TIMELINE

Dates and events for the life of Muḥammad are fraught with difficulties; therefore, dates are here given according to al-Zuhrī’s calculations.

After 558 (?)

The “Elephant Troop” and Abrahah, king of Ḥimyar, march against Mecca to destroy the Kaaba

608 (?)

Muḥammad receives his first revelation atop Mount Ḥirāʾ

622, Sept.

Muḥammad’s Hijrah from Mecca to Medina

624, Mar.

Battle of Badr

624, Sept.–Oct.

Expulsion of the Jewish clan al-Naḍīr from Medina

625, Mar.–Apr.

Battle of Uḥud

627, Feb.–Mar.

Battle of the United Clans/the Trench

628, Feb.–Mar.

Treaty of Ḥudaybiyah

630, 3 Jan.

Muḥammad’s Conquest of Mecca

632, 27 May

Muḥammad’s Death

644, Nov.

Assassination of the second caliph ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb

656, June

Assassination of the third caliph ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān

656–61

The Great Civil War (al-fitnah al-kubrā)

656, Nov.–Dec.

The Battle of the Camel between ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib and ʿĀʾishah bint Abī Bakr, al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām, and Ṭalḥah ibn ʿUbayd Allāh

657, July

The Battle of Ṣiffīn between ʿAlī and Muʿāwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān

661, Jan.

Assassination of ʿAlī

661–750

The Umayyad Caliphate

680–92

Second Civil War—the Marwānid Umayyads emerge victorious over their Zubyarid rivals

685–705

Caliphate of ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān

723–43

Caliphate of Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik

742

Ibn Shihāb al-Zuhrī dies

744–50

Third Civil War ensues after the assassination of al-Walīd II, leading to the rise of Abbasid dynasty of caliphs

754–75

Caliphate of Abū Jaʿfar al-Manṣūr

768

Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq dies

770

Maʿmar ibn Rāshid dies

827

ʿAbd al-Razzāq al-Ṣanʿānī dies