Question

ead the passage from Sugar Changed the World.

When the prophet Muhammad began preaching in A.D. 610, he attracted only a few disciples. Yet by the time he died in 632, his faith had spread throughout Arabia. By 642, the armies of Muslim conquerors, along with the arguments of the Muslim faithful, took the religion all across Syria, Iraq, parts of Iran, and Egypt. From there, Islam spread through North Africa along the Mediterranean, across to the Iberian Peninsula, and over to France. Islam's march into Europe ended in 732, when the French defeated the Muslim armies at the battle of Poitiers. But that was not all. Muslim rulers took Alexander's old lands in Afghanistan and then, from there, swept through to conquer northern India. The pagan tribes of Central Asia chose Islam. By conversion or conquest, Islam, the religion of Muhammad, won over nearly all the lands of the ancient world: Egypt, Persia, India, and the Christian Mediterranean.

Which text features would be most helpful to support the central idea of the passage? Select two options.

a timeline showing when Alexander the Great's power came to an end
a map showing the spread of Islam through much of the ancient world
a timeline showing when Muslim conquerors took over each part of Europe
a map showing how Alexander the Great spread Islam throughout the world
a timeline showing the spread of Muhammad's teachings

Answer 1

Answers: b and e.

- b (map): visually shows the geographic extent of Islam's spread mentioned in the passage.
- e (timeline): shows the chronological development (beginning in A.D. 610, key dates like Muhammad's death in 632 and conquests by 642) that the passage summarizes.