Source: Esposito, John L (editor). The Oxford History of Islam (New York: Oxford University Press,
1999, pp. 691-696).
ca 570
Muhammad is born.
610
613
Muhammad begins preaching in Mecca.
622
Migration (hijra)
of Muslims from Mecca to Medina. Formation of first Islamic state. First year
of Islamic calendar.
624
Battle of Badr: victory of outnumbered Muslims attributed
to God.
625
Battle of Uhud: Meccan army defeats Muhammad and Muslims.
627
Battle of the Trench: Muhammad and Muslims defeat
Meccans.
Muhammad becomes undisputed leader in Medina.
630
Muhammad becomes undisputed leader in Mecca.
632
Muhammad dies. Abu Bakr becomes first caliph or successor
of Muhammad.
632-661
Rule by the Four Rightly Guided Caliphs: “normative
period for Sunni Islam” (691).
634
Abu Bakr dies. Umar ibn al-Khattab second caliph.
638
Muslims take control of Jerusalem from Byzantine Empire.
644
Umar murdered. Uthman ibn Affan third caliph.
644-56
Quran given its definitive form.
656
Uthman murdered. Ali ibn Abi Talib fourth caliph.
656-661
Aisha leads rebellion against Ali but is defeated. First
battles between Muslims.
661
Ali murdered. Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan becomes caliph.
661-750
Umayyad caliphate.
670
Muslims take control of Africa.
680-692
Husayn, son of Ali and grandson of Muhammad, refuses to
acknowledge Yazid, an Umayyad, as caliph. Yazid has Husayn beheaded. Husayn,
beloved of Shiite Muslims, sets Shiite pattern of protest and persecution.
691
Under caliph Abd al-Malik, Dome of the Rock finished in
Jerusalem.
705-715
Great Mosque of Damascus built.
711
Berber Muslims of Africa invade Iberia.
732
Battle of Tours: Charles Martel repulses Muslim invasion
of Gallia.
744-750
Abbasids rebel against Umayyads and defeat them.
750-850
Abbasid rulers consolidate their control of the Orient and
Egypt.
750-1258
Golden age of Sunni Islam with creativity in law, art, agriculture, industry, and trade.
756
Umayyad leader Abd al-Rahman founds emirate of Cordoba in
Iberia.
762
Al-Mansur founds Baghdad and makes it capital of Abbasid
caliphate.
765
Jafar al-Sadiq, Shiite imam and founder of the Islamic
school of law named after him, dies. Dispute over succession leads to division
between Seveners and Twelvers.
767
Abu Hanifa, founder of school of law important later to
Ottomans, dies.
786-809
Harun al-Rashid rules. Marks greatest power of Abbasid
caliphate. Inspires The Thousand and One
Nights.
795
Malik ibn Anas, founder of school of law later dominant
in Iberia, Africa, and Egypt, dies.
801
Rabiah al-Adawiyah, female Sufi who combined mysticism,
asceticism, and love of God, dies.
820
Muhammad al-Shafi, founder of school of Sunni law, dies.
830
Al-Mamum founds House of Wisdom (Bayt al-Hikmah) in Baghdad for translation of important
manuscripts into Arabic.
833-945
Regional states form within Abbasid caliphate, including
Iraq, Syria, and Egypt.
836
Abassid capital moved 78 miles (125 km) north from
Baghdad to Samarra.
855
Ahmad ibn Hanbal, founder of school of law important to restorative
Sunnis, dies.
868-905
Tulunids rule in Egypt and Syria.
874
Occultation of twelfth imam and end of political rule by
Shiite imams.
929
Abd al-Rahman 3rd founds caliphate in Iberia.
934-1062
Bayud dynasty rules in Mesopotamia and beyond.
935-969
Ikhshidid dynasty rules Egypt and Syria.
969-1171
Fatimid (Shiite) dynasty rules Africa, Egypt, and Syria.
1086-1147
Almoravids rule southern Iberia and western Africa.
1009
Al-Hakim, Fatamid caliph, has the Church of the Holy
Sepulcher in Jerusalem destroyed.
1031
Iberian caliphate ends.
1038-1194
Seljuk Turks rule in Mesopotamia and beyond.
1058-1111
Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, theologian structuring Sunni Islam
in terms of Sufism.
1071
Battle of Mankizert: Greek Christians lose control of
Anatolia to Turkish Muslims.
1071-1243
Seljuk Turks rule Anatolia.
1078-1243
Seljuk Turks rule Syria.
1095
Urban 2nd, pope, calls for first crusade.
1099
Latin Christian crusaders capture Jerusalem and center a
Christian kingdom there.
1100s
Sufi religious orders begin transforming Islamic society,
culture, and personality.
1130-1269
Almohads rule southern Iberia and western Africa.
1143
Peter the Venerable, Abbot of Cluny, has Robert Ketton
make first translation of Quran into Latin.
