Islamic Heritage Month pack

Islamic Heritage Month in Ontario: every October.

A daily fact, a full printable pathway, the museum passport and the daily challenge: the classroom kit for Heritage Month.

The kit (8 sheets when printed)

Fact-of-the-week poster 1 sheets
Curriculum pathway print pack (Rise of Islam) 4 sheets
Museum passport 1 sheets
Daily challenge (a week of rounds) 1 sheets
Tell it back prompts 1 sheets

Each item opens its own printable page; print them all and the pack is the named kit.

All facts

The roofed al-Aqsa on Jerusalem's eastern ridge: its foundation is ascribed to Dawud's huge carved stones, and Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan built upon it so finely that describers deemed it fairer than Damascus's mosque. — Masjid Al-Aqsa
Muhammad ibn Yusuf ibn Nasr built the Alhambra fortress in Granada in 635 AH; it became the seat and first residence of the Nasrids. — The Alhambra
Baghdad's Bayt al-Hikma is the largest library reported from the early Abbasid age; al-Rashid planted it and al-Ma'mun grew it. — Bayt al-Hikma — the House of Wisdom
Al-Muqaddasi described the Dome of the Rock around 375 AH: an octagon with four doors and, inside, three arcades on columns he deemed nobler than marble, capped by a gilt-brass dome. — Dome of the Rock
The first mosque the Ottomans built in Istanbul after the conquest: Mehmed the Conqueror raised it in 1458 over the tomb of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari. — Eyüp Sultan Mosque
The Great Mosque of Córdoba holds some 850 marble and jasper columns, many reused from older Roman and Visigothic buildings. — Great Mosque of Córdoba
Istanbul's Hagia Sophia, dated to 532 CE, became a mosque with the conquest of Constantinople in 857 AH. — Hagia Sophia
Before building, the Kaaba stood as a raised mound; Ibrahim and Isma'il raised its foundations in Mecca, making it a sanctuary for the peninsula's tribes — keepership passing from Isma'il's line to Jurhum, Khuza'a, then Quraysh. — The Kaaba
Al-Hakam al-Mustansir's library in Cordoba ran to forty-four catalogues of twenty leaves each — titles of works only. — Library of the Córdoba Palace
Al-Muqaddasi described the Sacred Mosque around 375 AH: its marble columns shipped from Alexandria by sea to Jeddah, its arcades' walls faced with mosaic made by Syrian and Egyptian craftsmen, and nineteen gates. — Al-Masjid Al-Haram
The mosque of Banu Salama in Medina is named 'of the two qiblas' because the qibla turned inside it mid-prayer from Jerusalem to the Kaaba — though narrators differ. — Mosque of the Two Qiblas
Istanbul's New Mosque is dated to 1597 CE, one of the city's Ottoman-era mosques. — New Mosque
The Prophet founded his mosque in Medina where his camel knelt, on a drying-yard owned by two orphan boys — he bought it from them and the Muslims built it with their own hands. — Prophet's Mosque
Al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik began Damascus's Umayyad Mosque in 87 AH, completed in 96; Ibn Fadl Allah says its 'Gate of the Hours' took its name from a brass water-clock that marked each hour. — The Umayyad Mosque of Damascus
Tahawi's rule: the people of the qibla are Muslim believers as long as they affirm what the Prophet brought; none is declared unbeliever for a sin he did not deem lawful. — The people of the qibla and not declaring takfir for sin
The Tahawi creed lays out the afterlife in order: the grave's torment and the two angels' questioning, then resurrection, reckoning, the Path and the Scale — paradise and hellfire created and real. — The hereafter: the grave, resurrection and reckoning
Hadith is Islam's second source after the Qur'an, explaining its generalities in worship and dealings; its best-known collections are the Six Books. — Hadith
Before the Ascension, the ordained prayer — per Muqatil ibn Sulayman — was two rak'as at dawn and two at dusk, until the five were laid down on the journey. — Prayer in early Islam before the Night Journey
The Prophet named ten companions and gave them the good news of paradise, and al-Tahawi affirms it: Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali, Talha, al-Zubayr, Sa'd, Sa'id, Abd al-Rahman and Abu Ubayda. — The ten promised Paradise
Among the Hour's signs in al-Tahawi's creed: the Dajjal's emergence, Jesus son of Mary's descent from the sky, the sun rising from its west, and the earth's beast coming forth. — Signs of the Hour
'God has ninety-nine names — a hundred less one; whoever counts them enters Paradise', narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim; on this hadith Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya devoted a chapter of Jala' al-Afham to His beautiful names. — The most beautiful names of God (asma' Allah al-husna)
Ibn Rajab's rule: whatever is forbidden in itself is forbidden in price — so selling wine, carrion, pork or idols is unlawful, and reshaping the forbidden does not permit it. — Sale of the prohibited
Al-Sha'rawi affirms the Prophet foretold that Ibn Maryam would descend once more, resting on a hadith in al-Bukhari and Muslim — and one who accepts his miraculous birth should not doubt a miraculous end. — The descent of Jesus son of Mary before the Hour
Muhammad al-Khidr Husayn holds people were created equal in nature, and Islam set its duties on parity — no rank but by piety and deed. — Equality in Islam
For Muhammad Farid Wajdi the fitra is the soul's natural bent toward religion — Islam being that very fitra — and religion a felt natural bond between the human and the spirit of the cosmos. — Fitra (innate disposition)
The five pillars of Islam were gathered in the famous hadith of Jibril, when he asked the Prophet about Islam, iman and ihsan. — The five pillars of Islam
The ghanima is what Muslims take of movables in war against unbelievers by force; a fifth is set apart for God and the Messenger, kin, orphans, the needy and the wayfarer — the rest goes to the fighters. — Ghanima (spoils of war)
Girih are interlaced geometric knots building stars and polygons, widespread in Seljuk and Safavid architecture. — Girih
Fiqh divides rulings into clear halal, clear haram, and doubtful matters between them that most people cannot place. — The lawful, the unlawful and the doubtful
Ibn al-Nadim ties the flood of Greek philosophy and science translated into Arabic under the Abbasids to al-Ma'mun's dream of Aristotle. — The Abbasid Translation Movement
The Hijri calendar does not start on the day of the Hijra; Umar ibn al-Khattab settled on the first of Muharram in year 17 AH. — The Hijri calendar
A hima is a protected ground where grazing is barred to all but its wards; the Prophet set one for the people of Jurash with known marks for horse, mount and plough-ox — whoever grazed it, his wealth was forfeit. — Hima (protected reserve)
The hisba is the administrative-juristic office rooted in enjoining right and forbidding wrong; the muhtasib oversees markets, weights and measures and the keeping of public morals. — Hisba (market supervision and enjoining good)
Al-Tahawi's creed holds love for the Prophet's companions, disowning none of them, speaking of them only with good — and good words about them and his household clear one of hypocrisy. — Love of the Companions and how to speak of them (in the Tahawi creed)
The hur al-'in belong to the promised bliss of Paradise for the believers; Ibn Kathir devotes chapters to them in his tafsir, and the Tahawi commentary explains the gates and delights of the Garden. — Hur al-'ayn (companions of paradise)
Hoarding, for al-Maraghi, is withholding goods to shrink supply and raise prices; jurists bound the state's market intervention to prevent it and protect people. — Hoarding (ihtikar)
The Gabriel hadith defines the pillars of faith: belief in God, His angels, His books, His messengers, the Last Day, and divine decree, its good and its ill. — Iman (faith)
Muhammad al-Bahi argues the inheritance system fragments rather than preserves an estate: the fixed shares — half, third, quarter, sixth — prevent hoarding and push the heirs to work. — Islamic inheritance system
Calligraphy became the noblest Islamic art through its bond with transcribing the Qur'an; its scripts range from Kufic and Naskh to Thuluth and Diwani. — Islamic calligraphy
In Sunni belief Jahannam is an already-created abode of punishment; the creed then discusses the position of this community's grave sinners in relation to it. — Jahannam (the Fire)
In Sunni belief Paradise is an already-created abode of reward: 'the Garden and the Fire are created, never perishing nor passing away' — and God admits the believers to it by His mercy. — Jannah (Paradise)
Al-Rahiq traces Judaism's entry into Arabia in two waves: after Nebuchadnezzar's ruin of Palestine in 587 BCE, then after Jerusalem's second destruction in 70 CE. — Judaism in Arabia before Islam
For al-Tahawi the Qur'an is God's own speech, issuing from Him without modality — sent down on His messenger as revelation, not created like human speech. — The Qur'an as the speech of God (in the Tahawi creed)
