Seerah · Chronology

The Madinan Period

622–632 · 70 events

The Madinan Period

622–632

622–623 Worship #53

The building of the Prophet’s Mosque and the Suffah

Hijri 1 age 52 Madinah

The plot where Qaswa had knelt, which belonged to two orphans, was purchased, and a mosque was built with walls of mud brick, pillars of palm trunks and a roof of palm branches; the Prophet ﷺ took part in the construction himself, carrying stones. Rooms for the Prophet’s wives were added beside the mosque. At the back of the mosque a covered platform (the Suffah) was built, where poor Companions with no family stayed and learned the Quran and hadith. Great hadith narrators such as Abu Hurayrah were among the people of the Suffah. The mosque was not only a place of worship but also a school, a council hall and the centre of the state.

622–623 Worship #54

The institution of the adhan

Hijri 1 age 52 Madinah

Methods such as a bell, a horn and a fire were discussed as ways to announce the prayer times, but none of them was adopted. Abdullah ibn Zayd learned the words of the adhan in a dream, and Umar said he had seen the same dream. The Prophet ﷺ said, “This is a true dream,” and taught the words to Bilal al-Habashi, who had a powerful voice; Bilal became the first muezzin of Islam. From that day on, the adhan, called five times a day, became one of the most distinctive symbols of Islam.

623 Society #55

Brotherhood between the Muhajirun and the Ansar (Mu’akhah)

Hijri 1 age 52 Madinah – the house of Anas ibn Malik

To provide for the Muhajirun, who had come leaving their property in Makkah, and to bind the two communities together, the Prophet ﷺ declared each of the Muhajirun a brother to one of the Ansar; around ninety families were paired. The Ansar shared their homes and property with their brothers, and the bond was so strong that they could even inherit from one another. Sa'd ibn al-Rabi' offered his brother Abdurrahman ibn Awf half of his wealth; Abdurrahman replied, “Just show me the way to the market,” and earned his living by trade. It is an example of solidarity rarely matched in history.

623 Treaty #56

The Constitution of Madinah

Hijri 1 age 52 Madinah

The Prophet ﷺ drew up a written agreement among the Muslims of Madinah, the Arabs who had not yet become Muslim, and the Jewish tribes (Qaynuqa, Nadir and Qurayzah). Under it, all parties enjoyed freedom of religion, would defend the city together against outside attack, and would accept the Prophet ﷺ as arbiter in their disputes; blood feuds and injustice were forbidden in Madinah. This document, which historians count among the first written constitutions in the world, laid the legal foundation for Muslims and non-Muslims to live side by side.

623 Society #57

The first census in Madinah and the founding of the Muslim market

Hijri 1 age 52 Madinah

After settling in Madinah, the Prophet ﷺ had the first census taken, saying, “Write down for me everyone who declares himself a Muslim”; one thousand five hundred Muslim men were recorded. As an alternative to the markets controlled by Jewish merchants, he designated a new marketplace in Madinah and said, “This is your market; no tax will be taken here, and no one will be confined to a fixed spot.” In the same period the basic rules of commercial ethics were laid down: honesty in weights and measures, the prohibition of hoarding, and the ruling that whoever cheats in the market “is not one of us.”

623 Calling to Islam #58

Abdullah ibn Salam and Salman al-Farisi embrace Islam

Hijri 1 age 53 Madinah

Abdullah ibn Salam, the most learned Jewish scholar of Madinah, became a Muslim on seeing the Prophet’s face, saying, “This is not the face of a liar”; his people, who had praised him before, began to speak ill of him once he entered Islam. Salman al-Farisi, who had set out from Persia and spent years searching for the true religion, was the slave of a Jew in Madinah when he saw in the Prophet ﷺ the signs he had been waiting for – that he did not eat from charity, that he accepted gifts, and the seal of prophethood on his back – and he became a Muslim; the Prophet ﷺ helped him pay the price of his freedom.

623 (Şevval) Family #59

Marriage to Aisha

Hijri 1 age 53 Madinah

In Madinah, after the Hijrah, the Prophet ﷺ married Aisha, the daughter of Abu Bakr, to whom he had become engaged in Makkah. Intelligent, with a strong memory and a deep knowledge of the Quran, Aisha narrated thousands of hadiths about the Prophet’s home life, and the Companions consulted her on religious questions. They were married for nine years, until the Prophet’s death; the Prophet ﷺ passed away in her room and was buried there.

623 Expeditions and campaigns #60

The first expeditions (sariyyahs)

Hijri 1 age 53 Sif al-Bahr, Rabigh, Kharrar

In response to the Quraysh’s preparations to attack Madinah and their seizure of the property the Muslims had left in Makkah, the Prophet ﷺ sent out small detachments (sariyyahs) to watch the Quraysh caravans: Hamza to Sif al-Bahr, Ubaydah ibn al-Harith to Rabigh and Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas to Kharrar. These detachments were made up only of Muhajirun and no serious fighting took place; the arrow Sa'd shot at Rabigh is regarded as the first arrow shot in the way of Allah in Islamic history. Verse 39 of Surah al-Hajj, which gave permission to fight, was revealed in this period.

