Western Resistance

I could write an essay about each of these questions, but I'll try to keep my personal comments brief and after the test. I give C&R and Western Resistance permission to reprint anything you like out of this just as long as you leave my real name and email out of it. I get enough death threats to my alt email account as it is. I just thought you guys would be interested and as a concerned parent I had a keen need to vent. Try not to have anything in your mouth when you read Question 16 or it will wind up on your computer screen.

Ch. 3 Test on Beginnings of Islam

1. Name three types of people who occupied the Arabian Peninsula.

A. Nomads, farmers, townspeople

2. Why were the large oases of the Arabian Peninsula important?

A. Water, used for farming, traders

3. Where is the Ka'aba located?

A. Mecca

4. What is Islam's main teaching?

A. Belief in one god

5. Name the Five Pillars of Islam 5 duties of Muslims

A. Five Pillars of Faith

6. Whom did the Muslims call people of the book?

A. Jews, Christians and Muslims

7. Why did the first caliphs begin a military conquest of other regions?

A. To spread Islam

8. How was the first caliph chosen?

A. Elected by religious leaders

9. Which religions believe that Abraham was a prophet of God?

A. Islam, Judaism, Christianity

10. Why did many people convert to Islam?

A. Belief in the message

11. How were clans important to Bedouin life?

A. Protection and security

12 Oases of the Arabian Peninsula often became _______ _______ ?

A. trading centers

13. What did Arabs believe about the Ka'aba?

A. Abraham and Ishmael built it.

14. Why did Muhammed begin his teaching in the city of Mecca?

A. He was born and raised there

15. Why did the Shiites oppose Ummayyad rule?

A Shiites believed rulers must be related to Muhammed.

16. The city of Mecca is closest to which body of water? How did Islam change life in the Arabian Peninsula?

A. It brought Order and Hope.

Questions 1-4 I don't have a problem with. Number 5 had apparently been to name the five Pillars of Faith, but apparently the teacher changed the question. The Five Pillars was a homework assignment in the form of a fill-in-the-blank handout.

Question 6 is wrong. Muslims don't consider themselves "People of the Book".

Question 7 seems ok, but it's a rather simplistic answer. A more truthful answer would be: "Because after the death of Muhammed, people apostatized and refused to pay the Zakat."

Question 8 is another over-simplified answer. It makes it seem democratic and by-the-by rather than the start of a schism in Islam which causes the deaths of scores of people every day right up to the time I'm writing this.

Question 9, while another oversimplification, isn't so much of a History question as a theological debate.

Question 10 is insulting to my intelligence. Due to the use of the word "many", you could write any reason people converted and be correct, however the State of California requires the answer to be "Because they believed the message". If the word were replaced with "most" the correct answer would be "Fear of execution". Indeed, if you know anything about Islam at all you would know that you have three choices when conquered by Muslims: Convert, Dhimmitude, or Death.

Question 11 is innocuous but #12 is interesting. Conspicuously absent is any mention in the textbook of the #1 commodity of these "trade centers" - slaves. The way the textbook reads, you'd think Mecca and Medina were on par with Venice, London or Shanghai.

Question 13 is in my opinion, the most insidious question on the test. The fact is that most Arabs in the time of Muhammed believed that the Ka'aba was a shrine housing stone idols, because that's what it was right up until Muhammed conquered Mecca. Thus the answer is factually incorrect. The question and the "correct" answer subtlety equate all Arabs to Muslims, thus if you're anti-Islam you’re anti-Arab and thus a racist. Semantics is a powerful weapon the leftists have always used to good effect.

Question 14 is a good question because he didn't get any followers until he moved to Medina and started raiding Meccan caravans partially due to the desire for revenge on the Meccans who not only didn't subscribe to the message but actually ridiculed him. Harking back to Question 10, many Medinans converted to Islam for the loot and sex slaves of which Islam gave divine justification for. Do the kids learn any of this? No!

Question 15. Ali wasn't actually related to Muhammed. He was his son-in-law. No mention of Fatimah at all... it's like women aren't important, fancy that.

Question 16... what can I say about Question 16? The original question was about Geography, but see what the teacher changed it to!

Order and Hope?!? Taliban-style order and hope? I would have answered "Subjugation and death" but then I'm a crazy right-wing whacko who's ignorant in the ways of Islam and corrupted by distorted views of Islam presented in the media...

Once again, I thank both of you for your time and congratulate you on having the sheer cojones to keep your websites going.

Thanks;