Timeline - Islam History

Reign of Fatimid al-Hakim
Hamza ibn Ali forms basis of esoteric Druze religion.

Quran Revelation Starts
Revelation of the Quran to the Prophet Muhammed starts

Revelation - First
Muhammad recites a chapter of the Quran for the first time after angel Gabriel reveals surah Al-Alaq in the cave of Hira.

Revelation - Second
Muhammad receives the second revelation with surah Al-Muddathir

Surah Al-Baqara
Al-Baqara The first surah after the hijra is revealed

Hijra - Muhammad and followers flee to Medina
Islamic calendar (AH, Anno Hegirae) begins

Makkan Period
86 Surahs were revealed in Makkah

Surah Al-Anfal
Al-Anfal is revealed mentioning the battle of Badr

Muslims capture Mecca
.Ka'ba is cleansed, pilgrimage rites are Islamicized, tribes of Arabia vow allegiance to Muhammad

Quran Revelation Ends
Revelation of the Quran to the Prophet Muhammed ends

Madinan Period
28 surahs were revealed in Madinah

Surah Al-Maida
Surah Al-Maida is revealed, the last chapter of the Quran

Death of Muhammad
Abu Bakr chosen as caliph

Death of Muhammad
Death of Muhammad triggers political panic; Abu Bakr is elected the first Caliph; the Riddah (Apostasy) Wars begin to reclaim rebel Arab tribes.

Suppression of rebellions
Suppression of rebellions finishes in Central Arabia; Khalid ibn al-Walid launches campaigns into Iraq, capturing Al-Hira.

Abu Bakr
After the death of the Prophet Muhammad, the entire Quran continued to be remembered in the hearts of the early Muslims. Hundreds of the early Companions of the Prophet had memorized the entire revelation, and Muslims daily recited large portions of the text from memory. Many of the early Muslims also had personal written copies of the Quran recorded on various materials.

Ten years after the Hijrah (632 C.E.), many of these scribes and early Muslim devotees were killed in the Battle of Yamama. While the community mourned the loss of their comrades, they also began to worry about the long-term preservation of the Holy Quran. Recognizing that the words of Allah needed to be collected in one place and preserved, the Caliph Abu Bakr ordered all people who had written pages of the Quran to compile them in one place. The project was organized and supervised by one of the Prophet Muhammad’s key scribes, Zayd bin Thabit.

The process of compiling the Quran from these various written pages was done in four steps:

Zayd bin Thabit verified each verse with his own memory. Umar ibn Al-Khattab verified each verse. Both men had memorized the entire Quran.

Two reliable witnesses had to testify that the verses were written in the presence of the Prophet Muhammad. The verified written verses were collated with those from the collections of other Companions.

This method of cross-checking and verifying from more than one source was undertaken with the utmost care. The purpose was to prepare an organized document which the entire community could verify, endorse, and use as a resource when needed.

This complete text of the Quran was kept in the possession of Abu Bakr, and then passed on to the next Caliph, Umar ibn Al-Khattab. After his death, they were given to his daughter Hafsah (who was also a widow of the Prophet Muhammad).

Battle of Ajnadayn
Battle of Ajnadayn marks major victory against Byzantines; Abu Bakr dies; Umar I becomes second Caliph; Muslims suffer defeat at the Battle of the Bridge.

Siege of Damascus
Siege of Damascus ends in its capitulation; military operations expand heavily across Syria.

Battle of Yarmouk
Battle of Yarmouk secures Muslim victory over the Byzantine army; Battle of al-Qadisiyyah shatters Sasanian Persian forces.

Capture of Jerusalem
Capture of Jerusalem by Caliph Umar; Sasanian capital of Ctesiphon falls; garrison cities of Kufa and Basra are founded.

Muslim armies take the Fertile Crescent
Fertile Crescent being Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Mesopotamia, North African coast, parts of Persian and Byzantine Empires

Plague of Amwas
Plague of Amwas devastates Syria; severe famine strikes Arabia; Amr ibn al-As initiates the military push into Egypt.

Fall of Alexandria
Fall of Alexandria completes the conquest of Egypt; Sasanian resistance is crushed at the Battle of Nihavand.

