A quiz on things loosely connected to the Middle East and North Africa

1. The Middle East
And a bit more

2. Instructions
• All the questions and / or answers are loosely connected to
the Middle East. Or at least in my mind they are.
• I’ve taken a broad definition of the Middle East to cover the
region from Iran & former Soviet republics up to Morocco.
• You don’t need to have a deep knowledge of the region to guess
the answers. Though it may help to have lived here.
• For Key word quizzers – emphasis in bold in the questions is
expected to guide you to the answers.
• Bounce, Pounce, and all other ounces in place.

3. Q1
• In December 1777 the Moroccan Sultan Muhammad III
published a list of countries to which the country’s ports were
open. This was followed by a treaty in 1786, which remains in
effect to this date.
• The treaty, also known as the ship signals agreement largely dealt
with piracy in the seas.
• The above 2 actions made Morocco & the Sultan the 1st
country / ruler to do what?

5. A1
• Formally recognize the United States
• Moroccan American Treaty of Friendship
• Longest unbroken treaty in US history.

6. Q
• In 1974 the United States Congress passed the National Maximum Speed
Limit Law, prohibiting speed limits higher than 55 mph (90 kmph). Before
this, and after the repeal of this law in 1995, the authority for setting speed
limits lay with the states.
• Impact on pop culture:
• a pair of 5s in Texas Hold’em Poker is called ‘speed limit’.
• I can’t drive 55 by Sammy Hager
• Double Nickels on the Dime by Minutemen
• Impact on Safety: Unclear
• What incident / event triggered this law?

8. A2
• Oil Embargo by the OAPEC protesting against American
involvement in the Yom Kippur War.

9. Q3
• Deportivo ___ was founded in 1920 in Santiago and
plays in Chile’s Top League.
• Towards the end of
2013-14 they made
some slight changes
to their kit which
became
controversial.
• What change did
they bring about?
What was the
controversy?

11. A3
Deportivo Palestino – setup by Palestinian immigrants in early 20th century.
This kit showed the historical map of Palestine in lieu of #1.

12. Q4 - Biblical mythology– All of humanity is
descended from Noah through his 3 sons.
• 1st son Japheth – Fair &
tall – Ancestor of the
Northern people
(Europeans)
• 3rd son Ham – Dark –
Ancestor of the
southern people
(Africans)
• Who was the 2nd son,
ancestor of the middle
people? And what
name, thus, is applied
to his descendants?

14. A4
• Shem
• Semites

15. Q5 - Connect
Hassanieh, Ur
1937
Nile, Cairo
1938
Petra
1939
Somewhere
in Egypt 1944
Shiraz
1934

17. A

18. Q6
• Rai is a form of folk music that
originated in Algeria, and is now
quite popular in many parts of
Europe, besides North Africa.
• The singers of Rai are usually given
an honorific title that derives from
a word meaning young in Arabic,
as opposed “Sheikh” used for
older people.
• Sometimes this musical genre is
also referred to by the same name
in non-Arab circles.
• What is this title?
• 2 famous eg shown.

20. A6
• Cheb
• From Shabab meaning
young
• Famous artists include
• Cheb Khaled – Didi
• Cheb Mami – Desert
Rose
• Cheb Belal
• Chaba Fadela

21. Q7
One of the main streets in Tehran named in 1981. Name
was officially changed in 2001 to Intifada street in order to
normalize relations with another country, though the old
name is still very much in use. What is his claim to fame?

23. A7
• Assassinated Egyptian PM Anwar Sadat.
• Iran was upset with Egypt for its treaty with Israel and for
giving asylum to the Shah.

