praj-17/QA-MCQ-Open-ended huggingface dataset:
Title: Umayyad_Caliphate
Context: Geographically, the empire was divided into several provinces, the borders of which changed numerous times during the Umayyad reign. Each province had a governor appointed by the khalifah. The governor was in charge of the religious officials, army leaders, police, and civil administrators in his province. Local expenses were paid for by taxes coming from that province, with the remainder each year being sent to the central government in Damascus. As the central power of the Umayyad rulers waned in the later years of the dynasty, some governors neglected to send the extra tax revenue to Damascus and created great personal fortunes.

question: Who appointed the governors in the Umayyad empire? 

answer: khalifah

question: Where was the government of the Umayyads based? 

answer: Damascus

question: Along with army leaders, police and civil administration, what did the governor control in his province? 

answer: religious officials
Title: Umayyad_Caliphate
Context: Hisham suffered still worse defeats in the east, where his armies attempted to subdue both Tokharistan, with its center at Balkh, and Transoxiana, with its center at Samarkand. Both areas had already been partially conquered, but remained difficult to govern. Once again, a particular difficulty concerned the question of the conversion of non-Arabs, especially the Sogdians of Transoxiana. Following the Umayyad defeat in the "Day of Thirst" in 724, Ashras ibn 'Abd Allah al-Sulami, governor of Khurasan, promised tax relief to those Sogdians who converted to Islam, but went back on his offer when it proved too popular and threatened to reduce tax revenues. Discontent among the Khurasani Arabs rose sharply after the losses suffered in the Battle of the Defile in 731, and in 734, al-Harith ibn Surayj led a revolt that received broad backing from Arabs and natives alike, capturing Balkh but failing to take Merv. After this defeat, al-Harith's movement seems to have been dissolved, but the problem of the rights of non-Arab Muslims would continue to plague the Umayyads.

question: What was the main city of Tokharistan? 

answer: Balkh

question: What was the central part of Transoxiana called? 

answer: Samarkand

question: In what year did the Day of Thirst occur? 

answer: 724

question: Who was the leader of the revolt of 734? 

answer: al-Harith ibn Surayj

question: What notable battle occurred in 731? 

answer: Battle of the Defile
Title: Umayyad_Caliphate
Context: The Hashimiyya movement (a sub-sect of the Kaysanites Shia), led by the Abbasid family, overthrew the Umayyad caliphate. The Abbasids were members of the Hashim clan, rivals of the Umayyads, but the word "Hashimiyya" seems to refer specifically to Abu Hashim, a grandson of Ali and son of Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya. According to certain traditions, Abu Hashim died in 717 in Humeima in the house of Muhammad ibn Ali, the head of the Abbasid family, and before dying named Muhammad ibn Ali as his successor. This tradition allowed the Abbasids to rally the supporters of the failed revolt of Mukhtar, who had represented themselves as the supporters of Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya.

question: What group were the Hashimiyya a sect of? 

answer: Kaysanites Shia

question: Who led the Hashimiyya movement? 

answer: Abbasid family

question: Who was named successor by Abu Hashim? 

answer: Muhammad ibn Ali

question: Of what clan were the Abbasids members of? 

answer: Hashim

question: What year saw the death of Abu Hashim? 

answer: 717
Title: Umayyad_Caliphate
Context: From the caliphate's north-western African bases, a series of raids on coastal areas of the Visigothic Kingdom paved the way to the permanent occupation of most of Iberia by the Umayyads (starting in 711), and on into south-eastern Gaul (last stronghold at Narbonne in 759). Hisham's reign witnessed the end of expansion in the west, following the defeat of the Arab army by the Franks at the Battle of Tours in 732. In 739 a major Berber Revolt broke out in North Africa, which was subdued only with difficulty, but it was followed by the collapse of Umayyad authority in al-Andalus. In India the Arab armies were defeated by the south Indian Chalukya dynasty and by the north Indian Pratiharas Dynasty in the 8th century and the Arabs were driven out of India. In the Caucasus, the confrontation with the Khazars peaked under Hisham: the Arabs established Derbent as a major military base and launched several invasions of the northern Caucasus, but failed to subdue the nomadic Khazars. The conflict was arduous and bloody, and the Arab army even suffered a major defeat at the Battle of Marj Ardabil in 730. Marwan ibn Muhammad, the future Marwan II, finally ended the war in 737 with a massive invasion that is reported to have reached as far as the Volga, but the Khazars remained unsubdued.

