Events in Islamic history

49 turning points of Islamic history, from the first revelation onward, in Hijri and Gregorian years.

• The first revelation c. 610 CE · Cave of Hira
  In the Cave of Hira, the angel Jibril brings the first verses of the Quran: 'Read in the name of your Lord who created' (96:1–5).
• The Hijrah to Madinah 622 CE · Madinah
  The Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr migrate from Makkah to Yathrib, which becomes Madinat al-Nabi. The Hijri calendar counts from this year.
• Battle of Badr 624 CE · Badr
  About 313 Muslims face a much larger Qurayshi army in Ramadan 2 AH and win. The Quran calls it Yawm al-Furqan, the Day of Criterion (8:41).
• Battle of Uhud 625 CE · Mount Uhud
  Quraysh return to avenge Badr. When the archers leave their posts the battle turns, about seventy Muslims are martyred, including Hamzah, and the Prophet ﷺ is wounded.
• Battle of the Trench 627 CE · Madinah
  A confederation of tribes besieges Madinah. On Salman al-Farisi's advice the Muslims dig a trench, and after about a month the siege collapses in a bitter wind.
• Treaty of al-Hudaybiyyah 628 CE · al-Hudaybiyyah
  Stopped on the way to perform 'Umrah, the Muslims agree a ten-year truce with Quraysh. The Quran calls it 'a clear victory' (48:1).
• The Opening of Makkah 630 CE · Makkah
  The Prophet ﷺ enters Makkah almost without fighting, clears the Ka'bah of idols, and declares a general amnesty.
• The Farewell Pilgrimage 632 CE · Arafat
  The Prophet ﷺ performs his only Hajj and gives the Farewell Sermon at Arafat. The verse 'This day I have perfected your religion for you' (5:3) is revealed.
• Battle of Yarmuk 636 CE · Yarmuk river
  The Muslim armies defeat a large Byzantine force by the Yarmuk river, opening Syria to Muslim rule.
• Battle of al-Qadisiyyah c. 636 CE · al-Qadisiyyah
  Under Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, the Muslims defeat the Sasanian Persian army, opening Iraq.
• 'Umar receives Jerusalem c. 637 CE · Jerusalem (al-Quds)
  The patriarch Sophronius surrenders Jerusalem to 'Umar in person, who grants its people a covenant of safety for their lives, churches and property.
• Plague of 'Amwas 639 CE · 'Amwas (Emmaus)
  A plague in Syria kills many thousands, including the commanders Abu 'Ubaydah and Mu'adh ibn Jabal.
• Founding of al-Fustat c. 641 CE · Fustat (Old Cairo)
  After bringing Egypt under Muslim rule, 'Amr ibn al-'As founds the garrison city of al-Fustat and its mosque, the first in Africa.
• Standard copies of the Quran c. 650 CE · Madinah
  Under 'Uthman, Zayd ibn Thabit's committee prepares standard copies of the Quran from Hafsah's sheets and sends them to the major cities.
• Battle of the Camel 656 CE · Basra
  In the strife after the killing of 'Uthman, the forces of 'Ali meet those of Talhah, al-Zubayr and 'A'ishah near Basra. Talhah and al-Zubayr are killed; 'A'ishah is escorted back to Madinah with honour.
• Battle of Siffin 657 CE · Siffin
  The armies of 'Ali and Mu'awiyah fight on the Euphrates. The battle ends in a call for arbitration, which divides 'Ali's camp and gives rise to the Khawarij.
• The Year of Unity 661 CE · Kufa
  al-Hasan ibn 'Ali hands rule to Mu'awiyah to end the fighting between Muslims, reuniting the community under one caliph.
• Karbala 680 CE · Karbala
  al-Husayn ibn 'Ali, grandson of the Prophet ﷺ, is martyred with members of his family on 10 Muharram 61 AH by forces sent under the Umayyad caliph Yazid.
• 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz orders hadith recorded c. 719 CE · Damascus
  The caliph writes to scholars, including Abu Bakr ibn Hazm in Madinah and al-Zuhri, asking them to write down the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ for fear that knowledge would be lost.
• Founding of Baghdad 762 CE · Baghdad
  The Abbasid caliph al-Mansur founds the Round City of Baghdad, which becomes the intellectual capital of the Muslim world.
