Timeline of Islam Below is a timeline of the history of Islam. Major events are in bold. c. 570 CE c. 610 CE c. 61022 CE 622 CE 624 CE 625 630 632 63233 633 63342 c. 650 656 657 659 661 680 685705 late 600s 700800s 710 732 747 750 754
Birth of Muhammad. Muhammad receives first vision in a cave near Mecca.
Muhammad preaches in Mecca. Hijira - Muhammad and followers flee to Medina. Islamic calendar (AH, Anno Hegirae) begins. Muslims successfully attack Meccan caravans at Badr. Muslims are defeated by Meccans at Uhud. Muslims capture Mecca. Ka'ba is cleansed, pilgrimage rites are Islamicized, tribes of Arabia vow allegiance to Muhammad Death of Muhammad. Abu Bakr chosen as caliph. Wars of ridda (apostasy) restore allegiance to Islam Muslim conquests (Futuhat) begin. Muslim armies take the Fertile Crescent (Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Mesopotamia), North African coast, parts of Persian and Byzantine Empires Caliph Uthman has the Qur'an written down. Uthman is murdered; Ali becomes fourth caliph. Battle of Siffin. Mu'awiya, governor of Syria, claims the caliphate. Arbitration at Adruh is opposed by Ali's supporters. Ali is murdered; Mu'awiya becomes caliph. Beginning of Umayyad Caliphate (661-750). Death of Husayn marks beginning of the Shi'at Ali ("party of Ali") or Shi'a sect. Reign of Abd al-Malik. Centralization of administration - Arabic becomes official written language (instead of Greek and Persian) and Arab coinage is established. Ruling classes in East and West Africa convert to Islam. Groups of ascetics and mystics begin to form Arab armies enter Spain from North Africa. Muslim empire reaches its furthes extent. Battle of Tours prevents further advance northwards. Revolt defeats the Umayyads. Abu l'Abbas becomes caliph in Iraq Baghdad (Madinat al-Salam, "city of peace") becomes the new capital of the Abbasid empire.
755 765 786809 800s 81333 869883 908 928 940 945 969 9801037 9961021 late 900s 1030 1055 1000 s 1071 1090 1099 1100 1200 s 1126 -98 1171 1174 1193 1200 s 1221 1241 1258 1281 -
Abd ar-Rahman founds an Umayyad Dynasty in Cordoba, Spain. Division within Shi'ites - majority are the modern Imamiyya (Twelvers) who co-exist with Abbasid caliphs; minority are more extreme Isma'iliyaa (Seveners). Reign of Harun ar-Rashid, best known through the stories of The Thousand and One Nights. Written collections of Hadith (sayings of the Prophet) are compiled. Sicily comes under Muslim rule. Reign of Ma'mun. Theological controversy over whether the Qur'an is created or uncreated and eternal. Center for translation of texts from Greek to Arabic founded in Baghdad. Uprisings of black slaves (Zanj) are eventually defeated. First Fatimid caliph in Tunisia. Umayyad Abd ar-Rahman III declares himself caliph in Cordoba. Muhammad al-Mahdi, the twelfth imam, disappears. Twelvers still await the future return of the "Hidden Imam." The Buyids (Persian) invade Baghdad and take power from caliph. Fatimids gain power in Egypt and attack Palestine, Syria, and Arabia. Cairo (Al-Qahira, "the victorious city") is founded. Life of Avicenna, Iranian physician and Aristotelian philosopher. Reign of Fatimid al-Hakim. Hamza ibn Ali forms basis of esoteric Druze religion. West Africa begins to convert to Islam Umayyad caliphate in Cordoba defeated by the Christian Reconquista. Seljuk Turks take Baghdad; Abbasids now only nominal rulers. Reconquista takes more of Spain, Sicily falls to the Normans, Crusader kingdoms are briefly established in Palestine and Syria. Seljuk Turks defeat Byzantines at Battle of Manzikert. Hasan-i Sabbah takes Alamut in the Persian mountains, the Assassin sect forms around him. Christian Crusaders take Jerusalem. Sufi orders (turuq) are founded. Life of Averroës, Muslim philosopher from Cordoba who sought to integrate Islam with Greek thought. Fatimid power ends in Egypt with the conquests of Saladin. Saladin declares himself sultan of Egypt and Syria. Death of Saladin; most of Crusader states have returned to Islam. Assassins wipes out by the Mongols. Indian rulers in Delhi take title of Sultan. Spanish mystic Muhyi al-Din ibn alArabi (1165-1240) flourishes. Genghis Khan and the Mongols enter Persia. Mongols take the Punjab. Mongols capture Baghdad; city is sacked and caliph is killed. End of Abbasid caliphate. Reign of Uthman (Osman), who founds the Ottoman Empire. Muslim merchants and missionary Sufis settle in SE Asia.
