Timeline Explorer · Umar ibn al-Khattab · Stop 1 of 16
c. 584 CE approximate debated before the Hijra
Second caliph (634–644); under his rule the early community conquered Syria, Egypt and much of the Sasanian Empire. Remembered in Sunni tradition as al-Faruq, the model of just rule.
Ibn Sa'd, Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir (Bewley translation, Ta-Ha)
Birth: Umar ibn al-Khattab — c. 584 CE
Second caliph (634–644); under his rule the early community conquered Syria, Egypt and much of the Sasanian Empire. Remembered in Sunni tradition as al-Faruq, the model of just rule. ومن مناقبه في الصحيح القصر الذي رآه له النبي في الجنة فأخلى النظر إليه حياءً لغيرته ، ولبن الرؤيا الذي أوله النبي بالعلم فناوله إياه . ويروي هو صعوده إلى مشربة النبي حين اعتزل أزواجه فرأى أثر الحصير في جنبه فبكى فقال له «أما ترضى أن تكون لهم الدنيا ولنا الآخرة» . ورأى حلة سيراء عند باب المسجد فعرضها على النبي ليلبسها يوم الجمعة وللوفد فقال «إنما يلبسها من لا خلاق له في الآخرة» ثم أهداها إليه بعد فكساها أخاً له مشركاً بمكة .
Umar accepts Islam — c. December 616 CE
In Dhu al-Hijja of year six — three days after Hamza — Umar, who had set out with his sword to kill the Prophet, was redirected by Nu'aym ibn Abdullah to his own sister's house; he heard the opening of sura Ta-Ha from Sa'id and Fatima, then went to the house of al-Arqam and declared the shahada, and the Muslims marched out in two rows and prayed openly at the Kaaba.
The emigration of the Muslims to Yathrib after the pledge — c. 622 CE · c. 1 BH†
After the second pledge of al-Aqaba the Prophet authorised the Muslims to emigrate, and they left in groups; the Meccans hindered some, such as Abu Salama and his wife Umm Salama, Suhayb who ransomed himself with his wealth, and Ayyash and Hisham, who were held back; the Prophet, Abu Bakr and Ali remained at Mecca.
The Hijra — c. 12 September 622 CE · c. 29 Safar 1 AH†
The migration of the Prophet Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE, the event from which the Islamic calendar is counted.
After Badr: the dead, the captives, the spoils, and the news in Mecca and Medina — c. March 624 CE · c. Ramadan 2 AH†
Fourteen Muslims were martyred, about seventy Meccans were killed and about seventy taken captive; the dead were thrown into a well, Mecca received the news of the rout, the Prophet sent two messengers to Medina, the spoils were divided after a dispute, the captives were ransomed, and fasting and zakat al-fitr were prescribed.
The Battle of Badr — 13 March 624 CE · 17 Ramadan 2 AH
The first major battle between the Muslims of Medina and the Quraysh of Mecca, fought at the wells of Badr on 17 Ramadan 2 AH.
The Battle of Uhud — March 625 CE · Shawwal 3 AH
A battle near Mount Uhud in which the Quraysh gained the upper hand and Hamza, the Prophet's uncle, was killed.
The Treaty of Hudaybiyya — c. March 628 CE · Dhu al-Qa'da 6 AH
In Dhu al-Qa'da 6 AH (March 628 CE), the Prophet marched towards Mecca with 1,400 companions for Umrah; halted at al-Hudaybiyya by Quraysh, negotiations through Suhayl ibn Amr produced a historic ten-year peace treaty described in the Qur'an as a 'Manifest Victory'.
Abu Sufyan's mission to Medina — 629 CE · 8 AH
Frightened by what had been done at al-Watir, Quraysh sent Abu Sufyan ibn Harb to Medina to stiffen the pact and extend its term. The Prophet gave him no answer; Abu Bakr and Umar declined to intercede; Ali advised him to grant protection himself, which he did and returned home empty-handed.
The siege of Ta'if — January 630 CE · Shawwal 8 AH
After Hunayn, the Muslims besieged the fortified town of Ta'if, home of the Thaqif; the siege was lifted without taking it, and the Thaqif accepted Islam the next year.
The Farewell Sermon at Arafat — March 632 CE · 9 Dhu al-Hijja 10 AH
On the Day of Arafa, 9 Dhu al-Hijja 10 AH, the Prophet stood at the foot of the valley before more than a hundred thousand pilgrims and delivered the comprehensive sermon: sanctity of blood and property, abolition of pagan blood-feuds and usury beginning with his own house, counsel on women, the pledge of the Book of God, and the testimony 'have I conveyed?' ومنها عند البخاري قوله «إن الزمان قد استدار كهيئته يوم خلق الله السماوات والأرض، السنة اثنا عشر شهراً منها أربعة حرم: ثلاث متواليات ذو القعدة وذو الحجة والمحرم، ورجب مضر الذي بين جمادى وشعبان» .
The meeting at Saqifa — 8 June 632 CE · 12 Rabi' I 11 AH
After the Prophet's death, leaders of the Ansar and Muhajirun met in the hall of the Banu Sa'ida and chose Abu Bakr as leader of the community. ونص الاجتماع كاملاً عند البخاري من رواية عمر: اجتماع الأنصار في السقيفة، ومشي أبي بكر وعمر وأبي عبيدة إليهم، والخطابان، ويدا عمر وبشير بن سعد، فالبيعة .