623–624 Expeditions and campaigns #61

The first expeditions led by the Prophet ﷺ

Hijri 2 age 53 Abwa, Buwat, Ushayrah, the first Badr

In the second year after the Hijrah, the Prophet ﷺ personally led the army on the expeditions to Abwa (Waddan), Buwat and Dhu al-Ushayrah, and on the first Badr expedition in response to the raid of Kurz ibn Jabir. There was no fighting on these expeditions; non-aggression pacts were made with the surrounding tribes, and the Muslims made their presence felt along the Quraysh trade route. Expeditions in which the Prophet ﷺ took part himself are called ghazwahs, and those he only dispatched are called sariyyahs.

Şubat 624 (Şaban) Worship #62

The changing of the qiblah to the Kaaba

Hijri 2 age 53 Madinah – Masjid al-Qiblatayn

For sixteen or seventeen months the Muslims faced Jerusalem in prayer. The Prophet ﷺ longed to face the Kaaba, and with verse 144 of Surah al-Baqarah the qiblah was changed to the Sacred Mosque. The command came while the noon prayer was being performed in the mosque of the Banu Salimah; the congregation changed direction in the middle of the prayer, and the mosque came to be known as the Mosque of the Two Qiblahs (Masjid al-Qiblatayn). The Jews objected to the change; the Quran declared that the qiblah was a test.

624 (Şaban) Worship #63

Fasting in Ramadan, zakat and the fitrah made obligatory

Hijri 2 age 53 Madinah

Fasting in Ramadan was made obligatory by verses 183–185 of Surah al-Baqarah; the Muslims kept their first Ramadan fast in the second year after the Hijrah. In the same year the fitrah (sadaqat al-fitr) was commanded and the detailed rulings of zakat began to be laid down. During Ramadan the Prophet ﷺ performed the tarawih prayer, recited the Quran back and forth with Jibril (muqabalah) and went into i'tikaf in the last ten days; these sunnahs shaped the Ramadan tradition of the ummah.

Ocak 624 (Recep) Expeditions and campaigns #64

The expedition of Abdullah ibn Jahsh

Hijri 2 age 53 Batn Nakhlah

The Prophet ﷺ sent Abdullah ibn Jahsh with eight men to watch a Quraysh caravan. The detachment attacked the caravan at Nakhlah on the last day of Rajab, a sacred month; one man was killed, and two prisoners and booty were taken. The shedding of blood in a sacred month caused great controversy in both Makkah and Madinah. Verse 217 of Surah al-Baqarah declared that fighting in a sacred month was a great sin, but that driving the Muslims away from the Sacred Mosque was a greater sin still. This was the first booty the Muslims ever took.

13 Mart 624 (17 Ramazan) Expeditions and campaigns #65

The Battle of Badr

Hijri 2 age 53 Badr

The Muslims set out with 305 men to intercept Abu Sufyan’s great caravan returning from Syria, but when the caravan escaped they came face to face at the wells of Badr with a Quraysh army of about a thousand men that had marched from Makkah. The Prophet ﷺ prayed all night: “O Allah, if this group perishes, there will be no one left on earth to worship You.” With the support of the angels the Muslims won a decisive victory: seventy polytheists, including Abu Jahl and Umayyah ibn Khalaf, were killed and seventy were taken prisoner, while fourteen Muslims were martyred. Prisoners who could read and write were set free on condition that each taught ten Muslim children. The Quran calls this day “the day the truth was separated from falsehood” (yawm al-furqan).

Mart 624 Passing away #66

The death of his daughter Ruqayyah

Hijri 2 age 53 Madinah

When the Prophet ﷺ set out for Badr, he left his son-in-law Uthman behind in Madinah to stay at the bedside of his daughter Ruqayyah, who was ill. By the time the good news of the victory at Badr reached Madinah, Ruqayyah had passed away; the Prophet ﷺ was unable to attend her funeral. Although Uthman had not taken part in Badr, the Prophet ﷺ counted him among the people of Badr and gave him a share of the booty. Later he married his other daughter Umm Kulthum to Uthman as well, which is why Uthman was called Dhu al-Nurayn (the possessor of two lights).

Nisan 624 (1 Şevval) Worship #67

The first Eid al-Fitr and the Eid prayer

Hijri 2 age 53 Madinah

Shortly after the victory at Badr, the Muslims celebrated their first Eid al-Fitr. The Prophet ﷺ led the Eid prayer at the prayer ground (musalla) outside the city, delivered a khutbah and gave separate counsel to the women; he ordered that the fitrah be given before the prayer. In Dhu al-Hijjah of the same year the first Eid al-Adha was celebrated, and the Prophet ﷺ sacrificed two rams. On the Eid days he encouraged play for the children, and visits and joy for the Companions.

Nisan 624 (Şevval) Expeditions and campaigns #68

The expedition against the Banu Qaynuqa

Hijri 2 age 53 Madinah

Despite the Constitution of Madinah, the Jews of Qaynuqa openly challenged the Muslims after Badr, and they broke the agreement when a Muslim woman was assaulted in their market and a Muslim was killed in the fight that followed. The Prophet ﷺ besieged their fortresses for fifteen days; when the Qaynuqa surrendered, their lives were spared at the insistence of their ally Abdullah ibn Ubayy, and they were expelled from Madinah and went towards Syria.

