine

question: What medical book is Ibn Sina most noted for in European universities?
answers: text: The Canon of Medicine

question: What philosophical encyclopedia is Ibn Sina known for writing?
answers: text: The Book of Healing

question: What is defined as a philosopy influenced by Islam?

question: What philosophy is strictly produced by Muslims?

question: What scholar lived from the 9th to the 10th century?

question: What book was used in Universities around the world?

question: Where was The Book of Healing the standard test?
context: One of the common definitions for "Islamic philosophy" is "the style of philosophy produced within the framework of Islamic culture." Islamic philosophy, in this definition is neither necessarily concerned with religious issues, nor is exclusively produced by Muslims. The Persian scholar Ibn Sina (Avicenna) (980–1037) had more than 450 books attributed to him. His writings were concerned with various subjects, most notably philosophy and medicine. His medical textbook The Canon of Medicine was used as the standard text in European universities for centuries. He also wrote The Book of Healing, an influential scientific and philosophical encyclopedia.

qas: question: Which philosopher from the Muslim world influenced modern philosophy?
answers: text: Ibn Tufail

question: Who wrote Hayy ibn Yaqdha?
answers: text: Ibn Tufail

question: In what year was Hayy ibn Yaqdha translated to the Latin language?
answers: text: 1671

question: What kind of book is Hayy ibn Yaqdha?
answers: text: philosophical novel

question: What philosophical novel was written in the 16th century?

question: What was Hayy ibn Yaqdha translated to in the 16th century?

question: What European scholars influenced Tufail?

question: What themes were developed in Tufail's 16th century novel?
context: Yet another influential philosopher who had an influence on modern philosophy was Ibn Tufail. His philosophical novel, Hayy ibn Yaqdha, translated into Latin as Philosophus Autodidactus in 1671, developed the themes of empiricism, tabula rasa, nature versus nurture, condition of possibility, materialism, and Molyneux's problem. European scholars and writers influenced by this novel include John Locke, Gottfried Leibniz, Melchisédech Thévenot, John Wallis, Christiaan Huygens, George Keith, Robert Barclay, the Quakers, and Samuel Hartlib.

qas: question: Which philosopher of the Muslim world is considered an important author of work on evolution?
answers: text: al-Jahiz

question: Ibn al-Haytham can be known by another name, what is it?
answers: text: Alhazen

question: What type of work is Ibn al-Haytham known to have pioneered?
answers: text: phenomenology and the philosophy of science

question: Who is considered to have been the one that founded Illuminationist philosophy?
answers: text: Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi

question: Which philosopher in the Muslim world championed inductive logic in their works?
answers: text: Fakhr al-Din al-Razi

question: Who is credited with further developing Illuinationist philosophy?

question: What natural philosophy did Tufail ctiticize?

question: What logic did AlpBiruni criticize?
context: Other influential Muslim philosophers include al-Jahiz, a pioneer in evolutionary thought; Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen), a pioneer of phenomenology and the philosophy of science and a critic of Aristotelian natural philosophy and Aristotle's concept of place (topos); Al-Biruni, a critic of Aristotelian natural philosophy; Ibn Tufail and Ibn al-Nafis, pioneers of the philosophical novel; Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi, founder of Illuminationist philosophy; Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, a critic of Aristotelian logic and a pioneer of inductive logic; and Ibn Khaldun, a pioneer in the philosophy of history.

qas: question: Ibn al-Haytham experimented with what around the year 1000?
answers: text: optics

question: Ibn al-Haytham wrote about his work around the year 1000, what was it?
answers: text: Book of Optics

question: Regarding the intromission theory of light, who showed the first proof?
answers: text: Ibn al-Haytham

question: Which Muslim scientist worked on trigonometry?
answers: text: al-Khwarzimi

question: Who is believed to have discovered decagonal quasicrystal geometry?
answers: text: Medieval Muslim artists

question: Who placed more emphasis on observation than the Greeks did?

question: What method was developed in the Greek world?

question: who experimented on optics in the 10th century?

question: What did Ibn al-Haytham write in the 10th century

question: What type of geometry was first discovered in the West?
context: Muslim scientists contributed to advances in the sciences. They placed far greater emphasis on experiment than had the Greeks. This led to an early scientific method being developed in the Muslim world, where progress in methodology was made, beginning with the experiments of Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) on optics from circa 1000, in his Book of Optics. The most important development of the scientific method was the use of experiments to distinguish between competing scientific theories set within a generally empirical orientation, which began among Muslim scientists. Ibn al-Haytham is also regarded as the father of optics, especially for his empirical proof of the intromission theory of light. Some have also described Ibn al-Haytham as the "first scientist." al-Khwarzimi's invented the log base systems that are being used today, he also contributed theorems in trigonometry as well as limits. Recent studies show that it is very likely that the Medieval Muslim artists were aware of advanced decagonal quasicrystal geometry (discovered half a millennium later in the 1970s and 1980s in the West) and used it in intricate decorative tilework in the architecture.

