Reading Questions

Saudi A__________ adheres to S____________ law. Violent c________ is almost nonexistent in S________ Arabia as criminals often face a__________________ or d________. Change is o__c__r__i__g even in Saudi Arabia. Women are now allowed to d________ and to w______ outside their h________. Devout M____________ defend their v__________ because they have served them well for over one-t______________ years. While many people in the W____________ Hemisphere find the S________ justice system to be c________, most Saudi people have never had to be concerned with c________.

Write a paragraph that defines and gives two examples of Shariahh law. Your paragraph must include a topic sentence, at least two supporting sentences, and a conclusion that restates, but does not repeat the topic sentence.
 

1. What is the dictionary definition of polygamy?
 

2. Why do you think polygamy is rarely practiced today, even in the most traditional Muslim societies?
 

3. Do you believe morality and behavior are an individual matter, or are they the responsibility of the entire society? (Ask a parent for an opinion. You only need to write your own opinion, but I’d like you to be prepared for a class discussion about the differences and similarities between your opinions and the opinions of your parents and grandparents.)
 

4. Would you feel comfortable living under the Saudi system of justice? Explain your reasoning.
 

5. Write a convincing argument in paragraph form in favor of Shariah. You do not have to agree personally with the concept.
 

Terrorism is the use of f______ to t______________ people or n____________ to make them do things they do not want to do. Many people in W____________ nations have had a stormy relationship with the A______ world because of t________________.

Arab t________________ is rooted in the struggle between the U__________ S__________ and the former S__________ U________. Both "superpower" nations sought to i__f__u__n__e the Arab world. The United States supported the repressive S______ of I______ in order to keep the S____________ from gaining influence. Once the Shah was removed from power, the Iranians showed their h________________ to America by holding 52 Americans h______________ for more than a year.

Many Arabs are unhappy with America’s support for I__________, the homeland for J__________ people on land Arabs call P________________. Palestinian t__________________ invaded the 1972 O______________ in G____________, killing t____ Israelis and holding n______ hostages. The t____________________ saw themselves as f____________ f______________ who hurt i______________ people to advance a c________ they believed was more im______________.

Moummar al-Q______________ has led L________ for the past ____ years. Quadaffi has supported the d____________________ of I__________. Terrorist bombings in G____________ and S______________ have been linked to L________. Many western nations have no relationship with L________ because of Q______________’s support of t_____________.

Many Arab-Americans feel that their people have been s____________________ as t_______________ in popular culture. They point to many role models former including former presidential candidate Ralph N________, singer Paul A________, actresses Selma H________ and S____________ Elizabeth, radio personality Casey K________, former Miami D______________ owner Joe R__________, and Candy L________________, the f____________ of M______________ Against Drunk Driving.

1. What is terrorism?
 

2. Why did the United States support the Shah of Iran?
 

3. Why did the Iranian people revolt against the Shah?
 

4. Why has Israel been at odds with its neighbors?
 

5. How might a terrorist justify his actions?
 

6. Why don’t the United States and Israel have diplomatic relations with Libya?
 

7. Do you feel Arabs have been stereotyped in popular culture? Explain your conclusion.
 

Many people in the Middle East feel that their nations have become too s____________; they would like to r__________ to a f__________________________ Islamic s____________. Fundamentalism can be defined in this instance as a return to the old ways of doing things. The forced rapid c____________ of recent y________ have made many people u________________________. They feel that becoming more like the U__________ S__________ will make it harder for Muslims to s__________ to g____. They also feel that western values are d______________. Listening to American music and wearing American clothes goes against their values. Finally, the Mullahs have been p________________ in their M__________ East, and their declining i________________ in the region is a c______________ to many people. Voters in many nations of the Middle East and North Africa have expressed a desire to return to the o____ ways of doing things.

1. Write a paragraph that describes why many people of the Middle East want to return to a fundamentalist Islamic society. Your paragraph must contain a topic sentence, three supporting sentences, and a conclusion that restates, but does not repeat the topic sentence.
 

