Timeline Explorer · Baghdad · Stop 1 of 14
c. 633 CE · c. 12 AH† approximate debated before the Hijra
In al-Baladhuri: Khalid marched to al-Anbar whose people fortified; a guide told him of Baghdad's market — the old market at Qarn al-Sarat — so he sent al-Muthanna ibn Haritha raiding on it and the Muslims filled their hands with gold, silver and light goods, then overnighted at…
The Conquest of al-Anbar and the Raid on Baghdad's Market — c. 633 CE · c. 12 AH†
In al-Baladhuri: Khalid marched to al-Anbar whose people fortified; a guide told him of Baghdad's market — the old market at Qarn al-Sarat — so he sent al-Muthanna ibn Haritha raiding on it and the Muslims filled their hands with gold, silver and light goods, then overnighted at al-Saylahin and came to al-Anbar where Khalid was; they besieged its people and burned through its outskirts — al-Anbar being named for the Persians' granaries there, from which al-Nu'man's retainers and clients drew their rations — so when they saw what befell them they made peace with Khalid on terms he accepted from them. It is also said Khalid sent al-Muthanna ahead to Baghdad then marched after and himself led the raid — not established. Via al-Sha'bi: Anbar's people have a covenant and contract. Shaykhs of Anbar told al-Baladhuri they were pacified in Umar's caliphate on their canals: four hundred thousand dirhams and a thousand Qatawani cloaks yearly, Jarir ibn Abdallah al-Bajali conducting the peace — or, it is said, on eighty thousand; God knows best.
Siege of Baghdad in the war of al-Amin and al-Ma'mun — c. 812 CE · c. 196 AH
The siege of Baghdad lasted fifteen months; most Abbasids and the pillars of the state joined al-Ma'mun's army until none fought for al-Amin but Baghdad's rabble and harafish. His affairs rotted, the army collapsed, the treasuries ran dry, the people suffered, and ruin multiplied from the fighting and the mangonels and naphtha until Baghdad's beauties were effaced and laments composed over it. As year 198 opened Tahir ibn al-Husayn entered Baghdad by the sword, and al-Amin fled with his mother and household from the palace to Madinat al-Mansur .
Siege of Baghdad in the strife of al-Musta'in and al-Mu'tazz — c. 865 CE · 251 AH
In 251 Bugha al-Saghir and Wasif were killed at the hands of Bagir the Turk, and the affairs of the clients in Samarra were thrown into turmoil. Al-Musta'in fled to Baghdad, to Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn Tahir, who cut off supplies to the people of Samarra, forbidding anything to go up from Baghdad or down to it. Al-Musta'in ordered him to fortify Baghdad: a wall was raised from Bab al-Shammasiya to the Tuesday market and from Bab Qati'at Umm Ja'far to the palace of Humayd, trenches were dug round both walls on both sides, and shelters were built where horsemen could sit out heat and rain; the cost reached three hundred thousand dinars and thirty thousand dinars. At Bab al-Shammasiya five crushing engines were set across the road, plated with iron and tied with ropes, with a suspended gate released to crush whoever came beneath it; the inner gate had one catapult, the outer gate five large mangonels, the greatest called al-Ghadban, and six catapults faced toward Raqqat al-Shammasiya; at Bab al-Burdan there were eight catapults, four on each side, and four crushing engines; and the same was done at every gate of Baghdad on both the eastern and western sides . When the Turks and the Maghariba reached the gates of the City of Peace on the eastern side, the gates were shut in their faces and they were struck with arrows, mangonels and catapults; many fell on both sides and many were wounded, and this went on until the afternoon . The war between Baghdad's people and the Samarra army continued until al-Musta'in deposed himself; al-Mu'tazz was pledged allegiance on Friday, four days into Muharram 252. Al-Musta'in was moved to the palace of al-Hasan ibn Sahl at al-Mukharram, and his staff and ring were taken from him .