question: When did the Umayyads begin to occupy Iberia? 

answer: 711

question: What was the final year that the Umayyads held Narbonne? 

answer: 759

question: What was Marwan II's name before he became caliph? 

answer: Marwan ibn Muhammad

question: Who defeated the Arabs at the Battle of Tours? 

answer: Franks

question: In what year did the Berber Revolt begin? 

answer: 739
Title: Umayyad_Caliphate
Context: The final son of Abd al-Malik to become caliph was Hisham (724–43), whose long and eventful reign was above all marked by the curtailment of military expansion. Hisham established his court at Resafa in northern Syria, which was closer to the Byzantine border than Damascus, and resumed hostilities against the Byzantines, which had lapsed following the failure of the last siege of Constantinople. The new campaigns resulted in a number of successful raids into Anatolia, but also in a major defeat (the Battle of Akroinon), and did not lead to any significant territorial expansion.

question: Who was the father of Hisham? 

answer: Abd al-Malik

question: In what part of Syria was Resafa located? 

answer: northern

question: When did Hisham's reign start? 

answer: 724

question: Where did Hisham base his court? 

answer: Resafa

question: What notable defeat was suffered by the Arabs under Hisham? 

answer: Battle of Akroinon
Title: Umayyad_Caliphate
Context: With limited resources Muawiyah went about creating allies. Muawiyah married Maysum the daughter of the chief of the Kalb tribe, that was a large Jacobite Christian Arab tribe in Syria. His marriage to Maysum was politically motivated. The Kalb tribe had remained largely neutral when the Muslims first went into Syria. After the plague that killed much of the Muslim Army in Syria, by marrying Maysum, Muawiyah started to use the Jacobite Christians, against the Romans. Muawiya's wife Maysum (Yazid's mother) was also a Jacobite Christian. With limited resources and the Byzantine just over the border, Muawiyah worked in cooperation with the local Christian population. To stop Byzantine harassment from the sea during the Arab-Byzantine Wars, in 649 Muawiyah set up a navy; manned by Monophysitise Christians, Copts and Jacobite Syrian Christians sailors and Muslim troops.

question: What was the name of Muawiyah's wife? 

answer: Maysum

question: What tribe did Muawiyah's wife belong to? 

answer: Kalb

question: Where was the Kalb tribe based? 

answer: Syria

question: What was the religion of Muawiyah's wife's tribe? 

answer: Christian

question: What was the ethnicity of the Kalb tribe? 

answer: Arab
Title: Umayyad_Caliphate
Context: Only Umayyad ruler (Caliphs of Damascus), Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, is unanimously praised by Sunni sources for his devout piety and justice. In his efforts to spread Islam he established liberties for the Mawali by abolishing the jizya tax for converts to Islam. Imam Abu Muhammad Adbullah ibn Abdul Hakam stated that Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz also stopped the personal allowance offered to his relatives stating that he could only give them an allowance if he gave an allowance to everyone else in the empire. Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz was later poisoned in the year 720. When successive governments tried to reverse Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz's tax policies it created rebellion.

question: What Umayyad ruler is regarded as especially just and pious by Sunni scholars? 

answer: Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz

question: For whom did Umar end the jizya? 

answer: converts to Islam

question: In what year did Umar ibn Ad Al-Aziz die? 

answer: 720

question: What was Umar ibn Ad al-Aziz's cause of death? 

answer: poisoned

question: What group did Umar ibn Ad Al-Aziz grant liberties to? 

