Islamic Studies / General Knowledge
Core toolkit
Islamic Studies questions are mostly recall of well-established facts: the five Pillars (Shahadah, Salah, Sawm, Zakat, Hajj), the six articles of faith, the number of Surahs in the Quran (114), the first revelation in the cave of Hira, the Hijrah to Madinah as the start of the Hijri calendar, the four Rightly Guided Caliphs in order (Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali), and the basic rules of fasting, Zakat (2.5% of qualifying savings) and Hajj. General Knowledge covers Pakistan's independence on 14 August 1947, the founder Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the capital Islamabad, the national language Urdu, the four provinces, and standard world facts such as capitals, currencies, longest rivers, largest oceans, and the founding year of the United Nations (1945).
Traps
- Five Pillars vs six articles of faith - the most commonly swapped pair in the paper.
- Calendar confusion: a Hijri year is shorter than a Gregorian year, so dates drift across the two calendars.
- Order matters: first caliph, first revelation, first Surah revealed are three different answers.
- Provinces of Pakistan: read whether the question says provinces or administrative units.
- Look-alike capitals and currencies of neighbouring countries are frequent distractors.
Rule of thumb
Group facts by category - worship, history, geography, world bodies - and attach each new fact to one anchor you already trust. When two dates look similar, eliminate by century or by the event that follows it.
Worked example: "How many articles of faith are there?" Answer: six - belief in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, the Last Day, and divine decree. The five numbered items are the Pillars of Islam, not the articles of faith.