• The Mihna begins 833 CE · Baghdad
  The caliph al-Ma'mun requires judges and scholars to affirm that the Quran is created. Ahmad ibn Hanbal refuses and is imprisoned and flogged. The policy is abandoned under al-Mutawakkil around 234 AH.
• Perlak: a Muslim sultanate by tradition c. 840 CE · Perlak (Peureulak)
  A later local chronicle names Perlak, on the east coast of Aceh, as the first Muslim sultanate in the archipelago, founded in 840. The account cannot be confirmed from contemporary evidence, and historians treat it as tradition; Perlak was later absorbed into Samudera Pasai.
• First prayers in al-Azhar 972 CE · Cairo (al-Qahira)
  The Fatimids open al-Azhar mosque in their new city of Cairo. Under the Ayyubids and Mamluks it becomes a great centre of Sunni learning, and it remains one today.
• The Nizamiyya of Baghdad opens 1067 CE · Baghdad
  The Seljuk vizier Nizam al-Mulk opens the Nizamiyya college in Baghdad, part of a network of colleges teaching Shafi'i law and Ash'ari theology. Al-Ghazali later teaches here.
• The gravestone of Fatimah binti Maimun 1082 CE · Leran (Gresik)
  At Leran near Gresik in east Java stands the gravestone of Fatimah binti Maimun, dated 475 AH (1082). Inscribed in Arabic, it is the oldest known Muslim grave in Java and shows that Muslims lived on the coast long before the rise of Muslim kingdoms there.
• Kedah's ruler embraces Islam, by tradition c. 1136 CE · Kedah (Alor Setar)
  According to the Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa, the ruler of Kedah embraced Islam in 1136 at the hands of a scholar from Yemen and took the name Sultan Muzaffar Shah. Most historians date Kedah's conversion to the 15th century, but the tradition is an important part of the state's own history.
• Salah al-Din recovers Jerusalem 1187 CE · Jerusalem (al-Quds)
  After the Battle of Hattin, Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi takes Jerusalem from the Crusaders on 27 Rajab 583 AH and allows its Christian inhabitants to leave in safety.
• Fall of Baghdad 1258 CE · Baghdad
  The Mongols under Hulagu sack Baghdad, kill the caliph al-Musta'sim and end the Abbasid caliphate there. Libraries and countless lives are lost.
• Battle of 'Ayn Jalut 1260 CE · 'Ayn Jalut
  The Mamluks under Qutuz and Baybars defeat the Mongols in Palestine, halting their advance two years after the fall of Baghdad.
• Samudera Pasai: an early Muslim sultanate in Southeast Asia 1297 CE · Samudera Pasai
  The tombstone of Sultan Malik al-Salih of Samudera Pasai in northern Sumatra, dated 696 AH, is among the earliest evidence of a Muslim ruler in Southeast Asia. Ibn Battuta visited Pasai in 1345.
• The Terengganu Inscription 1303 CE · Kuala Berang
  A stone found at Kuala Berang in Terengganu records, in Malay written in Jawi, a ruler's order to uphold Islamic law, dated 702 AH (1303). It is the oldest known Malay text in Jawi script and among the earliest evidence of Islam as a state religion in the Malay peninsula.
• The ruler of Melaka embraces Islam c. 1414 CE · Melaka
  Melaka becomes a Muslim sultanate in the early 15th century. As the region's great trading port, it spreads Islam and the Malay language across the archipelago.
• Opening of Constantinople 1453 CE · Constantinople (Istanbul)
  The Ottoman sultan Mehmed II takes Constantinople, ending the Byzantine Empire. The city becomes the Ottoman capital, Istanbul.
• The Great Mosque of Demak c. 1479 CE · Demak
  The Great Mosque of Demak, on the north coast of Java, is among the oldest mosques in Indonesia. Tradition holds that the Wali Songo built it together, raising its four main pillars themselves. Its tiered roof, in the Javanese style rather than a dome, became the model for mosques across the island.
• Fall of Granada 1492 CE · Granada (Gharnata)
  The Nasrid emirate of Granada, the last Muslim state in al-Andalus, surrenders to Castile and Aragon after nearly eight centuries of Muslim rule in Iberia.
• Fall of Melaka 1511 CE · Melaka
  The Portuguese under Afonso de Albuquerque capture Melaka. Its sultan withdraws and the royal line continues in Johor and Perak; Aceh later rises as a centre of Islamic learning.