624 (Zilhicce) Expeditions and campaigns #69

The Sawiq expedition and the raiding plans of the neighbouring tribes

Hijri 2 age 54 Madinah – Qarqarat al-Kudr

Abu Sufyan, who had sworn to take revenge for Badr, came near Madinah with two hundred horsemen, killed two Muslims and burned the date groves. The Prophet ﷺ pursued him; the expedition took its name from the sacks of roasted flour (sawiq) that the raiders threw away to lighten their loads as they fled. In the same year, on news that the Sulaym and Ghatafan tribes were preparing to attack Madinah, the expeditions to Qarqarat al-Kudr and Dhu Amarr were carried out, and the tribes dispersed.

624 (Zilhicce) Family #70

The marriage of Fatimah to Ali

Hijri 2 age 54 Madinah

The Prophet ﷺ married his youngest daughter Fatimah to Ali, the son of his uncle, whom he had raised in his own home. Ali sold his armour to provide the dowry; the trousseau consisted of a bed, a leather pillow, two water vessels and a hand mill. From this marriage were born Hasan, Husayn, Zaynab and Umm Kulthum, and the Prophet’s line (the Ahl al-Bayt) continued through it. Of Fatimah the Prophet ﷺ said, “Fatimah is a part of me; whoever hurts her hurts me.”

Mart 625 (15 Ramazan) Family #71

The birth of his grandson Hasan

Hijri 3 age 54 Madinah

Hasan, the first child of Fatimah and Ali, was born; the Prophet ﷺ recited the adhan into his ear, gave him his name and offered the aqiqah sacrifice. He dearly loved Hasan and Husayn, who was born a year later, saying, “They are my two sweet-scented flowers in this world,” and “Hasan and Husayn are the masters of the youth of Paradise.” It is related that when his grandsons climbed onto his back while he was in prostration during prayer, he prolonged the prostration so as not to disturb them.

625 (Şaban) Family #72

Marriage to Hafsah

Hijri 3 age 54 Madinah

Hafsah, the daughter of Umar, had been widowed when her husband Khunays died of a wound he received at Badr. Umar offered his daughter first to Uthman and then to Abu Bakr; when neither gave an answer, he was hurt. By marrying Hafsah, the Prophet ﷺ made his two closest friends, Abu Bakr and Umar, his fathers-in-law. Hafsah, who could read and write, kept for many years the copy of the Quran compiled in the time of Abu Bakr; this copy became the basis for the copies made by Uthman.

23 Mart 625 (7 Şevval) Expeditions and campaigns #73

The Battle of Uhud

Hijri 3 age 54 Uhud

The Quraysh came with three thousand men to avenge Badr, and the Prophet ﷺ met them with seven hundred at the foot of Mount Uhud; Abdullah ibn Ubayy had turned back on the way with his three hundred men. At the start of the battle the Muslims had the upper hand, but when most of the fifty archers on the hill of Aynayn left their post for the booty, Khalid ibn al-Walid attacked from the rear. The Prophet ﷺ was wounded, a tooth was broken, and the rings of his helmet were driven into his cheek; a rumour spread that he had been killed. Seventy Companions were martyred, among them Hamza, Mus'ab ibn Umayr and Abdullah ibn Jahsh. The Quraysh withdrew without winning a decisive victory. Surah Al Imran evaluates the battle in detail.

Mart 625 (8 Şevval) Expeditions and campaigns #74

The expedition to Hamra al-Asad

Hijri 3 age 54 Hamra al-Asad

On the morning after Uhud, thinking that the Quraysh might turn back and attack Madinah, the Prophet ﷺ pursued the enemy with only those who had fought at Uhud; even wounded Companions joined the army. The Muslims camped at Hamra al-Asad for three days and lit five hundred fires at night as a show of strength. When Abu Sufyan heard on the road, through Ma'bad al-Khuza'i, that the Muslims were coming with a great army, he chose to return to Makkah. This pursuit restored the Muslims’ morale and wiped away the appearance of defeat at Uhud.

625 (Safer) Expeditions and campaigns #75

The tragedy of al-Raji': the martyrdom of Khubayb and Zayd

Hijri 4 age 55 al-Raji' – Makkah

The tribes of Adal and Qarah asked for teachers to learn Islam, and the Prophet ﷺ sent ten Companions. They were betrayed at the water of al-Raji': eight were martyred, and Khubayb ibn Adi and Zayd ibn al-Dathinah were sold to the Quraysh in Makkah. Before his execution Khubayb prayed two rak'ahs and recited verses of poetry: “When I die as a Muslim, it matters not on which side I fall”; praying two rak'ahs before execution became his sunnah. When Abu Sufyan said to Zayd, “Would you not wish Muhammad were in your place?”, he answered, “I would not even accept that a thorn should prick his foot.”

625 (Safer) Expeditions and campaigns #76

The tragedy of Bi'r Ma'unah

Hijri 4 age 55 Bi'r Ma'unah

Seventy memorisers of the Quran (qurra), sent to Najd at the request of Amir ibn Malik, were ambushed and martyred at the well of Bi'r Ma'unah by clans of the Sulaym incited by Amir ibn al-Tufayl; only Amr ibn Umayyah survived. For a month the Prophet ﷺ wept over this grief, reciting the qunut in the dawn prayer and cursing the killers; it is related that no event in his life grieved him so deeply. In the same month, together with al-Raji', around eighty Companions were lost to treachery.