The Conquest of Syria — c. 633 CE · c. 12 AH
In al-Baladhuri: when Abu Bakr finished with the apostates he dispatched the armies to Syria, binding three banners — for Khalid ibn Sa'id (whom he deposed), Shurahbil ibn Hasana and Amr ibn al-As — directing them and Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan by the Ayla and Tabuk roads until their number completed at twenty-four thousand; their first fighting came at Dathin and al-Araba, and al-Waqidi's account assigns Amr Filastin, Shurahbil al-Urdunn and Yazid Dimashq; Khalid ibn al-Walid then marched from Iraq reaching them in Rabi' al-Akhir year 13, and they made him commander in every battle; the great battle of Ajnadayn fell on Monday twelve nights remaining of Jumada I year 13, Busra fell by treaty, Shurahbil conquered al-Urdunn by force save Tabariyya, the battle of Fihl came five months into Umar's caliphate with Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah commanding by Umar's investiture, the day of Marj al-Suffar at the new moon of al-Muharram year 14, and then the conquest of Damascus and Bayt al-Maqdis.
The Conquest of the Jazira — c. July 639 CE · Rajab 18 AH
In al-Baladhuri through the Raqqa judge Dawud ibn Abd al-Hamid's family from Maymun ibn Mihran: 'the whole Jazira is Iyad ibn Ghanm's conquest, after Abu Ubayda's death — Umar appointed him to it, Abu Ubayda having left him over Syria; Umar gave Syria to Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan then Mu'awiya after him and ordered Iyad to raid the Jazira'; Sulayman ibn Ata says Abu Ubayda dispatched him to the Jazira and died while he was there, Umar then confirming him; al-Waqidi's report — the soundest they had on him — is that Abu Ubayda died in the Amwas plague of year 18 having appointed Iyad, and Umar's letter reached him giving him Hims, Qinnasrin and the Jazira, so he marched for the Jazira on Thursday the middle of Sha'ban year 18 in five thousand, Maysara ibn Masruq al-Absi on the vanguard, Sa'id ibn Amir ibn Hudhaym al-Jumahi on the right wing and Safwan ibn al-Mu'attal al-Sulami on the left — some say Khalid ibn al-Walid held his left wing, some that Khalid marched under no banner after Abu Ubayda, staying at Hims till his death in year 21, or dying at Medina.
Umar's Expulsion of the Christians of Najran — 640 CE · 20 AH
In al-Baladhuri: under Umar the people of Najran took usury and multiplied, so he feared them for Islam and exiled them to al-Najraniyya by Kufa — the settlement named after them — buying up their estates and writing for them that wherever they settled in Syria or Iraq they were to be granted arable land in place of their land in Yemen; the Jews of Najran had entered the treaty with the Christians as their followers; in Salim ibn Abi al-Ja'd's report the people of Najran reached forty thousand, quarrelled among themselves, asked Umar 'exile us' — which he did, already fearing them for the Muslims — then regretted it and sought reversal which he refused, and when Ali ibn Abi Talib took office they came to him and he said 'Umar was of sound judgement and I dislike opposing him'; the rulings then ran on: Uthman remitted two hundred hullas by letter to his Kufa governor al-Walid ibn Uqba after Uthman ibn Hunayf told him their exile had harmed the dihqans by driving them off their land; Mu'awiya or Yazid completed them to four hundred hullas; al-Hajjaj restored eighteen hundred after Ibn al-Ash'ath's revolt, accusing them of backing it; Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz set them at two hundred hullas worth eight thousand dirhams on finding them at a tithe of their former number — 'I see this treaty is a jizya on their heads, not a treaty on their lands, and the jizya of the dead and the Muslim lapses'; Yusuf ibn Umar restored them under al-Walid ibn Yazid out of solidarity with al-Hajjaj; Abu al-Abbas al-Saffah confirmed two hundred hullas after they scattered basil on his procession at Kufa and Abdullah ibn al-Rabi' al-Harithi interceded for their kinship claim through Banu al-Harith ibn Ka'b his maternal uncles, seconded by al-Hajjaj ibn Arta; and Harun al-Rashid confirmed it by a letter the transmitters saw, ordering them freed from dealing with the tax agents to pay directly to the treasury at the capital.
Death: Umar ibn al-Khattab — November 644 CE · Dhu al-Qa'da 23 AH
Second caliph (634–644); under his rule the early community conquered Syria, Egypt and much of the Sasanian Empire. Remembered in Sunni tradition as al-Faruq, the model of just rule. ومن مناقبه في الصحيح القصر الذي رآه له النبي في الجنة فأخلى النظر إليه حياءً لغيرته ، ولبن الرؤيا الذي أوله النبي بالعلم فناوله إياه . ويروي هو صعوده إلى مشربة النبي حين اعتزل أزواجه فرأى أثر الحصير في جنبه فبكى فقال له «أما ترضى أن تكون لهم الدنيا ولنا الآخرة» . ورأى حلة سيراء عند باب المسجد فعرضها على النبي ليلبسها يوم الجمعة وللوفد فقال «إنما يلبسها من لا خلاق له في الآخرة» ثم أهداها إليه بعد فكساها أخاً له مشركاً بمكة .