Umar ibn Al-Khattab
This complete text of the Quran was kept in the possession of Abu Bakr, and then passed on to the next Caliph, Umar ibn Al-Khattab. After his death, they were given to his daughter Hafsah (who was also a widow of the Prophet Muhammad).

Assassination of Umar
Assassination of Caliph Umar by a Persian slave; Uthman ibn Affan is chosen as the third Caliph.

Naval expansion begins
Naval expansion begins with raids on Cyprus; land campaigns push deeper into North Africa.

Death of Yazdegerd III
Death of Yazdegerd III marks the official end of the Sasanian Empire.

Compilation of the Quran
Uthman orders the standardisation and compilation of the Quran.

Uthman ibn Affan
The Quran is canonized by Uthman ibn Affan

Battle of the Masts
Battle of the Masts results in a major naval victory over the Byzantine fleet in the Mediterranean.

Uthman bin Affan
As Islam began to spread throughout the Arabian peninsula, more and more people entered the fold of Islam from as far away as Persia and Byzantine. Many of these new Muslims were not native Arabic speakers, or they spoke a slightly different Arabic pronunciation from the tribes in Makkah and Madinah. People began to dispute about which pronunciations were most correct. Caliph Uthman bin Affan took charge of ensuring that the recitation of the Quran is of a standard pronunciation.

The first step was to borrow the original, compiled copy of the Quran from Hafsah. A committee of early Muslim scribes was tasked with making transcripts of the original copy, and ensuring the sequence of the chapters (surahs). When these perfect copies had been completed, Uthman bin Affan ordered all remaining transcripts to be destroyed, so that all copies of the Quran were uniform in script.

All Qurans available in the world today are exactly identical to the Uthmani version, which was completed less than twenty years after the death of Prophet Muhammad.

Later, some minor improvements were made in the Arabic script (adding dots and diacritical marks), to make it easier for non-Arabs to read. However, the text of the Quran has remained the same.

Assassination of Uthman
Assassination of Caliph Uthman by insurgents in Medina.

Ali becomes the fourth Caliph
Ali becomes the fourth Caliph; First Fitna (civil war) erupts with the Battle of the Camel.

Mu'awiya, governor of Syria, claims caliphate
Battle of Siffin

Battle of Siffin
Battle of Siffin pits Ali against Muawiyah; military stalemate forces a political arbitration, prompting the Kharijite secession.

Arbitration of Adhruh collapses
Arbitration of Adhruh collapses; Caliph Ali defeats the Kharijites at Nahrawan; Muawiyah seizes control of Egypt.

Sana'a manuscript
The estimated radiocarbon dating of the oldest surviving copy of the Quran, the Sana'a manuscript

Beginning of Umayyad Caliphate (661-750)
Ali is murdered; Mu'awiya becomes caliph

Assassination of Ali
Assassination of Caliph Ali by a Kharijite; Hasan ibn Ali abdicates shortly after; Muawiyah I establishes the Umayyad Caliphate in Damascus.

Death of Hasan ibn Ali
Death of Hasan ibn Ali in Medina; Umayyad forces launch initial naval blockades against Constantinople.

Death of Husayn
The death marks beginning of the Shi'at Ali ("party of Ali") or Shi'a sect.

Death of Muawiyah I
Death of Muawiyah I; his son Yazid I takes power; Husayn ibn Ali is martyred at the Battle of Karbala, sparking the Second Fitna.

Umayyad Caliphate - Ibn Al-Zubayr Rebellion
Counter Caliphate in Hijaz, 10+ years. Marwan I takes power

Reign of Abd al-Malik
Centralization of administration - Arabic becomes official written language (instead of Greek and Persian) and Arab coinage is established.

Africa converts to Islam
Ruling classes in East and West Africa convert to Islam.

Muslim empire reaches its maximum extent
Battle of Tours prevents further advance northwards.

Baghdad is new Abbasid capital
Baghdad (Madinat al-Salam, "city of peace") becomes the new capital of the Abbasid empire.

Division within Shi'ites
Majority Shias are the modern Imamiyya (Twelvers) who co-exist with Abbasid caliphs; minority are more extreme Isma'iliyaa (Seveners).

Reign of Harun ar-Rashid
Harun ar-Rashid best known through the stories of The Thousand and One Nights.

Hadith collections (sayings of the Prophet) compiled
Sicily comes under Muslim rule.