Al-Tahawi affirms the saints' marvels as reliably reported, while a single prophet outranks all saints; Ibn Khaldun distinguishes marvel from miracle by the challenge. — Karamat (marvels of the friends of God)
The 'created Qur'an' question brought the ordeal of Imam Ahmad's days; Ibn Badran records the Imam's stand, the opposing sects' stands, and how the Jahmiyya split over it. — The createdness of the Qur'an
In Futuh al-Buldan kharaj is the land-and-crop tax on treaty peoples and dhimmis — the general name under which the jizya and the tithe fall; in the Prophet's letter to Najran the levied garments were called 'garments of kharaj'. — Kharaj (land tax)
The creed: Muhammad is the seal of the prophets, so every prophetic claim after him is astray; the companions witnessed a seal between his shoulders counted among his signs. — Finality of prophethood
Al-Tahawi affirms the caliphate after the Prophet for Abu Bakr, then Umar, then Uthman, then Ali — naming them the rightly guided caliphs and guided imams. — The rightly-guided caliphate and its order (in the Tahawi creed)
The record gathers an exegetical question: is the first verse of al-Anfal — 'they ask you about the spoils' — abrogated by the verse of the fifth, or does it stand in its own right? — The fifth of spoils (khums)
The Six Books of later usage — Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, Nasa'i and Ibn Majah — are the chief musnad collections of hadith. — The Six Books
Jurists count 'the four madhhabs': Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali — each a method of juristic reasoning named for its imam. — The madhhab
Belief in the angels is a pillar of faith for the Sunnis, named in the Tahawi creed beside belief in the prophets and the books sent down upon the messengers. — Angels in Islam (mala'ika)
The mosque, the Muslims' common house of worship, grew its plan from the Prophet's mosque around the prayer hall, qibla, minbar and courtyard. — Mosque
Nasiha is willing good for the one counselled, in will and in deed; Tamim al-Dari's hadith sums the religion itself as 'sincere counsel' — to God, His book, His messenger, the Muslims' leaders and their community. — Nasiha (sincere counsel)
Tahawi's creed teaches that God created creatures by His knowledge and decreed their fates and life-spans, while forbidding probing the mystery of decree. — Qadar (divine decree)
The qibla is the direction of the Kaaba that the worshipper faces; in Medina it shifted from Jerusalem to the Kaaba, and facing it is a condition of valid prayer in fiqh. — Qibla
Islamic-economic literature classes riba as an economic crime — a form of money-worship and exploitation of people's needs and circumstances, punished in this world and the next. — Usury (riba)
In al-Tahawi's creed, the people of paradise truly see God, without encompassing Him and without modality — accepting what sound hadith says and leaving off opinion's interpretation. — The vision of God in the hereafter
Intercession in Tahawi's creed is a true gift God stored for the Prophet's community, by which grave sinners among the monotheists leave the Fire by His mercy. — Intercession
For the Sunnis the martyr is whoever is killed defending religion, property or life — joined, say the jurists, by plague and stomach victims and whoever drowns or dies under a collapse: 'whoever dies defending his wealth is a martyr'. — Shahid (martyr)
Shakib Arslan presents consultation as a root of Islamic governance: Umar left the succession after him to a consultative council. — Shura in Islam
Al-Tahawi's position: no rebellion against rulers even if they wrong; obeying them is part of obeying God unless they command sin — pilgrimage and striving go on under them. — Obedience to those in authority and not rebelling (in the Tahawi creed)
The story of the three who stayed behind turns on repentance: God relented toward them after fifty nights, and Ka'b ibn Malik counted giving away his wealth and quitting lies part of his own. — Tawba (repentance)
The word tawhid does not occur in the Qur'an, yet the scholars made it the name of a whole discipline: singling God out in worship and attributes. — Tawhid (the oneness of God)
Scholars rank trade among the widest fields of human activity; Islam surrounds it with encouragement and warnings against cheating and false oaths. — Trade in Islam
A waqf immobilises the principal and devotes its yield to good — the institution that built the Islamic world's mosques, schools and hospitals, funding the learned centres of Basra, Kufa, Baghdad and Damascus. — Waqf
Abu al-Wafa al-Maraghi holds work a duty shown by the conduct of prophets and the righteous: Dawud wove palm fronds, Idris was a tailor, Zakariyya a carpenter, Musa a hired hand. — Work in Islam
Sunni belief in the Day of Resurrection covers the raising, requital of deeds, the presentation, reckoning, reading of the book, reward and punishment, the Sirat and the Balance — and the Hour's signs: the Dajjal and Isa's descent. — The Day of Resurrection (Yawm al-Qiyama)
Zuhd in the language is turning from a thing for its littleness; Ibn Rajab's commentary says renouncing the world is neither banning the lawful nor wasting wealth — it is lifting one's ambition above it. — Renunciation (zuhd)
Heraclius's dinars and the Persians' baghli dirhams already reached Meccan trade in the Jahiliyya, exchanged as bullion by a known mithqal weight — until Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan struck the Islamic dinar. — Abd al-Malik's Coinage Reform
When going out grew heavy for the Prophet he sent word to Abu Bakr to lead the people; he led seventeen prayers, and once the Prophet came out and sat at his left while Abu Bakr followed his prayer. — Abu Bakr leads the prayers during the final illness
When the Prophet gave Quraysh's lords and Najd's chiefs the great gifts and the Ansar got nothing, talk ran through them until Sa'd ibn Ubada went in and told him — and the Prophet addressed them. — The Prophet's address to the Ansar at al-Ji'rana
The call stayed private for three years, during which the first band believed — Khadija, Ali, Zayd and Abu Bakr on the very first day, as al-Rahiq relates. — The three years of the secret call
After the mushafs were raised at Siffin, the arbitration writ was drawn between Ali and Mu'awiya: Abd Allah ibn Qays and Amr ibn al-As would judge for the community, and the verdict was due by Ramadan. — The arbitration after Siffin
In Dhu al-Hijja of year 5, five Khazraji champions led by Abd Allah ibn Atik slipped into Khaybar's fortress by night and killed Sallam ibn Abi al-Huqayq — the Hijazis' merchant and an inciter of the Confederates. — The Mission of Abu Rafi' (Sallam ibn Abi al-Huqayq)
In 658 AH the Tatars crossed the Euphrates to Aleppo and Damascus; the Egyptians marched in Sha'ban to fight them — al-Muzaffar Qutuz advancing with the army, and the meeting was at Ayn Jalut. — The battle of Ayn Jalut and the defeat of the Tatars
After Badr, word reached Mecca while the Prophet entered Medina victorious; captives were ransomed for money or by teaching ten boys to write, the sirah recounts. — After Badr: the dead, the captives, the spoils, and the news in Mecca and Medina
On Friday 17 Ramadan, year 2, the armies met at Badr; the Prophet prayed at the battle's height and God granted the Muslims victory, as the Sahih records. — The day of Badr: the lines, the duels and the victory
Badr opened with a duel: Utba, Shayba and al-Walid stepped out for Quraysh; Ubayda, Hamza and Ali met them, and the three Qurashis fell. — The duel at Badr
The Prophet settled the Badr captives by ransom on Abu Bakr's counsel — one to four thousand dirhams, or teaching ten boys to write. — The affair of the Badr prisoners
On Abu Talib's trade journey to Syria the caravan met the monk Bahira at Busra, who knew the boy Muhammad by the seal of prophecy described in their books. — The monk Bahira at Busra
Abd al-Rahman al-Ghafiqi raided Frankish lands, and in Ramadan of 114 AH his army was cut down at a place known ever since as Balat al-Shuhada — the Martyrs' Causeway. — Battle of Balat al-Shuhada
The Turk al-Basasiri rose so high the khutba named him and he collected the revenue while caliph al-Qa'im decided nothing without him — until word came that he meant to plunder the caliphal palace. — The battle of al-Basasiri and the sermon for the Ubaydi al-Mustansir in Baghdad
Qadisiyya opened in Muharram of year 14 when Umar consulted his companions about marching in person; the great battle ran on for days — the day of Armath, of Aghwath, of Imas, and the night of the rout. — The battle of al-Qadisiyya
In 132 AH Marwan ibn Muhammad was routed at the Zab and killed after the defeat — the battle that closed the Umayyad state in the East. — The battle of al-Zab
