c


c


 
 
 
 

 




My primary source was Bacharach's ×
  

 
 published by
University of Washington Press, Seattle. It was published in 1976. I added the dates after
that. His chronology is much more detailed and therefore less useful for general study, but
his book is a great reference, with maps from various periods, charts, calendar conversions,
genealogies, etc.

c
 

570 Muhammad born in Mecca;

Abbysinia, a Byzantine ally invades southern Arabia
6th-7th
Byzantine Empire at war with Sassanian Persian Empire
Century
610 Muhammad's revelations begin.
622 Migration of Muslims to Medina.
632 Muhammad dies; Abu Bakr becomes first Caliph.
634-644 Umar reigns as 2nd Caliph
636 Muslim armies defeat Byzantine and Persian armies.
644-656 Uthman is Caliph. Qur'an is compiled and standardized
656 Uthman murdered; Ali becomes Caliph
Ali is assassinated; Mu'awiya rules from Syria and founds Umayyad Dynasty
661
(661-750).
711 Muslims invade Spain.
732 Charles Martel defeats Muslims in France.
747 Abbasid revolt begins.
750 Umayyads fall to Abbasid forces, remnant of family flees to Spain.
755-1031 Umayyads rule Spain.
762 Baghdad founded as Abbasid capital.
786-809 Reign of Harun al-Rashid.
909-1171 Shi'i dynasty rules Egypt & North Africa, Cairo founded.
945-1055 Buyids (a Shi'i family) control Baghdad & Iraq.
1020 Death of Firdawsi, Persian Epic poet, reviver of Persian Literature.
1063-
Seljuk Turks control Iraq.
1157
1097-
Crusades.
1291
1171-
Ayyubid Dynasty in Egypt.
1250
1250-
Mamluk dynasty in Egypt.
1517
1271 Marco Polo reaches Persia en route to China.
1258 Hulagu, Mongols sack Baghdad.
1324-
Ottoman family establishes and expands rule in Anatolia (Asia Minor).
1360
1369-
Timur (Tamerlane) controls Persia and Mesopotamia.
1405
1425-30 Ottoman-Venetian War
1453 Ottomans take Constantinople.
1487 Bartholomew Diaz rounds Cape of Good Hope.
Isma'il establishes Safavid Dynasty in Iran; declares Shi'i belief and practice
1499
of Islam as official religious form for the Empire.
1502 Tabriz in Azerbaijan is made capital of Safavid Empire.
1505 Babur active in India establishing Moghul Dynasty.
Shah Isma'il defeated by Ottomans; humiliated, he retires from public
1514
activity.
1516 Portugese take Hormuz.
1517 Ottomans defeat Mamluks, take Egypt and North Africa.
1520-
Reign of Suleyman the Magnificent as Ottoman Sultan.
1556
1600 Shah Abbas makes Isfahan capital of Saffavid Empire.
1664 First major Ottoman defeat in Europe.
1677-
First Ottoman-Russian war.
1681
1722 Afghans destroy Safavid power in Iran.
1783 Russia annexes Crimea, weakens Ottoman control of Black Sea.
1798 Napoleon takes Cairo.
1805 Muhammad Ali establishes rule in Egypt
1821- Greek war of independence.
1830
1830 French occupy Algeria
1834 First Arabic printing press established in Beirut.
1844 Sayyid Ali Muhammad declares himself to be The Bab.
Syrian Protestant College established in Beirut, later becomes American
1866
University.
1875 British gain control of Egypt.
1881 French occupy Tunisia.
First Zionist mission to Palestine. Theodor Herzl begins revival of Hebrew as
spoken language in Palestine.
1882 British quell Egyptian revolt. Lord Cromer installed as Consul General.
First World Zionist Congress held in Basil, Switzerland; founds World
1897
Zionist Organization.
1900-
Hijaz railway built for Muslim pilgrims.
1908
1901 Ibn Saud and the Wahhabis take Riyadh.
1905-
Constitutional Revolution in Iran.
1908
1912 Agudat Yisrael founded as counterweight to World Zionist Organization
1913 Young Turk revolution takes over Ottoman government.
1914 Formation of al-Ahd, Arab Nationalist secret society.
1914-
World War I.
1918
Husayn-MacMahon correspondence begins, soliciting Arab support for
1915
Allied effort and promises British support for Arab state in Greater Syria.
Sykes-Picot agreement between France and Great Britain for division of
1916
Ottoman lands.
1917 Balfour Declaration of British favor for Jewish state in Palestine.
1919 Turkish national congress meets.
Faisal, son of Sherif Husayn of Mecca tries to establish Arab Rule in
1920
Damascus.
1921 Reza leads successful coup in Iran, establishes Pahlavi dynasty.
League of Nations ratifies mandate system for European control of former
1922
Ottoman territories.
1924 Turkish republic established.
1926 Ibn Saud proclaimed King of Hijaz.
1929 Violent Arab resistance to British rule of Palestine Mandate.
1936-7 Arab revolt in Palestine.
1938 (?) Muslim Brotherhood formed in Egypt.
1939 Irgun members lead Jewish attacks on British holdings in Palestine.
1939-
World War II.
1945
Reza Shah of Iran deposed for German collaboration, son Muhammad
1941
installed.
1945 Arab League created.
1947 U.N. partition plan for Palestine approved.
1948 Isreal war of Independence.
1951 Mosaddeq elected Prime Minister of Iran. Nationalizes British Petroleum.
1952 Nasser leads Arab revolution in Egypt.
1953 Shah restored to power in Iran, Mosaddeq arrested
1956 Suez War. Egypt gains full control of canal and its revenues.
1958 Egypt and Syria form United Arab Republic. Dissolved in 1961.
1963 Ba'thist coup in Syria. Coup in Iraq.
1963 P.L.O formed.
1967 Arab-Israeli War.
1968 Coup in Iraq, consolidation of Ba'thist power.
1969 Yasser Arafat becomes head of PLO.
Hafiz al-Asad takes control of Syrian government.
Qaddafi leads revolt in Libya.
1970 Anwar Sadat succeedes Nasser as President of Egypt.
1973 Arab-Isaeli War.
1975 Iran-Iraq treaty to end border dispute.
1978 Camp David.
Sadat assassinated in Egypt. Hosni Mubarak replaces Sadat and Prime
1979
Minister.
1980 Iran-Iraq war breaks out.
1982 Israel invades Lebanon.
1987 U.S. re-flags Kuwaiti oil tankers.
1988 Palestinian Intifada breaks out in Israeli Occupied Territories.
1990 (August) Iraq invades Kuwait and drives out ruling Sabah family.
(January) U.S. led multi-national force attacks Iraqi forces in Kuwait and
1991
Iraq. Sabah family is restored to power in Kuwait. Iraq accepts U.N. terms of
 surrender. Saddam Hussein retains power
Regional peace talks begin under U.S. and Soviet sponsorship to resolve
1990-92
disputes between Arab states, the Palestinians and Israel.