1169-1252
Ayyubids rule Egypt.
1171
Saladin takes control of Egypt and restores Sunni Islam
there.
1187
Battle of Hittin: Saladin defeats Crusaders then
recaptures Jerusalem.
1198
Averroes (Ibn Rushd), philosopher, dies in Marrakesh, western Africa.
1225
Almohads forced from Iberia.
1250-1517
Mamluks take control of Egypt and Syria.
1258
Mongols destroy Baghdad.
1260
Battle of Ayn Jalut (Spring of Goliath) in Jezreel
Valley: Mamluks defeat Mongols.
1261-1517
Abbasids rule from Cairo.
1281-1924
Ottoman Empire.
1389
Battle of Kosovo: Ottoman Muslims defeat Serbian
Christians
1444
Battle of Varna: Ottoman Muslims defeat Crusade of Varna
and control Hellas.
1453
Fall of Constantinople and end of Roman Empire.
1491
Fall of Granada and end of Muslim power in Iberia.
1511-1659
Saadis rule western Africa.
1514
Battle of Chaldiran: Ottomans seize control of eastern
Anatolia and Mesopotamia from Safavids.
1517
Ottomans take control of the Orient and Egypt.
1520
Ottomans take Belgrade.
1520-1566
Suleyman the Magnificent rules Ottoman Empire at the
height of its power.
1529
Ottoman siege of Vienna fails.
1534
Ottomans take Baghdad.
1571
Battle of Lepanto: Christendom’s first major repulsion of
Ottoman expansion.
1574
Sinan builds Selimiya mosque in Adrianople (Edirne).
1583
First trade treaty between English and Ottomans.
1606
Treaty of Zsitva Torok: Hapsburgs acknowledge Ottoman
control of Hungary and beyond.
1631-present
Filalis (Alawis) rule western Africa.
1639
Treaty of Qasr Shirin: establishes permanent border
between Mesopotamia (Olympia) and Iran (Incognita).
1700s
Akhbari vs. Usuli debate.
1703
Edirne Incident: Janissary power grows and sultan’s
declines.
1737-1815
Ahmad al-Tijani founds new Sufi order in western Africa.
1745
Wahhabi movement begins in Arabia.
1757-1790
Muhammad ibn Abdallah, ruler of Morocco, revives Islamic
studies.
1787-1859
Muhammad Ali ibn al-Sanusi, ruler of Libya, founds Sufi
school of Sanusiyyah tariqah and an Islamic state.
1789-1807
Selim 3rd, Ottoman ruler, introduces Tanzimat
reforms.
1798
Napoleon invades Egypt. Results in Muhammad Ali’s rise to
power and westernization.
1800s
Europe expands its control of Caliphate.
1830
French invade Algeria.
1837
Ahmad ibn Idris, scholar and founder of Idrisiyyah
movement, dies.
1838-1897
Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, founder of Islamic Modernism,
active.
1849-1905
Muhammad Abduh, cofounder of modernist Salafiyyah
movement in Egypt.
1865-1935
Rashid Ridda, cofounder of Salafiyyah and Islamic
Modernist movements, Egypt.
1876-1909
Abdulhamid 2nd, Ottoman ruler, advocates
Pan-Islamism.
1879-1882
Urabi Revolt against British influence in Egypt leads to
British occupation of it.
1908
Young Turks in Ottoman Empire.
1919-1924
Ottoman Empire collapses following War of 1914 and
Turkish Republic emerges.
1924
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk ends sharia courts.
1926
Legal system based on Swiss and Italian laws replaces
Islamic legal system in Turkey.
1928
Islam disestablished in Turkey.
Hasan al-Banna founds Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
1943
National Pact of Lebanon apportions positions of
political leadership to people based on religion.
1948
State of Israel.
1949
Egyptian police murder Hasan al-Banna.
1950
Islam reestablished in Turkey.
1951
Idris ibn al-Mahdi, grandson of Muhammad ibn Ali
al-Sanusi, becomes ruler of newly created Kingdom of Libya.
1952
Gamal Abd al-Nasser takes control of Egypt with support
of shaykhs (sages) of al-Azhar.
1965
Nasser attacks Muslim Brotherhood and executes writer
Sayyid Qutb (1966).
1967
Arab-Israeli war leads to Arab rejection of modernistic
nationalism and socialism and restoration of Islamic traditions.
1969
Muammar Qaddafi takes control of Libya.
Arson at al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem leads Faisal, ruler
of Saudi Arabia, to call for a jihad against
Israel.
1972
Necmettin Erbakan founds National Salvation Party in
Turkey to restore Islamic state and culture.
1973
“Operation Badr”: battle of Egypt and Syria against
Israel.
1975
Muammar Qaddifi expresses his understanding of Islam in The Green Book.
1990
Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) comes to power in Algeria.
1995
Necmettin Erbakan comes to power in Turkey.
