Below is timeline of events in the early history of Islam, up to the end of the
European Middle Ages. There are three different types of color-coded dates:
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Medieval Islam: 600 - 900
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632
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Muhammad died. His father-in-law, Abu-Bakr, and Umar
devised a system to allow Islam to sustain religious and political stability.
Accepting the name of
caliph
("deputy of the Prophet"), Abu-Bakr begins a military exhibition to enforce the
caliph's authority over Arabian followers of Muhammad.
Abu-Bakr then moved northward, defeating Byzantine and Persian forces. Abu-Bakr died two years later and
Umar
succeeded him as the second caliph, launching a new campaign against the neighboring empires.
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632 - 661
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Time of the "Orthodox Caliphate" (based in Mecca and Medina).
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633
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Muslims conquered Syria and Iraq.
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634 - 644
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Umar (c. 591 - 644) reigned as the second caliph.
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637
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The Arabs occupied the Persian capital of Ctesiphon. By 651, the entire Persian
realm came under the rule of Islam and continued its westward expansion.
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637
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Syria was conquered.
Jerusalem fell.
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638
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The Romans were defeated at the Battle of Yarmouk and Muslims entered
Palestine. Before entering Jerusalem, Caliph Umar formed a covenant with the
Jews, promising to protect their religious freedom.
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639
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Muslims conquered Egypt and Persia.
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640
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Library of Alexandria, "The Center of Western Culture," with
300,000 ancient papyrus scrolls, was destroyed.
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641
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Islam spread into Egypt. The Catholic Archbishop invited Muslims to help free Egypt from Roman oppressors.
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644
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Umar
died and was succeeded by
Caliph Uthman,
a member of the Umayyad
family which rejected Muhammad's prophesies. Rallies arise to support Ali,
Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, as caliph.
Uthman launched invasions to the west into North Africa.
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c. 650
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The official version of the
Koran
may have been created, according to tradition. Some suggest that an official Koran
did not emerge until the 9th century, however.
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654
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Islam spread into of North Africa.
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656
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Caliph Uthman was murdered and Ali, Muhammad's son-in-law, became the new caliph.
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657
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The Kharijite (Seceder) sect forms, teaching that sinners who do not
sincerely repent are no longer Muslims and that militant rebellion is a
fundamental principle to Islam.
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661
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Uthman's followers murder Ali. One of Uthman's relations takes the title of caliph,
and Damascus replaces Medina as seat of the caliphate.
The Umayyad
family ruled Islam until 750. Ali's followers formed a
religious party called
Shi'ites
(Party of Ali) and insist that only descendants of Ali deserve the title of caliph
or deserve any authority over Muslims.
The opposing party, the
Sunnis,
insist on the customs of the historical evolution of the caliphate rather than a
hereditary descent of spiritual authority.
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661 - 680
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Mu'awiya, founder of the Umayyad dynasty, became the caliph and moved the capital from Mecca to Damascus.
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662
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Egypt fell to the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates until 868 CE. A year prior,
the Fertile Crescent and Persia yielded to the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates, whose
rule lasted until 1258 CE and 820 CE, respectively.
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669
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The Muslim conquest reached to Morocco in North Africa. The region was open to
the rule of the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates until 800 CE.
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670
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The Great Mosque of Kairouan in Tunisia was built.
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680
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Tragedy of Karbala (in modern Iraq): Troops from Umayyad caliph Yazid I
(645 - 683) murdered Husayn (c. 626 - 680) who, for the
Shiites,
was really the legitimate successor to the caliphate.
This triggered the Shi'ites' open and violent revolt against Umayyad rule, with the
anniversary of Husayn's death becoming a Shi'ite day of mourning.
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680 - 683
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Arabian opposition to Syrian leadership of the Umayyad's caused Yazid to attack Mecca and Medina.
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685 - 687
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Shi'ites staged a revolt in Iraq.
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687
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Pepin of Heristal, a Merovingian ruler, united the Frankish territories. He
was succeeded by his son, Charles Martel, who created an alliance with the
Christian Church, allowing the Merovingian Dynasty (and Christianity) to expand
into Germany.
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691
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In Jerusalem, the oldest surviving mosque was built: the Dome of the Rock.
It is sits on a rock where legend suggests that Muhammad ascended to heaven.
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696
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Arabic was declared the official language of Islam.
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700
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Rise of Islamic mysticism. Known as
Sufism,
this tradition is marked by the individual's effort to establish an intimate relationship with Allah.
One of the most critical passages of the Koran for Sufis is verse 7:172 which
describes a covenant between God and the individual's soul before the creation of the universe.
Renunciation, a Sufi doctrine, must be understood as more than a rejection of
the material realm. Rather, it is an attempt to achieve a level of freedom
that promotes harmony with one's physical life, resulting in mystical union with God.
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c. 704
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Caliph Walid I gathered together nobles of Armenia in the church of St.
Gregory in Naxcawan and the church of Xram on the Araxis and burned them to
death. The rest were crucified and their wives and children were sold into slavery.
