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The great flood of Sinjar, 511

سيل سنجار العظيم سنة 511

c. 1117 CE · 511 AH

Sinjar

In 511 a great flood burst upon Sinjar, razing its walls and drowning many; it carried the town gate half a day's journey and buried it for years, and swept away a baby on his bed until the bed snagged on an olive tree — the child lived and grew 1.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Buyid, Fatimid and Seljuk Era
Region
Levant & Iraq
Review
Draft Completeness 2/5 · Help complete it

In time

1100111011201130 c.
The Buyid, Fatimid and Seljuk Era · The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks

In space

Sinjar

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

Summary

In 511 AH a great flood struck Sinjar. It destroyed its walls and drowned many people 1.

Traces of the flood

The flood carried the city gate half a day's journey away, and buried the city for years. It also carried a cot with a child in it, which caught on an olive tree. The child survived and grew up 1.

Connections

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Occurred at
Sinjar

People and things also explored

Sayf al-Dīn besieges his brother ʿImād al-Dīn at Sinjār — then flees before Saladin· Sinjar

Sources

  1. Shadharat al-Dhahab — Ibn al-Imad al-Hanbali , p. 510
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “The great flood of Sinjar, 511”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/sinjar-flood-511/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-22.

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Wing

Time

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Sayf al-Dīn besieges his brother ʿImād al-Dīn at Sinjār — then flees before Saladin

Sayf al-Dīn Ghāzī of Mosul besieged his own brother ʿImād al-Dīn Zangī in Sinjār; Saladin's approach toward the Jazira alone broke the siege — Sayf al-Dīn fled home to Mosul.