Chronology

Chronology of Historical Events

These are important events related the study of al-Ghazālī  they are presented in two date formats Hijri/ Gregorian. The Islamic (Hijri) calendar (with dates that fall within the Muslim Era) is usually abbreviated A.H. in Western languages from the Latinized Anno Hegirae. Muḥarram (the first month of the year) 1, 1 A.H. corresponds to July 16, 622 C.E. For more information on the calendar system see:

For more detailed information on Muslim Dynasties see Zambaur manual in Arabic translation 1951, reprinted, 1980: pdf and the original French of 1927 and on archive.org: E. de Zambaur Manuel de Genealogie et de Chronologie pour l’historic de l’Islam (Hanovre: Librairie Orientalist Heniz Lafair, 1927)

  • c. 570: Birth of the Prophet Muḥammad in Mecca
  • Friday 1st of Muḥaram 1 / 16 July 622 (Start of the Islamic Calendar)
  • 1/622: The Hijra: the Prophet Muḥammad Emigrates to Medina  
  • 11/630: Conquest of Mecca 
  • 13/632: the Prophet Muḥammad dies in Medina.
  • 13–41/632–661 the era of the rightly guided Caliphates
  • 41–132/661–750 Umayyad Caliphate
  • 132–656 /750–1258 ʿAbbāsid Caliphate 
  • 138–422/756–1031 Umayyad emirate in Andalusia 
  • 297–567/909–1171: Faṭimid Caliphate in Egypt
  • 110/ al-Ḥasan al-Baṣarī (Scholar) dies in Baghdad
  • 150/760 Abu Ḥanifah (Jurist) dies in Baghdad. See J. Schacht, ‘Abu Ḥanifah al-Nuʿman’ in EI (2nd ed.), vol. 1, pp. 123-4
  • 179/796 Mālik b. Anas (Jurist) dies in Medina. (b. 93/714)
  • 204/820 al-Shāfiʿī (Jurist) dies in Egypt. (b. 150/767) see E. Chaumont, ‘al-Shāfiʿi’ in EI (2nd ed.), vol. 9, pp. 181-5
  • 241/ 856 Ibn Hanbal (Traditionist) dies in Baghdad. (b. 164/781)
  • 256/873 al-Kindi dies in Baghdad. (b. 185/805)
  • 298/910 al-Junyad (Sufi) dies in Baghdad (b. 220/835)
  • 324/923 (Monday, 27 Shawwāl/17 February) Muḥammad b. Jarīr al-Ṭabarī dies in Baghdad. (b. 260/873/4)
  • 324/935 al-ʾAshaʿrī dies in Baghdad. (b. 260/873/4)
  • 334/946 Abu Bakr al-Shibli dies. (b. 247/861)
  • 339/950 al-Farabi dies in Aleppo. (b. 259/870)
  • 403/1013 Abu bakr al-Baqlani dies in Baghdad. 
  • 428/1037 Avicenna dies in Hamadan. (b. 370/980 ) see M. Mahdi, D. Gutas, et al., “Avicenna” in EncIr, volume 3, pp. 66-110; A.-M. Goichon, “Ibn Sina” in EI (2nd ed.), volume 3, pp. 941-947.
  • 440/1049 Abi Saʿī ibn Abū al-Khayr dies, see H. Ritter ‘Abu Saʿid b. Abi al-Khayr’ in EI (2nd ed.), vol. 1, 145-7.
  • 448–541/1056–1147 al-Murabiṭūn Rule in North Africa and Andulusia
  • 450/1058 al-Ghazālī is born in Ṭūs.
  • 455/1063 Sultan Ṭughril Bey dies / Alp Arslān succeeds / al-Juwaynī is in Nishapur’s Niẓāmiyya madrasa.
  • 456/1064 (Sunday, 28 Shaʿbān/15 August) ʿAlī b. Aḥmad Ibn Ḥazam dies in Andulusia
  • 461/1069 al-Ghazālī begins his studies in earnest.
  • al-Ghazālī travels to Nishapur to study with al-Juwaynī.
  • 465/1072 Alp Arslan is assassinated, his son Malikshāh succeeds him.
  • 478/1085 (August) al-Juwaynī (Imam al-Ḥaramyan) dies in Nishapur and al-Ghazālī goes to the “camp” of Niẓam al-Mulk
  • 484/1091 (July) al-Ghazālī is appointed to teach at Baghdad’s Niẓāmiyah.
  • 485/1092 (Oct. 14) Nizam al-mulk is assassinated in Khurasan
  • 485 / 1092 (Nov.) Malikshāh dies in Baghdad (succession is contested by supports of his two sons- Maḥmūd and Berk-Yarūq) al-Ghazālī is asked to intervene to settle dispute)
  • 486/1093 present at lectures in Baghdad’s Niẓāmiyya
  • 487/1094 death of Malikshāh’s son Maḥmūd and his mother Terken Khātūn.
  • 487 (15th of Muḥaram)/1094 present at oath (coronation) to new caliph, al-Mustaẓhir(r. 487-512 16th of rabʿi thānī)
  • 488/1095 al-Ghazālī  leaves Baghdad’s Niẓamiyah (in Dhu’l – Qaʿda 488/ November 1095)
  • 489/1096 Makes the pilgrimage
  • 490/1097 (June) Abū Bakr b. al-ʿArabī (d. 543) meets with him
  • 498/1105 al-Ghazālī  returns to Tus
  • 499/1106 al-Ghazālī return to teaching at Nishapur’s Niẓamiya
  • Quits Nishapur’s Niẓamiya and returns home