On the eve of Badr rain fell and firmed the sand under the believers' feet; the Muslims took seventy captives from Quraysh that day. — The Battle of Badr
At Hunayn near Mecca, soon after the city's opening, the Muslims met the tribes of Hawazin and Thaqif; Bukhari records the Prophet standing firm on his mule as ranks re-formed. — The Battle of Hunayn
In Muharram of year 7 the Prophet marched with the companions of the Ridwan pledge on the fortified oasis of Khaybar, whose strongholds fell one by one, as the two Sahihs tell. — The Conquest of Khaybar
On Salman al-Farisi's advice the Muslims dug a trench before Medina; a ten-thousand-man confederacy besieged them nearly a month until a night wind broke it. — The Battle of the Trench (al-Ahzab)
At Uhud, fifty archers were posted on the Archers' Mount with orders not to leave it; when they came down early, the battle turned against the Muslims. — The Battle of Uhud
Quraysh wrote a boycott of the Banu Hashim and hung the document inside the Kaaba; it confined them to Abu Talib's ravine for three years. — The boycott of the Banu Hashim
The Prophet paired about ninety Emigrants and Helpers as brothers sharing property and homes, until the verse on kinship superseded their mutual inheritance. — The brotherhood of the Muhajirun and Ansar
Ibrahim found Ismail shaping arrows near Zamzam; together they raised the foundations of the House, and Ibrahim called the people to pilgrimage. — The Raising of the Kaaba’s Foundations
In Sha'ban of the second year after the Hijra, the prayer direction turned from Jerusalem to the Kaaba — answering the Prophet's wish and marking the community's distinct identity. — The change of the qibla
Sultan Mehmed al-Fatih moved his ships over land and sea around Constantinople — the feat the histories record — and took it in 857 AH. — Conquest of Constantinople in 857 AH
In 92 AH Tariq ibn Ziyad crossed into al-Andalus after Tarif ibn Malik's scouting raid; Musa ibn Nusayr then campaigned through Carmona, Seville and Merida, meeting Tariq at Toledo in 94. — Conquest of al-Andalus
The Prophet entered Mecca with about ten thousand and declared a general pardon, telling its people: Go, for you are free. — The Conquest of Mecca (Fath Makka)
The Document of Medina made the Muslims and the Jews of Yathrib one community; many historians call it the first written constitution in Islamic history. — The Constitution of Medina
Abdullah, the Prophet's father, died and was buried in Medina before his son's birth in the majority view, aged about twenty-five. — Death of Abdullah ibn Abd al-Muttalib at Medina
Sixty riders of Najran's Christians reached Medina in year 9; declining Islam, invited to the mubahala they chose treaty instead — two thousand garments a year, God's and His messenger's protection, and freedom in their faith. — The delegation of Najran
In Sha'ban of year 6 the Prophet marched on Banu al-Mustaliq at al-Muraysi' spring; he then wed Barra bint al-Harith (Juwayriyya), and the Muslims freed a hundred households in honour of his in-laws. — The Expedition of Banu al-Mustaliq (al-Muraysi')
In Rabi' I of year 4, Banu al-Nadir plotted to drop a millstone on the Prophet; the Muslims besieged them six nights until fear entered their hearts — they accepted exile and carried off what camels bore, save arms. — The Siege and Expulsion of Banu al-Nadir
The Prophet led his last campaign to Tabuk, north of Medina, in year nine of the Hijra; no fighting occurred, per the sirah of Ibn Ishaq. — The expedition to Tabuk
The Farewell Pilgrimage in 10 AH was the only hajj the Prophet led; in it he showed the people their rites and delivered the well-known sermon. — The Farewell Pilgrimage
On the Day of Arafah, year 10, the Prophet preached to over a hundred thousand the Farewell Sermon — sanctity of blood and property, abolition of pagan usury, and kindness to women. — The Farewell Sermon at Arafat
After the first descent at Hira, revelation paused — Ibn Sa'd from Ibn Abbas favours days, not years — ending when the angel appeared seated between sky and earth and 'O you, wrapped one' came down. — The pause of revelation (Fatra)
The Sira's first Friday prayer was held in Banu Salim ibn Awf on the way to Medina — a hundred men in the mosque at the valley's floor. — The first Friday prayer
Twelve men and four women sailed to the Negus in two ships — the first hijra in Islam — because he was a just king under whom no one was wronged. — The first migration to Abyssinia
In the pilgrimage season of the twelfth year, twelve men of Yathrib pledged the Prophet at Aqaba — the pledge of the women — and he sent Mus'ab ibn Umayr with them to teach the Qur'an and Islam. — The first pledge of al-Aqaba
The revelation came to the Prophet in the cave of Hira; the very first thing revealed to him was the command to read. — The first revelation
al-Mansur chose Baghdad's site between the Tigris and Euphrates, named it the City of Peace, and summoned builders from across the realm. — The Founding of Madinat al-Salam (Baghdad)
The Prophet and his companion hid three nights in the cave of Thawr; he entered Medina on a Friday and held the first Friday prayer among the Banu Salim. — The Hijra
The Prophet and Abu Bakr left the cave with guide Ibn Urayqit along the coast, passed Umm Ma'bad's tent, and when Suraqa caught up his mare sank — they reached Quba' on Monday. — The journey from the cave of Thawr to Medina and the entry into the city
After the Ifk episode falsely accused Aisha, verses of Surah al-Nur exonerated her; the sirah sources preserve the account at length. — The Incident of the Slander (Hadith al-Ifk)
Umar ibn al-Khattab embraced Islam in year six, three days after Hamza — moved by hearing the opening of Surah Ta-Ha in his sister's home. — Umar accepts Islam
On the Night Journey, the Prophet led the prophets in prayer at al-Aqsa, then ascended through the heavens where the five daily prayers were ordained. — The Isra and Mi'raj
In Shawwal of year 10 the Prophet walked to al-Ta'if seeking Thaqif's support; its chiefs refused him, he prayed in the Rabi'a brothers' orchard, Addas embraced Islam, and jinn heard the Qur'an at Nakhlah's valley. — The Prophet's journey to al-Ta'if
After the Hudaybiyya truce the Prophet sent envoys bearing a letter sealed 'Muhammad, Messenger of God' to Khosrow, Caesar, the Negus, the Muqawqis, and the Arab chiefs of Bahrayn, Yamama and Oman. — The Letters to Rulers and Kings
The Prophet married Khadija after her trading journey to Syria; she was his first wife and he married no other until her death. — The Prophet's marriage to Khadija
The Prophet sent Mu'adh ibn Jabal to Yemen leading his envoys, counselling 'make easy, not hard; give good news, not aversion'; asked how he would judge, Mu'adh answered 'I strive my judgment' — and the Prophet approved. — The sending of Mu'adh ibn Jabal to Yemen and the Prophet's charge to him
Nizam al-Mulk finished Baghdad's Nizamiyya in 459 AH for Abu Ishaq al-Shirazi — al-Dhahabi calls it perhaps the first school built for jurists. — The Founding of the Nizamiyya in Baghdad
Sirah books tell that the arch of Khosrow's hall split the night the Prophet was born — a portent his soothsayers read as heralding prophecy. — Omens in the Persian court at the Prophet's birth
The Prophet's she-camel knelt where his mosque would stand; he bought the plot from two orphans and built it of mud-brick and palm fronds. — The building of the Prophet's Mosque
At Quba the Prophet founded the first mosque before riding to Medina on Friday; reports set his stay between four days and twenty-four nights. — The sojourn at Quba
When the Prophet was thirty-five, Quraysh rebuilt the Kaaba, and he arbitrated their dispute over placing the Black Stone with the cloak solution they accepted. — The rebuilding of the Kaaba
In 656 AH the Tatars under Hülegü entered Baghdad, moving the Abbasid caliphate from the city that had been its capital for five hundred years. — The Tatar sack of Baghdad and the killing of al-Musta'sim
The Muslims besieged Taif after Hunayn, then withdrew without taking it; Thaqif sent delegations and embraced Islam the following year, per the sirah. — The siege of Ta'if
At Hudaybiyya the Prophet agreed to a ten-year truce that looked hard on the Muslims; the Qur'an called it a manifest victory. — The Treaty of Hudaybiyya
In year nine of the Hijra, delegations from Arabia's tribes streamed into Medina to announce Islam or make pacts — hence its name, the Year of Delegations. — The Year of Delegations
The Prophet Muhammad was born in Mecca in the Year of the Elephant, which scholarship places around 570–571 CE, some forty years before his mission began. — The Year of the Elephant and the Prophet's birth
Banu Hashim, the Prophet's own clan in Quraysh, sheltered him — believer and non-believer alike — through the boycott years; Sahih Muslim records his choosing them. — Banu Hashim
The Jahmiyya, a kalam school named for Jahm, took positions on the Qur'an and the attributes; Ibn Badran relays their doctrines as the scholars transmitted them. — Jahmiyya