qas: question: What work is Mansur ibn Muhammad ibn al-Faqih Ilyas known for writing?
answers: text: Tashrih al-badan (Anatomy of the body)

question: In what century did Tashrih al-badan come into being?
answers: text: 15th century

question: Who theorized about pulmonary circulation?
answers: text: Ibn al-Nafis

question: Who wrote The Canon of Medicine?
answers: text: Avicenna

question: Who wrote Kitab al-Tasrif?
answers: text: Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi

question: Who first established the fields of anatomy and phusiology?

question: Who wrote Anatomy of the body in the 1500's?

question: What photos where found in Anatomy of the body?

question: What book was a standard text in universities until the 1800's?

question: What Latin encyclopedia was used in medical schools for centuries?
context: Muslim physicians contributed to the field of medicine, including the subjects of anatomy and physiology: such as in the 15th century Persian work by Mansur ibn Muhammad ibn al-Faqih Ilyas entitled Tashrih al-badan (Anatomy of the body) which contained comprehensive diagrams of the body's structural, nervous and circulatory systems; or in the work of the Egyptian physician Ibn al-Nafis, who proposed the theory of pulmonary circulation. Avicenna's The Canon of Medicine remained an authoritative medical textbook in Europe until the 18th century. Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (also known as Abulcasis) contributed to the discipline of medical surgery with his Kitab al-Tasrif ("Book of Concessions"), a medical encyclopedia which was later translated to Latin and used in European and Muslim medical schools for centuries. Other medical advancements came in the fields of pharmacology and pharmacy.

qas: question: What field did Muḥammad ibn Jābir al-Ḥarrānī al-Battānī contribute to?
answers: text: astronomy

question: What work is Muḥammad ibn Jābir al-Ḥarrānī al-Battānī known for as it regards to earth?
answers: text: improved the precision of the measurement of the precession of the Earth's axis

question: What model did the work of Muslim World astronomers contribute to?
answers: text: the Copernican heliocentric model

question: Who created the astrolabe?
answers: text: the Greeks

question: Who is said to have mastered the astrolabe?
answers: text: Islamic astronomers and engineers

question: What measurment did Copernicas improve?

question: What model did Copernicas use to measure the earth's axis?

question: Who perfected the astrolabe originally developed by Islamic astronomers?

question: What model did Al-Biruni make corrections to?
context: In astronomy, Muḥammad ibn Jābir al-Ḥarrānī al-Battānī improved the precision of the measurement of the precession of the Earth's axis. The corrections made to the geocentric model by al-Battani, Averroes, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, Mu'ayyad al-Din al-'Urdi and Ibn al-Shatir were later incorporated into the Copernican heliocentric model. Heliocentric theories were also discussed by several other Muslim astronomers such as Al-Biruni, Al-Sijzi, Qotb al-Din Shirazi, and Najm al-Dīn al-Qazwīnī al-Kātibī. The astrolabe, though originally developed by the Greeks, was perfected by Islamic astronomers and engineers, and was subsequently brought to Europe.

qas: question: What was the windmill used for?
answers: text: irrigation and farming

question: which crops were brought to europe from the Muslim World?
answers: text: almonds and citrus fruit

question: Trading in the Indian ocean was mainly controlled by whom?
answers: text: Arab merchants

question: When did the Portuguese arrive in the Indian Ocean?
answers: text: 16th century

question: Where was an important center of Indian Ocean trading in the 16th century?
answers: text: Hormuz

question: What technology was developed from advances in irrigation and farming?

question: What crops were brought from Europe?

question: What cultivation was gradually adopted by Muslims>

question: Where did Arab merchants dominate after the 16th century?

question: Who arrived in the Indian Ocean in the 1600's
context: Advances were made in irrigation and farming, using new technology such as the windmill. Crops such as almonds and citrus fruit were brought to Europe through al-Andalus, and sugar cultivation was gradually adopted by the Europeans. Arab merchants dominated trade in the Indian Ocean until the arrival of the Portuguese in the 16th century. Hormuz was an important center for this trade. There was also a dense network of trade routes in the Mediterranean, along which Muslim countries traded with each other and with European powers such as Venice, Genoa and Catalonia. The Silk Road crossing Central Asia passed through Muslim states between China and Europe.

