The Ka\u2018ba in Mecca. (Wikimedia Commons public domain photo)
Although dating to pre-Islamic times, it has been the center of the Muslim world since the early seventh century.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a first pass at a basic timeline of Islamic history \u2014 disproportionately modern in focus and still needing substantial fleshing out \u2014 for the introductory book on Islam that I\u2019m slowly expanding and revising for eventual publication. \u00a0I\u2019ll return to it in future blog entries:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
570 AD\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0Muhammad is born in Mecca.<\/p>\n
610 AD\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0According to Muslim belief, Muhammad is visited at the age of forty by the angel Gabriel while meditating and praying in a cave near Mecca. Thus begins the revelation of the Qur\u2019an, the holy book of Islam, which will continue until Muhammad\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
622 AD\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0Amid mounting persecution in Mecca, Muhammad and his followers migrate to the nearby town of Yathrib (later known as Medina). \u00a0This is the hijra<\/em>,\u00a0the \u201cflight\u201d or \u201cemigration,\u201d and it marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar. In Medina, Muhammad becomes a ruler and lawgiver and establishes an Islamic state.<\/p>\n630 AD\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0Muhammad takes control of Mecca, peacefully. \u00a0He clears the idols and images out of the Ka\u2018ba and rededicates it to the worship of God alone.<\/p>\n
632 AD\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0Muhammad dies after a relatively brief illness. His father-in-law and close associate, Abu Bakr, is chosen as his caliph or successor.<\/p>\n
638 AD\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0Muslim Arab forces begin the conquest of Syria, Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq.<\/p>\n
641 AD\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0Muslim Arab forces begin the conquest of Egypt .<\/p>\n
661 AD\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u2018Ali b. Abi Talib is assassinated, ending the period of the four \u201corthodox\u201d or \u201crightly guided\u201d caliphs, who were, in order, Abu Bakr, \u2018Umar, \u00e6Uthman, and \u00e6Ali. This marks the beginning of the Umayyad dynasty, based in Damascus.<\/p>\n
711 AD\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0Muslims \u2014 many of them Berbers \u2014 enter Spain in the west and India in the east. \u00a0Eventually, almost the entire Iberian Peninsula comes under Islamic control.<\/p>\n
732 AD\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0A small Muslim force is defeated at Poitiers in France, by Charles Martel.<\/p>\n
750 AD\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0The Abbasids overthrow the Umayyads, soon moving the imperial capital eastward from Damascus to their newly-founded city of Baghdad.<\/p>\n
1099 \u00a0AD\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0European Christian Crusaders take Jerusalem from the Muslims. Eventually, though, the Muslims defeat the Crusaders and regain control of the Holy Land.<\/p>\n
1299 AD\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0The earliest Ottoman Turkish state is formed in Anatolia, which is today\u2019s Turkey.<\/p>\n
1453 AD\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0The Ottomans conquer Constantinople, putting an end to what little was left of the Byzantine Empire by that time, and change its name to Istanbul.<\/p>\n
Circa\u00a01800 AD\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0Approximately 30 percent of Africans forced into slavery in the United States are Muslim.<\/p>\n
1919 AD<\/strong>\u00a0 With the end of World War I, the Ottoman Empire, which had joined in on the losing side, swiftly collapses and Europeans colonize many of its former holdings in Africa, the Middle East, and beyond.<\/p>\n1930 AD\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0The so-called \u201cNation of Islam\u201d \u2014 the \u201cBlack Muslim\u201d movement \u2014 is created in the United States by W. D. Fard. It is based on some Islamic ideas, but also declares Elijah Muhammad (1897-1975) a prophet.<\/p>\n
1948 AD\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0The state of Israel is established.<\/p>\n
1956 AD<\/strong> \u00a0Israel, followed by the United Kingdom and France, invades Egypt during the \u201cSuez Crisis,\u201d sometimes called the Second Arab-Israeli War.<\/p>\n1967 AD<\/strong>\u00a0 During the Six-Day War, Israel seizes the Golan Heights from Syria, the West Bank from Jordan, and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt.<\/p>\n1973 AD<\/strong> \u00a0In the Yom Kippur War (or October War, or Ramadan War), fought mostly in the Sinai and the Golan Heights, Egypt enjoys some military success against Israel.<\/p>\n1975 AD\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0Wallace D. Muhammad, the son of Elijah Muhammad, assumes leadership of the Nation of Islam after his father\u2019s death and brings most of his followers into mainstream Islam.<\/p>\n
1979 AD\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0The Iranian Revolution results in the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the first attempt at an Islamic state in the modern era.<\/p>\n
2001 AD<\/strong> \u00a0The World Trade Center in New York is destroyed, and the Pentagon near Washington DC is seriously damaged, by attacks coordinated by al-Qa\u2018ida.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 Here\u2019s a first pass at a basic timeline of Islamic history \u2014 disproportionately modern in focus and still needing substantial fleshing out \u2014 for the introductory book on Islam that I\u2019m slowly expanding and revising for eventual publication. \u00a0I\u2019ll return to it in future blog entries: \u00a0 570 AD\u00a0\u00a0Muhammad is born in Mecca. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3262,66,207,996,3265],"class_list":["post-69907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-chronology","tag-islam","tag-islamic-history","tag-middle-east","tag-time-line"],"yoast_head":"\n
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![\"Ka\u2018ba](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2017\/05\/Mecca.jpg\")
<\/a>