The Murji'a hold faith is word without deed, neither increasing nor decreasing; Ahmad Amin says irja' began simply in Umayyad times then grew philosophical under the Abbasids. — Murji'a
Al-Mas'udi counts five principles uniting the Mu'tazila: divine unity, justice, promise and threat, the rank between two ranks, and enjoining good and forbidding wrong. — Mu'tazila
The Qadariyya are named for holding that servants possess power and will over their own deeds. — Qadariyya
Quraysh kept the Kaaba and Mecca's trade; its leaders fought the call for a decade, yet after 630 the tribe became the core of the new community. — Quraysh
Arabic, the language of Qur'an and prayer, spread with the conquests until it was a language of learning, faith and letters from al-Andalus to Persia. — Arabic
Urdu arose in the sultanate camps of north India and became the literary language of South Asian Muslims — the language of Ghalib's and Iqbal's verse. — Urdu
A brass astrolabe made in 690 AH by the Rasulid sultan of Yemen Umar ibn Yusuf himself — the oldest surviving astrolabe made by a known king. — Astrolabe of Umar ibn Yusuf
The Crusades age saw Salah al-Din's Ayyubid state, then Mamluk rule over Egypt and Syria until the Ottoman conquest. — The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks
The 'Gunpowder Empires' were three long-lived contemporary powers — Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal India — famed for their courts and arts. — The Gunpowder Empires
Before the revelation, Arabia was a land of trading cities, tribes and poetry, with Jewish, Christian and pagan communities. — Pre-Islamic Arabia
The Prophetic Era spans the call in Mecca and Medina — from the first revelation in 610 CE to the Prophet's death in 632. — The Prophetic Era
Al-Abbas, the Prophet's uncle, was taken with the Meccans at Badr and later embraced Islam; from his line rose the Abbasid caliphate. — al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib
Under the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan the state settled after civil strife; Tabari dates his death to 86 AH. — Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan
Abd al-Muttalib, the Prophet's grandfather and guardian and a leading Quraysh elder, is remembered for digging the Zamzam well and leading Mecca in Abraha's year. — Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim
Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf is one of the eight of the first rank; he entered Islam at Abu Bakr al-Siddiq's call in the secret years of the mission at Mecca. — Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf
Abd al-Rahman al-Nasir, the Marwanid Umayyad emir of al-Andalus — when the community's affairs weakened, his resolve rose: he took the titles Commander of the Faithful and al-Nasir li-Din Allah and mastered most of al-Andalus. — Abd al-Rahman al-Nasir li-Din Allah al-Umawi
Al-Ma'mun was pledged at Baghdad after his brother al-Amin was deposed in 196 AH and died in 218; al-Tabari preserves the reports that fixed his name in learning and letters. — Abd Allah al-Ma'mun ibn Harun al-Rashid
Ibn Abbas was thirteen when the Prophet died, yet he became the next generation's authority on commentary, called the 'interpreter of the Qur'an'. — Abdullah ibn Abbas
Abdullah, the Prophet's father, was Abd al-Muttalib's dearest son — the one the lots singled out for sacrifice, then ransomed with a hundred camels, as the sirah tells. — Abdullah ibn Abd al-Muttalib
Abd Allah ibn Abi Bakr — his sister Aisha called him 'a quick, sharp young man' — slept at the cave and slipped out before dawn to blend with Quraysh, carrying back every plot he heard by night. — Abdullah ibn Abi Bakr
Abd Allah ibn Amr ibn Haram, lord of Banu Salama and Jabir's father, witnessed the second pledge of Aqaba and Badr, and fell at Uhud — the first Muslim killed there. — Abdullah ibn Amr ibn Haram
Abd Allah ibn Atik, a Companion of Banu Salama who spoke the Jewish tongue, led the Prophet's Khaybar raid against Abu Rafi'; he struck him with his sword and broke his leg on the way back. — Abdullah ibn Atik
Abd Allah ibn Jud'an, the great shaykh of Taym ibn Murra and lord of honour — in his house the parties of the Fudul pact gathered and covenanted to back the wronged in Mecca. — Abdullah ibn Jud'an
Ibn Mas'ud, a Meccan shepherd among the first Muslims, is remembered by the tradition as the first to recite the Qur'an aloud in Mecca — and at Kufa he became its first generation's teacher. — Abdullah ibn Mas'ud
Abd Allah, the Prophet's son by Khadija bint Khuwaylid, was called al-Tayyib and al-Tahir; he died small in Mecca — none of the Prophet's sons outlived childhood. — Abdullah ibn Muhammad
Abd Allah ibn Salam, a learned rabbi of Banu Qaynuqa', tested the Prophet, bore witness to his truth and entered Islam — the most famous Jewish convert of Medina, counted by Sunni tradition among those promised Paradise. — Abdullah ibn Salam
Ibn Umar was presented at Badr and Uhud and turned back for his youth; he joined at the Trench and became one of the great hadith narrators. — Abdullah ibn Umar ibn al-Khattab
Abraha, the Abyssinian viceroy who made himself master of Yemen, built Sana'a's great church and marched on Mecca with an elephant — the leader of the Year of the Elephant that Surat al-Fil recalls. — Abraha
Abu al-Abbas al-Saffah was pledged the caliphate in Rabi' II of 132 AH — the first of the Abbasid caliphs — and al-Tabari records his death in 136. — Abu al-Abbas al-Saffah
Abu al-As ibn al-Rabi', husband of the Prophet's eldest daughter Zaynab, was called 'the Trustworthy'; captured at Badr, ransomed by Zaynab, he later embraced Islam and the Prophet restored his daughter to him. — Abu al-As ibn al-Rabi'
Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali, the linguist credited with dotting the mushaf and founding grammar; Ibn al-Nadim says most scholars held grammar was taken from him — and that he took it from Ali ibn Abi Talib. — Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali, Zalim ibn Amr
Abu al-Atahiyya, Isma'il ibn al-Qasim the jar-seller, was of the easiest speech and surest metre among poets; his love-verses to Utba, al-Khayzuran's maid, ran on until al-Mahdi had him flogged. — Abu'l-'Atahiyya
Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, of Banu Najjar, was first to host the Prophet on his arrival as an emigrant, keeping him in his house until the Prophet's own quarters were built. — Abu Ayyub al-Ansari
Abu Bakr accompanied the Prophet in the Hijra and was the first to lead the community after him; biographies give him the titles Atiq and al-Siddiq. — Abu Bakr al-Siddiq
Abu Hurayra narrated about five thousand hadiths in only three years of companionship. — Abu Hurayra
Abu Musa reached the Prophet at Khaybar on the two ships returning from Abyssinia; Umar later appointed him over Basra and Kufa. — Abu Musa al-Ashari
Abu Muslim entered Merv in Jumada II of 130 AH and took its pledge for the Abbasids; killed in 137, he was the man whose Khurasan call overturned the state. — Abu Muslim al-Khurasani
Abu Salama was among the first Muslims of the secret call and the Prophet's foster-kin, suckled by Thuwayba; per al-Mas'udi he turned to Abu Talib's family after Ibrahim the Imam was killed. — Abu Salama (Abdullah ibn Abd al-Asad)
Abu Sufyan ibn al-Harith, the Prophet's cousin and foster-brother, was suckled beside him among Banu Sa'd at Halima's and carried in her arms; after an early hostility he became one of Islam's poets. — Abu Sufyan ibn al-Harith
Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, Mecca's leader through the years of open war — its commander at Uhud and the Trench — entered Islam on the day of the Conquest, died a Muslim, and fathered the first Umayyad caliph. — Abu Sufyan ibn Harb
Abu Talha al-Ansari, Zayd ibn Sahl, husband of Umm Sulaym, witnessed Aqaba and Badr and shot arrows before the Prophet at Uhud; Ibn Hajar ranks him among the virtuous companions. — Abu Talha al-Ansari
Abu Talib took charge of the Prophet after his grandfather Abd al-Muttalib, leading Banu Hashim until his death around the tenth year of the mission, as the sirah relates. — Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib
For al-Mu'tasim's taking of Amorium in 223 AH Abu Tammam spoke his famous ode 'the sword brings truer news than books' — though the astrologers had judged the campaign's omen ill. — Abu Tammam al-Ta'i
Abu Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Sallam was born in Herat to a Byzantine father; he sought knowledge under Isma'il ibn Ja'far, Sharik, Sufyan ibn Uyayna and others until he stood among the imams of language and hadith. — Abu Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Sallam
The Prophet called Abu Ubayda the trustworthy one of this community; he led armies in Syria at the height of the conquests before the Amwas plague took him. — Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah
Abu Ya'qub Yusuf ibn Abd al-Mu'min, the Almohad Commander of the Faithful, deposed his brother and heir Abu Abd Allah in Sha'ban of 558 AH and held the rule alone. — Abu Ya'qub Yusuf ibn Abd al-Mu'min
Abu Yazid Makhlad ibn Kaydad the Berber — 'the man of the donkey' — rose against the Ubaydi Fatimids in the Maghreb; his followers swelled and besieged al-Qa'im in al-Mahdiyya before the wheel turned on him. — Abu Yazid Makhlad
Abu al-A'la Maududi (1903–1979), the Pakistani thinker born in Aurangabad, founded the Jamaat-e-Islami in 1941, called for a state on the sovereignty of the sharia — and was jailed, even sentenced to death. — Abul A'la Maududi
In al-Bukhari, God created Adam sixty cubits tall and bade him greet the angels — that greeting became his and his descendants' greeting. — Adam
Adnan is the forefather where the prophetic lineage stops — the twenty-first in al-Mubarakfuri's chain; it is reported that the Prophet, reaching Adnan in a lineage, would halt and say 'the genealogists lie'. — Adnan
Adud al-Dawla, the greatest of the Buyid sultans, entered Baghdad in 364 AH to back Izz al-Dawla and ended master of it — overcoming them all while the caliph al-Ta'i' draped him in the sultanate's robes and jewelled crown. — Adud al-Dawla Fanakhusraw ibn Rukn al-Dawla
Al-Mas'udi's Plato: on the gate of the Sabians' assembly at Harran is inscribed 'whoever knows himself is deified' — and man 'a heavenly plant like an upturned tree, rooted in the sky, branches in earth'. — Plato (Aflatun)
The Abbasid commander al-Afshin fought Babak al-Khurrami until he broke him — his men's clash with Babak's captain Adhin is dated 222 AH — and met the Byzantine king in battle in 223. — al-Afshin
Ahmad Dahlan, the Indonesian reformer born Muhammad Darwis in Yogyakarta, made the hajj and studied years in Mecca, then founded the Muhammadiyah in 1912 — now among Indonesia's largest Muslim organisations. — Ahmad Dahlan
Ahmad ibn Tulun, to whom Egypt fell and who ramified the Tulunid state there — when al-Mu'tazz sent him word to kill al-Musta'in he answered, per al-Suyuti, 'By God, I will not kill the sons of caliphs'. — Ahmad ibn Tulun
Ahmad Raza Khan Barelvi (1856–1921), Hanafi jurist and Qadiri Sufi, founded South Asia's Barelvi movement; his works include the Fatawa Ridawiyya and the Urdu Qur'an rendering Kanz al-Iman. — Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi
Ahmed Zewail, the Egyptian chemist who founded femtochemistry — 'the father of femtochemistry' — took the 1999 Nobel in chemistry alone, the first Egyptian and Arab to win one in the sciences. — Ahmed Zewail
More than two thousand hadiths are narrated from Aisha; the Companions asked her about the finest points of the faith. — Aisha bint Abi Bakr
Aisha al-Taymur (1840–1902), the Egyptian poet who composed in Arabic, Turkish and Persian, counts among the pioneers of modern Arab women's writing; she learned at home on her father's encouragement despite her mother's objection. — Aisha Taymur
al-Bukhari chose his Sahih from some six hundred thousand hadiths gathered in sixteen years of travel, admitting only what met his condition. — Al Bukhari
Yahya ibn al-Husayn al-Rassi, called al-Hadi, was the first to raise his own call at Sa'da and was pledged there as the Zaydis' imam — a mujtahid in the rulings with his own fiqh opinion. — Yahya al-Hadi al-Rassi
Al-Harith ibn Abd al-Muttalib is one of the ten sons of Abd al-Muttalib in al-Raheeq's count — the Prophet's uncle; the record adds that Abu Talib most resembled the Prophet in build and character. — al-Harith ibn Abd al-Muttalib
Al-Hasan al-Basri, son of Yasar whose name was Fayruz, was taken among the captives of Maysan and came to al-Rabi' bint al-Nadr, Anas's aunt, who freed him — and he grew into one of the most eminent of the Successors. — Abu al-Hasan al-Basri
Al-Jahiz composed a book on the imamate of the Abbasids' line, pleading the Rawandiyya's case and recounting the story of Fadak — though, as he himself notes, that was neither his creed nor his belief. — al-Jahiz
Al-Jarud al-Abdi, a Christian lord of Abd al-Qays, came in his people's delegation and asked the Prophet 'will you warrant my faith if I leave it for yours?' — 'Yes', he said, and al-Jarud and his companions entered Islam. — al-Jarud al-Abdi
Al-Kahina, queen of the Berbers, defeated Hassan ibn al-Nu'man in a first campaign — he fell back on palaces near Barqa still called 'Hassan's palaces' — then he campaigned again and she was killed. — Al-Kahina, Queen of the Berbers
Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi, of Oman's Azd raised in Basra, is among the greatest scholars of Arabic — probably the inventor of many of its grammatical and prosodic concepts. — Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi
Al-Khayzuran, mother of caliphs, ordered the digging of the stream called al-Rayyan — her agent parcelled it into sections, each dug by a crew; it is said no other woman bore two caliphs. — al-Khayzuran, Mother of the Caliphs
Algebra comes from al-Khwarizmi's book al-Jabr, and algorithm from the Latin form of his name, Algoritmi. — al-Khwarizmi
Al-Kisa'i, Ali ibn Hamza, was shaykh of Kufa's recitation and grammar and tutor to al-Hadi, al-Amin and al-Rashid; he died at Rayy in 189 AH in al-Rashid's company. — al-Kisa'i the Grammarian
Al-Mada'ini is al-Baladhuri's chronicler of reports; from Muslima ibn Muharib he relates Khalid ibn Yazid's advice to Abd al-Malik — ban the Byzantines' dinars and bar their papyrus from the realm. — al-Mada'ini
Al-Mahdi, third Abbasid caliph — per al-Baladhuri he sent his son Harun against Byzantine lands in 163 AH; Harun besieged Dimalu and settled its people in Baghdad on his decree. — Muhammad al-Mahdi
Al-Malik al-Adil, Saladin's brother: when al-Aziz died in Egypt in 595 AH and his son al-Mansur was set up, al-Adil leapt in, took the realm, then seated his own son al-Kamil there. — al-Malik al-Adil Sayf al-Din Abu Bakr ibn Ayyub
Al-Malik al-Kamil was seated in Egypt by his father al-Adil; when the Franks took Damietta in 616 AH he built a city at the two branches' fork and stood fast until they withdrew. — al-Malik al-Kamil Muhammad ibn al-Adil ibn Ayyub
Al-Malik al-Salih Ayyub, the Ayyubid sultan of Egypt, built the madrasa between the two palaces and the Roda citadel in 639 AH; he died on the night of mid-Sha'ban. — al-Malik al-Salih Najm al-Din Ayyub ibn al-Kamil
Al-Mansur, second Abbasid caliph — per al-Baladhuri he levied on Cyprus's people the thousand dinars Abd al-Malik had added, saying 'we are worthier of our due'. — Abu Ja'far al-Mansur
Al-Maqrizi, Taqi al-Din Ahmad ibn Ali, the historian of the Khitat — the book of lessons and admonition — died in the days of the second al-Mustakfi's caliphate. — al-Taqi al-Maqrizi
Al-Mawardi, Abu al-Hasan the Basran Shafi'i who died in 450 AH, stood among the schoolmasters of Shafi'i fiqh, judged in many lands, and wrote the 'Ordinances of Government'. — al-Mawardi
Al-Miqdad ibn Amr, the Bahranian ally adopted by al-Aswad ibn Abd Yaghuth, was among the earliest into Islam; at Badr he was one of the army's two horsemen and the left wing's commander. — al-Miqdad ibn Amr
Al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba the Thaqafi, known for his wit, led the strike on al-Lat's gate when it was razed in year 9 — he had tumbled off it in jest, and the people of al-Ta'if panicked thinking him dead. — al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba
Al-Mu'izz ibn Badis, the Zirid lord of the Maghreb, cut the khutba for the Ubaydi in 443 AH and preached it for the Abbasids instead — per Ibn Khaldun he had broken with Rafidi doctrine. — al-Mu'izz ibn Badis, lord of the Maghrib
Al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah, fourth Ubaydi ruler, sent his freedman Jawhar the commander with a hundred thousand horsemen; he took Egypt, laid out al-Qahira and built the emir's palace. — al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah Ma'add ibn al-Mansur
Al-Mukhtar ibn Abi Ubayd al-Thaqafi told Ibn al-Zubayr, per al-Mas'udi: 'I know a people — had they a man of gentleness and learning he could draw you a mighty army out of them'. — al-Mukhtar ibn Abi Ubayd
Al-Muktafi bi'llah, the Abbasid caliph whose reign lasted six years and nineteen days, died in 295 AH and was buried in the house of Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn Tahir. — al-Muktafi bi-Allah
Al-Mundhir ibn Ma' al-Sama, king of al-Hira, was deposed by Qubadh because his father had chosen the Mazdakite creed; al-Harith al-Kindi replaced him — then Anushirwan restored him after Mazdak was killed. — al-Mundhir ibn Maʾ al-Samaʾ
Al-Muqtadi bi'llah was pledged the caliphate at nineteen; his father had died in al-Qa'im's lifetime while he was still in the womb — born six months after his father's death. — al-Muqtadi bi-Amr Allah Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn al-Qa'im