The division of the realm between al-Mufawwid and al-Muwaffaq — c. August 875 CE · Shawwal 261 AH
In Shawwal 261 al-Mu'tamid held public court and divided the realm between two heirs: his son Ja'far — named al-Mufawwid ila'llah — receiving the west (Ifriqiya, Egypt, Syria, the Jazira, Mosul, Armenia, the Khurasan road) with Musa ibn Bugha attached, and his brother Abu Ahmad — the future al-Muwaffaq — receiving the east (Baghdad, the Sawad, Kufa, the Hijaz roads, Yemen, Basra, Khuzistan, Fars, Rayy, Khurasan, Sijistan, Sind) with Sajur al-Bulkhi attached; each got a black and a white banner, Abu Ahmad was made next in line after Ja'far, the bay'a was taken and a copy of the deed hung in the Ka'ba .
The appointment of Amr ibn al-Layth over the lands beyond the Balkh river — c. January 898 CE · Muharram 285 AH
On 23 Muharram 285 a patent was read before Khurasani pilgrims in al-Mu'tadid's palace appointing the Saffarid Amr ibn al-Layth over Transoxiana beyond the Balkh river, deposing Ahmad ibn Isma'il the Samanid .
The public declaration of al-Qa'im bi-Amr Allah as heir, 421 — c. April 1030 CE · Jumada I 421 AH
When rumours spread about the illness of the caliph al-Qadir, he convened a general assembly on Sunday 18 Jumada I 421. The Turkish administrator Abu al-Ghana'im spoke in praise of the choice of Prince Abu Ja'far, and al-Qadir said, 'If God has permitted it, then we too permit it'; Abu Ja'far sat on the throne. On Friday, with seven days of the month left, he was proclaimed with the title 'al-Qa'im bi-Amr Allah, heir to the Muslims', and it was struck on the coinage. On the 12th of Jumada I a letter from Jalal al-Dawla arrived asking permission to carry out the designation of the heir; it was read out to the people on Tuesday in the Hall of Audience, with a detailed preamble, followed by the caliph's endorsement .
Smallpox and epidemic deaths, 422–425 — c. 1031 CE · 422 AH
The deaths ran on for four years. In 422 rain came late, bodies dried out, coughing and sickness multiplied, to the point that the sale of broth boomed. In 423 the epidemic spread over India, Ghazna, Khurasan, Jurjan and al-Rayy; forty thousand were buried in Isfahan within a few days, and in the land of al-Jibal, while four thousand boys died of smallpox in Mosul, and smallpox swept Baghdad from April to October so that no house was spared. In 424 smallpox befell the caliph himself when he entered the bath, and he was lifted out of it. In 425 death multiplied, especially among women in al-Hawaniq, and it was said that in Dhu al-Hijjah seventy thousand died in Baghdad .
The death of al-Qadir and the accession of al-Qa'im bi-amr Allah, 422 — c. November 1031 CE · 11 Dhu al-Hijja 422 AH
The caliph al-Qadir bi'llah died on the night of Monday 11 Dhu'l-Hijja 422, aged eighty-six years, ten months and twenty-one days, having reigned forty-one years and three months, a span no caliph before him had reached. The doors were shut; then al-Qa'im bi-amr Allah came out at the time of 'asr, led the people in the maghrib prayer, prayed over his father with four takbirs, and sat in the Dar al-Shajara in a shirt and mantle. The people gave him bay'a, first among them al-Sharif al-Murtada, and on the next day Abu Ahmad al-Hasan ibn Isa ibn al-Muqtadir came and gave bay'a too. The Turks clamoured over the bay'a money; when a Hashimite killed a Turk, a signed decree of the caliph was issued on the matter, and it was settled that the bay'a be levied at three million dinars. Among his well-known displays of tact, he put up a caravanserai, a garden and a heap of goods for sale to meet it. He gave titles to the viziers and chamberlains and arranged the offices of state .
The ghilman's seizure and humiliation of Jalal al-Dawla, 424 — c. August 1033 CE · Ramadan 424 AH
In Ramadan 424 the ghilman gathered at the mosque of al-Qahramana to lodge a complaint. Some of them found the gate of the garden of the royal residence open and went in. The king came out saying, 'Come, let me hear what you have to say'; they seized him, dragged him to the Tigris and put him in a samiriyya boat that nearly capsized, mocking him as they did. Then they left him standing in the sun, confined him in a mosque, and moved him to the house of al-Mahalibiyya. Abu'l-Wafa' al-Qa'id came to his aid with about twenty ghilman and crossed to al-Karkh, to the house of Jamil belonging to al-Sharif al-Murtada. The ghilman wrote to him: 'We are your slaves and your mamluks; we made you king over our affairs from the start.' He dealt with them tactfully, and by night he won over the junior amirs, who came to al-Murtada's house kissing the ground and apologising; they mounted him and said, 'Jalal al-Dawla is our king and we are his troops.' He accepted Abu'l-Qasim as vizier .
