LEARNING
Islamic General Knowledge Questions to Test Yourself (With Sources)
30 Islamic general knowledge questions on the Quran, prophets, seerah, worship and the calendar, each answered with a Quran.com or Sunnah.com source you can check.
These 30 Islamic general knowledge questions cover the Quran, the prophets, the life of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, worship and the Islamic calendar. Every answer links to the primary source it comes from, so you can open the ayah on Quran.com or the hadith on Sunnah.com and check it yourself instead of trusting a list on the internet.
Cover the answers, write your own down, then score yourself. The questions you miss are the ones worth reading about.
Key Takeaways
- Each of the 30 answers below is tied to a specific ayah (surah:ayah) or a numbered hadith, so every one can be checked in under a minute.
- The questions get harder as you go, from how many surahs are in the Quran to which passage names 18 prophets together.
- Testing yourself before reading the answer is a well-studied way to remember more, so try each one before you look.
- If you miss a question, open the linked source and read the verses around it; context sticks better than the bare fact.
How to Use These Questions
Answer each question out loud or on paper before reading the answer line. Give yourself one point per correct answer. A score of 25 or more is excellent; 15 to 24 is solid; under 15 means you have found a good reading list.
The questions work for a solo review, a family dinner or a classroom warm-up. For a timed version with multiple choice, the free Islamic quiz on this site uses the same source-first approach.
A note on method: every answer here was matched against the primary text it cites. Ayat link to Quran.com in the format surah:ayah. Hadith link to Sunnah.com with the collection and number; all hadith used below are from Sahih al-Bukhari or Sahih Muslim, the two collections Sunni scholars rank as the most authentic. Where a popular "fact" could not be tied to a clear source, it was left out. The list was compiled by Tnas, a software engineer rather than a scholar, from the primary texts linked below; it is a study aid, not a religious ruling. How the site chooses its references is explained on the sources page.
Questions About the Quran
1. How many surahs are in the Quran?
Answer: 114. The last is Surah An-Nas (Quran 114).
2. Which is the longest surah?
Answer: Surah Al-Baqarah, with 286 ayat (Quran 2:286 is its final ayah).
3. Which is the shortest surah?
Answer: Surah Al-Kawthar. Al-Asr and An-Nasr also have three ayat each, but Al-Kawthar has the fewest words (Quran 108).
4. Which surah does not begin with "Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim"?
Answer: Surah At-Tawbah, the ninth surah (Quran 9:1).
5. In which surah does the Bismillah appear twice?
Answer: Surah An-Naml. Besides its opening, it appears inside the letter of Prophet Sulayman to the Queen of Sheba (Quran 27:30). That is why the phrase still occurs 114 times in total even though At-Tawbah lacks it.
6. What were the first words revealed to the Prophet ﷺ?
Answer: "Read in the name of your Lord who created" (Quran 96:1-5). Aisha describes the scene in the cave of Hira in Sahih al-Bukhari 3.
7. In which month did the revelation of the Quran begin?
Answer: Ramadan (Quran 2:185). Surah Al-Qadr adds that it was sent down on the Night of Decree, which is "better than a thousand months" (Quran 97:1-3).
8. Which ayah is known as Ayat al-Kursi?
Answer: Al-Baqarah 255 (Quran 2:255).
9. Which is the longest single ayah in the Quran?
Answer: The ayah on recording debts, Al-Baqarah 282 (Quran 2:282).
10. Which surah did the Prophet ﷺ say is equal to a third of the Quran?
Answer: Surah Al-Ikhlas (Sahih al-Bukhari 5013; Quran 112).
Questions About the Prophets
11. How many times is the name "Muhammad" mentioned in the Quran?
Answer: Four times: 3:144, 33:40, 47:2 and 48:29. Prophet Isa also announces a messenger named "Ahmad" (Quran 61:6).
12. Which title does the Quran give the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ in Surah Al-Ahzab?
Answer: "The Seal of the Prophets" (khatam an-nabiyyin) (Quran 33:40).