c


 

During the Abbasid period (750-1258), the Muslims came closer to achieving the
Islamic vision of a global community of faith governed by institutions based on spiritual
principles and religious law as expressed in the Qur'an. One's status in the community was
based more on achievement and less on lineage or family affiliations, though these
influences persisted in their importance. Material wealth gave families power, influence
and status. However they could be easily erased by circumstance and misfortune. More
enduring and more precious was one's reputation. This was based on character and
accomplishment, whether by wealth, education, governmental & military service, or
personal and creative initiative. By the time of the Crusades, suspicion and distrust of the
ruling elite--regional governors, military tyrants, the Abbasid family themselves--had
become pervasive. More and more Muslims turned to local spiritual leaders or independent
institutions such as Sufi orders, religious colleges, trade fraternities, clan leaders, and
Shi'ite enclaves. Around the year 1000, Shi'ite affiliations were dominant among the ruling
elite: The Fatimid Dynasty (909-1171) that controlled Egypt, North Africa, the Holy land,
and the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, was an Isma'ili, or Sevener group. Another
Isma'ili group controlled parts of Lebanon and Syria. They operated from their strongholds
in the mountain ranges of that area. They were essentially rebel. They believed that all the
ruling elite were corrupt, had rebelled against God and His religion, and that under the
principles governing the use of Jihad, or holy war, could be killed with impunity. They
were in reality a cult and their warriors used hashish to achieve the bold abandon necessary
to carry out their vicious duties. The became known in European languages as the
Assassins, based on the Arabic term Hashashin, or hashish users.

