19 September
After a siege lasting almost a month the Rashidun Arabs under Khalid ibn al-Walid capture Damascus from the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire). Continue reading “AD 634 – Siege of Damascus”
15 August
The Second Arab siege of Constantinople (717–718) was finally raised after a year of conflict. Continue reading “718 – Raising of the Second Arab Siege of Constantinople”
15 August
The Second Arab siege of Constantinople in 717–718 was a combined land and sea offensive by the Muslim Arabs of the Umayyad Caliphate against the capital city of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire), Constantinople. Continue reading “717 – Second Arab Siege of Constantinople begins”
15 August
The Battle of Yarmouk was a major battle between the army of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) and the Muslim Arab forces of the Rashidun Caliphate.
4 July
During the Crusades, Saladin defeats Guy of Lusignan, King of Jerusalem at the Battle of Hattin on this day in 1187. Continue reading “1187 – The Battle of Hattin”
17 June
Her husband, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan I (reigned 1628-1658), will spend the next 17 years building her mausoleum, the Taj Mahal.
Continue reading “1631 – Mumtaz Mahal dies during childbirth”
24 May
The Fifth Crusade (1213–1221) was an attempt by Western Europeans to reacquire Jerusalem and the rest of the Holy Land by first conquering the powerful Ayyubid state in Egypt.
Continue reading “1218 – The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt”
17 May
Muhammad Ali Pasha al-Mas’ud ibn Agha , born 4 March 1769, was an Ottoman Albanian who rose to rule Egypt and Sudan. Continue reading “1805 – Muhammad Ali becomes Wāli of Egypt”
6 April
Mehmed II or Mohammed II (30 March 1432 – 3 May 1481), best known as Mehmed the Conqueror, was an Ottoman sultan who ruled first for a short time from August 1444 to September 1446, and later from February 1451 to May 1481. At the age of 21, he conquered Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) and brought an end to the Eastern Roman Empire. Mehmed continued his conquests in Anatolia with its reunification and in Southeast Europe as far west as Bosnia. Mehmed is considered a hero in modern-day Turkey and parts of the wider Muslim world. Among other things, Istanbul’s Fatih district, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge and Fatih Mosque are named after him.
Continue reading “1453 – Mehmed II begins his siege of Constantinople”
31 March
The Battle of the Trench was a 27 – day long siege of Yathrib (now Medina) by Arab and Jewish tribes. The strength of the confederate armies is estimated around 10,000 men with six hundred horses and some camels, while the Medinan defenders numbered 3,000. The battle coincided with harsh winter weather of January/February 627. Continue reading “627 – Battle of the Trench”
Fall of Khartoum was the conquest of Egyptian held Khartoum by the Mahdist forces led by Muhammad Ahmad. After a siege of almost a year from 13 March, 1884, to 26 January, 1885 the Mahdist army stormed the city. Continue reading “1885 – The Fall of Khartoum”
13 March
The Battle of Khartoum, Siege of Khartoum was the conquest of Egyptian held Khartoum by the Mahdist forces led by Muhammad Ahmad. Egypt had held the city for some time prior, but the siege that the Mahdists engineered and carried out from 13 March, 1884, to January 26, 1885 was enough to wrest control away from the Egyptian administration. Continue reading “1884 – The Siege of Khartoum, Sudan begins”
9 March
The Farewell Sermon (Khuṭbatu l-Wadāʿ), also known as Muhammad’s Final Sermon or The Last Sermon, was delivered by the Islamic prophet, Muhammad on this day in 632 in the Uranah valley of Mount Arafat, during the Islamic pilgrimage of Hajj. Continue reading “632 – The Farewell Sermon of the Islamic prophet Muhammad”
21 February
Malcolm X (19 May, 1925 – 21 February, 1965), born Malcolm Little was an American Muslim minister and a human rights activist. To his admirers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of blacks, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against black Americans; detractors accused him of preaching racism and violence. He has been called one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history. Continue reading “1965 – Malcolm X is assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City”