The Shahanshah laqab controversy — c. August 1038 CE · Ramadan 429 AH
In Ramadan 429 the laqabs 'Greatest Shahanshah, King of Kings' were proposed for Jalal al-Dawla and the caliph ordered the khutba with them; the crowd pelted the khatib with bricks and a fitna broke out. The jurists wrote opinions — al-Saymari and Abu'l-Tayyib al-Tabari permitting, al-Mawardi refusing — whereupon Jalal cut him off, then received him warmly on the feast day, telling him that only religion had moved him and that it had raised his standing in the king's heart .
Death of Abu Kalijar and investiture of al-Malik al-Rahim — c. October 1048 CE · Ramadan 440 AH
Abu Kalijar fell ill in Jumada I 440, was bled three times in the open country, and died on the Thursday night of Ramadan; the ghilman plundered treasuries, arms and mounts while his slave-girls burned the tents over his bier. His son Abu Nasr was acclaimed al-Malik al-Rahim and rode to the caliphal palace, kissed the earth, was robed in the seven-piece black investiture with the Rusafi turban, collar, two jewelled swords and gem-set crown, two bound standards presented, the patent of investiture read over his chest, and was counselled to piety and justice — then rode the caliph's own tayyar back to his camp to receive congratulations .
The battle of al-Basasiri and the sermon for the Ubaydi al-Mustansir in Baghdad — c. 1058 CE · 450 AH
Arslan al-Basasiri grew so mighty he was preached on the minbars and the caliph decided nothing without him; when his ill creed proved out and his plan to sack the palace surfaced, al-Qa'im wrote secretly to Tughrul Beg at Rayy. Tughrul came in 447; al-Basasiri fell back to Rahba, took the Egyptian al-Mustansir's money and the treacherous brother Inal's distraction. In 450 he entered Baghdad under Egyptian banners — the khutba went to al-Mustansir at the Mansur mosque, 'hayya ala khayr al-amal' entered the adhan — and seized the caliph in Dhu'l-Hijja, jailing him at Ana; the caliph's letter to God was hung on the Ka'ba. Tughrul killed Inal, had the caliph returned in honour on 25 Dhu'l-Qa'da 451, and al-Basasiri's head reached Baghdad .
Investiture of Tughril as King of the East and West by Caliph al-Qa'im — January 1058 CE · Dhu al-Qa'da 449 AH
In Dhu'l-Qa'da 449, the full investiture of Sultan Tughril by the caliph al-Qa'im: the caliph seated on a seven-cubit silk couch with the Prophet's mantle on his shoulder and the staff in his hand, Tughril kissing the ground at each approach, mounted on a lower couch, addressed 'O Ali' through the ra'is al-ru'asa' — 'Amir al-Mu'minin has invested you with all the lands God gave him: fear God, spread justice, restrain wrong.' Seven robes in one rite, a sword girded by the caliph's own hand, the style 'king of East and West', three standards with the liwa' al-hamd bound by the caliph himself, the investiture-patent read over him — and Tughril twice kissing the outstretched hand and laying it on his eyes .
The return of al-Qa'im from Haditha to Baghdad — January 1060 CE · 25 Dhu al-Qa'da 451 AH
The caliph al-Qa'im's restoration after a full year of al-Basasiri's rule: Mihrash the 'Uqaylid of Haditha refused to surrender him, Tughril sent Amid al-Mulk with three hundred ghilman, fourteen Bactrian camels of tents and furnishings and a gold-plated litter; at the Nahrwan pavilion the sultan dismounted, walked, and kissed the ground seven times, while the caliph brought out the Buyid mountain of red yaqut and twelve large pearls. Tughril begged pardon for his delay — 'my jealous brother Ibrahim; I strangled him with his own bowstring' — and the caliph girded on him the only sword saved from his flight. The caliph entered Monday 25 Dhu'l-Qa'da 451, Tughril seated on the gatekeeper's bench at Bab al-Nubi until the procession passed; only the chief qadi and three witnesses were left in Baghdad to receive him .