qas: question: How early did people in the Muslim World start using watermills?
answers: text: 7th century

question: At what point was the use of watermills common in the Muslim World?
answers: text: 9th century

question: In what century had mills such as gristmills and sawmills dominate the Islamic world?
answers: text: 11th century

question: Who invented crankshafts?
answers: text: Muslim engineers

question: Who was the inventor of water turbines?
answers: text: Muslim engineers

question: What did people in the Muslim world start using in the 700's?

question: Who had watermills by the 1100's?

question: What revolution impacted the medieval Islamic world?

question: Who invented dams?
context: Muslim engineers in the Islamic world made a number of innovative industrial uses of hydropower, and early industrial uses of tidal power and wind power, fossil fuels such as petroleum, and early large factory complexes (tiraz in Arabic). The industrial uses of watermills in the Islamic world date back to the 7th century, while horizontal-wheeled and vertical-wheeled water mills were both in widespread use since at least the 9th century. A variety of industrial mills were being employed in the Islamic world, including early fulling mills, gristmills, hullers, sawmills, ship mills, stamp mills, steel mills, sugar mills, tide mills and windmills. By the 11th century, every province throughout the Islamic world had these industrial mills in operation, from al-Andalus and North Africa to the Middle East and Central Asia. Muslim engineers also invented crankshafts and water turbines, employed gears in mills and water-raising machines, and pioneered the use of dams as a source of water power, used to provide additional power to watermills and water-raising machines. Such advances made it possible for industrial tasks that were previously driven by manual labour in ancient times to be mechanized and driven by machinery instead in the medieval Islamic world. The transfer of these technologies to medieval Europe had an influence on the Industrial Revolution.

qas: question: What percentage of the humans in the world are considered Muslim?
answers: text: 20%

question: How many Muslims are believed to live on earth?
answers: text: 1,5 billion

question: In how many nations are Muslims in the majority of people?
answers: text: 49

question: How many languages are spoken by Muslims?
answers: text: hundreds

question: What percentage of the world is made up of Muslim nations?

question: How many countries are Muslims the minority in?

question: What languages are spoken by all Muslims?
context: More than 20% of the world's population is Muslim. Current estimates conclude that the number of Muslims in the world is around 1,5 billion. Muslims are the majority in 49 countries, they speak hundreds of languages and come from diverse ethnic backgrounds. Major languages spoken by Muslims include Arabic, Urdu, Bengali, Punjabi, Malay, Javanese, Sundanese, Swahili, Hausa, Fula, Berber, Tuareg, Somali, Albanian, Bosnian, Russian, Turkish, Azeri, Kazakh, Uzbek, Tatar, Persian, Kurdish, Pashto, Balochi, Sindhi and Kashmiri, among many others.

qas: question: Which Muslim denominations are the most dominant?
answers: text: Sunni and Shia

question: What are the two main things differentiating Sunni and Shia?
answers: text: how the life of the ummah ("faithful") should be governed, and the role of the imam

question: Who is believed, among Sunnis,  to be the political successor of the Prophet?
answers: text: Abu Bakr

question: Who was Abu Bakr?
answers: text: father of the Prophet's favourite wife

question: Who was Ali ibn Abi Talib?
answers: text: husband of the Prophet's daughter Fatimah

question: What are two fringe denominations of Islam?

question: What denominations agree on how the faithful should be governed?

question: What do the Sunni consider Ibn Abi Talib to the successor of?

question: What type of sucessor do the Shia believe Abu Bakr was?
context: The two main denominations of Islam are the Sunni and Shia sects. They differ primarily upon of how the life of the ummah ("faithful") should be governed, and the role of the imam. These two main differences stem from the understanding of which hadith are to interpret the Quran. Sunnis believe the true political successor of the Prophet in Sunnah is based on ٍShura (consultation) at the Saqifah which selected Abu Bakr, father of the Prophet's favourite wife, 'A'ishah, to lead the Islamic community while the religious succession ceased to exist on account of finality of Prophethood. Shia on the other hand believe that the true political as well as religious successor is Ali ibn Abi Talib, husband of the Prophet's daughter Fatimah (designated by the Prophet).

qas: question: What is the literacy rate in Kuwait?
answers: text: over 97%

question: In 2015 it was reported that what percentage of the Muslim World was not literate?
answers: text: 37%

question: What organizations studied literacy in the Muslim World in 2015?
answers: text: Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

question: Which regions have the lowest rate of literacy in the Muslim world?
answers: text: Mali, Afghanistan, Chad and parts of Africa

question: What is over 97% across the Muslim world?