  • 502/1108 completes al-Munqidh (deliverance from Error)
  • 503/1109 Finished Mustaṣfa min ʿilm al-iṣūl (on Jurisprudential  Theory)
  • 504/1110 Quits Nishapur’s Niẓamiya and returns home
  • 505/1111 (Monday December 18) al-Ghazālī dies in Tus
  • 517 0r 520/ 1123 or 1126 Aḥmad al-Ghazālī (his brother) dies
  • 524–667/1130–1269 Al-Muwaḥidūn rule in North Africa and Andulusia
  • 529/1135 ʿAbd al-Ghāfir al-Farasi dies.
  • 543/ Abū bakr Ibn al-ʿArabī dies in Fez.  (b. 468 in Andalusia)
  • 581/1185 Ibn Ṭufayl dies in Morocco
  • 587/1191 al-Suhrawardī is executed in Aleppo
  • 595/1198 Ibn Rushd dies in Morocco. (b. 520 Cordoba) see R. Arnaldez, “Ibn Rushd” in EI (2nd ed.), vol. 3, pp. 909-920
  • 597/1201 Ibn al-jawzī dies in Baghdad. (b. 509 (510)/1114)
  • 606/1209 Fakhr al-dīn al-Razī dies in al-Rayy and is buried in his own house in secret for fear of his body will be descreated. (b. 505) see G.C. Anawati, ‘Fakhr al-Dīn al-Razī’ in EI (2nd ed.), vol. 2, pp. 751-5
  • 620/ Ibn Qudāma al-Maqdasī dies in Damascus
  • 638/1240 Muḥyi al-Din ibn ʿArabī (b. 1165) dies in Damascus, see A. Ates, ‘Ibn al-ʿArabī’ in EI (2nd ed.), vol. 3, pp. 707-11
  • 672/1274 Naṣr al-din al-Ṭusi dies
  • 676/ al-Nawawi dies in Nawa his hometown
  • 681/1282 Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad Ibn Khallikān dies in Damascus (b. 608/1211 in Irbil)
  • 728/1328 Ibn Taymiyah (Aḥmad b. ʿAbd al-ḥalīm) dies in Damascus in Prison. (b. 661/1263)
  • 748/1348 al-Dhahabi, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. Aḥmad b. ʿUthmān  (Historian) dies in Damascus. (b. 673/1274). see M. Ben Cheneb and J. de Somogyi, ‘Dhahabi’ in EI (2nd ed.), vol. 2, pp. 214-6.
  • 771/1371 Tāj al-dīn al-Subkī dies in Damascus in the plague (Ṭāʿūn) (b. 727/1327) who comes from a long line of scholars from Egypt; author of major biographical work on Shāfiʿī (Jurist)
  • 776/1375 Ibn al-Khaṭīb, Lisān al-Dīn dies in Gharnata (Granada) (b. 713/1313) see Bosch-Vilá, “Ibn al-Khaṭīb” in EI (2nd ed.), vol. 3, pp. 835-7; GAL, vol. 2, pp. 260-264 (337-340) and GAL-S , pp. 372-373
  • 806 /1404 (Wednesday, 8 Shaʿbān/ 20 February ) Zayn al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥīm b. al-Ḥussaīn al-ʿIrāqī dies in Cairo, (b. 725/1325).
  • 808/1406 Ibn Khaldūn dies in Cairo. (b. Tunis: 732/1332)
  • 852/1449 Ibn Hajar al-ʿAsqalānī dies in Cairo. (b. Cairo: 773/1372)
  • 898/1492 Jāmī, Nūr al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Aḥmad b. Muḥammad (Persian Poet) dies in Herat (b. 817/1414) see C. Huart and H. Massé, ‘Djami’ in EI (2nd ed.), vol. 2, pp. 421-2
  • 899/1493 End of Andalusia’s Muslim sovereignty
  • 911/1505 (Friday, 19 Jumādā I/18 October) Jalāl al-dīn al-Suyṭī dies in Cairo.  (b. 849) see E. M. Sartain, Jalāl al-dīn al-Suyūṭī: Volume I: Biography and background. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Prese, 1975)109; GAL-S vol. 1, pp. 178-198; and E. Geoffroy, “Suyuti”, EI (2nd ed.), vol. 9
  • 968/1561 Tashköprüzade, abu al-Khayr ibn Muslih al-Din Mustafá dies. Born in Bursa in 901/1495 Encyclopediaist, author of Miftāḥ al-saʿāda, see F. Babiner and Christine Woodhead, ‘Tashköprüzade (2)’ in EI (2nd ed.), vol. 10, pp. 351-2
  • 1050/1640 Mūlla Ṣadrā dies in Basra
  • 1067/ Ḥajjī Khalīfa dies also known as (aka) Kâtib Çelebi, Mustafa b. Abdullah, an Encyclopediaist, author of the famed Kashf al-zunun ʿan asāmī al-kutub wa-al-funūn. b. 1017/
  • 1205/1791 Murtḍā al-Zabīdī dies in Zabīd in Yemen
  • 1269/1853 First printed copy of the Iḥyaʾ with moveable type in Bulaq Egypt in 4 books bound in 2 volumes measuring 33cm
  • 1864 First printed copy of the Iḥyaʾ offset (Ḥajarī) in Lucknow, India in 4 volumes measuring 35cm
  • 1311 itḥāf al-sāda is printed by al-Maṭbaʿa al-Maymūniya in Cairo, 10 volumes
  • 1379/1957, ʿIsā al-Bābī al-Ḥalabi’s edition of Iḥyaʾ is printed in Cairo, 4 volumes
  • 2001, June al-Ghazālī website goes online
  • 2011, 900 year anniversary of al-Ghazālī’s death