History-writing and social thought
Family: Knowledge: science, medicine, astronomy and the rest · 171 entries
Entries on this theme
Person
Sudayy ibn Ajlan al-Bahili
641 CE · 21 AHA Companion from Qays Aylan, of the Bahila clan. The sources agree on his tribal affiliation but differ on his name.al-Jahiz
c. 767 CE · 150 AHThe man of letters — his 'Imamat wuld al-'Abbas argues the Rawandiyya case through the Fadak affair, composed in sport and display rather than conviction, beside his 'Uthmaniyya.Ibn Abi Bakkar al-Zubayr Abu Ubayd Allah
788 CE · 172 AHAbu Ubayd Allah al-Zubayr ibn Abi Bakr, known as Bakkar, of Medina, born there in 172 AH (788 CE) and taught by his father and others; died 256 AH (870 CE).Ibn Abi Usama, al-Harith ibn Muhammad
802 CE · 186 AHA hadith scholar and transmitter of reports from Baghdad, well versed in the Qur'anic readings and described as reliable.Ibn Khurradadhbih, Ubayd Allah ibn Abd Allah
820 CE · 205 AHA historian and geographer of encyclopaedic learning, author of al-Masalik wa-l-Mamalik.Jibril ibn Bukhtishu ibn Jirjis
A physician who studied at the hospital of Gundishapur and served the caliphs including al-Rashid. He was born and lived in Gundishapur.Abu al-Arab al-Tamimi, Muhammad ibn Ahmad
865 CE · 251 AHA Maliki jurist, hadith scholar and historian from Kairouan.Bukhtishu ibn Jibril
A physician of the Bukhtishu medical family in the Abbasid period, close to the caliph al-Muhtadi. He was succeeded by his son Ubayd Allah.al-Barqi Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Abd Allah
Egyptian hadith scholar, historian and jurist known as al-Hafiz al-Barqi; died 270 AH (883 CE).al-Baladhuri
Abbasid historian and poet, author of 'Futuh al-Buldan' and 'Ansab al-Ashraf'; the Mu'assasat al-Ma'arif edition gives his kunya variously as Abu Bakr, Abu Ja'far or Abu al-Hasan Ahmad ibn Yahya ibn Jabir ibn Dawud al-Baghdadi, his birth date unknown, and his death disputed — some say he died in al-Mu'tamad's caliphate, others that he reached al-Mu'tadid's era, while some moderns set it at 279 AH; he heard from a body of scholars and littérateurs including Abdullah ibn Salih al-Ijli, Abu al-Hasan al-Mada'ini, Hisham ibn Ammar, Muhammad ibn Musaffa, Khalaf ibn Hisham, Shayban ibn Farrukh, Abu Ubayda, Ali ibn al-Madini, Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Dawraqi, Muhammad ibn al-Sabbah al-Dawlabi and Muhammad ibn Sa'd, al-Waqidi's secretary; transmitting from him were Muhammad ibn al-Nadim, Ahmad ibn Ammar, Ja'far ibn Qudama and Ya'qub ibn Nu'aym, and he was biographied by Yaqut in Mu'jam al-udaba' and Ibn Asakir in Tarikh Dimashq; at al-Musta'in's court he recited a praise ode — being told 'if so, I have raised your reward, give it' — on the cloak, including 'the cloak suspects you are its owner, as though it were the elect's cloak when you wrap yourself in it', whereupon he was given it and wore it; Ubayd Allah ibn Ahmad ibn Abi Tahir said of him 'his are excellent books — the author of the Book of the Lands, who composed it and composed it well' (edition's introduction pp. 3–7).Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Kufi (Ibn A'tham)
The historian Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Kufi, known as Ibn A'tham, author of 'al-Futuh', which arranges Islamic history from the Prophet's death and the Saqifa of Banu Sa'ida onward and records its personalities.Al-Kharashi, Samarra akhbari
An Iraqi from Samarra, a historian of reports, who collected anecdotes and rarities and was original in his writings.al-Abri, Abu al-Hasan
Hadith scholar, memoriser and historian from Sijistan who travelled to Syria, Khurasan and al-Jazira to hear traditions.Muhammad ibn al-Harith al-Khushani
An Andalusian historian of Kairouan, named al-Khushani.Ibn Hayyan, Abu Marwan
987 CE · 377 AHAn Andalusian historian from Cordoba, author of al-Muqtabas on the history of al-Andalus.Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Ahmad ibn Ali
1002 CE · 392 AHA hadith scholar, historian and memorizer from a village near the Nahr al-Malik, author of the History of Baghdad.Razaq Allah ibn Abd al-Wahhab al-Tamimi
1010 CE · 401 AHA Hanbali jurist and historian of Baghdad, whose biography is recorded in works including those of Ibn al-Jawzi.al-Humaydi Muhammad ibn Futuh