The I____________ people forced the S______ to leave in 1979, and a p____________ religious leader, the A________________ Ruhollah K______________, took control of the nation and proclaimed an I____________ republic. The A________________ denounced the U__________ S__________ as the "G________ S________" because the American g__________________ had supported the S______ for many years. He allowed s______________ in T____________ to storm the American e____________ and hold 52 Americans h____________ for more than a y______.

Religious leaders controlled many aspects of life in I______ once they exiled the Shah in 19____. Boys and girls were no longer allowed to a__________ the same c__________. Students entering Iranian u______________________ had to pass a t______ on their knowledge of I________. The government forbade a____________, western m________, T-__________, short s___________ and n______________. Girls were required to wear l______, dark clothes that covered their h______ and b______. Anyone suspected of o______________ the r__________________ was severely p______________. The government moderated its positions after K______________ died in 1989, but life in Iran is still very different than life in the U__________ S__________.

1. How was the Shah able to afford to modernize Iran?

2. Describe at least two goals of the Shah’s White Revolution.

3. Should the Shah have made Iran more like the United States? Defend your position with a paragraph that includes a topic sentence, two support sentences, and a conclusion.

4. Why is there tension between the United States and Iran?

Saddam H____________ has controlled Iraq for ____ years. Unlike most leaders, Saddam is known in the media by his f________ name to distinguish him from Morocco’s King Hassan and the late King Hussein of Jordan. Saddam is a d______________ who has fought b__________ wars with his n______________. His first war was against I______ a year after he became sole r________ of I______. Iraq attacked the rich o____ producing Iranian province of Khuzestan. The two sides fought for almost n______ years and incurred more than one m____________ casualties, but neither side gained territory in the w____.

Saddam was in d______ after the long w____ and needed funds to maintain his a______. In 1990, he declared the nation of K__________ the "nineteenth province of Iraq." He attacked the tiny, o____ rich nation, but a m________________________ military f________ led by the U__________ S__________ repelled the i______________ and l________________ Kuwait.

Saddam allowed weapons i__________________ into Iraq after the war as a condition of the c________-f______. In 1998, he accused the inspectors of s__________ and ordered them to l________ Iraq. The United States and G________ B____________ responded with a four-day military action in 1998.

1. How can Saddam Hussein be compared to Nebuchadnezzar?
 

2. How long has Saddam Hussein been the sole ruler of Iraq?
 

3. List two nations with whom Saddam Hussein has waged war. What was he seeking in both instances?
 

The seventeen m____________ Kurds live in the m________________ that separate T__________, Iran, and I______. Like the Turks, Arabs and P____________ Iranians, the K__________ are M_____________, but they have a distinct l_______________ and c____________. The Kurds have been encouraged to a__________________ into the local populations, but many K________ want to keep their h_______________.

The Turks have faced repression. The T____k____h government refers to the K__________ as "m_______________ Turks" and until recently, b__________ the teaching of the Kurdish l_______________. The United N____________ made the K_____________ portion of I______ a s______-a__________________ region. I__________ leader Saddam Hussein used c______________ weapons against the K________ because he said they were d______________ to him while he was a w____ with I______.

1. If the Kurds had a nation of their own, what nations would be most likely to give up some of their land?
 

2. What is the dictionary definition of autonomous?
 

3. What do you think "semi-autonomous" means?
 

4. Should the Kurds keep their traditions or assimilate into different cultures? Defend your answer.
 

Jewish people originally lived on the e____________ shore of the M_____________________ Sea until B____________ defeated them in ______bc. The period from 586 bc until ad 1948 is known as the "Diaspora," when J______ lived as m__________________ in many different lands.

Jewish people were often p__________________ for their faith. They faced organized m________________, called p____________, particularly in R__________ and E____________ Europe.

Many Jews were encouraged by the Z____________ writings of Theodor H________, who argued that J______ should return to their a____________ homeland to create a J__________ state. By the beginning of World War I, 85,000 J______ had returned to land then called P_______________. By the end of World W____ II in 19____, nearly s____ m____________ Jews were m______________ by the German N________ in what we now call the H________________. The s________________ had no place to go. When the horrors of the H________________ became known, there was an o__________________ of s____________ for c______________ a h______________ for the J__________ people.