Ağustos 625 (Rebiülevvel) Expeditions and campaigns #77

The expedition against the Banu Nadir and their expulsion

Hijri 4 age 55 Madinah

When the Prophet ﷺ went to the Jews of Nadir over a matter of blood money, they planned to kill him by rolling a stone down onto him from a wall; Jibril informed him and the Prophet ﷺ left the place. The Banu Nadir, who had broken the agreement, were told to leave Madinah; when the help promised by Abdullah ibn Ubayy did not come, they surrendered after a siege of fifteen days. Taking as much property as they could load onto their camels, apart from weapons, they went to Khaybar and Syria. Surah al-Hashr recounts this event; the lands they left behind were distributed among the Muhajirun.

625–626 Revelation #78

The final prohibition of intoxicants

Hijri 4 age 55 Madinah

The prohibition of intoxicants came in stages: first it was declared that their harm was greater than their benefit (al-Baqarah 219), then approaching the prayer while drunk was forbidden (al-Nisa 43). With verses 90–91 of Surah al-Ma’idah, revealed after Uhud, intoxicants and gambling were definitively forbidden: “Will you not then desist?” When the verse was announced, the wine poured out in the streets of Madinah flowed like a flood, and the Companions put down the cups in their hands. In these same years social regulations such as the prohibition of usury and the rulings on inheritance were also revealed.

Ocak 626 (5 Şaban) Family #79

The birth of his grandson Husayn

Hijri 4 age 55 Madinah

Husayn, the second son of Fatimah and Ali, was born. The Prophet ﷺ recited the adhan into his ear too, gave him his name and asked that silver equal to the weight of his hair be given in charity. He would carry Husayn on his shoulder and say, “Husayn is from me, and I am from Husayn.” Husayn was martyred at Karbala in the year 61 after the Hijrah; the line of the Ahl al-Bayt continued through his children and those of Hasan.

625–626 Family #80

Marriages to Zaynab bint Khuzaymah and Umm Salamah

Hijri 4 age 55 Madinah

He married Zaynab bint Khuzaymah, whose husband had been martyred at Badr and who was known as Umm al-Masakin (Mother of the Poor) for her devotion to the needy; Zaynab passed away a few months later. He also married Umm Salamah, the widow of Abu Salamah, who had died of a wound received at Uhud, and the mother of four children; Umm Salamah was known for her wise and measured judgement, and is remembered for the advice she gave the Prophet ﷺ at Hudaybiyyah. The Prophet’s marriages were important for the protection of women widowed by war and for strengthening tribal ties.

626 Expeditions and campaigns #81

The expedition of Dhat al-Riqa' and the prayer of fear

Hijri 4 age 55 Najd – Dhat al-Riqa'

This expedition, undertaken in response to the attack preparations of the Ghatafan tribes in Najd, took its name from the rags (riqa') with which the soldiers bandaged their feet, wounded on the rocky ground. There was no fighting, but the “prayer of fear” (salat al-khawf), which shows how prayer is to be performed in the face of the enemy, was performed for the first time on this expedition (al-Nisa 102). On the way back, the Prophet ﷺ famously forgave a Bedouin who threatened him with his own sword while he slept.

Ağustos 626 (Rebiülevvel) Expeditions and campaigns #82

The expedition to Dumat al-Jandal

Hijri 5 age 56 Dumat al-Jandal (Syrian border)

On news that the people of Dumat al-Jandal, on the Syrian trade route, were attacking caravans and preparing to march on Madinah, the Prophet ﷺ led a thousand men on an expedition to the region, fifteen days’ journey away. There was no fighting, since the people had scattered; their herds were taken as booty and a treaty was made with the Kalb tribe. This was the Muslims’ first expedition into the Byzantine sphere of influence, and it showed the strength of Madinah to the tribes of the north.

Aralık 626 – Ocak 627 (Şaban) Expeditions and campaigns #83

The expedition against the Banu Mustaliq (al-Muraysi') and the incident of Ifk

Hijri 5 age 56 The water of al-Muraysi'

When the Banu Mustaliq, a branch of the Khuza'ah, prepared to attack, the Prophet ﷺ marched to the water of al-Muraysi'; after a brief clash the tribe was defeated and many prisoners were taken. Because the Prophet ﷺ married Juwayriyah, the daughter of the tribe’s chief, the Companions set all the tribe’s prisoners free, and the whole tribe embraced Islam. On the way back Aisha was left behind by the caravan while searching for a necklace she had lost; the hypocrites turned this into slander (the Ifk). After a month of gossip, verses 11–20 of Surah al-Nur declared Aisha’s innocence.

Mart–Nisan 627 (Şevval–Zilkade) Expeditions and campaigns #84

The Battle of the Trench (al-Ahzab)

Hijri 5 age 56 Madinah

Incited by the Jews of Nadir who had been driven to Khaybar, an allied (ahzab) army of ten thousand men from the Quraysh, the Ghatafan and other tribes marched on Madinah. On the suggestion of Salman al-Farisi, a trench was dug in six days along the city’s exposed northern front; the Prophet ﷺ worked in the digging himself, and as he broke up a rock no one else could break, he gave glad tidings of the conquest of Byzantium, Persia and Yemen. During the siege, which lasted about a month, Amr ibn Abd Wudd crossed the trench and was killed by Ali. Nu'aym ibn Mas'ud set the allies against one another, and with a violent storm the enemy dispersed; the Prophet ﷺ said, “From now on they will not march against us; we will march against them.”