24. Q8
• American Motivational speaker Jim Rohn famously said,
• “We must all suffer one of 2 things. The pain of discipline or the pain of
disappointment.”
• Justin Langer paraphrased this in one of his interviews when he said,
“The pain of discipline is nothing like the pain of disappointment.”
• This inspired a very recently retired (2015) player to quote his hero.
Only it got a bit lost in translation, and became -
• This roughly translates to
“The pain of discipline is something like the pain of
disappointment.”
• This mistranslation has been seen occasionally over the last 8 years.
Was prominently seen in full page photos in the newspapers towards
the end of March. Unlikely we’ll see much of it going forward. Where
would one have seen these words?
‫األمل‬ ‫خيبة‬ ‫من‬ ‫األلم‬ ‫مثل‬ ‫شيء‬ ‫هو‬ ‫اإلنضباط‬ ‫ألم‬

26. A

27. Q9 – Why are these called
Lessepsian Migrants?
Bluespotted cornetfish
Fistularia commersonii
Spot-fin Porcupine fishMelibe Fimbriata
Shade fish / stone basse
Argyrosomus regiusZafra savignyi
Honeycomb stingray
(Himantura uarnak)
Nomad Jellyfish
Ropilema Nomadica

29. A9
• Migration of species across the Suez Canal between the Red
Sea & the Mediterranean.
• Now used to refer to any migration over man-made structures,
that would not have been possible without it.

30. Q10
• The Parthian empire, which consisted of most of present day
Iran, and lasted 500 years, was the main rival to the Romans,
at their zenith. One of their most notable victories was in 52
B.C. when they crushed a much larger Roman army. A
technique they employed later called ‘The Parthian Shot’ was
credited for their victory.
• What was ‘The Parthian Shot’?

32. A10
• While riding at full speed on horseback, they would turn their
upper bodies around and shoot at the pursuers.

33. Q11
• The 2nd highest grossing non-English film worldwide is
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which collected $130m in US,
and $205m worldwide.
• 3rd highest was Life is Beautiful
• Which is the #1 non-English film, with nearly 3 times the
revenue?
• And in which language?

35. A11
• The Passion of the
Christ
• Aramaic
• Also Hebrew / Latin.

36. Q12
• In 1999, he was consulted by the British Foreign Office. One of
the main problems reviewed was ‘Israel – Palestine’, His
solution to the problem was to ‘ship them jars of Marmite.’.
• Reasoning – Lack of zinc makes people irritable. Yeast has zinc.
However the Middle East primarily consumes unleavened
bread which lacks this. And thus the people here are always
on a short fuse.
• Who was this wearer of multiple hats?

38. A12

39. Q13
• Theyab Awana was a UAE national team footballer
who died in a car accident in Abu Dhabi in Sep 2011.
Was allegedly on his cell-phone at the time of the
crash. Just a month before his death he was at the
centre of a controversy for a goal he scored against
Lebanon in a friendly, soon after coming on as a
substitute. Though the goal was awarded he was
given a yellow card, and also immediately
substituted by his coach. What did he do (in the
match)?

41. A13

42. Q14
• The Trucial states or the Federation of Arab Emirates were
nine. 7 of them eventually formed the United Arab Emirates,
after the British ended their protectorate.
• In what insignia would you see a commemoration of the fact
there were originally 9 Emirates?

44. A14

45. Q15
• Microsoft uses what it terms as the ‘Kuwaiti algorithm’ in its
software for a particular purpose. They claim to have created
this based statistical analysis of historical data from Kuwait.
• What do they use this algorithm for?

47. A15
• Conversion between Gregorian & Islamic calendar dates

48. Q16
• He was also an accomplished painter, having attended art
school in Paris from 1908-10. He did a number of portraits of
people he met, including Yeats, Carl Jung, and Rodin. He met
Abdul Baha (of the Bahai movement) in 1911 in New York
when he did a portrait.
• His most famous creation (in 1923) is believed to be based on
Abdul Baha. Today this is what he is most known by.
• Who? Which work?