1029 CE · 420 AHHistorian, man of letters, jurist and hadith scholar who followed the Zahiri school, devoted to learning and asceticism; born 420 AH (1029 CE), died 488 AH (1095 CE).Al-Bakri, Abu Ubayd Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Aziz
1041 CE · 432 AHAn encyclopaedic scholar of al-Andalus, author of al-Masalik wa-l-Mamalik on geography and history.Hibat Allah ibn al-Akfani
1052 CE · 444 AHThe Damascene traditionist, hafiz, Shafi'i jurist and historian Abu Muhammad Hibat Allah ibn Ahmad, known as Ibn al-Akfani; born at Damascus in 444 AH and famed for his memorization of hadith.Ubayd Allah ibn Jibril
A physician, researcher and historian of medicine, knowledgeable about the Christian communities and their doctrines. He belonged to the Bukhtishu family of physicians.al-Bayduq Abu Bakr ibn Ali al-Sanhaji
c. 1096 CE · 490 AHFrom the Sanhaja tribe of the central Maghrib, born around 490 AH (1096 CE) and died 555 AH (1160 CE).Al-Idrisi, Muhammad ibn Abd Allah
1100 CE · 493 AHA geographer who wrote Nuzhat al-Mushtaq fi ikhtiraq al-afaq for Roger II, king of Sicily, and completed it in Shawwal 548 AH.Ibn Bashkuwal, Khalaf ibn Abd al-Malik
1101 CE · 494 AHAn Andalusian historian and hadith scholar, author of al-Silla, a biographical dictionary of al-Andalus' scholars.Nashwan al-Himyari
A Yemeni scholar of Dhu Marath, descended from a king of Yemen, and a writer on language in his time.Ahmad ibn Yusuf al-Tifashi
1184 CE · 580 AHA scholar and writer of the Qays lineage, named after Tifash in the Maghrib.al-Tala'fari Abu al-Makarim Muhammad ibn Yusuf
1196 CE · 593 AHShihab al-Din Abu al-Makarim Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Tala'fari, born in Mosul in 593 AH (1196 CE) and died 675 AH (1276 CE).Ibn al-Abbar, Muhammad ibn Abd Allah
1199 CE · 595 AHA historian, hadith scholar, linguist and poet from Valencia (Balansiya) in eastern al-Andalus, author of al-Takmila li-Kitab al-Silla.Ibn al-Athir Izz al-Din
The historian and hadith scholar Izz al-Din Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Muhammad al-Jazari al-Shaybani; author of 'al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh', the annalistic chronicle from the creation to his own day, 'Asad al-Ghaba fi Ma'rifat al-Sahaba' and 'al-Lubab fi Tahdhib al-Ansab', living retired for scholarship at Mosul.Ibn al-Athir Imad al-Din
c. 1245 CE · c. 643 AH†The historian Imad al-Din Isma'il ibn Ahmad ibn Sa'id al-Jazari al-Shaybani, of the Ibn al-Athir scholarly family; author of 'al-Bahir fi Tarikh Dawlat al-Atabika bi-l-Mawsil', combining historical narrative with verse.Ibn Abi Usaybi'a, Ahmad ibn al-Qasim
A physician and historian of medicine from a Damascene family, author of ʿUyun al-Anba' fi Tabaqat al-Atibba'.Ibn Aybak al-Dawadari
c. 1286 CE · c. 685 AHThe historian Abu Bakr ibn Abd Allah ibn Aybak al-Dawadari, author of the historical encyclopedia 'Kanz al-Durar wa-Jami al-Gurar', which combines political reports with literary anecdotes and poetry.Ibn Battuta, Muhammad ibn Abd Allah
1304 CE · 703 AHA Moroccan traveller from Tangier who visited many lands of the Islamic world and wrote his famous travelogue.al-Badisi
Hadith scholar, historian and genealogist from Granada, author of al-Maqsad al-Sharif on the righteous of the Rif; died 722 AH.Ibn al-Ahmar, Isma'il ibn Yusuf
c. 1324 CE · c. 724 AH†An Andalusian man of letters and historian of the Nasrid family in Granada. After leaving Granada with his father he lived in Bougie and then Fez.Baybars al-Mansuri Rukn al-Din
Emir Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Mansuri, the dawadar, taken as a child slave to Egypt in 659 AH and later a Mamluk emir; died 725 AH (1325 CE).Ibn Khaldun
1332 CE · 732 AHAbd al-Rahman b. Muhammad b. Khaldun al-Hadrami, author of the Muqaddima and the Kitab al-'Ibar (d. 808 AH).Ibn al-Baghil Abu Jafar Ahmad ibn Qasim
Jurist, lexicographer and historian from Almeria in al-Andalus, of Murcian origin; died 750 AH (1349 CE).Husayn ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Ahdal
c. 1378 CE · 779 AHThe historian Badr al-Din Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Husayn ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Ahdal al-Husayni, a scholar of Yemen known for teaching and for works on history and biography, including 'Tuhfat al-Zaman fi Tarikh Sadat al-Yaman'.Ibn Taghribirdi, Yusuf