Nisan 627 (Zilkade) Expeditions and campaigns #85

The expedition against the Banu Qurayzah

Hijri 5 age 56 Madinah

The Jews of Qurayzah, who at the hardest moment of the siege of the Trench had broken the Constitution of Madinah and collaborated with the allied army, were besieged in their fortresses by the Prophet ﷺ for twenty-five days as soon as the siege was lifted. When they surrendered, the Qurayzah agreed to accept the judgement of their former ally Sa'd ibn Mu'adh, whom they themselves chose as arbiter; Sa'd ruled, in accordance with the laws of war in the Torah, that the fighting men be executed and the women and children taken captive. Thus the last great internal threat within Madinah came to an end; verses 26–27 of Surah al-Ahzab recount the event.

627 Passing away #86

The death of Sa'd ibn Mu'adh

Hijri 5 age 56 Madinah – al-Baqi'

Sa'd ibn Mu'adh, chief of the Aws and one of the greatest figures of the Ansar, was gravely ill from an arrow wound to his arm received at the Trench; shortly after he gave his judgement on the Qurayzah the wound opened and he passed away. The Prophet ﷺ said, “The Throne of the Most Merciful trembled at the death of Sa'd,” and told that seventy thousand angels attended his funeral; the Prophet ﷺ arranged his grave with his own hands. He was thirty-seven years old; when he had embraced Islam through Mus'ab’s call, his whole tribe had entered Islam with him.

627 Revelation #87

Marriage to Zaynab bint Jahsh and the verses of hijab

Hijri 5 age 56 Madinah

Zaynab, the daughter of the Prophet’s paternal aunt, was married to his adopted son Zayd ibn Harithah; they divorced because they could not get along. Since in the days of ignorance (Jahiliyyah) it was considered forbidden to marry the former wife of an adopted son, Allah commanded the Prophet ﷺ to marry Zaynab in order to abolish this custom (al-Ahzab 37). With the “verse of hijab” (al-Ahzab 53), revealed during the wedding feast, the etiquette of entering the Prophet’s house and the rule of speaking to his wives from behind a screen were introduced; with al-Ahzab 59 and al-Nur 31 the covering of Muslim women was regulated.

627–628 Expeditions and campaigns #88

The expeditions against the Banu Lihyan and to al-Ghabah

Hijri 6 age 57 Banu Lihyan, al-Ghabah (Dhu Qarad)

The expedition against the Banu Lihyan, undertaken to avenge the martyrs of al-Raji', ended without fighting when the tribe fled into the mountains. Shortly afterwards Uyaynah ibn Hisn of the Ghatafan raided the Prophet’s camels grazing at al-Ghabah near Madinah; Salamah ibn al-Akwa' pursued the raiders single-handedly and recovered most of the camels, and the Prophet ﷺ advanced with five hundred men as far as Dhu Qarad. In the same year Abdurrahman ibn Awf was also sent to Dumat al-Jandal, and Zayd ibn Harithah on various expeditions.

Mart 628 (Zilkade) Worship #89

Setting out for Umrah: the Hudaybiyyah expedition

Hijri 6 age 57 Madinah → Hudaybiyyah

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ saw in a dream that he was performing tawaf around the Kaaba, and he set out for Makkah to perform umrah with one thousand four hundred Companions, carrying nothing but the travellers’ swords; sacrificial animals were taken along as well. The Quraysh decided not to let the Muslims into Makkah and sent out Khalid ibn al-Walid with a cavalry force. The Prophet ﷺ changed his route and camped at Hudaybiyyah, one stage’s journey from Makkah; his camel Qaswa knelt down there, and the Prophet ﷺ said, “The One who held back the elephant has held her back,” and then sent envoys of peace to the Quraysh.

Mart 628 (Zilkade) Treaty #90

The Pledge of Ridwan (Bay‘at al-Ridwan)

Hijri 6 age 57 Hudaybiyyah – the Samurah tree

When word spread that Uthman, who had been sent to Makkah as an envoy to the Quraysh, had been killed, the Prophet ﷺ gathered the Companions beneath a tree; every one of them pledged to fight to the death and never flee. The Prophet ﷺ also pledged on Uthman’s behalf with his own hand. Verse 18 of Surah al-Fath praises this pledge with the words “Allah was pleased with the believers when they pledged allegiance to you under the tree,” and those who took part are known as the “Ashab al-Ridwan.” News that Uthman was alive arrived after the pledge.

Mart 628 (Zilkade) Treaty #91

The Treaty of Hudaybiyyah

Hijri 6 age 57 Hudaybiyyah

Under the treaty concluded with Suhayl ibn Amr on behalf of the Quraysh, the Muslims would return that year without performing umrah and come back the following year for three days; there would be no war for ten years, tribes could ally with whichever side they wished, and anyone fleeing from Makkah to Madinah would be returned, but not the other way round. The Companions found the terms harsh, and Umar objected. Yet in the climate of peace Islam spread rapidly: within two years the number of those who embraced Islam exceeded the total of the previous nineteen years. Surah al-Fath, revealed on the journey home, described the treaty as “a clear victory.”

