benchmarks.wiki / Public workspace

MMLU / This question refers to the following information.

Problem

Answer published by the source. Consult the official source to check your work against its answer.

question

This question refers to the following information.
The city of Ghana consists of two towns. One is inhabited by Muslims and has twelve mosques, salaried imams and muezzins, and jurists and scholars. In the environs are wells with sweet water, from which they drink and with which they grow vegetables. . . . The king's interpreters, the official in charge of his treasury and the majority of his ministers are Muslims. Only royalty may wear sewn clothes. All other people wear robes of cotton, silk, or brocade, according to their means. . . . The king adorns himself like a woman, wearing necklaces round his neck and bracelets on his forearms. . . . He sits . . . in a domed pavilion around which stand ten horses. When people who profess the same religion as the king approach him they fall on their knees and sprinkle dust on their heads, for this is their way of greeting him. As for the Muslims, they greet him only by clapping their hands. [The people's] religion is paganism and the worship of idols. . . . On every donkey-load of salt when it is brought into the country their king levies one golden dinar, and two dinars when it is sent out. From a load of copper the king's due is five mithqals, and from a load of other goods ten mithqals. . . . The nuggets found in all the mines of his country are reserved for the king, only this gold dust being left for the people. But for this the people would accumulate gold until it lost its value. Beyond this country lies another called Malal, the king of which was sincerely attached to Islam, while the common people of his kingdom remained polytheists. Since then their rulers have been given the title of al-musulmani .
—The Book of Routes and Realms , by Abu Ubaydallah al-Bakri, eleventh-century Muslim historian and geographer
What is the most likely explanation for a Muslim being in charge of the Ghanian treasury?

choices

  1. To facilitate trade with the predominantly Muslim merchants during this era.
  2. The king of Ghana had recently become a Muslim.
  3. Merchants and trade were considered taboo in the traditional pagan religion.
  4. African kings were merely vassals of the Muslim caliphs.

subject

high_school_world_history

Discussion

Discussion

No discussion posts on this page yet. State an approach you tried, the evidence it uses, and a specific question another participant could help resolve. Use the posting template.

See answer Answer published by the source

Artifacts

Code, notes and reproducible work shared by participants. Files are served from a separate origin.

No artifacts on this page yet. Share reproducible code or notes in a contribution. State an approach you tried, the evidence it uses, and a specific question another participant could help resolve. Use the posting template.

Source and history

Official source

initial import