The Buyyid (932-1062) family controlled much of Iran and Iraq (945-1055), including
the Abbasid Caliphate itself. The Zaydis (901-19th C.), or followers of a descendent of the
third Imam, Husayn, controlled the south end of the Arabian peninsula and are still the
dominant group in the Yemen. This period of Shi'i ascendancy faded with the collapse of
the Fatimids in Egypt, the rise of new powers in Iraq and Egypt. The Ayyubid dynasty
(1171-1250) gained control of the lands formerly controlled by the Fatimids in Egypt and
the Holy land. They succeeded in driving out the Crusaders. By the time the Mongol armies
swept down out of central Asia, the Abbasid Empire had ceased to exist. It was the new
power rising in North Africa and the Levant (the Holy Land or the regions of Israel,
Lebanon, Syria and Jordan). This reflects not only the power and potency of Shi'i influence
but the waning of Abbasid power. Provincial governors and powerful families developed
into regional powers who ruled in the name of the Abbasid caliph, but more often than not,
he ruled by their leave as well, as in the case of the Buyids and later the Seljuks, a Turkic
speaking people who preceded the Mongols in their migration from central Asia. By the
end of the 12th century, the Fatimids in Egypt fell to another Turkic group known as the
Mamluks. Their name means slaves, and in fact they had been the slave army used by the
Ayyubid and Abbasid rulers. They became stronger than the ruling family and eventually
overthrew them.

Changes brewing in Central Asia were soon to have an impact all over the world. A
Turkic speak nomadic people came under the sway of a charismatic, bold and ruthless
leader who took the title of Chingiz Khan. He and his armies lead by his sons spread out
east to China, South across the Iranian plateau and west into Europe. Experts in the use
horses and the techniques of terror, they took city after city, slaughtering as much as 25%
of the population. They would pile the severed heads of their victims outside the city gates,
which as they decomposed, would begin to glow at night. In 1256 they reached Baghdad,
sacked the city and put an end to the Abbasid line. Hulagu, the son of Chingiz ruled the
conquered Islamic lands. The Mongols were interested in conquest, not governance. They
quickly employed native administrators to run their kingdoms. Fascinated with the culture
of the region, the Mongols quickly assimilated and adopted the religion of Islam. They
reinvigorated the central governing institutions and put an end to many of the petty regional
rivalries. Yet other clans and peoples in Central Asia began to migrate to the Islamic lands.
The Ottomans began to assert control in 1326 over portions of Asia Minor (Anatolia or
today, Turkey today). Muslims themselves, they turned their interest toward the west and
by 1361 took control of Adrianople. It would take nearly a century to conquer
Constantinople. In the meantime, another Mongol conqueror would gain control of India,
the Iranian plateau, Syria and part of Anatolia. He was known as Timur, or Tamerlane. The
Ottomans finally captured Constantinople in 1453. By 1500, with the introduction and use
of gunpowder technology, three new empires were established in the Islamic lands: The
Ottoman in the west, ruling from Constantinople controlled Anatolia, the Balkans, Northern
Iraq, Syria, Egypt and North Africa. The Safavids controlled the Iranian plateau, and the
Moghuls controlled the Indian sub-continent. The next two hundred years witnessed a fresh
flowering of Islamic culture and civilization. The Ottomans advanced nearly to Vienna in
Europe. The Safavids controlled the regions around the Caspian Sea and Afghanistan.
Trade, architecture, literature and mysticism flourished. The Safavids forced Iran to convert
to Shi'ism, because their founder, Shah Isma'il venerated Ali and thought himself to be his
spiritual return. He was something of a lunatic, but brought the best scholars and clergy he
could persuade to settle in Iran and propagate their teachings. When the power of the
Safavid dynasty began to decline, powerful clergy involved themselves more and more in
matters of state and governance and arrogated to themselves more and more of the authority
and functions rightly exercised by the Imams alone.
 From the 17th century on, the Islamic regions began a slow economic decline, as
European traders circumvented the trade routes and greedy tarifs of the Muslim rulers,
though utilizing their navigational technology. By the 19th century, European diplomacy
regarded the Ottoman empire as the "sick man of Europe. To avoid disastrous wars for
hegemony, they propped up the Ottoman state and used their growing influence to
manipulate the Ottoman rulers to suit European interest. Into this turbulent and decadent
environment, the Bab and Bahá'u'lláh were born and began to spread their radical vision for
a fundamentally different world order.

