Fires at Bab al-Sham and Karkh

حرائق باب الشام والكرخ

c. August 921 CE · Rabi' I 309 AH

Baghdad

In Rabi' I 309 fires swept Bab al-Sham, Nasr's small market and the shoemakers' quarter of Karkh between the New Bridge and Taq al-Harrani, killing many; a zindiq's corpse was thrown into a blaze at Bab al-Mukharrim that also killed many 1.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Early Abbasid Caliphate
Region
Levant & Iraq
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In time

910920930 c.
Abbasid Fragmentation

In space

Baghdad

Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph

Overview

In Rabi' I 309 fires swept Bab al-Sham, Nasr's small market and the shoemakers' quarter of Karkh between the New Bridge and the Harranian arch — many died; and a man of the zanadiqa was killed and thrown into a fire-pit at Bab al-Makhram in which many perished 1.

Connections

Explore the connections

Occurred at
Baghdad

People and things also explored

The Nizamiyya Madrasa of Baghdad· Bayt al-Hikma — the House of Wisdom· The 'Adudi Bimaristan· al-Bimaristan al-Muqtadiri· Bimaristan al-Sayyida· Dar al-'Ilm of Baghdad (Sabur's library)· The Jami' al-Qati'a of Baghdad· The mosque of Qati'at Umm Ja'far

Sources

  1. al-Muntazam fi Tarikh al-Muluk wa'l-Umam — Ibn al-Jawzi , p. 449
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Fires at Bab al-Sham and Karkh”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/bab-sham-fires-309/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-22.

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Related

The Nizamiyya Madrasa of Baghdad

The Nizamiyya of Baghdad, first and most famous of the madrasas founded by the vizier Nizam al-Mulk al-Tusi: building began in 457 and sisters rose at Nishapur, Isfahan, Herat, Basra, Mosul and Amid; the Imam al-Haramayn al-Juwayni then Abu Ishaq al-Shirazi taught in it, and it mothered the Sunni institutional model that the later madrasas of Baghdad followed — the caliphs prayed there and Nizam al-Mulk himself visited to inspect its library.