Islam Events

The last four years of Mahmud's life were spent contending with the influx of Oghuz Turkic horse tribes from Central Asia, the Buyid Dynasty and rebellions by Seljuqs. Initially the Selju...

The death of al-Hakam II in 976 marked the beginning of the end of the Caliphate of Córdoba. Before his death, al-Hakam named his 14 year old son Hisham II (976–1008) as successor. Seeing...

Prior to the advent of the Almoravids in the 11th century, the area was ruled from the city of Aghmat. The Almoravid leader, Abu-Bakr Ibn-Umar decided Aghmat was becoming overcrowded and ...

The First Crusade was a military expedition by European Christians against Muslim territory in the Levant, which resulted in the capture of Jerusalem in 1099. It was launched in 1095 by P...

The Second Crusade (1147–1149) was the second major crusade launched from Europe. It was called in 1145, in response to the fall of the County of Edessa the previous year to the forces of...

The Siege of Damascus took place over four days in July 1148, during the Second Crusade. It ended in a decisive crusader defeat and led to the disintegration of the crusade. The two main ...

Jerusalem has been and is considered by many to be one of the holiest cities in the world. For this reason, Christians and Muslims fought for control of the Holy City over several centuri...

The Battle of Hattin (also known as "The Horns of Hattin" because of a nearby extinct volcano of the same name) took place on Saturday, July 4, 1187, between the Crusader Kingdom of Jerus...

The Siege of Jerusalem took place from September 20 to October 2, 1187. It resulted in the recapture of Jerusalem by Saladin and the near total collapse of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusal...

The Third Crusade (1189–1192), also known as the Kings' Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin (Salāh ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb). After the fa...

The First Battle of Tarain, was fought in 1191 at the town of Tarain (Taraori), near Thanesar in present-day Haryana, approximately 150 kilometers north of Delhi. The battle pitted the ar...

The following year Sultan Muḥammad Shahābuddīn Ghorī returned to India with a large force numbering 120,000. When he reached Lahore, he sent his envoy to Prithvirāj Chauhān to demand his ...

The Mongol invasions (also Turco-Mongol) progressed throughout the 13th century, resulting in the vast Mongol Empire covering much of Asia and Eastern Europe by 1300. The Mongol Empire...

The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa took place on 16 July 1212 and was an important turning point in the Reconquista and in the medieval history of Spain. The forces of King Alfonso VIII of...

The Bahri dynasty or Bahriyya Mamluks (al-Mamalik al-Bahariyya المماليك البحرية ) was a Mamluk dynasty of mostly Kipchak Turkic origin that ruled Egypt from 1250 to 1382 when they were su...

The Battle of Ain Jalut (or Ayn Jalut, in Arabic: عين جالوت, the "Spring of Goliath") took place on 3 September 1260 between the Egyptian Mamluks and the Mongols in Palestine, in the Jezr...

The second Battle of Hims was fought, on October 29, 1281, between the armies of the Mamluk dynasty of Egypt and Ilkhanate, division of the Mongol Empire centered on Iran. The battle was ...

The Ottoman Dynasty (or the Imperial House of Osman) (Turkish: Osmanlı Hânedanı) ruled the Ottoman Empire from 1299 to 1922, beginning with Osman I (not counting his father, Ertuğrul), th...

The Burji dynasty المماليك البرجية ruled Egypt from 1382 until 1517. It proved especially turbulent, with short-lived sultans. Political power-plays often became important in designating ...

The Battle of Kosovo was a battle fought in 1389 on St Vitus' Day, June 15*, between the Serbian Empire and its allies, and the Ottoman Empire, in the Kosovo Field, about 5 kilometers nor...

The Battle of Ankara or Battle of Angora, fought on July 20, 1402, took place at the field of Çubuk (near Ankara) between the forces of the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I and the Turko-Mongol f...

The Safavids (Persian: صفویان; Azerbaijani: صفوی‌لر) were one of the most significant ruling dynasties of Iran. They ruled the greatest Iranian empire since the Islamic conquest of Persia...

The Mughal Empire (Persian: شاهان مغول Shāhān-e Moġul; self-designation: گوركانى - Gūrkānī), (or Mogul Empire in former English usage), was an Islamic imperial power that ruled the Indian...

The first battle of Panipat took place in Northern India, and marked the beginning of the Mughal Empire. This was one of the earliest battles involving gunpowder firearms and field artill...