13. Which passage names 18 prophets one after another?
Answer: Surah Al-An'am, ayat 83 to 86, which names Ibrahim, Ishaq, Yaqub, Nuh, Dawud, Sulayman, Ayyub, Yusuf, Musa, Harun, Zakariyya, Yahya, Isa, Ilyas, Ismail, Al-Yasa, Yunus and Lut (Quran 6:83-86).
For all 25 named prophets, see the prophets named in the Quran.
14. Which two prophets raised the foundations of the Kaaba?
Answer: Ibrahim and his son Ismail, peace be upon them (Quran 2:127).
15. Which prophet was swallowed by a great fish?
Answer: Prophet Yunus (AS) (Quran 37:139-144). His prayer from the darkness is in Quran 21:87.
16. Who is the only woman mentioned by name in the Quran?
Answer: Maryam, the mother of Prophet Isa (AS). A whole surah carries her name (Quran 19:16).
Questions About the Seerah
17. Which surah recalls the army that marched on Makkah with an elephant?
Answer: Surah Al-Fil (Quran 105).
18. What journey does the opening ayah of Surah Al-Isra describe?
Answer: The Night Journey from al-Masjid al-Haram in Makkah to al-Masjid al-Aqsa in Jerusalem (Quran 17:1).
19. During which event were the five daily prayers made obligatory?
Answer: The Mi'raj, the ascension that followed the Night Journey. The command began as fifty prayers and was reduced to five (Sahih al-Bukhari 349).
20. Which event marks the starting point of the Islamic (Hijri) calendar?
Answer: The Prophet's arrival in Madinah after the Hijrah. Sahl ibn Sa'd reports that the companions chose this, not the start of his mission or the date of his death, as the starting date (Sahih al-Bukhari 3934).
21. Which tree did the Prophet ﷺ compare to a Muslim in a riddle he put to his companions?
Answer: The date palm (Sahih al-Bukhari 61). It is an early example of the Prophet ﷺ teaching through a question.
Questions About Worship and Belief
22. What are the five pillars of Islam?
Answer: The testimony of faith, prayer, zakat, Hajj and fasting in Ramadan (Sahih al-Bukhari 8).
Each pillar is covered in the five pillars of Islam explained.
23. Which three levels of the religion did Jibril ask about in the famous hadith?
Answer: Islam, Iman and Ihsan (Sahih Muslim 8).
The Hadith of Jibril walks through it line by line.
24. How many categories of people may receive zakat?
Answer: Eight, listed in Surah At-Tawbah (Quran 9:60).
25. What is the name of the gate of Paradise reserved for those who fast?
Answer: Ar-Rayyan (Sahih al-Bukhari 1896).
26. According to Ibn Umar's narration, how many times better is prayer in congregation than praying alone?
Answer: Twenty-seven times (Sahih al-Bukhari 645). A narration from Abu Sa'id gives twenty-five (Sahih al-Bukhari 646); both are in Bukhari.
27. The Prophet ﷺ said not to set out on a journey (for worship) except to three mosques. Which three?
Answer: Al-Masjid al-Haram in Makkah, the Prophet's Mosque in Madinah and al-Masjid al-Aqsa in Jerusalem (Sahih al-Bukhari 1189).
Questions About the Islamic Calendar and Hadith
28. How many months are in the Islamic year, and how many of them are sacred?
Answer: Twelve months, four of them sacred (Quran 9:36).
All twelve are listed in the Islamic calendar explained.
29. Which is the only month mentioned by name in the Quran?
Answer: Ramadan (Quran 2:185).
30. What is the first hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari about?
Answer: Intentions: "Actions are judged by intentions" (Sahih al-Bukhari 1).
