| c. 570 CE |
Birth of Muhammad |
| c. 610 CE |
Muhammad receives first vision in a cave
near Mecca. |
| c. 610-22 CE |
Muhammad preaches in Mecca. |
| 622 CE |
Hijira - Muhammad and followers flee
to Medina. |
|
Islamic
calendar (AH, Anno Hegirae)
begins. |
| 624 CE |
Muslims successfully attack Meccan
caravans at Badr. |
| 625 |
Muslims are defeated by Meccans at
Uhud. |
| 630 |
Muslims capture Mecca. Ka'ba is cleansed,
pilgrimage rites are Islamicized, tribes of Arabia vow allegiance to
Muhammad |
| 632 |
Death of Muhammad. Abu Bakr chosen
as caliph. |
| 632-33 |
Wars of ridda (apostasy) restore allegiance to Islam |
| 633 |
Muslim conquests (Futuhat) begin. |
| 633-42 |
Muslim armies take the Fertile Crescent
(Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Mesopotamia), North African coast, parts of Persian
and Byzantine Empires |
| c. 650 |
Caliph Uthman has the Qur'an written
down. |
| 656 |
Uthman is murdered; Ali becomes fourth
caliph. |
| 657 |
Battle of Siffin. Mu'awiya, governor of
Syria, claims the caliphate. |
| 659 |
Arbitration at Adruh is opposed by Ali's
supporters. |
| 661 |
Ali is murdered; Mu'awiya becomes
caliph. Beginning of Umayyad Caliphate (661-750). |
| 680 |
Death of Husayn marks beginning of the
Shi'at Ali ("party of Ali") or Shi'a sect. |
|
Comparison chart: Sunni and Shia
Islam |
| 685-705 |
Reign of Abd al-Malik. Centralization of
administration - Arabic becomes official written language (instead of Greek
and Persian) and Arab coinage is established. |
| late 600s |
Ruling classes in East and West Africa
convert to Islam. |
| 700-800s |
Groups of ascetics and mystics begin to
form |
| 710 |
Arab armies enter Spain from North
Africa. |
|
|
| 732 |
Muslim empire reaches its furthes extent.
Battle of Tours prevents further advance northwards. |
| 747 |
Revolt defeats the Umayyads. |
| 750 |
Abu l'Abbas becomes caliph in Iraq |
| 754 |
Baghdad (Madinat al-Salam, "city of
peace") becomes the new capital of the Abbasid empire. |
| 755 |
Abd ar-Rahman founds an Umayyad Dynasty
in Cordoba, Spain. |
| 765 |
Division within Shi'ites - majority are
the modern Imamiyya (Twelvers) who co-exist with Abbasid caliphs; minority
are more extreme Isma'iliyaa (Seveners). |
| 786-809 |
Reign of Harun ar-Rashid, best known
through the stories of The Thousand and One Nights. |
| 800s |
Written collections of Hadith (sayings of
the Prophet) are compiled. Sicily comes under Muslim rule. |
| 813-33 |
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. |
| 869-883 |
Uprisings of black slaves (Zanj) are
eventually defeated. |
| 908 |
First Fatimid caliph in Tunisia. |
| 928 |
Umayyad Abd ar-Rahman III declares
himself caliph in Cordoba. |
| 940 |
Muhammad al-Mahdi, the twelfth imam,
disappears. Twelvers still await the future return of the "Hidden
Imam." |
| 945 |
The Buyids (Persian) invade Baghdad and
take power from caliph. |
| 969 |
Fatimids gain power in Egypt and attack
Palestine, Syria, and Arabia. Cairo (Al-Qahira, "the victorious
city") is founded. |
| 980-1037 |
Life of Avicenna, Iranian physician and
Aristotelian philosopher. |
| 996-1021 |
Reign of Fatimid al-Hakim. Hamza ibn Ali
forms basis of esoteric Druze religion. |
| late 900s |
West Africa begins to convert to
Islam |
| 1030 |
Umayyad caliphate in Cordoba defeated by
the Christian Reconquista. |
| 1055 |
Seljuk Turks take Baghdad; Abbasids now
only nominal rulers. |
| 1000s |
Reconquista takes more of Spain, Sicily
falls to the Normans, Crusader kingdoms are briefly established in Palestine
and Syria. |
| 1071 |
Seljuk Turks defeat Byzantines at Battle
of Manzikert. |
| 1090 |
Hasan-i Sabbah takes Alamut in the
Persian mountains, the Assassin sect forms around him. |
| 1099 |
Christian Crusaders take Jerusalem. |
| 1100-1200s |
Sufi orders (turuq) are founded. |
| 1126-98 |
Life of Averroës, Muslim philosopher from
Cordoba who sought to integrate Islam with Greek thought. |
| 1171 |
Fatimid power ends in Egypt with the
conquests of Saladin. |
| 1174 |
Saladin declares himself sultan of Egypt
and Syria. |
| 1193 |
Death of Saladin; most of Crusader states
have returned to Islam. |
| 1200s |
Assassins wipes out by the Mongols.