Al-Shayma, the Prophet's foster-sister, was caught among the captives of Hunayn and made herself known to him; he honoured her, spread his cloak and sat her on it, then returned her to her people. — al-Shayma bint al-Harith al-Sa'diyya
Al-Sirafi, the grammarian Abu Sa'id, commented on Sibawayhi's Book with an insight in composition no fellow-worker in the field had shown — and wrote further works in grammar and language. — Abu Sa'id al-Sirafi
Al-Suyuti, Jalal al-Din (849–911 AH), Egypt's prolific hafiz; among his works is the 'History of the Caliphs', which carried the caliphs' biographies down to his own age. — Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti
Al-Tabari, Ibn Jarir, was born at Amul in 224 AH and died in 310; he took hadith from the masters of his time and authored the History and the Tafsir until he stood as the imam of his age. — al-Tabari
Al-Ta'i' bi'llah, son of al-Muti', was pledged when his father was stricken — on the counsel of Sabuktakin, Izz al-Dawla's chamberlain — and the matter was settled for him on the thirteenth of Dhu al-Qa'da, 363 AH. — al-Ta'i' li-Llah Abd al-Karim ibn al-Muti'
Al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik, the Umayyad caliph who died in 96 AH — al-Tabari recalls the building of mosques in his record, and in his reign Musa ibn Nusayr opened al-Andalus. — al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik
Al-Walid ibn al-Mughira, great shaykh of Banu Makhzum and Khalid's father — it was his rhetorical judgements that shaped the names Mecca first gave the Prophet's recitation. — al-Walid ibn al-Mughira
Al-Walid ibn Uqba, Uthman's maternal half-brother, embraced Islam at the Conquest; the Prophet sent him to Banu al-Mustaliq as alms-collector, and Uthman appointed him over Kufa in 25 AH. — al-Walid ibn Uqba ibn Abi Mu'ayt
Al-Walid ibn Yazid, the eleventh Umayyad caliph, succeeded Hisham in 126 AH by his bequest; Ahmad's Musnad carries the report naming a Walid 'harder on this community than Pharaoh on his people'. — al-Walid ibn Yazid ibn Abd al-Malik
Al-Waqidi, Muhammad ibn Amr, author of the Sira and the Maghazi — weakened as a hadith man — died in 209 AH at seventy-seven; of his lore is the letter he wrote a friend in hardship, who sent him relief. — al-Waqidi
Al-Wathiq, Harun son of al-Mu'tasim, ninth Abbasid caliph — the Jarajima of Antioch petitioned him when some officials bound them to a head tax though theirs was a covenant of service, not tribute. — al-Wathiq
Al-Zamakhshari, imam of tafsir, grammar and eloquence, bore his Mu'tazili creed openly — he'd tell the doorkeeper 'tell them Abu al-Qasim the Mu'tazili is at the door'; he settled by Mecca a while. — الزمخشري
Al-Zubayr ibn Abd al-Muttalib, one of the ten sons of Abd al-Muttalib in al-Raheeq's count and the Prophet's uncle, returns in the book at the pact of the Fudul. — al-Zubayr ibn Abd al-Muttalib
Ali bin Said al-Busaidi, the fourth sultan of Zanzibar, ruled from 1890 until his death in 1893, through years of growing European pressure on the islands. — Ali bin Said of Zanzibar
Ali Dinar, the last Keira sultan of Darfur (d. 1916), took the throne in 1891, recovered his independent sultanate after Omdurman, and ruled eighteen years. — Ali Dinar
Ali Gomaa, the Shafi'i jurist and Egypt's eighteenth Grand Mufti (2003–2013), a specialist in usul al-fiqh and al-Azhar professor with a broad public presence through fatwa and media. — Ali Gomaa
Ali was among the first to embrace Islam and the fourth caliph; allegiance came to him in Medina in 35 AH, and he was killed in Kufa in 40 AH at sixty-three. — Ali ibn Abi Talib
Ali ibn Isa, the Abbasid vizier famed for fiscal management, held the vizierate twice and reformed the state's land tax under al-Muqtadir, as Ibn al-Athir records. — علي بن عيسى الوزير
Ali Javan, an Iranian-American physicist born in Tehran in 1926, was the first to propose the gas laser and helped develop it. — Ali Javan
Ali Zayn al-Abidin, son of al-Husayn, called al-Sajjad — when Medina's people were spared at al-Harra he pledged them as Yazid's bondsmen, and they found him clinging to the grave in prayer. — 'Ali ibn al-Husayn, al-Sajjad
Alija Izetbegovic, Bosnian politician and philosopher (b. 1925), led Bosnia and Herzegovina as president through its war and signed the Dayton accord; his book is 'Islam Between East and West'. — Alija Izetbegović
Altaf Hussain Hali, the Urdu poet of Panipat (1837–1914) bound to Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan's Aligarh movement, composed the Musaddas — the ode of Islam's ebb and flow. — Altaf Hussain Hali
Amadou Bamba, the Senegalese Sufi shaykh (1853–1927), founded the Muridiyya order and the city of Touba, teaching that salvation lies in submission to God and constant work. — Amadou Bamba
Amadou Hampâté Bâ, the Fulani Malian writer and ethnographer born at Bandiagara in 1901, schooled under the Tijani shaykh Tierno Bokar, spent his life gathering the oral tradition. — Amadou Hampâté Bâ
Amina bint Wahb, the Prophet's mother from Banu Zuhra, took her orphaned son to Yathrib to visit his father's grave and died at al-Abwa on the way back. — Amina bint Wahb
Amir ibn Fuhayra, Abu Bakr's freedman, grazed the sheep that brought the two their milk and wiped out Ibn Abi Bakr's tracks behind them — and it was he who wrote the letter of safety for Suraqa. — Amir ibn Fuhayra
Ammar ibn Yasir, son of Sumayya, a Makhzum ally, was tortured with his parents while the Prophet promised them Paradise; he is counted among the Abyssinia emigrants and fell at Siffin in Ali's army. — Ammar ibn Yasir
Amr ibn Adi was the first Lakhmid king over al-Hira, installed after Jadhima's death under Khusraw Sabur; the Lakhmid kings held it in succession until the Persians appointed their own governor. — Amr ibn Adi ibn Nasr al-Lakhmi
Amr ibn al-As, a Meccan diplomat who embraced Islam just before the opening of Mecca, became the commander who won Egypt and Mu'awiya's ally in the first civil war. — Amr ibn al-As
Amr al-Jurhumi, when Jurhum were driven from Mecca, carried off the Kaaba's gazelles and the Cornerstone and buried them in Zamzam, then led his people to Yemen mourning Mecca in his famous verses. — Amr ibn al-Harith al-Jurhumi
Amr ibn Sa'id ibn al-As, the Companion who emigrated to Abyssinia with his wife Fatima bint Safwan in the two ships, and was killed at Ajnadin in Abu Bakr's caliphate. — Amr ibn Sa'id ibn al-As
Amr ibn Umayya al-Damri, the scout of Banu Damra, witnessed the tragedy of Bi'r Ma'una; freed by Amir ibn al-Tufayl for a vow, he bore the dread news to the Prophet. — Amr ibn Umayya al-Damri
Amr Khaled, an Egyptian preacher born in Alexandria in 1967, is known for his television programmes and his development and charity projects across the Arab world. — Amr Khaled
Anas ibn Malik served the Prophet from age ten when he arrived in Medina; he settled in Basra after the conquests and was the last Companion to die there. — Anas ibn Malik
Arwa bint Abd al-Muttalib, the Prophet's aunt and mother of Tulayb to Umayr ibn Wahb: Ibn Ishaq says only Safiyya among the aunts embraced Islam, while Ibn Hajar follows up with Arwa's own story of accepting Islam. — Arwa bint Abd al-Muttalib
Asma bint Abi Bakr, 'she of the two waist-bands', carried provisions to the Prophet and her father in the cave, splitting her girdle to tie food and water. — Asma bint Abi Bakr
Atika bint Abd al-Muttalib, the Prophet's aunt and wife of Abu Umayya, Umm Salama's father; she is remembered for a dream three nights before Badr — her own Islam is debated. — Atika bint Abd al-Muttalib
Bahira, a Christian monk at Busra in Syria, recognized the boy Muhammad by the signs of prophecy when Abu Talib's caravan stopped there, the sirah relates. — Bahira the monk
Bilal ibn Rabah, born an Abyssinian slave in Mecca, was among the earliest Muslims; Abu Bakr freed him and tradition names him Islam's first muezzin. — Bilal ibn Rabah
Bukhtanasar, the king of Babylon, raided the Arabs at Dhat Irq; at his second campaign around 587 BCE the sons of Adnan scattered toward Yemen, and the prophet Jeremiah led Ma'add to Syria. — Nebuchadnezzar (Bukhtanasar)
Dawud ibn Ali al-Isbahani was the first to employ the literalist method — holding to the Book and the Sunna and dropping all opinion and analogy beside them; he died in Baghdad. — Dawud ibn Ali al-Isbahani
Dhu al-Kifl is named in the Qur'an among the patient and among the righteous; Ibn Kathir counts him among the prophets, and al-Tha'labi makes him Bishr son of Ayyub. — Dhu'l-Kifl
Dhu Nuwas, Himyar's last king before the second Abyssinian occupation, embraced Judaism and drove his campaign on Najran's Christians, digging them the trench of fire — the story the Qur'an recalls as the People of the Trench. — Dhu Nuwas (Yusuf Asʾar Yathʾar)
Dihya al-Kalbi, a noble Companion of Kalb's lords and among the most handsome of men, was the Prophet's chosen envoy bearing his letter to Heraclius, the Romans' Caesar — and he witnessed al-Yarmuk. — Dihya al-Kalbi