answer: Mawali
Title: Umayyad_Caliphate
Context: Around 746, Abu Muslim assumed leadership of the Hashimiyya in Khurasan. In 747, he successfully initiated an open revolt against Umayyad rule, which was carried out under the sign of the black flag. He soon established control of Khurasan, expelling its Umayyad governor, Nasr ibn Sayyar, and dispatched an army westwards. Kufa fell to the Hashimiyya in 749, the last Umayyad stronghold in Iraq, Wasit, was placed under siege, and in November of the same year Abu al-Abbas was recognized as the new caliph in the mosque at Kufa.[citation needed] At this point Marwan mobilized his troops from Harran and advanced toward Iraq. In January 750 the two forces met in the Battle of the Zab, and the Umayyads were defeated. Damascus fell to the Abbasids in April, and in August, Marwan was killed in Egypt.

question: Who became leader of the Khurasan Hashimiyya in approximately 746? 

answer: Abu Muslim

question: What symbol did Abu Muslim use in his revolt against the Umayyads? 

answer: black flag

question: Where did Marwan die? 

answer: Egypt

question: Who was the Umayyad governor of Khurasan who was defeated by Abu Muslim? 

answer: Nasr ibn Sayyar

question: When did the Hashimiyya conquer Kufa? 

answer: 749
Title: Umayyad_Caliphate
Context: The books written later in the Abbasid period in Iran are more anti Umayyad. Iran was Sunni at the time. There was much anti Arab feeling in Iran after the fall of the Persian empire. This anti Arab feeling also influenced the books on Islamic history. Al-Tabri was also written in Iran during that period. Al-Tabri was a huge collection including all the text that he could find, from all the sources. It was a collection preserving everything for future generations to codify and for future generations to judge if it was true or false.

question: In the later Abbasid era, what branch of Islam did Iran adhere to? 

answer: Sunni

question: What notable work of Islamic history was written in Iran during the later Abbasid period? 

answer: Al-Tabri

question: What group was notably disliked in Iran after the Persian Empire fell? 

answer: Arab
Title: Umayyad_Caliphate
Context: The Diwan of Umar, assigning annuities to all Arabs and to the Muslim soldiers of other races, underwent a change in the hands of the Umayyads. The Umayyads meddled with the register and the recipients regarded pensions as the subsistence allowance even without being in active service. Hisham reformed it and paid only to those who participated in battle. On the pattern of the Byzantine system the Umayyads reformed their army organization in general and divided it into five corps: the centre, two wings, vanguards and rearguards, following the same formation while on march or on a battle field. Marwan II (740–50) abandoned the old division and introduced Kurdus (cohort), a small compact body. The Umayyad troops were divided into three divisions: infantry, cavalry and artillery. Arab troops were dressed and armed in Greek fashion. The Umayyad cavalry used plain and round saddles. The artillery used arradah (ballista), manjaniq (the mangonel) and dabbabah or kabsh (the battering ram). The heavy engines, siege machines and baggage were carried on camels behind the army.

question: What is the meaning of the term Kurdus in English? 

answer: cohort

question: What caliph reigned from 740 to 750? 

answer: Marwan II

question: What did the Umayyads call the mangonel? 

answer: manjaniq

question: What style of dress did Arab troops wear under Marwan II? 

answer: Greek

question: Along with artillery and infantry, what was the third division of Umayyad troops under Marwan II? 

answer: cavalry
Title: Umayyad_Caliphate
Context: Mu'awiyah introduced postal service, Abd al-Malik extended it throughout his empire, and Walid made full use of it. The Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik developed a regular postal service. Umar bin Abdul-Aziz developed it further by building caravanserais at stages along the Khurasan highway. Relays of horses were used for the conveyance of dispatches between the caliph and his agents and officials posted in the provinces. The main highways were divided into stages of 12 miles (19 km) each and each stage had horses, donkeys or camels ready to carry the post. Primarily the service met the needs of Government officials, but travellers and their important dispatches were also benefitted by the system. The postal carriages were also used for the swift transport of troops. They were able to carry fifty to a hundred men at a time. Under Governor Yusuf bin Umar, the postal department of Iraq cost 4,000,000 dirhams a year.

question: Who first brought a postal service into Umayyad lands? 

answer: Mu'awiyah

question: Along what highway did Umar bin Abdul-Aziz build caravanserais? 

answer: Khurasan

question: In dirhams, what was the yearly cost of the Iraqi postal service when Yusuf bin Umar was governor? 