1409 CE · 812 AHA Mamluk-era Hanafi historian in Egypt, author of al-Nujum al-Zahira — the amir Tughri Birdi's son, raised by his brothers-in-law Ibn al-'Udaym and al-Bulqini, companion of Ibn Hajar, al-'Ayni and al-Maqrizi; author also of the six-volume al-Manhal al-Safi and Mawrid al-Latafa on the succession of kings and caliphs; died Dhu'l-Hijja 874.Ibn Iyas, Muhammad ibn Ahmad
1448 CE · 852 AHThe leading historian of the last Mamluk period in Egypt and Syria and the early Ottoman period. A Hanafi.Wajih al-Din al-Shaybani al-Zabidi
c. 16 December 1460 CE · 4 Muharram 865 AHZabid's musnid — 'shaykh al-Islam, musnid of the world, amir al-mu'minin in hadith, seal of the verifiers who joins the last generation to the first'; b. Thursday 4 Muharram 865, raised by his maternal grandfather; teacher of Ibn Ziyad, al-Ahdal and al-Muzjaji; works include Taysir al-Wusul ila Jami' al-Usul, Baghyat al-Mustafid on Zabid's history and Qurrat al-'Uyun on Yemen's history; died Friday 26 Rajab [944].Shams al-Din Ibn Tulun
c. 1475 CE · c. 880 AHIbn Tulun the historian of Damascus — b. about 880 in the upper Sahm of the Salihiyya, trained by his uncle Jamal al-Din and licensed by al-Suyuti in writing; teacher of Hanafis at the Shaykh al-Islam Abu 'Umar madrasa and imam of the Sulaymiyya, author of the sixty-part 'Ta'liqat' notebooks full of compilations and al-Suyuti's works; his pupils included al-Taybi, 'Ala' al-Din b. 'Imad, and the muftis al-Nabulsi, Ibn Sultan, al-'Aynawi and Ibn Abi al-Wafa; died Sunday 11 Jumada I [954] and left no offspring.Ibn Fahd Jar Allah Muhibb al-Din Muhammad
1486 CE · 891 AHJar Allah Ibn Fahd — b. Saturday eve 20 Rajab 891 at Mecca; he heard the Six Books and Qadi 'Iyad's Shifa' read by his father opposite the Noble Chamber during the family's 909 Medina mujawara, received the khirqa, then journeyed through Egypt, Syria, Jerusalem, Aleppo and Armenia taking from some seventy musnids; companion of 'Abd al-Haqq al-Sunbati; died Tuesday eve 15 Jumada II 954.Idris ibn Husam al-Din al-'Ajami
The Persian panegyrist-secretary of the 'Ajami amirs' diwan who fled Ardabil's fitna to Rum — Bayezid showered him with honours and commissioned him to compose the history of the House of 'Uthman in Persian; 'without peer, bereft of rival, his prose outreaching every latecomer'; d. about 925.Shams al-Din al-Shami
The celibate of the Barquqiyya turba — compiler of the famous Sira 'gathered from a thousand books' that readers rushed to copy on a pattern no one had preceded; he cooked for his own guests, advanced the stipends of dead students' orphans before the qadi, took nothing from rulers' money; his works include 'Uqud al-Juman on Abu Hanifa's virtues, the two Mi'raj compilations, 'Ayn al-Isaba fi ma'rifat al-Sahaba, and his teacher al-Suyuti's Nukat; died Monday 14 Sha'ban [942].Tashkopruzade
Tashkopruzade — author of al-Shaqa'iq al-Nu'maniyya on the scholars of the Ottoman state; Constantinople's qadi until his eyes failed — 'the judgeship came with blindness' — then he retired and compiled the Shaqa'iq blind, the first to write it; also Miftah part-three sharh, a kalam work, glosses gathering al-Qushji, al-Dawani and Mir Sadr al-Din, and a large then epitomized history; died of hemorrhoids in 968.Abu Bakr ibn Abi al-Qasim al-Ahdal
1576 CE · 983 AHThe Tihami Sufi Abu Bakr ibn Abi al-Qasim ibn Ahmad al-Ahdal al-Husayni, born in 983 AH and died in 1035 AH; he wrote works on hadith, history and biography.Abu al-Khayr al-Armuni
One of the mathematicians and astronomers of Egypt. Born in Armant in western Egypt; the nisba al-Azhari suggests he studied or taught at al-Azhar.Ahmad ibn Mustafa ibn al-Khawja
1664 CE · 1074 AHThe author of several works, who lived in Tunis; a Hanafi in Tunisian religious life.Ibn Hamadush, Abd al-Razzaq ibn Muhammad
1695 CE · 1107 AHAn Algerian scholar known for his interest in the sciences, who left a well-known autobiography.Al-Baji, Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Saghir
1698 CE · 1109 AHA Tunisian historian whose full name is often misreported, since he is widely known by the kunya al-Saghir al-Baji.Hamdan Khoja
1715 CE · 1128 AHFrom a family of standing and learning with a political role in the Dey's state. He wrote on politics and governance.Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti
1754 CE · 1167 AHThe historian of Egypt, who recorded its events and the lives of its men in the era of the French expedition and after.Uthman ibn Sanad al-Basri
1766 CE · 1180 AHA jurist, man of letters, poet and historian from Najd, with contributions across several fields of learning.Muhammad ibn Umar al-Tunisi
1790 CE · 1204 AHA Tunisian traveller and scholar whose family was spread between Egypt and the Maghrib.al-Khashshab Abu al-Hasan Isma'il ibn Sa'd
Shafi'i scholar of Egypt, a friend of the historian Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti; died 1230 AH (1815 CE).Khayr al-Din al-Tunisi
1822 CE · 1238 AHA Tunisian and Ottoman statesman, born in the Circassian lands. He led the Tunisian government and wrote on political reform.Iskandar al-Barudi
1856 CE · 1273 AHA Lebanese physician, man of letters, journalist and educator, who worked in teaching and in the judiciary.Mahmud Shukri al-Alusi
1856 CE · 1273 AHThe Baghdadi scholar Mahmud Shukri ibn Abd Allah al-Alusi, of a Baghdad family of scholars; he devoted himself to editing and publishing the classical heritage, and his grandfather was the author of the tafsir 'Ruh al-Ma'ani'.Ruhi al-Khalidi
1864 CE · 1280 AHBorn in Jerusalem, where his schooling moved between Jerusalem and Nablus.Muhammad al-Bashir al-Khawja
1869 CE · 1286 AHA Tunisian historian of encyclopaedic learning.Muhammad Tawfiq al-Bakri
1870 CE · 1287 AHAn Egyptian scholar and writer from the Bakri al-Siddiqi family, who compiled a dictionary of printed works.Sati al-Husri
1880 CE · 1298 AHFrom an Arab family of Aleppo merchants. One of the leading theorists of Arab nationalism, who wrote on education and politics.Muhibb al-Din al-Khatib
1886 CE · 1303 AHAn encyclopaedic writer, journalist, historian, political activist and social theorist.Zaki al-Arsuzi
1900 CE · 1318 AHA Syrian thinker and teacher from Latakia, named after the village of Arsuz in the Alexandretta sanjak. He wrote on philosophy, education and Arab nationalist thought.Al-Akwa', Muhammad ibn Ali
1903 CE · 1321 AHA scholar of jurisprudence and inheritance law, philologist and prolific writer, with wide knowledge of the history of Yemen in the Islamic period.Abd al-Jabbar al-Jumurd
1909 CE · 1328 AHAn Iraqi historian born in Mosul in 1909, raised in a learned household.Taha Baqir
1912 CE · 1331 AHAn Iraqi historian and archaeologist born in al-Hilla, south-west of Baghdad, from a family known for learning.Abd al-Rahman Badawi
1917 CE · 1336 AHAn Egyptian professor of philosophy and one of the most important historians of Arab philosophy. He helped establish philosophical study in the Arab world.Ahmad Abd al-Sattar al-Jawari
1922 CE · 1341 AHAn Iraqi scholar born in Karkh, Baghdad, who held a doctorate and was a leading researcher of the Arabic heritage.Muhammad al-Tatwani
A jurist, historian and journalist from Tetouan, of Andalusian descent.al-Azraqi
Meccan historian of the third century AH who wrote on the history and monuments of Mecca.
Work
The Sira of Ibn Ishaq in Ibn Hisham's recension
The earliest surviving continuous biography of the Prophet; composed by Muhammad ibn Ishaq (d. 151 AH) and abridged/recast by Abd al-Malik ibn Hisham (d. 213 or 218 AH) — the text known as Ibn Hisham's Sira.Mawsu'at A'lam al-Ulama' wa-l-Adaba' al-Arab wa-l-Muslimin
An institutional encyclopedia in eight volumes of alphabetically arranged biographies of Arab and Muslim scholars and writers — an ALECSO project — recording for each figure his lineage, upbringing, achievements and works, with indexes and sources.Nuzhat al-Mushtaq fi ikhtiraq al-afaq
A twelfth-century geography written by al-Idrisi for Roger II of Sicily. It describes the seven climates, their cities, roads, seas, peoples, crafts and trade, and comes with a world map engraved on a silver disc. The author says he finished it in Shawwal 548 AH.Tarikh al-Rusul wa'l-Muluk (The History of Prophets and Kings)
A universal chronicle arranged by Hijri year, from the creation to 302 AH, by Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari (d. 310 AH). It opens with the prophets and earlier peoples and Persian kings, then follows the caliphate, the conquests and the civil strife year by year.