Dimam ibn Tha'laba, the envoy of Banu Sa'd ibn Bakr: a Bedouin who asked 'which of you is the son of Abd al-Muttalib?' then embraced Islam — and as he left, the Prophet said 'give the man understanding'. — Dimam ibn Tha'laba
Dirar ibn Abd al-Muttalib, one of the ten sons of Abd al-Muttalib in al-Raheeq's count, was the Prophet's uncle — the book names him in its fifth chapter. — Dirar ibn Abd al-Muttalib
Fairuz, the Lebanese singer born Nouhad Haddad in Beirut — Lebanon's most revered voice, who with the Rahbani brothers shaped a new form for the Arabic song. — Fairuz
Al-Farazdaq, Hammam ibn Ghalib the poet — per al-Baladhuri he praised the Mubarak canal dug by al-Qasri in the line 'al-Mubarak, like its name, waters river upon river'. — al-Farazdaq
Farouk El-Baz, an Egyptian geologist born in Zagazig in 1938, worked with NASA on the scientific planning of the Apollo missions to the Moon. — Farouk El-Baz
Farwa ibn Amr al-Judhami, the Byzantines' governor over Ma'an, embraced Islam after Mu'ta and gifted the Prophet a white mule; the Byzantines jailed him and offered apostasy or death — he chose death and was crucified at Afra'. — Farwa ibn Amr al-Judhami
Fatima was the youngest daughter of the Prophet and Khadija, mother of al-Hasan and al-Husayn, and a central figure of the Prophet's household for Sunnis and Shia alike. — Fatima bint Muhammad
Fatima bint al-Khattab, Umar's sister and Sa'id ibn Zayd's wife, was among the first Muslim women of Mecca's secret-call years — in her house Umar heard the Qur'an and entered Islam. — Fatima bint al-Khattab
Fatima bint Amr, mother of the Prophet's father Abd Allah — his grandmother on the Makhzum side; through her Abd Allah's uncles were Makhzumis, the men who shielded him from slaughter. — Fatima bint Amr al-Makhzumiyya
Fatma Aliye Topuz (1862–1936), daughter of the jurist-historian Ahmet Cevdet Pasha, is counted by her five novels the first woman novelist of Turkish and of the Islamic world. — Fatma Aliye Topuz
Fawzia Koofi, the Afghan politician born in Badakhshan in 1975, served UNICEF as a child-protection officer, won a seat in the lower house in 2005 — and became its first woman speaker. — Fawzia Koofi
Fazlur Rahman Khan, the Bangladeshi engineer who invented the tubular structural systems under modern skyscrapers — the Sears Tower in Chicago among his works. — Fazlur Rahman Khan
Fehmida Mirza, the Pakistani physician-politician born in Karachi in 1956, was elected five times for Badin in Sindh — and in 2008 became Pakistan's first woman speaker of the National Assembly. — Fehmida Mirza
Halima al-Sa'diyya, a Bedouin woman of Banu Sa'd, nursed the infant Prophet in the desert for several years, as Meccans customarily sent their children to wet-nurses. — Halima al-Sa'diyya
Hamza, the Prophet's uncle and one of Islam's fiercest early defenders, is remembered in tradition as the chief of martyrs for his death at Uhud. — Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib
Al-Hasan ibn Ali, the Prophet's elder grandson, held the caliphate briefly in 661 CE before ceding it to Mu'awiya to spare the community war. — Hasan ibn Ali
Hassan ibn Thabit, poet of the Ansar who defended the Prophet with verse; the Prophet set up a pulpit for him in the mosque to recite from. — Hassan ibn Thabit
Hind bint Utba, Mu'awiya's mother, stands in the sirah as the clearest face of Meccan opposition at Uhud; she embraced Islam on the day of the conquest. — Hind bint Utba
Hudhayfa ibn al-Yaman, keeper of the Prophet's secret list of hypocrites, was sent into enemy lines on the bitter night of the Trench to bring back word. — Hudhayfa ibn al-Yaman
Al-Husayn ibn Ali, the Prophet's younger grandson through his daughter Fatima, declined allegiance to Yazid I before meeting his death at Karbala in 680 CE. — Husayn ibn Ali
Ibn al-Haytham, a fifth-century-AH scholar of mathematics and physics, wrote the Book of Optics on the science of vision. — Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen)
Ibn Battuta of Tangier roamed the lands of the Muslim world; his Rihla preserves a record of its peoples and customs in the fourteenth century. — Ibn Battuta, Muhammad ibn Abd Allah
Ibn Muqla, the Abbasid vizier and master calligrapher, held the vizierate in the fourth Hijri century and is credited with codifying the proportioned script. — ابن مقلة الوزير
At sixteen Ibn Sina treated the Samanid prince Nuh ibn Mansur, who opened the palace library to him; he read it all. — Ibn Sina (Avicenna)
Ibrahim journeyed from Ur to Harran to Palestine, settled Hagar and Ismail in Mecca's valley, and raised the Kaaba's foundations with his son. — Ibrahim (Abraham)
Isa ibn Maryam is one of the three who spoke in the cradle in al-Bukhari; the Prophet said: I am the closest of people to Isa ibn Maryam in this world and the next. — Isa ibn Maryam (Jesus)
Juwayriya bint al-Harith, a Mother of the Believers and daughter of Banu'l-Mustaliq's chief; her marriage led the Muslims to free their captives of her tribe in honor. — Juwayriya bint al-Harith
Khadija was a successful Meccan merchant, the Prophet's first wife, and by the tradition's account the very first to believe in his message when he returned from the cave of Hira. — Khadija bint Khuwaylid
Khalid led Mecca's cavalry at Uhud against the Muslims, then converted and commanded Muslim armies at Mu'ta, in the Ridda wars and at Yarmuk. — Khalid ibn al-Walid
Labid ibn Rabi'a, the celebrated Mukhadram poet of Banu Kilab, versified through the jahiliyya then embraced Islam; the truest word a poet spoke is said to be Labid's — he settled in Kufa until death. — Labid ibn Rabi'a
Mahershala Ali, an American actor born in Oakland in 1974, became the first Muslim actor to win an Oscar, for his role in 'Moonlight'. — Mahershala Ali
Malik was born in Medina, learned from its scholars and taught there until his death in 179 AH; the Maliki school carries his name. — Malik ibn Anas
Marwan ibn Muhammad, the last Umayyad caliph, saw his army broken at the Zab in 132 AH, when the caliphate passed to the Abbasids, as Tabari records. — مروان بن محمد بن مروان
Maymuna bint al-Harith, Mother of the Believers and Umm al-Fadl's sister: her name was Barra until the Prophet renamed her; he married her at the compensatory umrah in year 7 — the last wife he wed and consummated. — Maymuna bint al-Harith
Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan kept the Prophet's company and wrote for him; Umar appointed him over Syria after his brother Yazid, and the people united under him in the Year of Unity — some forty years governing Syria. — Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan
Muhammad was born in Mecca around 570 CE, received the revelation in 610, and emigrated to Medina where the first Muslim community was formed. — Muhammad
Muhammad Mustafa al-Maraghi twice headed al-Azhar between 1928 and 1945, after serving as chief qadi in Sudan — a leading reform scholar of his age. — Muhammad Mustafa al-Maraghi
Al-Bukhari tells of the stone that ran off with Musa's garment until God cleared him before his people, and of his journey with al-Khidr on Ibn Abbas's tongue. — Musa
In al-Bukhari's long hadith of intercession, Noah is the first messenger to earth's people; mankind comes to him first and he sends them on to Ibrahim. — Nuh (Noah)
Nuriddin Khaliqnazar, born 1968 in Asaka, Andijan, has been Grand Mufti of Uzbekistan since 2021, heading the country's Muslim religious board. — Nuriddin Khaliqnazar
Rana Dajani, a Jordanian molecular biologist and professor at the Hashemite University, researches Circassian and Chechen genetics in Jordan and the ethics of genomic research. — Rana Dajani
Ruqayya, daughter of the Prophet and wife of Uthman, emigrated with him to Abyssinia then Medina, where she died the day the bearer returned from Badr. — Ruqayya bint Muhammad
Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, among the earliest Muslims, was the commander who broke the Sasanian army at al-Qadisiyya around 636 CE and founded the city of Kufa. — Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas
Sa'd ibn Mu'adh, chief of the Aws and the Ansar's standard-bearer at Badr, pledged on their behalf to fight beyond their homes in the pre-battle council. — Sa'd ibn Mu'adh
Sawda bint Zam'a, a Mother of the Believers, an early convert who emigrated to Abyssinia — the first woman the Prophet married after Khadija's death in year ten. — Sawda bint Zam'a
Allegiance came to Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz after Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik's death; al-Tabari preserves the account of how the succession reached him. — Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz
In Umar's ten years the community conquered Syria, Egypt and most of the Sasanian empire; Sunni memory calls him al-Faruq. — Umar ibn al-Khattab
Under Uthman the Qur'an was gathered into a single codex; he married two of the Prophet's daughters in succession, so he was called Dhu al-Nurayn. — Uthman ibn Affan