1324 mid1300 s 1366 late 1300 s 1400 s 145 3 1492 1501 1516 1517 1520 -66 1526 1556 1600 1700 s 1625 1699 1700 s 1738 1779 1798 1805 1807 -76 1830 1850 s 1858 1876 1908 1878 1882
Ottomans capture Bursa and Iznik and move into Europe. Capital of Ottoman Empire moved from Bursa to Adrianople. Ottomas take control of the Balkans. Islam reaches the Philippines. Mehmet Fatih (rules 1451-81) conquers Constantinople. The two halves of the Ottoman Empire are united and the sultan becomes Byzantine emperor. Castile and Aragon capture Granada. All Muslims (and Jews) expelled from Spain. Isma'il (1487-1524) claims to be the Hidden Imam and is proclaimed Shah (king) of Persia. Twelver Shi'ism becomes official religion of Persia. Ottomans conquer Syria and Egypt. Ottomans control Mecca and Medina. Reign of Suleyman the Magnificent; Ottoman Empire reaches its zenith. Hungary and coastlands of Algeria and Tunisia come under Ottoman rule. Babur (Mongolian) seizes the Delhi sultanate and takes control of northern India. Akbar founds the Mughal dynasty in northern India. Venetians, Habsburgs, and Russians divide European Ottoman lands between them. Java comes under rule of Muslim kingdom of Mataram. Treaty of Karlowitz confirms first substantial losses of Ottoman Empire in Europe. Muhammad Abd al-Wahhab rejects Sufism and all innovation (bid'a). Founds what becomes the Saudi Arabian kingdom. Hindus regain power from Mughals in northern India. Mughal empire invaded by the Afghans. Afghans ousted by Qajar dynasty, which rules Persia until 1925. Napoleon's expedition to Egypt. Muhammad Ali becomes governor of Egypt, which becomes independent of the Ottomans, gains control of western Arabia and extends into the Sudan. Tanzimat period. Ottoman Empire undergoes extensive program of modernization in government, law, and medicine. Greece regains independence from Ottomans. Non-Muslim Ottoman citizens granted equality with Muslims. Last Mughal in India is deposed and India comes under British rule. Reign of Abd al-Hamid II; autocratic and religiously conservative period in Ottoman rule. Congress of Berlin recognizes independence of Balkan states previously under Muslim rule. Egypt occupied by the British.
1952 1908 -18 1912 1918
Last decade of Ottoman rule. Rise of nationalistic "Young Turks." More liberal policies develop.
1923 1927 1928 1941 1945 1945 -60s 1947 1957 1960 s 1979
Islam spreads to the West with mass migrations from Asia, Africa, and India.
late 1990 s 2001 2003
Founding of Islamic Union (Sareket Islam), a modernizing movement in SE Asia. Fall of Ottoman Empire. League of Nations grants Britain mandatory status over Palestine and Iraq, and France over Lebanon and Syria. Republic of Turkey established. Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) is first president. Tablighi Jamaat reform movement founded in India. Ikhwan al-Muslimun (Muslim Brothers) founded in Egypt. Jamaat-i Islami reform movement founded in Lahore, India. Indonesia becomes independent republic. Pakistan founded as an Islamic nation. Islam becomes a minority religion in India. Independent Malayan state established with Islam as the official religion but guaranteed tolerance. Familes from SE Asia and North Africa emigrate to Europe and the Americas. Shah of Iran is overthrown by Ayatullah Ruhullah Khumayni, who establishes strict fundamentalist rule of Shi'a principles. Taliban come to power in Afghanistan. Muslim extremists attack the United States. Saddam Hussein ousted by Western forces.