During the period some historians have called the "Gunpowder Empires," the Ottomans
controlling what is today Turkey, The eastern Mediterranean, Egypt, Iraq and parts of
Eastern Europe. The Safavids controlled the Iranian plateau and the Mogul controlled the
Indian subcontinent. Islam itself as a religion and the spiritual foundation of a nearly global
civilization, had spread much wider into sub-Saharan Africa, along the silk routes of trade
through central Asia into China, and far into the Pacific. At one point China was 25%
Muslim! Today, the largest Muslim country by population is Indonesia. Islam is growing in
numbers and strength in the United States today, but it came to this country with the slaves
in the 17th and 18th century.

Military and political control, however is an ever changing phenomena. The power of
the Safavid and Ottoman states began to decline in the late 17th and 18th Centuries. The
Ottomans frequently engage in war with the Austrians and the Russians during the 17th and
18th Centuries. In 1717 the Ottomans lose Belgrade after controlling it for almost 200
years. Yet the Ottomans remain a formidable power in Europe and Asian. The Safavid
Empire declined more rapidly. As they did, the Shi'ite 'ulama' grow stronger in social and
political power. They arrogate to themselves more and more of the functions in the religion
that more properly belonged to the Imams, the last of whom disappeared 7 centuries before.
In 1722 the Safavids are defeated by Afghani forces, who control Iran briefly. They are
driven out by Nadir Shah in 1730. Nadir Shah also manages to drive back Russian forces in
the North. He is assassinated in 1747 Another powerful military ruler, Karim Khan Zand
gains power in Iran over the next ten years and rules until 1779. A measure of stability
returns to Iran by the end of the century when a new dynasty is established, the Qajars,
beginning with Agha Muhammad in 1796. They, like their predecessors depend on the
support of the Shi'i ulama to rule effectively. The Shi'i leaders believe they have a rightful
role in affairs of state because they are the experts in Islamic law and because the Imams,
they believe should have been the rightful rulers of the Islamic world. This spawns the
notion that ideally, religious and political authority should be linked as it was during the
lifetime of the Prophet and during the brief rule of Ali, the first Imam. The 'ulama', or
scholars and religious functionaries, exercise their authority in memory of the Imams and
with the hope of Their blessings and inspired guidance, and through their understanding of
the fundamentals of the teachings of Islam.

Economically, the Middle East was beginning to decline as well. European traders and
European powers were able to establish trade routes that by-passed Muslim controlled lands
as the Portuguese and British did, or by gaining concessions from the Ottoman through
various treaties following Ottoman defeats. The British were able to obtain treaties in the
Persian Gulf with the small, independent Sheikhs that controlled. In India and East Asia the
British and the Portuguese conquered a number of important ports and competed for power
and trade in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific.

In 1798, an astonishing event occurs. Napoleon Bonaparte took Cairo and conquered
Egypt. This was the first time a European power had entered what was considered the
heartland of the Islamic world since the Crusades. And even then, the Crusaders were only
able to control small areas of Palestine for brief periods. The fall of Egypt to the French
sent shock-waves through the Islamic world that would reverberate throughout the 19th
Century. The French were driven out of Egypt very shortly and a new independent ruler by
the name of Muhammad Ali took control of Egypt and began to extend his control into
Syria, threatening Ottoman control of the Eastern Mediterranean. The Ottomans enlisted
the aid of Britain and France to limit the power and influence of Muhammad Ali and the
advance of his forces. The first Arabic printing press is established in Beirut in 1834. The
first Arabs begin to travel to France and Britain to study in hopes that they might learn
some of the secrets of their technology and rising power. Ideas of French nationalism begin
to be introduced.?