• Fatahillah takes Sunda Kelapa 1527 CE · Sunda Kelapa (Jakarta)
  Forces of Demak and Cirebon led by Fatahillah took the port of Sunda Kelapa from the Hindu kingdom of Sunda, before the Portuguese could build a fort there. He renamed it Jayakarta, 'complete victory'. The city later became Batavia under the Dutch and today is Jakarta, which marks 22 June 1527 as its founding.
• The founding of Johor c. 1528 CE · Johor Lama
  After the Portuguese took Melaka, Sultan Mahmud Shah's son Alauddin Riayat Shah II founded a new kingdom on the Johor River. Johor carried on Melaka's royal line, court traditions and role in spreading Islam, and its sultanate continues today.
• Ternate drives out the Portuguese 1575 CE · Ternate
  After the Portuguese murdered Sultan Khairun of Ternate in 1570, his son Sultan Baabullah besieged their fort for five years until they surrendered in 1575. Ternate became the strongest power in eastern Indonesia, and Islam spread further across the Maluku islands.
• Gowa and Tallo embrace Islam 1605 CE · Gowa (Makassar)
  In 1605 the ruler of Tallo and then the king of Gowa in south Sulawesi embraced Islam through Datuk ri Bandang, a preacher from Minangkabau. Gowa-Tallo, the rising power of Makassar, became a Muslim sultanate and spread Islam among the Bugis kingdoms of the region.
• Iskandar Muda becomes Sultan of Aceh 1607 CE · Banda Aceh
  Sultan Iskandar Muda ruled Aceh from 1607 to 1636, its age of greatest power. Aceh controlled much of Sumatra's coasts and the pepper trade, fought the Portuguese at Melaka, and became a centre of Islamic learning known as the 'Veranda of Makkah', where Hamzah Fansuri's and Shams al-Din al-Sumatrani's teachings were followed.
• The Dutch take Melaka 1641 CE · Melaka
  With the help of Johor, the Dutch East India Company besieged Portuguese Melaka for five months and took it in January 1641. Melaka declined as a port while Dutch Batavia rose, and the balance of power in the Straits shifted to the Dutch and Johor.
• Sultanah Safiatuddin and the queens of Aceh 1641 CE · Banda Aceh
  On the death of her husband Iskandar Thani, Safiatuddin, daughter of Iskandar Muda, became ruler of Aceh. She reigned for 34 years, and three more queens followed her until 1699. Under her the scholars Nur al-Din al-Raniri and 'Abd al-Ra'uf al-Singkili served at court.
• Tarjuman al-Mustafid, the first complete Malay tafsir c. 1675 CE · Banda Aceh
  In Aceh, 'Abd al-Ra'uf al-Singkili completed Tarjuman al-Mustafid, the first commentary on the whole Quran in Malay. It drew mainly on the tafsir of al-Baydawi and al-Jalalayn, was reprinted in Istanbul, Cairo and Makkah, and was used across the Malay world for three centuries.
• The Anglo-Dutch Treaty divides the Malay world 1824 CE · London
  Signed in London, the treaty drew a line through the Straits of Melaka: the peninsula and Singapore to Britain, Sumatra and the islands to the south to the Netherlands. It split the Johor-Riau kingdom and set the outline of today's Malaysia and Indonesia, though Malay scholars and students kept moving across it.
• The Aceh War begins 1873 CE · Banda Aceh
  The Netherlands declared war on the Sultanate of Aceh in 1873. Resistance, led by the sultan's commanders and increasingly by the ulama, lasted some thirty years and more, making it one of the longest colonial wars. The Hikayat Prang Sabi poems urged the fighters on.
• The first issue of Pengasuh 1918 CE · Kota Bharu
  The Majlis Agama Islam Kelantan launched Pengasuh, a Malay magazine in Jawi on religion, education and society, with Tok Kenali among its guides. It is the longest-running Malay periodical still published.
• Abolition of the Ottoman caliphate 1924 CE · Ankara
  The Grand National Assembly of Turkey abolishes the caliphate on 3 March 1924, ending an institution dating back to 632 CE.
• Nahdlatul Ulama is founded 1926 CE · Surabaya
  In Surabaya, Hasyim Asy'ari and other kiai of the pesantren founded Nahdlatul Ulama, 'the awakening of the scholars', to defend the traditional schools of law and theology. It grew into one of the largest Muslim organisations in the world.