Decision cards
Real dilemmas from history, two attributed positions, and the decision is yours.
Sprouts
Explorers
Storytellers
Scholars
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Defend or negotiate?
When the siege tightened on Granada and its red palace, its people stood between two choices: a fight that could destroy palaces, houses and…
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The caravan or the army?
The Muslims set out to intercept the Quraysh trade caravan, then heard a strong army had come to guard it. The decision: settle for the lost…
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Widen the mosque or build the library?
In Cordoba the money sufficed for one great work this year: widening the Great Mosque to fit the crowds, or a library to gather books and co…
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Helping or studying?
Your elderly neighbour needs someone to buy his medicine and fix his door, and you have an exam tomorrow and a long revision behind you. The…
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The market or the library first?
A new city builds its heart, and the money covers one building now: a market gathering caravans and craftsmen so the city lives, or a school…
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The long safe road or the short risky one?
The pilgrimage caravan has two roads: a long safe track past wells and markets, or a short track over empty desert saving days at the risk o…
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Should the Muslims leave Mecca?
In Mecca the harm against the first Muslims grew until their lives were at risk, and envoys to Yathrib found it welcoming. The decision befo…
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Accept the terms or fight to the end?
At the siege of Jerusalem the Christian leaders offered to hand over the city if Saladin guaranteed the safety of its people and their prope…
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Spend on gifts or on building?
On his pilgrimage Mansa Musa carried much gold and gave part of it in gifts and alms until the price of gold fell in Cairo for years. The de…
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Punishment or pardon at the conquest of Mecca?
The Muslims entered Mecca as conquerors after years of harm and expulsion, with the power to take revenge on those who had hurt them. The de…
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Pray at the hour's start or with the company?
The prayer hour has come in and you can pray alone at home now, or wait a little and join the neighbourhood congregation. The decision: pray…
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Prayer with the group or alone on a journey?
You travel with a caravan pressing on before sunset. The decision: pray on time alone by the roadside, or wait to pray in congregation when …
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Fast on the road or postpone it?
You are on a long hard journey in Ramadan, and the licence says: fast if you will, or break it and make it up. The decision: fast through th…
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Hide the manuscripts or share them?
In Timbuktu families inherited precious manuscripts in law, medicine and the stars. With fear of raiders and decay the decision: hide them i…
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Hide the zakat or give it openly?
Your yearly zakat is due. Two ways: give it quietly into the needy hand so none see and the intention stays pure, or give it openly so other…
Researchers
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Words or symbols for algebra?
A scholar knows precise ideas need abbreviation, but his readers learned prose. The decision: write his equations in the full clear sentence…
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The observatory or the hospital?
A sultan holds money enough for one great building: an observatory measuring the stars and correcting the calendar, the qibla and the times,…
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Publish or withhold for Ibn Rushd?
Ibn Rushd, judge and commentator on Aristotle, faces a bitter choice: publish commentaries reading philosophy as it is, angering the hard-li…
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The book market or the goods market?
Baghdad in its golden age expands a new quarter on the Tigris bank: a stationers' market selling books and copies and gathering scholars, or…
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Fund translation or original writing?
Baghdad's House of Wisdom holds a budget that covers one great project: a translation campaign bringing Greek and Indian medicine, philosoph…
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Keep the kufic or adopt the naskh?
The calligrapher at his bench faces an aesthetic and practical decision: keep the original squared kufic on every manuscript and sign, or ad…
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Invasion or counter-war?
At the end of the eleventh century Frankish armies reached the Levant under the banner of recovering the holy places, while its people saw a…
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Walls or water for Damascus?
Damascus after years of siege and dearth can afford one great project: restoring its walls and gates against the age's armies, or laying the…
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Gold or plain stone for the Dome?
When the Dome of the Rock was built its makers faced a decoration choice: mosaic and gold gleaming over the city, proclaiming and honouring …
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The chair or seclusion for al-Ghazali?
Abu Hamid al-Ghazali reached the highest scholarly chair at the Nizamiyya, then felt an anxiety between fame and sincerity. The decision: st…
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Medicine or philosophy first for Ibn Sina?
A gifted young man named Ibn Sina carried two talents: medicine healing people today, and philosophy thinking the world forever. The decisio…
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Free ornament or disciplined geometry?
The artist in the workshop designs a new mosque wall. Two roads: free vegetal ornament flowing as life flows, never repeating, or star-and-p…
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Indian digits or Arabic letters?
Al-Khwarizmi writing his book of algebra faces a choice: adopt the new Indian digits 0-9 easing calculation but strange to readers, or keep …
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Submit or resist for Baghdad?
In 1258 Hulagu reached Baghdad's walls with an unbeaten army and offered the city safety if it surrendered. The decision for the Caliph and …
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Storm the walls or besiege Constantinople?
In 1453 Mehmed II stood before the age's strongest walls. Two options: a long siege draining food and money and risking Western relief, or a…
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The sirah as chronicle or lessons?
A writer wants to record the sirah for coming generations. Two shapes: a chronicle book following events by years, days and names as they ha…