answer: 4,000,000

question: Along with horses and camels, what animals were used by the postal service? 

answer: donkeys

question: In kilometers, how far apart was each stage of the Umayyad highways? 

answer: 19
Title: Umayyad_Caliphate
Context: However many early history books like the Islamic Conquest of Syria Fatuhusham by al-Imam al-Waqidi state that after the conversion to Islam Muawiyah's father Abu Sufyan ibn Harb and his brothers Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan were appointed as commanders in the Muslim armies by Muhammad. Muawiyah, Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan and Hind bint Utbah fought in the Battle of Yarmouk. The defeat of the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius at the Battle of Yarmouk opened the way for the Muslim expansion into Jerusalem and Syria.

question: What nation lost the Battle of Yarmouk? 

answer: Byzantine

question: Who was the Byzantine leader at the Battle of Yarmouk? 

answer: Heraclius

question: Along with Syria, where did the Muslims extend their control after the Battle of Yarmouk? 

answer: Jerusalem

question: Who was the father of Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan? 

answer: Abu Sufyan ibn Harb

question: Along with Muawiyah, Abu Sufyan ibn Harb and Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan, what notable Muslim participated in the Battle of Yarmouk? 

answer: Hind bint Utbah
Title: Umayyad_Caliphate
Context: Non-Muslim groups in the Umayyad Caliphate, which included Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, and pagan Berbers, were called dhimmis. They were given a legally protected status as second-class citizens as long as they accepted and acknowledged the political supremacy of the ruling Muslims. They were allowed to have their own courts, and were given freedom of their religion within the empire.[citation needed] Although they could not hold the highest public offices in the empire, they had many bureaucratic positions within the government. Christians and Jews still continued to produce great theological thinkers within their communities, but as time wore on, many of the intellectuals converted to Islam, leading to a lack of great thinkers in the non-Muslim communities.

question: What were non-Muslim groups under the Umayyads called? 

answer: dhimmis

question: Along with Berbers, Zoroastrians and Christians, what notable non-Muslim group existed in the Umayyad Caliphate? 

answer: Jews

question: Along with Jews, what non-Muslim religion produced notable theological works under the Umayyads? 

answer: Christians
Title: Umayyad_Caliphate
Context: The Umayyad caliphate was marked both by territorial expansion and by the administrative and cultural problems that such expansion created. Despite some notable exceptions, the Umayyads tended to favor the rights of the old Arab families, and in particular their own, over those of newly converted Muslims (mawali). Therefore, they held to a less universalist conception of Islam than did many of their rivals. As G.R. Hawting has written, "Islam was in fact regarded as the property of the conquering aristocracy."

question: What is another name for people who recently converted to Islam? 

answer: mawali

question: Who argued that the Umayyads regarded Islam as a particularly aristocratic faith? 

answer: G.R. Hawting

question: What sorts of families did the Umayyads show favor to? 

answer: old Arab
Title: Umayyad_Caliphate
Context: Many Muslims criticized the Umayyads for having too many non-Muslim, former Roman administrators in their government. St John of Damascus was also a high administrator in the Umayyad administration. As the Muslims took over cities, they left the peoples political representatives and the Roman tax collectors and the administrators. The taxes to the central government were calculated and negotiated by the peoples political representatives. The Central government got paid for the services it provided and the local government got the money for the services it provided. Many Christian cities also used some of the taxes on maintain their churches and run their own organizations. Later the Umayyads were criticized by some Muslims for not reducing the taxes of the people who converted to Islam. These new converts continues to pay the same taxes that were previously negotiated.

question: What Christian saint was also an Umayyad administrator? 

answer: John of Damascus

question: What tax collectors did the Umayyads often leave in place after they conquered regions? 

answer: Roman

question: In addition to criticism received for employing non-Muslims, for what notable reason did some Muslims criticize the Umayyads? 

