The combination between religious and political aspects in the Abbasid state’s concept of governance is best reflected in which of the following?ResponsesThe Abbasid state had an influential Sunni religious class that often came into conflict with the state.The Abbasid state had an influential Sunni religious class that often came into conflict with the state.The Abbasid state often allowed local rulers considerable autonomy.The Abbasid state often allowed local rulers considerable autonomy.The Abbasid state patronized the construction of religious buildings such as mosques.The Abbasid state patronized the construction of religious buildings such as mosques.The Abbasid state was headed by a caliph who was both the state’s supreme religious and political leader.

The adoption of the mamluk* institutions by the Abbasids was followed almost immediately by [the] . . . disintegration of the state. . . . The disintegration of the Abbasid state was an intensely painful process in which it seemed at times as if the very venture of Islam was coming to an end, like that of Alexander the Great before it. . . . Indeed, that Islam was soon to disappear was the very premise upon which the [Shi‘ite] revolutionaries held out their promise of a moral and material recovery: nothing less . . . could now save the marriage between religion and power to which the Islamic [state] owed its existence.”*an Arabic term designating an enslaved person, in this case, a slave soldier of Turkic originPatricia Crone, Danish-American historian of Islamic history, Slaves on Horses: The Evolution of the Islamic Polity, 1980QuestionDespite the disintegration of the Abbasid Caliphate, Islam continued to spread across Afro-Eurasia in the period 1200–1450 primarily because of which of the following?ResponsesThe conquest of the Christian Crusader States in the LevantThe conquest of the Christian Crusader States in the LevantThe activities of Sufi missionariesThe activities of Sufi missionariesThe voyages of the Muslim eunuch Zheng HeThe voyages of the Muslim eunuch Zheng HeThe translation activities of Muslim scholars

Why did the Abbasid Empiremove the capital to Baghdad?Give two reasons.

Describe the differencesbetween the Umayyads andthe first four caliphs. How dideach group of rulers treatnon-Arab Muslims? What mightbe a reason for the difference?

What does the shift from religious elites to chiefs suggest about the development of states? a) Increased religious influence b) Greater political and administrative authority c) Expansion of cultural exchange d) Religious conflicts within states

Discuss some of the events in the Middle East in the 20th and 21st centuries.  What are some of the key religious and political interests at stake in this region of the world?