Answer Key at a Glance
| # | Answer | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 114 surahs | Quran 114 |
| 2 | Al-Baqarah | Quran 2:286 |
| 3 | Al-Kawthar (fewest words) | Quran 108 |
| 4 | At-Tawbah | Quran 9:1 |
| 5 | An-Naml | Quran 27:30 |
| 6 | "Read in the name of your Lord" | Quran 96:1-5 |
| 7 | Ramadan | Quran 2:185 |
| 8 | Al-Baqarah 255 | Quran 2:255 |
| 9 | Al-Baqarah 282 | Quran 2:282 |
| 10 | Al-Ikhlas | Bukhari 5013 |
| 11 | Four times | Quran 3:144, 33:40, 47:2, 48:29 |
| 12 | Seal of the Prophets | Quran 33:40 |
| 13 | Al-An'am 83-86 | Quran 6:83-86 |
| 14 | Ibrahim and Ismail | Quran 2:127 |
| 15 | Yunus | Quran 37:139-144 |
| 16 | Maryam | Quran 19:16 |
| 17 | Al-Fil | Quran 105 |
| 18 | Makkah to Jerusalem | Quran 17:1 |
| 19 | The Mi'raj | Bukhari 349 |
| 20 | Arrival in Madinah | Bukhari 3934 |
| 21 | Date palm | Bukhari 61 |
| 22 | Shahadah, salah, zakat, Hajj, fasting | Bukhari 8 |
| 23 | Islam, Iman, Ihsan | Muslim 8 |
| 24 | Eight | Quran 9:60 |
| 25 | Ar-Rayyan | Bukhari 1896 |
| 26 | Twenty-seven | Bukhari 645 |
| 27 | Makkah, Madinah, Jerusalem | Bukhari 1189 |
| 28 | Twelve, four sacred | Quran 9:36 |
| 29 | Ramadan | Quran 2:185 |
| 30 | Intentions | Bukhari 1 |
Why Testing Yourself Works Better Than Rereading
Answering a question from memory strengthens that memory more than reading the same fact again. Psychologists call this the testing effect or retrieval practice. Roediger and Karpicke's 2006 study in Psychological Science found that students who practised recalling a passage remembered more of it a week later than students who spent the same time restudying it (Roediger and Karpicke, 2006).
The Prophet ﷺ used questions to teach. In the date palm riddle (question 21), he asked his companions to name the tree before telling them. Asking first made the listeners think before they heard the answer. Ibn Umar, who narrates it, says he thought of the date palm but was too shy to speak.
For your own study, three habits help:
- Space it out. Using spaced repetition, come back to the questions you missed after a few days rather than repeating them the same evening.
- Read the context. When you open a linked ayah, read five ayat before and after. Surah Al-An'am 83-86 makes far more sense as part of the story of Ibrahim than as a list of names.
- Mix the topics. Jumping between Quran, seerah and worship questions is harder than doing one topic at a time, and that difficulty is useful.
A 2013 review of ten study techniques by Dunlosky and colleagues rated practice testing and spaced (distributed) practice as the two most useful, and found interleaved practice promising (Dunlosky et al., 2013).
Topic-specific sets are available for the Quran, the prophets, the seerah and hadith. A short daily Islamic quiz is the easiest way to keep spacing your practice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are these questions suitable for children?
Most are. Questions 1 to 8, 14 to 17, 22 and 25 suit children of about eight and up. Harder items such as 13, 19, 20, 23 and 30 are better for teenagers and adults. For younger children, the kids quiz uses simpler wording.
Why do some counts differ between books?
Counting conventions differ. The number of ayat in a surah can vary slightly between recognised counting traditions, and the two narrations in question 26 give 25 and 27. Where both numbers are authentic, this list gives both rather than picking one. For questions where scholars hold different views, ask a qualified local scholar.
Where can I check the sources myself?
Every ayah links to Quran.com, which shows the Arabic text with several translations. Every hadith links to Sunnah.com, which shows the collection, number and, for collections outside Bukhari and Muslim, a grading. The site's sources page lists the references used across all quizzes.
Keep Going
Pick the three questions you missed and read the full passage behind each one this week. Then come back and try the whole list again in a few days without looking at the answer key. If you get more right the second time, retrieval practice is doing its job.
Hero image: "Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia" by Jorge Láscar, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
