Timeline

Timeline of the Rise and Spread of Islam

570

• Muhammad is born in Mecca

610

• Muhammad begins receiving visions from Jibra'il (Arabic for Gabriel, the angel of the Lord)

622

• Muhammad and his followers flee to Medina, an agricultural community 215 miles north of Mecca, in response to hostility from Mecca's leaders

632

• After a brief illness Muhammad dies
• Abu Bakr (Muhammad's father-in-law) is chosen as the new khalifa or caliph (Which means successor) which causes the divide in Islam between the Shi'ites and the Sunnis
  • The Shi'ites believed that the caliph should be a direct descendant of Muhammad
  • The Sunnis believed that the umma should select its own leadership

656

• The third caliph, Uthman, is assasinated
• The so called "Battle of the Camel" is fought over who will succeed Uthman: Ali (Muhammad's son-in-law) or two of Muhammad's followers and his favorite wife A'isha. Ali won the battle

661

• Mu'awiya (Governor of Syria), a kinsman of Uthman, becomes caliph and when he chooses his son Yazid to be his successor the Umayyad Caliphate is officially instituted

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634-644

• The second caliph Umar reigns

636 & 639-642

• Arab armies wrench Syria and Egypt away from the Byzantine Empire

750

• The Ummayad caliphate falls
  • The Ummayad caliphs ruled over an Arab empire rather than a religious empire
• The Abbasid Caliphate is founded after coordinating a revolt against the Ummayad caliphate

835-892

• The Turkish Abbasid Caliphate moves its capital to Samarra

945

• The Abbasid Caliphate falls under the rule of the Buyids, rude mountain warriors from Daylam

909

• The Fatimid Caliphate established in Tunsinia, claiming the title of caliph in a direct challenge to the Abbasids

1030s

• Seljuk Turks establish a Turkish Muslim state based on nomadic power
  • They take the Arabic title Sultan which means "power" and the revived Persian title Shahan-shah or King of Kings