When the J______ returned to the land we now call I__________, they displaced A_________ known as P______________________. The B____________ controlled the land, but the P______________________ hoped to create an independent n__________. The United N_____________ recommended that the British w______________ from the region and that be d____________ into J__________ and A______ sections.

On May 14, 19____, the U__________ Nations declared I__________ and i____________________ Jewish h______________. Several A______ nations declared war on I__________ in 1948, 19____ and 19____, but the I_____________ won all three wars.

Four years after fighting a war with Israel, Egyptian President Anwar S________ traveled to the J__________ homeland on a p________ mission. Two years later, the former warring nations signed a p________ treaty at a conference in Camp David, Maryland organized by A______________ President Jimmy C__________. Israel returned l______ claimed in the four w____s, and E________ agreed to r____________ Israel’s b__________. Two years later, S________ was a_______________________ by an E______________ who did not want p________ with I__________.

Most of the people living along the W______ Bank of the J__________ River and in G______ are A______. They began the i______________, or u______________ in 1979. The dispute subsided when P___________________ leader Yassir A__________ and Israeli leader Yitzhak R________ signed an agreement in O______, Norway. The P______________________ agreed that I__________ had a r_______ to e________, and Israel granted the A________ Palestinians limited self-rule.

1. What was the diaspora?
 

2. Imagine you are a Jewish person living in 1948. Defend the creation of a Jewish homeland.
 

3. Imagine you are an Arab opposed to the creation of Israel. Defend your position.
 

4. What Middle Eastern leader agreed to peace with Israel? What did he gain for his nation in exchange for agreeing to respect Israel’s borders?
 

5. What does intifada mean?
 

6. Who agreed to what in the Oslo Accords of 1993?
 

7. Do you feel Israel is moving closer to or further from peaceful co-existence with its Arab neighbors?
 

The A________ people have been i__v__d__d many times, but no a______ has ever managed to d_____________ Afghanistan for a significant period. The S__________ U________ supported their 1979 i______________ with more than 100,000 s__l__i__r__, but they were not match for the m__________________, who used their k________________ of the A__________ terrain to force the S____________ to w______________ from Afghanistan in 19____.

A c________ followed the w________________ of Soviet forces from A____________________. A civil war is a w____ within a n__________. Many Afghan people supported the T____________, a group of f____________________________ Islamic militants. They hoped the T____________’s focus on t_____________________ values would e_________ the u____________________ of the civil war, but few Afghan people were prepared for the f__r__c__t__ of the Taliban. The Taliban outlawed t__________________, radio. Women seen in p__________ without a c__________ faced severe b_______________ or d________. When the United States was a______________ on September 11, 2001, the American government traced the a__________ to a group of S________ A______________ who had taken r__________ in A__g__a__i__t__n. When the T____________ refused to turn over the s_______________ terrorists, the Americans led a m________________________ bomb a__________ that f__________ the T____________ from p__________ in A___________________.

1. Why do you think Afghanistan has never been controlled by outside forces for a significant amount of time?
 

2. What military superpower nation invaded Afghanistan and attempted to conquer the Afghan people for a decade?
 

3. Who are the mujahedeen? How were the mujahedeen able to force the Soviets to withdraw from Afghanistan?
 

4. What were the consequences of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan?
 

5. Who are the Taliban? Why did the Taliban find support among many Afghan people during the civil war that followed the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan?
 

6. Most Americans do not agree with role of women in Afghanistan. Do Americans have the right of the responsibility to impose equality for women in cultures other than our own? Defend your answer.
 

1. Why does Benjamin Barber contend that many people in traditional societies are unhappy with the culture of the United States and other western nations?
 

2. Most people believe that some western values are good, while others are bad. On balance, do you believe western values are good or bad?
 

3. Why do we have a responsibility to learn about other people and cultures? Do you agree?