question: Who reported that 97% of the Muslim world was iliterate?

question: What did the Organization of Islamic Cooperation report in 2015?
context: Literacy rate in the Muslim world varies. Some members such as Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan have over 97% literacy rates, whereas literacy rates are the lowest in Mali, Afghanistan, Chad and parts of Africa. In 2015, the International Islamic News Agency reported that nearly 37% of the population of the Muslim world is unable to read or write, basing that figure on reports from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

qas: question: Which organization for scientific publications was established in Pakistan in 2002?
answers: text: Higher Education Commission

question: How much did the Higher Education Commission impact the number of PhDs in Pakistan?
answers: text: 5-fold increase

question: How many universities were in Pakistan in 2001?
answers: text: 115

question: What science university did Saudi Arabia establish?
answers: text: King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

question: Where is Zayed University?
answers: text: United Arab Emirates

question: When did Turkey establish the Higher Education Commission?

question: What type of publication does Pakistan have a signifigant amount of?

question: By how much has Iran increased its PhDs?

question: By how much has Iran increased its number of research papers?

question: What university has the United Arab Emirates established?
context: Several Muslim countries like Turkey and Iran exhibit high scientific publication. Some countries have tried to encourage scientific research. In Pakistan, establishment of the Higher Education Commission in 2002, resulted in a 5-fold increase in the number of PhDs and a 10-fold increase in the number of scientific research papers in 10 years with the total number of universities increasing from 115 in 2001 to over 400 in 2012.[citation needed] Saudi Arabia has established the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. United Arab Emirates has invested in Zayed University, United Arab Emirates University, and Masdar Institute of Science and Technology[clarification needed]

qas: question: What is considered the most important work of Islamic architecture?
answers: text: the mosque

question: What type of decorations are used in Muslim world decorative art rather than pictures?
answers: text: decorative calligraphy

question: What is the definition of haram?
answers: text: forbidden

question: Where in Muslim architecture are pictures forbidden?
answers: text: mosque architecture

question: Where is one permitted to use representations of humans?
answers: text: secular architecture

question: What either has a secular or religious style?

question: What is the tomp an important expression of?

question: Where is decrative calligraphy haram?
context: Encompasses both secular and religious styles, the design and style made by Muslims and their construction of buildings and structures in Islamic culture included the architectural types: the Mosque, the Tomb, the Palace and the Fort. Perhaps the most important expression of Islamic art is architecture, particularly that of the mosque. Through Islamic architecture, effects of varying cultures within Islamic civilization can be illustrated. Generally, the use of Islamic geometric patterns and foliage based arabesques were striking. There was also the use of decorative calligraphy instead of pictures which were haram (forbidden) in mosque architecture. Note that in secular architecture, human and animal representation was indeed present.

qas: question: Why is depicting God forbidden in the Islamic world?
answers: text: such artistic depictions may lead to idolatry

question: What do Muslims believe of the form of God?
answers: text: God is incorporeal

question: How many sura's in the Quran begin with "In the name of God?"
answers: text: All but one

question: What is the policy in the Muslim world on depicting Mohammed?
answers: text: prohibited

question: What other religions might one find depictions of God, or Prophets forbidden?
answers: text: Jewish and some Christian theology

question: Why are depictions of God discouraged in Islam?

question: What does one of the Sura in the Quran begin with?

question: What other religions do not have restrictions on depicting God?

question: What prophet is often depicted in the Muslim World?
context: No Islamic visual images or depictions of God are meant to exist because it is believed that such artistic depictions may lead to idolatry. Moreover, Muslims believe that God is incorporeal, making any two- or three- dimensional depictions impossible. Instead, Muslims describe God by the names and attributes that, according to Islam, he revealed to his creation. All but one sura of the Quran begins with the phrase "In the name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful". Images of Mohammed are likewise prohibited. Such aniconism and iconoclasm can also be found in Jewish and some Christian theology.

qas: question: What is the repetitive use of geometric floral designs known as in Islamic art?
answers: text: arabesque

question: Islam forbade types of art found in what religions?
answers: text: pre-Islamic pagan religions

question: Miniature paintings of the Ottoman empire featured what kind of subjects?
answers: text: people and animals

question: In mosques domes may have what kind of scripts decorating them?
answers: text: kufic and naskh scripts

question: What is one reason the art of Islam may be abstract?
answers: text: to symbolize the transcendence, indivisible and infinite nature of God

question: What type of depictions have been forbiden through out the iIslamic World?