Event
Concept
Disputing the count of raids and sariyas
The maghazi arithmetic disputes: Ibn Ishaq's twenty-six raids versus the twenty-seven that split Wadi'l-Qura from Khaybar; nine pitched battles common to both lists with al-Waqidi adding Wadi'l-Qura and al-Ghaba for eleven; and the sariya counts ranging from thirty-five to al-Waqidi's forty-eight (in al-Tabari's chain) to sixty-six.Orientalism
Zaqzuq defines orientalism in its narrow sense as Western study of the Islamic East in its languages, history, creeds, law and civilisation. He credits it with positive work on manuscripts and editions and criticises its studies of the Qur'an, Sunna and the Prophet's life. He holds the religious motive to be its first cause, names scientific, commercial and political aims, and sorts orientalists into categories. These are the author's judgements, attributed to him.Stopping the genealogy at Ma'add
The Prophet's ban on pressing the lineage beyond Ma'add — a stop imposed by the span of time and the quarrel of versions, which al-Mas'udi documents from four divergent witnesses.
Question
What are the karamat of the saints?
A karama is an extraordinary event that God brings about through a righteous friend of God (wali). Ahl al-Sunna affirmed it, in disagreement with the Mu'tazila, and jurists distinguished it from the miracle (mu'jiza) and from sorcery (sihr).What is adab in Islam?
Adab is good character, good conduct, humility and rejection of folly. It includes the adab of the seeker of knowledge, the adab of the teacher and the adab of the road. In the view of the early scholars (al-salaf), it is the pivot of Islam.What is birr al-walidayn?
Birr is obedience to one's parents and kindness toward them. The Quran links it with the oneness of God, and in hadith it is counted among the greatest deeds after the prayer.What is Bukhara?
Bukhara is a capital of learning in Transoxiana: the city of al-Bukhari and the birthplace of Ibn Sina. It has the Ark of the Samanids, the Kalyan Minaret, and madrasas spanning five centuries.What is Cairo?
Al-Qahira al-Mu'izziyya is the city of al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah al-Fatimi. Jawhar founded it in 969. It has al-Azhar, the greatest surviving university of Islam, the Citadel of Salah al-Din, and a museum of Mamluk architecture.What is Damascus?
Damascus, al-Sham, is the oldest continuous capital in history. It was the capital of the Umayyads for ninety-six years, and it has the Umayyad Mosque, the shrines of the Ahl al-Bayt, and the school of Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn 'Asakir.What is Fez?
Fez is the capital of the Idrisids and of learning in Morocco. It has al-Qarawiyyin, the oldest continuously operating university in the world, and its old city is the largest living medieval city without cars.What is Granada?
Granada was the last kingdom of al-Andalus: the emirate of the Banu al-Ahmar (Nasrids), 1238–1492, home of the Alhambra, the jewel of Islamic architecture. Its fall closed eight Islamic centuries in Iberia.What is haya?
Haya (modesty) is a virtue of Islam: restraining oneself from what is shameful out of fear of blame. The Prophet said, 'Modesty is a branch of faith, and modesty brings only good.'What are Istanbul and Constantinople?
Istanbul is Constantinople before its conquest. Mehmed II conquered it in 1453, and it served as the Ottoman capital for five centuries. It is home to Hagia Sophia, the Süleymaniye and Topkapı.What are Jerusalem and Bayt al-Maqdis?
Jerusalem is the city of the prophets, home of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. It is the first of the two qiblas, the third of the sacred sanctuaries, and the site of the Prophet's night journey. Umar conquered it in 638, and Saladin liberated it in 1187.What is Mecca?
Mecca is Umm al-Qura. It is the birthplace of the Prophet, the home of the Kaaba and the Haram, the qibla of the Muslims, and the destination of pilgrimage to the Ancient House. It lies in a valley without cultivation, at the spring of Zamzam.What is Medina?
Medina, formerly called Yathrib, is the city of the Hijra and the first state of Islam, and it holds the Mosque of the Prophet and his grave. It was the capital of the caliphs up to Ali, and the knowledge of the Companions and the Successors remained there.What is Samarra?
Samarra was the Abbasid capital for half a century, 836–892. Al-Mu'tasim built it, and it contains the Great Mosque of al-Mutawakkil, the spiral minaret of al-Malwiya, and the wall of the two Askari imams.What is zuhd?
Zuhd is abstaining from what does not benefit one in the afterlife and turning away from the adornments of this world; it is a quality of the Prophet and the righteous, and in the view of scholars one of the paths of self-purification.What was the Battle of Ayn Jalut?
Ayn Jalut, 658 AH / 1260 CE; the first major defeat of the Mongols, led by the Mamluks under Qutuz and Baybars, which halted the Mongol advance on Syria and Egypt.What was the greater Battle of Badr?