50. A16

51. Q17
• Which classic movie?

53. A17

54. Q18
• The Sykes-Picot agreement was a secret treaty between the
British & the French in 1916 demarcating their “spheres of
influence”. This agreement also resulted in laying out the
border between 2 countries. This border has been almost
completely obliterated in recent years.
• In a speech from 2014 titled ‘End of Sykes-Picot’, a spokesman is
seen saying, “This is not the [only] border we’ll break, we’ll break
other borders.”
• In another, “…. will not stop until we hit the last nail in the coffin
of the Sykes–Picot conspiracy“
• What (post WWII) was divided by the Sykes – Picot line?

56. A18
• Border between Syria &
Iraq

57. Q19
• She’s most known for leading a
famous revolt against the Roman
empire, and establishing her own
short-lived empire (4 years) that
covered parts of present day
Turkey, Levant & the Nile Delta.
• The Romans knew her as Julia
Aurelia ___, Greek writers
referred to her as Septimia ___,
Arabs as az-Zabba or Bat-Zabbai.
• Multiple claims on her ancestry.
She herself claimed to be
descended from both Dido of
Carthage, and Cleopatra VII of
Egypt. There are also claims that
she is Aramaic, Jew, Arab
amongst others.
• Who?

59. A19
• Zenobia. Queen of
Palmyra

60. Q20
• Multiple stories exist on its destruction. The
prominent ones are:
1. Accidentally destroyed by Julius Caesar’s army in 48 B.C. when they
were under siege.
2. By emperor Aurelian circa 270 A.D, when he was suppressing a
revolt by the Queen Zenobia
3. By Christian mobs who set out to remove all traces of Pagan culture,
under the orders of the Patriarch Theophilus or his nephew Cyril,
acting on an edict of Emperor Theodosius I around 400 A.D.
4. By the Muslim army in 642 A.D., on the orders of the Caliph Omar
ibn al Khattab, who reputedly remarked, “If they are in agreement
with the Quran, we have no need for them. If these are opposed to
the Quran, destroy them.”
• What was thus lost?

62. A20
• Burning of the Library of Alexandria.

63. Q21
• One of the leaders in its industry,
this company earlier had a
practice of naming its locations
of operations after water-birds.
Which place, probably the most
well-known to the lay-person, is
named after this goose?
• The name is sometimes also used to
refer to an amalgamation of 4
adjacent locations including itself,
Forties, Oseberg & Ekofisk.

65. A21
• Brent
• BFOE
• Named after
Brant (Brent)
Goose

66. Q22
• Eratosthenes was a Greek polymath of the 3rd century BC in
Alexandria. School kids might know him for the ‘Sieve of
Eratosthenes’, a method for determining prime numbers.
• He was once told that a person looking down into a well in
Aswan, at noon, on the summer solstice, would block the
reflection of the sun.
• Using this knowledge, along with some measurements in
Alexandra, and assuming that the distance from Alexandria to
Aswan was 5000 stadia, he is believed to be the 1st person to
calculate what?

68. A
• The Circumference of
the Earth.

69. Q23
• Similar to the US Congress
renaming French fries and
French Toast as Freedom Fries
and Freedom Toast, over
France’s opposition to the 2003
Iraq invasion, what edible item
was rebranded as ‘Roses of the
Prophet Muhammad’ by Iran in
early 2006?

71. A23
• Danish Pastries
• In Denmark they’re
called Viennese bread
• From the Colbert
Report:
• “This sweet holds the
title of having the
longest name of any
pastry in the world in
spoken language: "Rose
of the Prophet
Muhammad, peace be
upon his name".

72. Q24
• Border disputes between almost every country and its
neighbour are a legacy of the colonial past of this region. Of
this what is peculiar about the ‘disputed’ region of Bir Tawil?
• Almost a unique situation. Some similar cases exist on the
borders of Croatia.

74. A24
• Area unclaimed by either of the disputants – Egypt & Sudan

75. Q25
• Which form of medicine as
practiced today has its formal
origins with the publication of
this book in around 1025 CE?
• This book is still used as one of
the standard text-books. It’s
named after the place/country
most of the ideas originally
came from (and built upon by
Ibn Sina).