answer: not reducing the taxes of the people who converted to Islam
Title: Umayyad_Caliphate
Context: The Umayyads have met with a largely negative reception from later Islamic historians, who have accused them of promoting a kingship (mulk, a term with connotations of tyranny) instead of a true caliphate (khilafa). In this respect it is notable that the Umayyad caliphs referred to themselves not as khalifat rasul Allah ("successor of the messenger of God", the title preferred by the tradition), but rather as khalifat Allah ("deputy of God"). The distinction seems to indicate that the Umayyads "regarded themselves as God's representatives at the head of the community and saw no need to share their religious power with, or delegate it to, the emergent class of religious scholars." In fact, it was precisely this class of scholars, based largely in Iraq, that was responsible for collecting and recording the traditions that form the primary source material for the history of the Umayyad period. In reconstructing this history, therefore, it is necessary to rely mainly on sources, such as the histories of Tabari and Baladhuri, that were written in the Abbasid court at Baghdad.

question: What Arabic term did the Umayyad caliphs use to refer to themselves? 

answer: khalifat Allah

question: Where was the Abbasid court based? 

answer: Baghdad

question: What is the Arabic term for kingship? 

answer: mulk

question: What was the tradition Arabic title used by caliphs? 

answer: khalifat rasul Allah

question: What does khalifat Allah translate to in English? 

answer: deputy of God
Title: Asphalt
Context: Asphalt/bitumen also occurs in unconsolidated sandstones known as "oil sands" in Alberta, Canada, and the similar "tar sands" in Utah, US. The Canadian province of Alberta has most of the world's reserves of natural bitumen, in three huge deposits covering 142,000 square kilometres (55,000 sq mi), an area larger than England or New York state. These bituminous sands contain 166 billion barrels (26.4×10^9 m3) of commercially established oil reserves, giving Canada the third largest oil reserves in the world. and produce over 2.3 million barrels per day (370×10^3 m3/d) of heavy crude oil and synthetic crude oil. Although historically it was used without refining to pave roads, nearly all of the bitumen is now used as raw material for oil refineries in Canada and the United States.

question: What is another term for asphalt? 

answer: bitumen

question: Besides occurrences in Canada, where in the US is asphalt found? 

answer: Utah

question: How much of the planet's asphalt is located in Canada? 

answer: most

question: What is the area amount of the Canadian asphalt deposits? 

answer: 142,000 square kilometres

question: Where does most of Canada's asphalt end up these days? 

answer: oil refineries
Title: Asphalt
Context: The first use of asphalt/bitumen in the New World was by indigenous peoples. On the west coast, as early as the 13th century, the Tongva, Luiseño and Chumash peoples collected the naturally occurring asphalt/bitumen that seeped to the surface above underlying petroleum deposits. All three used the substance as an adhesive. It is found on many different artifacts of tools and ceremonial items. For example, it was used on rattles to adhere gourds or turtle shells to rattle handles. It was also used in decorations. Small round shell beads were often set in asphaltum to provide decorations. It was used as a sealant on baskets to make them watertight for carrying water. Asphaltum was used also to seal the planks on ocean-going canoes.

question: What group initially made use of asphalt? 

answer: indigenous peoples

question: For what purpose did American Indians use asphalt?  

answer: adhesive

question: What sort of deposits does asphalt overlay? 

answer: petroleum

question: What would early users of asphalt want to achieve by putting it on baskets? 

answer: watertight

question: On what type of boat was asphalt used to seal planks? 

answer: canoes
Title: Asphalt
Context: When maintenance is performed on asphalt pavements, such as milling to remove a worn or damaged surface, the removed material can be returned to a facility for processing into new pavement mixtures. The asphalt/bitumen in the removed material can be reactivated and put back to use in new pavement mixes. With some 95% of paved roads being constructed of or surfaced with asphalt, a substantial amount of asphalt pavement material is reclaimed each year. According to industry surveys conducted annually by the Federal Highway Administration and the National Asphalt Pavement Association, more than 99% of the asphalt removed each year from road surfaces during widening and resurfacing projects is reused as part of new pavements, roadbeds, shoulders and embankments.

question: What is used asphalt turned back into? 

answer: new pavement mixtures

question: How much of yearly acquired asphalt is reclaimed? 

answer: 99%

question: What percentage of new roadways are surfaced with asphalt? 

answer: 95%

question: During what action is asphalt often reclaimed? 

answer: maintenance

question: For what reason is asphalt removed from a road?  

answer: worn or damaged