The Greater Badr, 17 Ramadan 2 AH / 624 CE; the first decisive battle of Islam, in which 313 Muslims were granted victory over a thousand of Quraysh, and in which the chieftains of polytheism were killed.What was the Bayt al-Hikma?
The House of Wisdom, the library of Baghdad and the observatory of al-Ma'mun; the largest scholarly institution of its time, which brought together translation, composition and observation in the third and fourth centuries AH.What was Cordoba?
Cordoba, capital of the Umayyad al-Andalus; the largest city in Europe in the tenth century, with its Great Mosque, its great library, and its golden age in government and learning.What was the conquest of Constantinople in 1453?
The conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed II in 1453, after a siege of 53 days; it ended the Byzantine Empire, fulfilled the Prophet's glad tidings, and began the Ottoman era.What was the Battle of Hattin?
Hattin, 583 AH / 1187 CE; Saladin crushed the armies of the Crusaders there, captured the King of Jerusalem, and recovered Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis) after 88 years.What was the Battle of Hunayn?
Hunayn, 8 AH / 630 CE, after the conquest of Mecca; it was fought against Hawazin and Thaqif, and the Muslims at first wavered because of their large numbers, then God granted them victory, and they seized the property and captives of the enemy, as far as al-Ta'if.What were the Battles of the Trench and the Confederates?
The Trench, Shawwal 5 AH / 627 CE; the Confederates besieged Medina, Salman dug a trench around it, and the Muslims held out for a month until God turned back the Confederates with a wind and cold.What was the Battle of al-Qadisiyya?
Qadisiyya, 15 AH / 636 CE; Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas defeated Rustam of Persia there and conquered al-Mada'in, and the Sasanian state came to an end with it.What was the Abbasid caliphate?
The Abbasid caliphate (750-1258), the caliphate of the Banu al-Abbas from Baghdad; its golden age was in learning, translation and trade, and then came its successive kingdoms, down to Mongol Baghdad.What was the Delhi Sultanate?
The Delhi Sultanate (1206-1526), a succession of Muslim kingdoms in northern India; it brought Islam into India as a state power and built sultanate architecture, including the Qutb Minar.What was the Fatimid caliphate?
The Fatimid caliphate (909-1171), an Isma'ili caliphate first in North Africa and then in Egypt; it founded Cairo and al-Azhar, and ruled for about two and a half centuries.What was the Safavid Empire?
The Safavid Empire (1501–1736) was an Iranian sultanate that made Twelver Shi'ism the religion of the state; its capital was Isfahan, during the most splendid age of Iranian architecture.What was the Seljuk Empire?
The Seljuk Empire (1037–1194) was a Sunni Turkish sultanate that protected the Abbasid caliphate. Its era saw Nizam al-Mulk and the Nizamiyya madrasas, and the Battle of Manzikert (Malazgirt) in 1071.What was the Umayyad caliphate?
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750) was the first hereditary dynasty in Islam. Its capital was Damascus, and its reach extended from al-Andalus to Sind. The Abbasids overthrew it at the Zab.What was Timbuktu?
Timbuktu was a center of learning on the African Sahel. Its height came under the Mali and then the Songhai sultanates. Its universities, manuscripts and schools were among the best-known centers of African Islam.What was the Battle of Uhud?
Uhud, 7 Shawwal 3 AH / 625 CE, was a battle near Medina that Quraysh won after the archers left the mountain. Hamza and seventy Companions were martyred in it.What was the Battle of Yarmuk?
Yarmuk, Rajab 15 AH / August 636 CE, was a battle in which Khalid ibn al-Walid inflicted a great defeat on the Byzantines. It opened Syria to the conquest and brought Heraclius's rule there to an end.Who are the Ahl al-Bayt?
The Ahl al-Bayt are the Prophet's kin, for whom charity is forbidden and from whom God removed impurity. In the Sunni view they are Ali, Fatima, al-Hasan and al-Husayn, and their uncle and their sons.Who was Abd al-Qadir al-Jazairi?
Abd al-Qadir ibn Muhyi al-Din al-Jaza'iri (1808–1883) was the Emir of the Algerian resistance. He led it for fifteen years against the French occupation, then lived in Damascus as a protector of the Christians.Who was Abu Bakr al-Siddiq?
Abu Bakr al-Siddiq was the first caliph. He was one of the first men to embrace Islam and the companion on the Hijra. He ruled for two years, united the Muslims against the apostates, and extended the conquests to Iraq and Syria.Who was Abu Hanifa?
Al-Nu'man ibn Thabit, Abu Hanifa (699–767), was the imam of reasoned jurisprudence (ra'y) in Kufa. He was the first of the imams of the four schools of law and the one with the most followers in the Muslim world.Who was Abu Hurayra?
Abu Hurayra al-Dawsi was among the Companions who narrated the most hadith, despite having embraced Islam late. He accompanied the Prophet for four years and narrated thousands of hadiths from him.Who was Ahmad ibn Hanbal?