77. A25
• Unani Medicine
• Mainly prevalent in India and other South Asian countries.
• Unani – Ionian. Also used to refer to Greece.
• Physicians are called Hakims.
• Based on the texts of Galen, Aristotle, as well as Indian (Susruta
& Charaka) & Chinese (Maijing) works.
• Currently India has 40 Unani Medical colleges offering BUMS. And
8 offering PG.

78. Q26
• The Qarmatians were a religious group, that originated in Iraq,
came to prominence around 875 CE and held sway for around
200 years, mainly in Eastern Arabia and Bahrain. Among their
claims to infamy:
• Created terror all over the Abbasid and Fatimid caliphates.
• Ran a society with a huge number of slaves from East Africa.
• Killed around 20,000 Muslims in a single instance, for having
indulged in a superstitious practice.
• Stole an important relic, and took it back to their capital, where
they held it for ~ 25 years. Dumped it in a mosque in Kufa, after
the Abbasid Caliph paid a huge ransom.
• This artefact, when returned was broken into several pieces.
It was put together using silver nails and ligaments, and taken
back to its original location. What was this?

80. A26
• The Black Stone of
Kaaba
• They massacred
returning pilgrims.
Claimed the Hajj was a
superstitious practice.

81. Q27
• Once considered among
the richest men in the
world, and worth about
$26 billion.
• What was his profession?
• i.e. How did he make his
billions?

83. A27

84. Q28• The name of this tribe means
‘Guardians of the Law’ in Hebrew.
They follow a religion very similar and
closely related to Judaism, but have
been at loggerheads for over 2500
years. One of the differences is that
they consider Mount Gerizim to be the
chosen place of worship, as opposed to
Jerusalem (by the Rabbincal Jews).
• Today they number less than 800 in all.
Their name would be known from
many stories of ancient times that are
found in the scriptures. Most famous
among them, one in which a tribesman
becomes an unlikely saviour to the
protagonist.
• Name the tribe.

86. A28
• Samaritans
• Of ‘The Good
Samaritan’ fame.

87. Q29
• What connects the 3 tunes exclusively?
• Humat al Hima Ya Biladi Ishy Biladi

89. A29
• Mohammed Abdel
Wahab composed
the national anthem
of 3 countries
• Tunisia – Humat al
Hima
• Libya – Ya biladi
• UAE – Ishy Bilady

90. Q30
• ‘Sultan’ was used by those who wanted to show
that they were not dependent on any higher
ruler on earth. But at the same time did not
openly challenge the Caliph.
• Who was the person to carry the title of Sultan?
• Hint: Indirectly connected to the 1st Bollywood
movie to cross Rs 100 cr in collections.

92. A30
• Mahmud of Ghazni

93. Q31
• Which brand?
• This was established in 1974 in Lebanon by Nizar Choucair. Today it is
the leading brand in its category in the Middle East with 140 outlets
in 21 countries. This category, especially at the higher end, is
traditionally dominated a few European countries.
• Today it has 5 factories – Lebanon, KSA, UAE, Syria & Egypt.
• In addition to the 5 factories which make the core product, it has 4
other manufacturing divisions
• Packaging / Printing
• Silver Line
• Porcelain – trying out new things that could go inside
• Flower – Decoration / Ornamentation
• In 2008 it collaborated with Harrod’s to bring out the most
expensive set of its products.

96. A31

97. Q32
• In the novel ‘Phantom’ by Jo Nesbo, the
drug kingpin is an elusive character who is
referred to as ‘Dubai’. The reason for the
moniker is the costume his street drug
dealers are identified through, by potential
buyers.
• What get-up is this?
• Easily identifiable by the junkies
• Does not stand out too conspicuously in the streets of
Oslo
• Leads to the mastermind being called ‘Dubai’

99. A32
• Arsenal jerseys
• Will give points for
‘Football jerseys with
Emirates written on it’