Mayıs–Haziran 628 (Muharrem) Letter #92

Letters inviting the rulers to Islam

Hijri 7 age 57 Madinah → Byzantium, Persia, Egypt, Abyssinia

With the security brought by the peace of Hudaybiyyah, the Prophet ﷺ had a seal engraved on a silver ring and sent letters of invitation to the heads of the surrounding states: the Byzantine emperor Heraclius, the Persian shah Khosrow Parviz, Muqawqis the ruler of Egypt, the Negus of Abyssinia, the Ghassanid prince Harith, Hawdhah the chief of Yamamah, and Mundhir the prince of Bahrain. Heraclius treated the letter with respect; Khosrow tore it up, and the Prophet ﷺ said, “May Allah tear his kingdom apart”; Muqawqis sent Mariyah along with gifts. The letters proclaimed that Islam was a universal call.

Mayıs–Haziran 628 (Muharrem–Safer) Expeditions and campaigns #93

The conquest of Khaybar

Hijri 7 age 57 Khaybar

An expedition of one thousand six hundred men was launched against the fortresses of the Jews of Khaybar, who had assembled the allies at the Trench and remained a threat to Madinah. The fortresses fell one by one; the strongest of them, al-Qamus, was conquered by Ali, who was given the banner after the Prophet ﷺ said, “I will give the banner to a man whom Allah and His Messenger love.” The people of Khaybar stayed on their land on condition of handing over half of the harvest. The Prophet ﷺ married Safiyyah, the daughter of their chief Huyayy. The poisoned mutton served by Zaynab bint al-Harith made the Prophet ﷺ ill, and the Companion Bishr died from that poison.

628 Treaty #94

Fadak, Wadi al-Qura and Tayma taken by treaty

Hijri 7 age 57 Fadak, Wadi al-Qura, Tayma

After the fall of Khaybar, the Jews of Fadak made a treaty on the same terms as Khaybar without fighting; because it was taken without war, the revenues of Fadak were counted as belonging directly to the Prophet ﷺ and were spent on the poor. Wadi al-Qura was brought under Madinah after a brief clash, and Tayma by a treaty in return for jizyah. Thus all the Jewish settlements north of Madinah came under Muslim rule, and the road to Syria became safe.

628–629 Worship #95

The making of the minbar and the weeping palm trunk

Hijri 7 age 58 Madinah – the Prophet’s Mosque

The Prophet ﷺ used to deliver the sermon leaning against a palm trunk, one of the pillars of the mosque. As the congregation grew, the carpenter slave of a woman of the Ansar made a minbar with three steps. When the Prophet ﷺ climbed the minbar for the first time, a moan like the crying of a child was heard from the old trunk; the Prophet ﷺ came down and stroked the trunk, and it grew calm. This miracle of the “Hannanah,” transmitted by the Companions through widespread narration, is remembered with the words of Hasan al-Basri: “If a tree trunk longed for him, you should long for him all the more.”

628 Hijrah #96

The return of the emigrants from Abyssinia and the marriage to Umm Habibah

Hijri 7 age 57 Khaybar – Madinah

Ja‘far ibn Abi Talib and the emigrants who had spent fifteen years in Abyssinia, sent by the Negus on ships, reached the Prophet ﷺ on the very day Khaybar was conquered. The Prophet ﷺ kissed Ja‘far on the forehead and said, “I do not know which to rejoice at more, the conquest of Khaybar or the arrival of Ja‘far,” and he set aside a share of the spoils of Khaybar for them. Umm Habibah, the daughter of Abu Sufyan, had been left alone in Abyssinia when her husband became a Christian; her marriage to the Prophet ﷺ had been contracted there by the Negus, and she too came to Madinah with this caravan.

Mart 629 (Zilkade) Worship #97

The make-up umrah (Umrat al-Qada)

Hijri 7 age 58 Makkah

In accordance with the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, the Prophet ﷺ came to Makkah with two thousand Companions and made up the umrah he had been unable to perform the year before. The Quraysh emptied the city for three days and watched from the mountains; in answer to the rumour that the Muslims had been weakened by the fever of Madinah, the Prophet ﷺ told the Companions to walk briskly and with a swagger (ramal) during tawaf. Bilal gave the call to prayer on top of the Kaaba. During this visit the Prophet ﷺ married Maymunah bint al-Harith; Maymunah was his last marriage.

Mayıs–Haziran 629 (Safer) Calling to Islam #98

Khalid ibn al-Walid and Amr ibn al-As embrace Islam

Hijri 8 age 58 Madinah

Khalid ibn al-Walid, the most gifted commander of the Quraysh, whose charge at Uhud had routed the Muslims, came to Madinah together with Uthman ibn Talhah and Amr ibn al-As, who was returning from Egypt, and they embraced Islam. The Prophet ﷺ said to Khalid, “I knew that Makkah would bring you to Islam.” The entry of these three men into Islam was a sign that the military and political power of the Quraysh was passing to the Muslims; Khalid later became “Sayfullah” (the Sword of Allah), and Amr the conqueror of Egypt.

629 (Cemâziyelâhir) Expeditions and campaigns #99

The expedition of Dhat al-Salasil

Hijri 8 age 58 Dhat al-Salasil (beyond Wadi al-Qura)

When the Quda‘ah tribes in the north prepared to attack Madinah, the Prophet ﷺ sent the newly converted Amr ibn al-As at the head of a force of three hundred, in order to make use of his kinship with his mother’s tribe; a reinforcement of two hundred under Abu Ubaydah, including Abu Bakr and Umar, joined him. The tribes dispersed, and there was no serious fighting. On his return Amr asked the Prophet ﷺ, “Who among people is dearest to you?” and received the answer “Aisha,” and among men, “her father”; his leading the prayer with tayammum while in a state of major ritual impurity on a cold night also found its way into the books of fiqh.