Ahmad ibn Hanbal (780–855) was the imam of the Sunna. He compiled his Musnad from about forty thousand hadiths. During the mihna he held firm to the view that the Qur'an is eternal, and he was flogged.Who was Aisha?
Aisha bint Abi Bakr, Mother of the Believers, was among the most prolific narrators of hadith and one of the Companions most learned in jurisprudence. She lived with the Prophet for nine years and narrated many hadiths from him.Who was Jalal al-Din Akbar?
Akbar (1542–1605) was the third Mughal emperor in India. He expanded the empire and married Rajput women, and he established the policy of sulh-i kull and the controversial Din-i Ilahi.Who was al-Khansa?
Tumadir bint Amr, known as al-Khansa (c. 575–645), was a poet of Mecca/al-Yamama and the foremost master of elegy in Arabic poetry. She embraced Islam along with her sons, and they were martyred at al-Qadisiyya.Who was Ali ibn Abi Talib?
Ali ibn Abi Talib was the fourth caliph, cousin of the Prophet and husband of Fatima. He was the first of the children to embrace Islam. His rule was consumed by civil strife until he was assassinated in 661.Who was Bilal ibn Rabah?
Bilal ibn Rabah was an Abyssinian Muslim whom Abu Bakr freed from torment; the first muezzin in Islam and one of the Companions most beloved to the Prophet.Who was al-Biruni?
Abu al-Rayhan al-Biruni (973–1048) was a Khwarazmian polymath and one of the greatest scholars of his age in astronomy, geography and the comparative study of religions and cultures.Who was Imam al-Bukhari?
Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Bukhari (810–870) was an imam of hadith; he compiled his Sahih over sixteen years from six hundred thousand hadiths, so that it became the most authentic book after the Qur'an.Who was Fakhr al-Din al-Razi?
Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (1149–1209) was an imam of kalam and tafsir; he was the author of Mafatih al-Ghayb, the most complete exegesis of his age in dialectic and philosophy.Who was Fatima?
Fatima al-Zahra, daughter of the Prophet and wife of Ali ibn Abi Talib, mother of al-Hasan and al-Husayn; she died young, about six months after her father according to most accounts.Who was Fatima al-Fihri?
Fatima al-Fihri was a woman from Qayrawan who migrated to Fez and devoted her wealth to building the al-Qarawiyyin mosque around 859; it is described as the oldest continuously operating university in the world.Who was al-Ghazali?
Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (1058–1111), Hujjat al-Islam, was one of the great jurists of the Shafi'is, of kalam and of Sufism; he revived the religious sciences and refuted the philosophers and the Batiniyya.Who was Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib?
Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib, uncle of the Prophet and Master of the Martyrs, was among the bravest horsemen at Badr and Uhud; he was martyred at Uhud in 625, and the polytheists mutilated his body.Who was Ibn Abbas?
Abd Allah ibn Abbas, cousin of the Prophet, was the learned man of the community and interpreter of the Qur'an, the most knowledgeable of the Companions in tafsir despite his young age.Who was Ibn al-Athir?
Izz al-Din Ibn al-Athir (1160–1233), a historian of Mosul, wrote al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh, the most comprehensive annalistic Islamic history from the creation to his time.Who was Ibn Battuta?
Ibn Battuta (1304–1369) was the greatest traveller of the Middle Ages; he covered some 120,000 km across the Islamic world in three decades and wrote the Tuhfat al-Nuzzar.Who was Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani?
Ahmad ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (1372–1449), the hafiz of Egypt, was chief judge and the author of Fath al-Bari, the greatest commentary on al-Bukhari, as well as Lisan al-Mizan and Taqrib al-Tahdhib.Who was Ibn Khaldun?
Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406), a Tunisian historian and social thinker, is the author of the Muqaddima, regarded as the first science of society in history.Who was Ibn Sina?
Ibn Sina (980–1037), a philosopher and physician, is the author of The Canon of Medicine, a Western reference for centuries, and of al-Shifa' in philosophy; one of the greatest minds in history.Who was Ibn Taymiyya?
Taqi al-Din Ibn Taymiyya (1263–1328), a polemical Hanbali jurist, is among the most profound theorists of the Sunni heritage and an inspiration to modern reform; he was imprisoned repeatedly and died in the citadel.Who was Muhammad Iqbal?
Muhammad Iqbal (1877–1938), an Indian poet and philosopher writing in Urdu and Persian, called for the revival of the Islamic self and is considered the spiritual father of the idea of Pakistan.Who was Jabir ibn Hayyan?
Jabir ibn Hayyan (c. 721–815) of Kufa, known as the father of chemistry; a vast body of work in chemistry, medicine and philosophy is attributed to him, along with the first description of laboratory instruments.Who was Jabir ibn Abdullah?
Jabir ibn Abd Allah al-Ansari (d. 697 CE) was the last of the Companions to die in Medina; he witnessed the Pledge of al-Aqaba and seventeen campaigns and narrated 1540 hadiths.Who was Khadija?
