20 eventsHijrah to the modern ageTimelines + lessons
Islamic History — Tarikh
Fourteen centuries in twenty landmarks — victories, trials, libraries and revivals. Tap any event for its own page.
For the prophetic life, see the 16-chapter Seerat →
Era 1 — Prophetic
The Foundation
Hijrah to the passing — the community is born.
11 AH / 622 CEThe Hijrah - Birth of the First Muslim StateThe migration to Madinah that started the Islamic calendar: brotherhood between migrants and hosts, and a charter binding tribes into one ummah.22 AH / 624 CEBadr - The First Victory313 ill-equipped believers against a thousand Makkans: the battle that proved faith outweighs numbers, remembered as the Day of Criterion.33-5 AH / 625-627 CEUhud and the Trench - Defeat and SiegeThe archers’ disobedience at Uhud and the trench that stopped ten thousand: Islam’s two hardest lessons in discipline and collective defence.46-8 AH / 628-630 CEHudaybiyyah to the Conquest of MakkahA treaty that looked like surrender - and proved a manifest victory: two years of peace doubled the ummah, then Makkah opened without a massacre.510-11 AH / 632 CEThe Farewell Sermon and the PassingOne hundred thousand witnesses on Arafat heard the charter of human equality; months later the Prophet ﷺ passed - and Abu Bakr steadied the ummah with revelation.
Era 2 — Rashidun
The First Generation
Caliphs, compilation and conquests — the deen is secured.
611 AH / 632 CEThe Ridda Wars - Holding the Ummah TogetherTribes apostatised and false prophets rose the moment the Prophet ﷺ passed; Abu Bakr’s refusal to compromise saved Islam itself.711-30 AH / 633-651 CECompiling the Quran - From Chests to the MushafYamama’s martyrs alarmed Umar; Abu Bakr ordered the first collection, and Uthman standardised the copies that every mushaf descends from.814-15 AH / 636 CEQadisiyyah and Yarmuk - Two Empires RecedeIn a single year, outnumbered Muslim armies broke Sassanid Persia at Qadisiyyah and Byzantium at Yarmuk - ending a millennium of empires.935-40 AH / 656-661 CEThe First Fitna - Trial of the UmmahThe martyrdom of Uthman split the companions into camps at Jamal and Siffin; arbitration ended the war but not the wound - told here factually, without partisanship.1061 AH / 680 CEKarbala - The Martyrdom of HusaynHusayn ibn Ali and seventy-two companions were martyred at Karbala on Ashura - mourned by the whole ummah, told here with reverence and restraint.
Era 3 — Classical
Empires & Scholarship
Damascus to Jerusalem — dynasties rise, knowledge flowers.
1141-132 AH / 661-750 CEThe Umayyads - Empire and the Dome of the RockFrom Damascus, Islam’s first dynasty stretched from Spain to Sindh; Abd al-Malik’s Dome still crowns Jerusalem and Arabic became the state’s tongue.1292-897 AH / 711-1492 CEAndalusia - Tariq to Cordoba’s LightsSeven centuries of Muslim Spain: Tariq’s landing, Abd al-Rahman’s emirate, Cordoba’s libraries - and a convivencia whose lamps lit Europe.13145-218 AH / 762-833 CEBaghdad and the House of WisdomAl-Mansur’s Round City became the world’s knowledge capital; al-Mamun’s translators turned Greek, Persian and Indian works into Arabic - the canon Europe later read.1480-261 AH / 699-875 CEThe Four Imams and the Hadith CanonAbu Hanifa to Ahmad, then Bukhari and Muslim: two centuries that gave the ummah its law schools and its authenticated Sunnah.15583 AH / 1187 CEHattin and the Recovery of JerusalemSalahuddin united Egypt and Syria, trapped the Crusader army at Hattin, and retook Jerusalem - then freed its captives and spared its churches.
Era 4 — Later
Trial & Renewal
Mongols to the modern age — catastrophe survived, revival seeded.
16656 AH / 1258 CEThe Fall of Baghdad - 1258Hulagu’s Mongols drowned the Abbasid caliphate in blood and books; Cairo and Damascus carried scholarship forward - catastrophe survived, not surrendered to.17658 AH / 1260 CEAyn Jalut - The Tide TurnedTwo years after Baghdad, Sultan Qutuz and Baybars met the Mongols at Ayn Jalut and broke the myth of invincibility - Islam’s frontier held.18857 AH / 1453 CEThe Conquest of Constantinople - 1453Mehmed II’s fifty-three-day siege fulfilled the old glad tidings; Constantinople became Istanbul, capital of a six-century caliphate.19932-1118 AH / 1526-1707 CEThe Mughals in India - Babur to AurangzebBabur’s twelve thousand beat a hundred thousand at Panipat; Akbar organised an empire, Shah Jahan built the Taj, Aurangzeb compiled the Fatawa - India’s Muslim centuries.20897-1342 AH / 1492-1924 CEGranada to the Modern Age - Loss and RenewalGranada fell, the Ottomans rose and fell, the caliphate was abolished in 1924 - yet scholarship, reform and revival carried Islam into the modern world.
Frequently asked questions
Which events are covered here?
20 landmarks in chronological order: 5 prophetic-era, 5 Rashidun-era, 5 classical (Umayyad to Ayyubid), and 5 later (Mongols to the modern age). Open any event for the full story.
Where do these accounts come from?
Widely transmitted histories (Ibn Hisham and Tabari traditions) and Sahih collections — named qualitatively. Sensitive episodes like the first fitna and Karbala are told factually and without partisanship; consult scholars for deeper study.
How is this different from Seerat?
Seerat tells the Prophet’s ﷺ own life in 16 chapters. History continues the story: caliphs, empires, scholarship and revival across fourteen centuries.