Eylül 629 (Cemâziyelevvel) Expeditions and campaigns #100

The Battle of Mu’tah

Hijri 8 age 58 Mu’tah (Jordan)

When the envoy Harith ibn Umayr, sent to Busra, was killed by the Ghassanid prince, an army of three thousand was dispatched north under the command of Zayd ibn Harithah; the Prophet ﷺ said that if Zayd were martyred Ja‘far should take command, and if he too were martyred, Abdullah ibn Rawahah. At Mu’tah they met a Byzantine-Ghassanid army of one hundred thousand; all three commanders were martyred in turn, and because both of Ja‘far’s arms were cut off he came to be called “al-Tayyar” (the one who flies, with two wings in Paradise). Khalid ibn al-Walid took command and brought the army back safe and sound through skilful manoeuvres. In Madinah the Prophet ﷺ described what was happening as it happened and asked that food be sent to Ja‘far’s family.

629 Passing away #101

The death of his daughter Zaynab

Hijri 8 age 58 Madinah

Zaynab, the eldest daughter of the Prophet ﷺ, had stayed in Makkah while her husband Abu al-As was still a polytheist; when she emigrated after Badr she was thrown from her camel, and she carried the effects of that injury for years. When Abu al-As embraced Islam and came to Madinah, they were reunited; Zaynab died in the eighth year after the Hijrah. The Prophet ﷺ asked Umm Ayman, Sawdah and Umm Salamah to wash her body, and he himself went down into her grave. He is known to have led the prayer carrying Zaynab’s daughter Umamah on his shoulder.

Kasım–Aralık 629 (Şaban) Treaty #102

The Quraysh break the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah

Hijri 8 age 59 Makkah

The Banu Bakr, allies of the Quraysh, launched a night raid on the Khuza‘ah, allies of the Muslims; the Quraysh supplied weapons and men, and the Khuza‘ah were killed within the bounds of the Haram. Amr ibn Salim of the Khuza‘ah came to Madinah and asked the Prophet ﷺ for help. The Quraysh regretted what they had done and sent Abu Sufyan to Madinah to renew the treaty; Abu Sufyan returned empty-handed. The Prophet ﷺ decided on the expedition to Makkah, keeping the preparations secret; the letter of Hatib, who wanted to pass news of the expedition to the Quraysh, was intercepted on the way.

11 Ocak 630 (20 Ramazan) Expeditions and campaigns #103

The Conquest of Makkah

Hijri 8 age 59 Makkah

The Prophet ﷺ marched on Makkah with an army of ten thousand; at Marr al-Zahran, Abu Sufyan, brought by the Prophet’s uncle Abbas, embraced Islam and returned to Makkah with the proclamation “Whoever takes refuge in the house of Abu Sufyan, enters the Kaaba, or shuts himself in his home is safe.” The army entered the city from four directions; apart from a small resistance on Khalid’s flank, no blood was shed. The Prophet ﷺ came to the Kaaba on his camel, his head bowed in gratitude, and toppled the three hundred and sixty idols, saying, “Truth has come and falsehood has perished” (al-Isra 81). To the Makkans who had persecuted him for twenty years he declared a general amnesty with the words “No blame upon you today; go, you are free.” Bilal gave the call to prayer on the roof of the Kaaba.

Ocak 630 Society #104

Prayer inside the Kaaba and the return of the key to Uthman ibn Talhah

Hijri 8 age 59 Makkah – the Kaaba

On the day of the conquest the Prophet ﷺ asked Uthman ibn Talhah for the key of the Kaaba, had the pictures inside wiped away, and prayed two rak‘ahs inside the Kaaba. When he came out, Ali asked that the key be given to the Banu Hashim; but upon the verse “Render trusts to those to whom they are due” (al-Nisa 58), he returned the key to Uthman ibn Talhah, saying, “None but a wrongdoer will take this from you.” The key of the Kaaba remains in the hands of that family to this day. On the same day all the idols around the Kaaba, including Hubal, were smashed, and the sale and making of idols in Makkah were forbidden.

Ocak–Şubat 630 (Şevval) Expeditions and campaigns #105

The Expedition of Hunayn

Hijri 8 age 59 The valley of Hunayn

Two weeks after the conquest of Makkah, the tribes of Hawazin and Thaqif gathered twenty thousand men to attack the Muslims. The army of twelve thousand was ambushed in the valley of Hunayn in the darkness of early morning, and most of the army scattered. The Prophet ﷺ did not move from his place on his mule; saying, “I am the Prophet, there is no lie in it; I am the son of Abd al-Muttalib,” he called the Companions back through the booming voice of Abbas. The Muslims rallied and won the victory; six thousand captives and great spoils were taken. Verses 25-26 of Surah al-Tawbah remind that trusting in numbers was of no avail.