Khadija bint Khuwaylid, the first of the Prophet's wives and the first to believe in him, was Mecca's great merchant; she stood by him for fifteen years until her death before the Hijra.Who was al-Khwarizmi?
Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (c. 780–850), a scholar of the House of Wisdom, who established algebra as an independent discipline; the term 'algorithm' in modern science comes from his name.Who was Malcolm X?
Malcolm X (1925–1965), an African American preacher in the Nation of Islam who turned to Sunni Islam after his pilgrimage, was assassinated in 1965 and became a global symbol of civil rights.Who was Malik ibn Anas?
Malik ibn Anas (711–795), Imam of the Abode of Migration; he compiled the Muwatta, making him the first to compile jurisprudence and hadith in Medina, and his approach was the practice of its people.Who was Mansa Musa?
Who was al-Masudi?
Abu al-Hasan al-Masudi (c. 896–956), a historian and geographer from Baghdad, author of Muruj al-Dhahab (The Meadows of Gold), and one of the pioneers of comparative cultural history.Who was Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan?
Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan, founder of the Umayyad state; a scribe of revelation, governor of Syria and then caliph for twenty years. He is regarded with consensus by Sunnis and viewed differently by Shia.Who was Imam Muslim?
Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj al-Nisaburi (815–875), author of Sahih Muslim; the second most authentic book according to Sunnis, and many regard his method of compilation as the more precise.Who was al-Nawawi?
Who was Nusayba bint Kab?
Nusayba bint Kab al-Ansariyya, known as Umm Umara; one of the first women to pledge allegiance at al-Aqaba. She fought at Uhud in defence of the Prophet, and her wounds bore twelve marks.Who was al-Razi?
Abu Bakr al-Razi (865–925), a Persian physician; head of the hospital of Baghdad and author of al-Hawi. His description of smallpox and measles was the first precise clinical description.Who was Jalal al-Din al-Rumi?
al-Rumi (1207–1273), a jurist and poet from Balkh who settled in Konya; he wrote the Masnavi and the Divan-i Kabir, becoming the best-known poet of Sufism and the founder of the Mawlawi tradition.Who was Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi?
Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub (1137–1193), founder of the Ayyubid dynasty; he unified Egypt and Syria and liberated Jerusalem, with the victory at Hattin in 1187.Who was al-Shafii?
Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafii (767–820), imam of legal theory; he wrote al-Risala on the foundations of jurisprudence and spread his school from Mecca to Baghdad and then to Egypt.Who was Shajar al-Durr?
Who was Suleiman the Magnificent?
Suleiman I, known as al-Qanuni or the Magnificent (1494–1566), the tenth Ottoman sultan; his state reached its height from Belgrade to Basra in his forty-six-year reign.Who was al-Tabari?
Ibn Jarir al-Tabari (838–923), imam of historians and exegetes; author of the History of the Prophets and Kings and of Jami al-Bayan on the interpretation of the Qur'an.Who was Umar ibn al-Khattab?
Umar ibn al-Khattab was the second caliph. He embraced Islam, and God strengthened Islam through him. In his time the garrison cities and Jerusalem were conquered, the administrative registers (diwans) were established, and the Hijri calendar was set up.Who was Uthman ibn Affan?
Uthman ibn Affan was the third caliph. He was among the people of Badr and married two of the Prophet's daughters. He compiled the Qur'an into a single codex (mushaf). He was assassinated in a strife at the end of his reign, in 656.Who was Zheng He?
Zheng He (1371–1433) was a Chinese Muslim admiral who led seven great maritime expeditions to Southeast Asia, India, the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa.Who were the Quraysh?
Quraysh was the tribe of Mecca and the keepers of the Kaaba. The Prophet, the four caliphs and most of the leading figures of Islam were from it. It is said, according to most jurists, that the caliphs will be from Quraysh until the Day of Resurrection.Who were the Khawarij?
The Khawarij were the first sect to split from the community after Siffin. They declared those who committed grave sins to be unbelievers and fought the caliphs. Of them, the Ibadis remain, in Oman and the Maghrib.Who were the Mutazila?
The Mutazila were an early school of theology. They held to divine justice, the unity of God, the intermediate position between two positions, and the createdness of the Qur'an. Their power peaked under al-Ma'mun, and then Ahl al-Sunna defeated them.
Screening Room
Islam: The Untold Story
2012 CE · 1433 AH†Islam: The Untold Story.Amina
2021 CE · 1442 AH†Amina.Palestine 36
2025 CE · 1446 AH†Palestine 36.Guru Bangsa: Tjokroaminoto
2015 CE · 1436 AH†Guru Bangsa: Tjokroaminoto.The Night of Counting the Years
1969 CE · 1389 AH†The Night of Counting the Years.The Mother of All Lies
2023 CE · 1444 AH†The Mother of All Lies.
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