Indian rulers in Delhi take title of Sultan. Spanish mystic Muhyi al-Din ibn
al-Arabi (1165-1240) flourishes. |
| 1221 |
Genghis Khan and the Mongols enter
Persia. |
| 1241 |
Mongols take the Punjab. |
| 1258 |
Mongols capture Baghdad; city is sacked
and caliph is killed. End of Abbasid caliphate. |
| 1281-1324 |
Reign of Uthman (Osman), who founds the
Ottoman Empire. Muslim merchants and missionary Sufis settle in SE Asia. |
| mid-1300s |
Ottomans capture Bursa and Iznik and move
into Europe. |
| 1366 |
Capital of Ottoman Empire moved from
Bursa to Adrianople. |
| late 1300s |
Ottomans take control of the Balkans. |
| 1400s |
Islam reaches the Philippines. |
| 1453 |
Mehmet Fatih (rules 1451-81) conquers
Constantinople. The two halves of the Ottoman Empire are
united and the sultan becomes Byzantine emperor. |
| 1492 |
Castile and Aragon capture Granada. All
Muslims (and Jews) expelled from Spain. |
| 1501 |
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. |
| 1516 |
Ottomans conquer Syria and
Egypt. |
| 1517 |
Ottomans control Mecca and Medina. |
| 1520-66 |
Reign of Suleyman the Magnificent;
Ottoman Empire reaches its zenith. Hungary and coastlands of Algeria and
Tunisia come under Ottoman rule. |
| 1526 |
Babur (Mongolian) seizes the Delhi
sultanate and takes control of northern India. |
| 1556 |
Akbar founds the Mughal dynasty in
northern India. |
| 1600-1700s |
Venetians, Habsburgs, and Russians divide
European Ottoman lands between them. |
| 1625 |
Java comes under rule of Muslim kingdom
of Mataram. |
| 1699 |
Treaty of Karlowitz confirms first
substantial losses of Ottoman Empire in Europe. |
| 1700s |
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. |
| 1738 |
Mughal empire invaded by the Afghans. |
| 1779 |
Afghans ousted by Qajar dynasty, which
rules Persia until 1925. |
| 1798 |
Napoleon's expedition to Egypt. |
| 1805 |
Muhammad Ali becomes governor of Egypt,
which becomes independent of the Ottomans, gains control of western Arabia
and extends into the Sudan. |
| 1807-76 |
Tanzimat period. Ottoman Empire undergoes
extensive program of modernization in government, law, and medicine. |
| 1830 |
Greece regains independence from
Ottomans. |
| 1850s |
Non-Muslim Ottoman citizens granted
equality with Muslims. |
| 1858 |
Last Mughal in India is deposed and India
comes under British rule. |
| 1876-1908 |
Reign of Abd al-Hamid II; autocratic and
religiously conservative period in Ottoman rule. |
| 1878 |
Congress of Berlin recognizes
independence of Balkan states previously under Muslim rule. |
| 1882-1952 |
Egypt occupied by the British. |
| 1908-18 |
Last decade of Ottoman rule. Rise of
nationalistic "Young Turks." More liberal policies develop. |
| 1912 |
Founding of Islamic Union (Sareket
Islam), a modernizing movement in SE Asia. |
| 1918 |
Fall of Ottoman Empire. League of Nations
grants Britain mandatory status over Palestine and Iraq, and France over
Lebanon and Syria. |
| 1923 |
Republic of Turkey established. Mustafa
Kemal (Ataturk) is first president. |
| 1927 |
Tablighi Jamaat reform movement founded
in India. |
| 1928 |
Ikhwan al-Muslimun (Muslim Brothers)
founded in Egypt. |
| 1941 |
Jamaat-i Islami reform movement founded
in Lahore, India. |
| 1945 |
Indonesia becomes independent
republic. |
| 1945-60s |
Islam spreads to the West with mass
migrations from Asia, Africa, and India. |
| 1947 |
Pakistan founded as an Islamic nation.
Islam becomes a minority religion in India. |
| 1957 |
Independent Malayan state established
with Islam as the official religion but guaranteed tolerance. |
| 1960s |
Familes from SE Asia and North Africa
emigrate to Europe and the Americas. |