Yazid ibn Abd al-Malik, the ninth Umayyad caliph, succeeded in 101 AH by his brother Sulayman's appointment after Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz. — يزيد بن عبد الملك
Yusuf ibn Umar al-Thaqafi, al-Hajjaj's cousin, was Hisham's governor over Iraq; al-Baladhuri names the Yusuf market at al-Hira after him. — Yusuf ibn Umar al-Thaqafi
Zayd ibn Haritha, the Prophet's freedman once adopted by him, is the only Companion named in the Qur'an, and led the Mu'ta expedition. — Zayd ibn Haritha
Zaynab, the Prophet's eldest daughter and the first of them to wed, sheltered her husband Abu'l-As in Medina, and the Prophet restored her to him after his Islam. — Zaynab bint Muhammad
Ziryab, pupil of Ibrahim al-Mawsili, reached al-Andalus in 206 AH; the amir rode out to receive him, and he bequeathed it the craft of song. — زرياب
Ziya Gökalp, the Turkish thinker (1876–1924), was the chief theorist of Turkish nationalism, author of 'Principles of Turkism' and the Turkify-Islamize-Modernize formula. — Ziya Gökalp
The kingdom of Aksum across the Red Sea occupied Yemen twice and mounted Abraha's elephant campaign, then became the refuge of the Muslims' first emigration to the Negus. — Abyssinia (Aksum)
Al-Baladhuri dates Tariq ibn Ziyad's expedition into al-Andalus to 92 AH; he took it after its people fought him. — al-Andalus
The Ubaydi (Fatimid) builders began Cairo's al-Azhar mosque in 359 AH and finished in 361; it grew into one of the Islamic world's oldest seats of learning. — al-Azhar Mosque
The Muslims named it al-Fustat from 'the people's pavilion' — their gathering place; al-Muqaddasi around 375 AH saw houses of four or five floors, each sheltering some two hundred souls. — Al-Fustat
Bulkin ibn Ziri founded Algiers on his father's orders in the Ubaydi (Fatimid) days at Kairouan; it later became the capital of naval jihad in the sixteenth century. — Algiers
Baghdad, the City of Peace, was the widest of the world's cities in the third Hijri century; geographers counted its people in the hundreds of thousands. — Baghdad
Basra began as a Muslim garrison town about 636 CE and grew into a centre of grammar, theology and trade. — Basra
Bukhara, a Silk Road city that became a centre of learning under the Samanids and the birthplace of Ibn Sina — its queen made peace with Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad for a million. — Bukhara
The Fatimids founded Cairo in 969 CE beside Fustat; it became the seat of al-Azhar and the capital of three polities. — Cairo
In the fourth Hijri century Córdoba outgrew Europe's cities, its paved streets lit by lamps centuries before London's. — Cordoba
Damascus was the capital of the Umayyad caliphate (661–750 CE) and is home to the Umayyad Mosque. — Damascus
Isfahan in central Iran was where Ibn Sina spent his last years at the court of Ala al-Dawla. — Isfahan
Istanbul, once Constantinople, was taken by Mehmed al-Fatih in 1453 CE and became the Ottoman capital. — Istanbul
Jerusalem was the Muslims' first qibla for about sixteen months before the direction was turned to the Kaaba. — Jerusalem
Kufa, the garrison city founded around 638 CE, became Ali ibn Abi Talib's capital; Umar wrote of its people as 'God's lance, the treasury of faith, and the Arabs' skull'. — Kufa
The Almoravids founded Marrakesh around 1070 CE as their capital; Ibn Khaldun records Yusuf ibn Tashfin laying it out in 454 AH as his own and his army's seat. — Marrakesh
Mecca in the Hijaz is the Prophet Muhammad's birthplace, the site of the Kaaba, and the goal of the yearly hajj. — Mecca
The Prophet declared Medina a sanctuary between its two lava fields, as Ibrahim declared Mecca; Samhudi counts nearly ninety-five of its names. — Medina
Merv, ancient capital of Khurasan, saw the Abbasid call begin and housed al-Ma'mun before Baghdad; al-Muqaddasi lists its huge matchless melons among its specialties. — Merv
Mina, a valley between Mecca and the Sacred Monument, is where pilgrims stone the jamarat and sleep the days of tashriq. — Mina
Nishapur, the city of Abarshahr in Khurasan, was a centre of hadith scholarship — Imam Muslim, author of the Sahih, takes his nisba from it. — Nishapur
Palermo, which Ibn Jubayr calls the seat of Sicily's king, was taken by the Muslims during the Aghlabids' conquest of the island. — Palermo
Uqba ibn Nafi' laid out Kairouan on a site of thorny thicket, and built its congregational mosque where the muezzin he had seen in a dream was standing, al-Baladhuri relates. — Qayrawan
Sa'id ibn Uthman besieged Samarqand vowing not to leave until he took it; its people ransomed peace for seven hundred thousand dirhams and fifteen royal hostages, some accounts say forty. — Samarqand
Sana'a, Yemen's capital — its ancient name was Azal per al-Zajjaji — is counted by al-Muqaddasi among the sweetest of airs; al-Hamdani names Ghumdan and the Qalis its two great marvels. — Sana'a
Timbuktu on Mali's desert edge was a medieval centre of Islamic learning, home to the Sankore and Djinguereber mosques. — Timbuktu
Toledo, the Goths' capital on the Tagus, was opened by Tariq ibn Ziyad — where he found the famous Table; it left Muslim hands in 478 AH and later became a centre of translation from Arabic. — Toledo
The Abbasid Caliphate ran from 750 to 1258 CE, its capital Baghdad then Cairo. — Abbasid Caliphate
Mecca's overlordship in al-Raheeq's telling ran from Isma'il and his two sons, to Jurhum for some twenty centuries, then Khuza'a for three hundred years, then Qusayy and Quraysh from about 440 CE. — The emirate of the Hijaz (the government of Mecca)
The Fatimid Caliphate ruled from 909 to 1171 CE; its capital was Cairo, the city it founded. — Fatimid Caliphate
Himyar overran Saba around 115 BCE and ruled from Zafar; its last centuries brought decline, then Abyssinian occupation after Dhu Nuwas's massacre of Najran's Christians, then Persian overlordship until Badhan's Islam. — The Himyarite Kingdom
The Mamluks ruled Egypt, Syria and the Hijaz from about 1250 to 1517, centred on Cairo — the Bahri then the Burji sultans. — Mamluk Sultanate
The Ottoman Empire lasted from 1299 to 1922, with its capital at Constantinople. — Ottoman Empire
The Rashidun Caliphate ran from 632 to 661 CE, its capital at Kufa then Medina. — Rashidun Caliphate
Under the Umayyads Muslim rule stretched from al-Andalus to the Oxus; it was the largest state the world had yet seen. — Umayyad Caliphate
Eid al-Fitr opens Shawwal: the festival prayer and zakat al-fitr beforehand, then feasts and visits — the biggest common festival season in the Muslim world. — Eid al-Fitr
People circled the Kaaba even before Islam; the pilgrimage of year 9 AH restored the House to the monotheism of Ibrahim and Ismail. — Hajj (the pilgrimage to Mecca)
Before the five were prescribed, Muslims prayed two units morning and evening; the five daily prayers were set on the night of the Mi'raj. — Salah (the prescribed prayer)
The sick and the traveller are excused from Ramadan's fast on condition of making it up; the travel concession came before the command itself. — Fasting in Ramadan
Tawaf circles the Kaaba seven times in hajj, umrah and voluntary rites — starting and ending at the Black Stone, the House on the left. — Tawaf (circling the Kaaba)
Umrah is the lesser visit to the Sacred House: ihram, tawaf, sa'y and shaving or shortening — its completion is commanded in Surat al-Baqara. — Umrah
Wudu, the ablution before prayer set out in Surat al-Ma'ida: washing the face and hands, wiping the head, and washing the feet. — Wudu (ablution)
Zakat is named from growth and purification; the Qur'an pairs it with prayer, and the verse on alms names its eight recipients. — Zakat (obligatory alms)
Ibn Sina divided his Canon of Medicine into five books: the general principles, simple drugs, diseases seated in the organs, diseases not bound to one organ together with the care of beauty, and compound remedies. — The Canon of Medicine
The Arafat sermon of year 10 declared blood, property and honour inviolate, wiped out the feuds and usury of the Jahiliyya, counselled on women, bound them to God's book — and closed 'O God, bear witness'. — The Farewell Sermon
The Qur'an holds 114 suras and 6,236 ayat in the Hafs reading, in the frozen Tanzil text kept in this repository. — The Qur'an
'The abridged, chained, authentic compendium of the Messenger's affairs, his sunnas and his days' — al-Bukhari's full title, known to everyone who opens the book. — Sahih al-Bukhari
Muslim al-Naysaburi's 'abridged authentic musnad through the transmission of the trustworthy from the trustworthy' is famed for gathering every chain of one hadith in a single place — and for a prologue that founded the science of hadith terminology. — Sahih Muslim
In Islamic belief the Zabur is the scripture sent down on Dawud; Ibn al-Nadim counts it a hundred and fifty psalms, and al-Tha'labi lists it among the books God sent — with the Torah, the Gospel and the Furqan. — The Zabur

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