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705
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In Damascus, the Great Mosque was built. It comes to be considered one
of the seven wonders of the Muslim world.
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709
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Muslim conquest of Spain began.
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710
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Tariq ibn Malik crossed the straight separating Africa and Europe with a group of
Muslims and entered Spain. A year later, 7000 Muslims invaded Gibraltar and almost
the entire Iberian peninsula came under Islamic control by 718 CE.
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711
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With the further conquest of Egypt, Spain and North Africa, Islam included all
of the Persian empire and most of the old Roman world under Islamic rule.
Muslims began the conquest of Sindh in Afghanistan.
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717
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The Umayyads
attempted to conquer the Byzantine capital and failed, resulting in
the weakening of the Umayyad government.
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c. 722
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The Hadith
(Tradition), an elaborate system of validating religious theories and Koranic
commentaries by linking them to oral traditions about or from Muhammad and his
followers, began to develop.
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725
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Muslim forces occupied Nimes, France.
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732
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At the Battle of Poitiers, Islamic expansion was halted in France but
continued into parts of Asia and Africa.
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750
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The Abbasids
assumed command of the Islamic world (except Spain,
which fell under the control of a descendant of the Umayyad family) and moved the
capital to Baghdad in Iraq.
The Arabian Nights, a compilation of stories written under the reign of the
Abbasids, became representative of the lifestyle and administration of this Persian influenced government.
Abd al-Rahman of the
Umayyad
dynasty fled to Spain to escape the Abbasids and is responsible for the "Golden Caliphate" in Spain.
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750
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Ibn Ishaq wrote the earliest known biography of Muhammad, but the original is
lost and all that is left is a later recension by Ibn Hisham (d. 834). This
means that information about Muhammad's life and acts are second-hand and uncertain.
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750
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The first great English epic poem, Beowulf, was written in Old English.
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750 - 850
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The Four Orthodox Schools of Islamic Law were established.
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751
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Battle of Talas: Arabs learned the technique from making paper from Chinese prisoners of war.
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756
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The Emirate of Cordoba was founded by an
Umayyad
refugee, Abd al-Rahman. Later it became an independent caliphate.
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768
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Pepin's son, Carolus Magnus (Charlemagne), succeeded his father and became
one of the most important European rulers of medieval history.
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785
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The Great Mosque in Cordoba, in Muslim controlled Spain, was built.
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786
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Caliph Harun al-Rashid, a major figure in the Arabian Nights, ruled until 809 CE.
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789
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With the Idrisid dynasty of Morocco, which would last until 985 CE, local rulers began to control North Africa.
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800
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North Africa fell under the rule of the Aghlabi dynasty of Tunis, which lasted until 909 CE.
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800
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Charlemagne (c. 742 - 814) was crowned emperor by
Pope Leo III (750 - 816) at
Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome. This coronation marked the beginning of a new
relationship between the church and state, with the emperor's temporal
authority depending upon the spiritual blessing of the pope.
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810
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Sunni canonical Koranic commentary Book of the Authentic Collection (90
volumes) was written by Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Bukhari.
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819
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Persian unity began to disintegrate with the Samanid rulers in
Northern Persia, whose rule would last until 1055 CE.
One year later, the Tharid dynasty began to take to control Khorastan (lasting until
874 CE), and in 864 CE, the Alid dynasty established their rule over Tabaristan (lasting
until 1032 CE).
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827
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Aghlabi rulers of Tunis began the conquests of Sicily which would last until 878 CE.
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827
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The Mu'tazilite
school of rationalistic philosophy was declared state doctrine, but Sunni opposition had this decision reversed in 849.
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851
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The first Muslim travelers reached India.
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857
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Sufi al-Muhasibi introduced the study of conscience into Sufism.
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858 - 922
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Life of Sufi mystic Hallaj, who was executed for heresy due to his
religious riddles and claimed that he was "the truth."
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865
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Rhazes discovered the difference between measles and smallpox. He was
considered the greatest physician of medieval times and died in 925 CE.
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868
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The Sattarid dynasty, whose rule would continue until 930 CE, extended Muslim
control throughout most of Persia. In Egypt, the Abbasid and Umayyad
caliphates ended and the Egyptian-based Tulunid dynasty took over (lasting until 904 CE).
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871
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King Alfred the Great of England created a system of government and
education which allowed for the unification of smaller Anglo-Saxon states in
the ninth and tenth centuries.
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c. 873 - c. 936
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Ash'ari, Islamic theologian, lived. Ash'ari successfully integrated Greek
rationalism with Muslim theology; although he regarded revelation as superior
to reason, he used logic to support faith in revelation.
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874
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The Vikings settled in Iceland.
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876
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The Great Mosque of Cairo was built.
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879
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The Seljuk Empire united Mesopotamia and a large portion of Persia.
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900
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The Fatimids of Egypt conquered north Africa and included this territory
as an extension of Egypt until 972 CE.
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