question: Who embraces the art of pre-Islamic cultures?

question: What does depictional art represent about God?

question: Who is known for minature depictions of God?
context: Islamic art frequently adopts the use of geometrical floral or vegetal designs in a repetition known as arabesque. Such designs are highly nonrepresentational, as Islam forbids representational depictions as found in pre-Islamic pagan religions. Despite this, there is a presence of depictional art in some Muslim societies, notably the miniature style made famous in Persia and under the Ottoman Empire which featured paintings of people and animals, and also depictions of Quranic stories and Islamic traditional narratives. Another reason why Islamic art is usually abstract is to symbolize the transcendence, indivisible and infinite nature of God, an objective achieved by arabesque. Islamic calligraphy is an omnipresent decoration in Islamic art, and is usually expressed in the form of Quranic verses. Two of the main scripts involved are the symbolic kufic and naskh scripts, which can be found adorning the walls and domes of mosques, the sides of minbars, and so on.

qas: question: What are the main distinctive features of Islamic architecture?
answers: text: ordered repetition, radiating structures, and rhythmic, metric patterns

question: What physical characteristics are common in Islamic architecture?
answers: text: columns, piers and arches

question: When did domes first appear in the architecture of the Muslim World?
answers: text: 691

question: Which mosque is believed to be the first with a dome?
answers: text: Dome of the Rock mosque

question: When was the Taj Mahal constructed?
answers: text: 17th century

question: What first appeared in Muslim architecture in the 6th century?

question: What mosque was built with a dome in the 6th century?

question: What structure was built using domes in the 1700's?

question: Where were Islamic domes used iin the 1900's?
context: Distinguishing motifs of Islamic architecture have always been ordered repetition, radiating structures, and rhythmic, metric patterns. In this respect, fractal geometry has been a key utility, especially for mosques and palaces. Other features employed as motifs include columns, piers and arches, organized and interwoven with alternating sequences of niches and colonnettes. The role of domes in Islamic architecture has been considerable. Its usage spans centuries, first appearing in 691 with the construction of the Dome of the Rock mosque, and recurring even up until the 17th century with the Taj Mahal. And as late as the 19th century, Islamic domes had been incorporated into European architecture.

qas: question: What is another name for the Shamsi Hijri calender?
answers: text: The Solar Hijri calendar

question: What is one way to abbreviate the Solar Hiljri calender?
answers: text: SH

question: What is the customary calendar of Iran?
answers: text: the Shamsi Hijri calendar

question: How many months are in the Shamsi Hijri calendar?
answers: text: twelve months

question: What is the first year of the Shamsi Hijri Calender based on?
answers: text: Prophet Muhammad's migration to Medina

question: What is the modern name for the Solar Hijri calander?

question: What is the official calander of the Islamic world?

question: What calander ends on the vernal equinox?

question: What equinox does the calander end on?

question: What prophets year of birth marks the first year of the calander?
context: The Solar Hijri calendar, also called the Shamsi Hijri calendar, and abbreviated as SH, is the official calendar of Iran and Afghanistan. It begins on the vernal equinox. Each of the twelve months corresponds with a zodiac sign. The first six months have 31 days, the next five have 30 days, and the last month has 29 days in usual years but 30 days in leap years. The year of Prophet Muhammad's migration to Medina (622 CE) is fixed as the first year of the calendar, and the New Year's Day always falls on the March equinox.

qas: question: How many Muslim nations require women to cover their legs, shoulders, or whole body?
answers: text: a small minority

question: What are the restrictions on the dress of Muslim women considered in the West?
answers: text: sexist and oppressive

question: Why do some Muslims oppose allowing women to reveal more of themselves?
answers: text: women to reveal too much in order to be deemed attractive

question: In its most strict style what must a woman cover in some Muslim nations?
answers: text: the face

question: Who are required to cover their bodies throughout the Muslim world?

question: In what part of the world do Muslims find these restrictions oppressive and sexist?

question: What do westerners believe the media pressures women to do?

question: What type of covering is required of women when living in the West?
context: In a small minority of Muslim countries, the law requires women to cover either just legs, shoulders and head or the whole body apart from the face. In strictest forms, the face as well must be covered leaving just a mesh to see through. These rules for dressing cause tensions, concerning particularly Muslims living in Western countries, where restrictions are considered both sexist and oppressive. Some Muslims oppose this charge, and instead declare that the media in these countries presses on women to reveal too much in order to be deemed attractive, and that this is itself sexist and oppressive.