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The Great Snowfall of Baghdad in 398

ثلج بغداد العظيم سنة ثمان وتسعين

c. 4 December 1007 CE · 11 Rabi' I 398 AH

Baghdad → Tikrit

On Wednesday, 11 Rabi' I 398, snow fell on Baghdad and lay on the ground a cubit deep in one place and a cubit and a half in another. It stayed for a week without melting, and people shovelled it from their roofs into the streets and alleys, while remnants lingered in one spot for about twenty days. Its fall reached Tikrit, and reports came of its falling at Wasit and in the area between al-Batiha, Basra, Kufa, 'Ukbara and Mihrubān 1.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Buyid, Fatimid and Seljuk Era
Region
Levant & Iraq
Review
Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it

In time

990100010101020 c.
The Buyid, Fatimid and Seljuk Era

In space

Baghdad

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

Overview

Snow fell at Baghdad on Wednesday the eleventh of Rabi' I 398 — a cubit deep in places and a cubit and a half; it stayed a week unmelted, and people shovelled it from their roofs into the streets and lanes, traces remaining some twenty days; it reached Tikrit, and letters came from Wasit of its fall there and across the Batihah, Basra, Kufa, 'Ukbara and Mahruban 2.

Connections

Explore the connections

Located in
Baghdad· Tikrit

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 , j.7 p.238
  2. al-Muntazam fi Tarikh al-Muluk wa'l-Umam — Ibn al-Jawzi , j.7
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “The Great Snowfall of Baghdad in 398”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/baghdad-great-snow-398/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-22.

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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.