The Battle of Mohács (Hungarian: mohácsi csata or mohácsi vész, Turkish: Mohaç savaşı or Mohaç meydan savaşı) was fought on August 29, 1526 near Mohács, Hungary. In the battle, forces of ...

The Battle of Lepanto (Greek: Ναύπακτος, Naupaktos, pron. Náfpaktos; colloquial Greek: Έπαχτος, Épahtos; Turkish: İnebahtı) took place on 7 October 1571 when a galley fleet of the Holy Le...

Shāh ‘Abbās the Great or Shāh ‘Abbās I (Persian: شاه عباس بزرگ) (born January 27, 1571; died January 19, 1629) was Shah (king) of Iran, and the greatest ruler of the Safavid dynasty. He w...

The Battle of Vienna took place on 11 and 12 September 1683 after Vienna had been besieged by the Ottoman Empire for two months. It was a battle of the Holy Roman Empire in league with th...

Sayyid Jamāl-al-dīn al-Afghānī (Persian: سید جمال الدین الافغاني; actually Sayyid Muḥammad ibn Ṣafdar -سید محمد بن صفدر)(born 1838 - died March 9, 1897) was a political activist and Islam...

The Egyptian reformer and Muslim apologist Muhammad 'Abduh was a pupil and friend of al-Afghani. Although deeply influenced by him, 'Abduh was less inclined to political activism and conc...

Muhammad Rashid Rida (September 23, 1865, Syria - August 22, 1935, Egypt) is said to have been "one of the most influential scholars and jurists of his generation" and the "most prominent...

In September 1924, Gandhi went on a twenty-one day fast to "purify" himself and " to recover the power to react on the people." The fast had a soothing effect, but only for a while; India...

Direct Action Day, also known as the Great Calcutta Riot, was on 16 August 1946—a day of widespread riot and manslaughter in the city of Calcutta (now known as Kolkata) in the Bengal prov...

He conducted extensive dialogue with Muslim and Hindu community leaders, working to cool passions in northern India, as well as in Bengal. Despite the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947, he was t...

The Iranian Revolution (Also known as the Islamic Revolution or 1979 Islamic Revolution , Persian: انقلاب اسلامی, Enghelābe Eslāmi) refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's mona...

While there was already a considerable amount of protest by Muslims in the first months after the book's publishing, the fatwa issued by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Supreme Leader of...

In 2001, President George W. Bush signed an executive order that stipulated that US military could indefinitely detain any non-citizen who he believed was involved in international terror...

In answer the Supreme Court rejected the proposition "that the Fifth Amendment confers rights upon all persons, whatever their nationality, wherever they are located and whatever their of...

The Supreme Court yesterday struck down the military commissions President Bush established to try suspected members of al-Qaeda, emphatically rejecting a signature Bush anti-terrorism me...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Opening a mission to write a new chapter on Islam and the West, President Barack Obama consulted Wednesday with the Saudi king "in the place where Islam began,...

It started with “assalaamu alaykum” and ended with “may God’s peace be upon you.” Inbetween, President Barack Obama dotted his speech to the Muslim world with Islamic terms and reference...

China said on Tuesday at least 156 people were killed when Muslim Uighurs rioted in the restive region of Xinjiang in some of the deadliest ethnic unrest to hit the country in decades. ...

In a reversal of Bush administration policy, the first Guantanamo detainee was transferred Tuesday to U.S. soil for trial on capital terrorism charges. Ahmed Ghailani, a Tanzanian who ...

After months of legal uncertainty, a group of Chinese Muslims who have been held for years at the detention camp for suspected terrorists in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba will be resettled in the ...

America should "stop handing over terrorist suspects to any third country," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said. Palau, a former US Pacific territory which does not recognise Chin...

The 2009 Iranian presidential election was held on 12 June 2009 in Iran, the tenth presidential election to be held in the country.The President of Iran is the highest official elected by...

Protests were organized outside the United Nations in New York City; in front of the Iranian embassies in Paris, Berlin, London, and Iranian consulate in Sydney; and in a public square in...

Malaysian police have fired tear gas to disperse about 500 Iranian students who staged a protest over the results of their home country's disputed election. The demonstrators gathered ...

[Iran's leaders] received a resounding refusal [of an offer to conduct a partial recount] — first from reformist politicians who said they would accept only a new election and then on the...

Defeated presidential candidate Mohsen Rezaei has given the Interior Ministry an ultimatum to release the detailed election results. In a letter to Iran's Interior Minister Sadeq Mahso...