Reign of Ma'mun
Theological controversy over whether the Quran is created or uncreated and eternal. Center for translation of texts from Greek to Arabic founded in Baghdad.

University of al-Karaouine
The oldest Quranic school (madrasah) in University of al-Karaouine is built

Tafsir al-Tabari
The oldest surviving major tafsir collection was completed, namely Tafsir al-Tabari

Quran Translated
The first complete translation of the Quran into a foreign language

http://www.monthlycrescent.com/understanding-the-quran/english-translations-of-the-quran/

Muhammad al-Mahdi, the twelfth Shia imam, disappears
Shia Twelvers still await the future return of the "Hidden Imam."

Persians invade Baghdad
The Buyids (Persian) invade Baghdad and take power from caliph.

Fatimids gain power in Egypt
Fatimids gain power in Egypt and attack Palestine, Syria, and Arabia. Cairo (Al-Qahira, "the victorious city") is founded.

Life of Avicenna
Life of Avicenna, Iranian physician and Aristotelian philosopher.

Crusader kingdoms are briefly established in Palestine and Syria
Reconquista takes more of Spain, Sicily falls to the Normans

Seljuk Turks take Baghdad
Abbasids now only nominal rulers.

Hasan-i Sabbah takes Alamut in the Persian mountains
The Assassin sect forms around him.

Life of Averroës
Life of Averroës, Muslim philosopher from Cordoba who sought to integrate Islam with Greek thought.

Death of Salahuddin
Most of Christian Crusader states have returned to Islam.

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.

Mongols capture Baghdad
Baghdad city is sacked and caliph is killed. End of Abbasid caliphate.

Reign of Uthman (Osman)
Reign of Uthman (Osman), who founds the Ottoman Empire. Muslim merchants and missionary Sufis settle in SE Asia.

Mehmet Fatih conquers Constantinople
Mehmet Fatih (rules 1451-81) conquers Constantinople. The two halves of the Ottoman Empire are united and the sultan becomes Byzantine emperor.

Castile and Aragon capture Granada, Spain
All Muslims (and Jews) expelled from Spain.

Isma'il claims to be the Hidden Imam
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.

Babur seizes Delhi, India
Babur (Mongolian) seizes the Delhi sultanate and takes control of northern India.

Algeria and Tunisia come under Ottoman rule
Reign of Suleyman the Magnificent; Ottoman Empire reaches its zenith. Hungary and coastlands of Algeria and Tunisia come under Ottoman rule.

Taj Mahal
Quranic calligraphy for the Taj Mahal is created by Abdul Haq, aka Amanat Khan

Alexander Ross
The first known translation of the Quran into the English language by Alexander Ross, chaplain to King Charles I

Ottoman lands carved up
Venetians, Habsburgs, and Russians divide European Ottoman lands between them.

Treaty of Karlowitz
Treaty of Karlowitz confirms first substantial losses of Ottoman Empire in Europe.

Muhammad Abd al-Wahhab rejects Sufism
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.

Afghans ousted by Qajar dynasty
Afghans ousted by Qajar dynasty, which rules Persia until 1925.

Muhammad Ali becomes governor of Egypt
Muhammad Ali becomes governor of Egypt, which becomes independent of the Ottomans, gains control of western Arabia and extends into the Sudan.

Tanzimat period
Ottoman Empire undergoes extensive program of modernization in government, law, and medicine.

India under British rule
Last Mughal in India is deposed and India comes under British rule.

Congress of Berlin
Congress of Berlin recognizes independence of Balkan states previously under Muslim rule.

Reign of Abd al-Hamid II
Reign of Abd al-Hamid II; autocratic and religiously conservative period in Ottoman rule.

Founding of Islamic Union
Founding of Islamic Union (Sareket Islam), a modernizing movement in SE Asia.

Ottomon rule ends
Last decade of Ottoman rule. Rise of nationalistic "Young Turks." More liberal policies develop.

Pakistan founded as Islamic nation
Pakistan founded as an Islamic nation. Islam becomes a minority religion in India.

Islam spreads to West
Islam spreads to the West with mass migrations from Asia, Africa, and India.

Independent Malayan state established
Independent Malayan state established with Islam as the official religion but guaranteed tolerance.