Ocak–Şubat 630 Family #106

His foster sister Shayma found among the captives

Hijri 8 age 59 Ji‘ranah

Among the Hawazin captives taken at Hunayn, an elderly woman said, “I am the foster sister of your Prophet,” and she was brought before the Prophet ﷺ. When Shayma, the daughter of Halimah, showed the mark of the bite she had received while carrying him on her back as a child, the Prophet ﷺ recognised her; his eyes filled with tears, and he spread out his cloak on the ground and seated her on it. He offered her the choice of staying with him or returning to her tribe; Shayma embraced Islam and returned to her tribe with gifts. This event is the best-known example of the Prophet’s loyalty to his foster family.

Şubat 630 (Şevval) Expeditions and campaigns #107

The siege of Ta’if and the distribution of spoils at Ji‘ranah

Hijri 8 age 59 Ta’if – Ji‘ranah

The Thaqif who fled from Hunayn shut themselves inside the fortress of Ta’if; when a siege of nearly twenty days brought no result, the Prophet ﷺ prayed, “O Allah, guide the Thaqif,” and lifted the siege (the Thaqif embraced Islam of their own accord a year later). When the spoils were distributed at Ji‘ranah, large shares were given to new Muslims whose hearts were to be won over to Islam (al-mu’allafah qulubuhum). When some of the Ansar were hurt by this, the Prophet ﷺ said to them, “While others return with camels and sheep, would you not rather return to your homes with the Messenger of Allah?”; the Ansar wept and were content. When the delegation of Hawazin arrived, all the captives were set free.

Mart–Nisan 630 (Zilhicce) Family #108

The birth of his son Ibrahim

Hijri 8 age 59 Madinah

Ibrahim, the son of the Prophet ﷺ, was born to Mariyah the Egyptian, whom Muqawqis had sent; the Prophet ﷺ said, “A son was born to me tonight, and I have named him after my forefather Ibrahim,” and he offered the aqiqah sacrifice. He entrusted Ibrahim to a wet nurse in the Awali district of Madinah and would often visit him and take him in his arms. This son, born after Qasim and Abdullah, did not live long either; he died before reaching the age of two.

630–631 Calling to Islam #109

The Year of Delegations (Sanat al-Wufud)

Hijri 9 age 60 Madinah

After the conquest of Makkah and the victory at Hunayn, tribes from every corner of Arabia sent delegations to Madinah to announce that they had embraced Islam or to learn about Islam; for this reason the ninth year after the Hijrah was called the “year of delegations.” More than seventy delegations, from tribes such as Thaqif, Tamim, Tayy, Kindah and Hamdan, were received in the Prophet’s Mosque, and teachers and zakat collectors were sent out to the tribes. Surah al-Nasr depicts this scene with the verse “When you see the people entering the religion of Allah in multitudes.”

631 (Ramazan) Calling to Islam #110

The Thaqif delegation: Ta’if embraces Islam and al-Lat is destroyed

Hijri 9 age 60 Madinah – Ta’if

A year after the siege of Ta’if, the tribe of Thaqif, seeing that it was left alone once the surrounding tribes had embraced Islam, sent a delegation to Madinah. The delegation asked to keep the idol al-Lat for three more years and to be exempted from prayer; the Prophet ﷺ refused, saying, “There is no good in a religion without prayer,” but he accepted their request not to have to destroy the idol themselves. Abu Sufyan and Mughirah ibn Shu‘bah went to Ta’if and destroyed al-Lat. Thus the city that had stoned the Prophet ﷺ entered Islam, and the hope in his prayer at Ta’if, that “from their descendants will come those who worship Allah,” was fulfilled.

Ekim–Aralık 630 (Receb–Ramazan) Expeditions and campaigns #111

The Expedition of Tabuk

Hijri 9 age 60 Tabuk (the Syrian frontier)

On news that Byzantium had assembled a great army in Syria, the Prophet ﷺ, despite famine and severe heat, prepared the thirty-thousand-strong “army of hardship” (jaysh al-usrah); Uthman alone donated three hundred camels and a thousand dinars, and Abu Bakr brought all his wealth. The hypocrites stayed behind on various pretexts. At Tabuk no Byzantine army was encountered; the Muslims stayed twenty days and concluded jizyah treaties with settlements such as Aylah, Jarba and Adhruh. It was the last expedition in which the Prophet ﷺ took part in person. The three Companions who stayed behind without excuse (Ka‘b ibn Malik, Murarah and Hilal) were boycotted for fifty days and then forgiven by verse 118 of Surah al-Tawbah.

Aralık 630 Society #112

The demolition of Masjid al-Dirar

Hijri 9 age 60 Madinah – Quba

The hypocrites built a mosque near the Mosque of Quba in order to sow division among the Muslims and to prepare a base for the arrival of the monk Abu Amir, an enemy of Islam, and they asked the Prophet ﷺ to lead the prayer there. On the return from Tabuk, verses 107-110 of Surah al-Tawbah declared that this mosque had been built “to cause harm, to support disbelief and to divide the believers”; the Prophet ﷺ ordered the mosque to be demolished and burned. The event shows the Quran’s stance towards attempts at sedition dressed up as worship.

631 (Zilhicce) Family #113

His month away from his wives (Ila) and the verse of choice

Hijri 9 age 60 Madinah – the Mashrabah (his chamber)

After the spoils had grown abundant with the conquests, the wives of the Prophet ﷺ asked for an increase in maintenance and for the comforts of this world; saddened, the Prophet ﷺ stayed apart from them for a month in the chamber next to the mosque. A rumour spread in Madinah that he had divorced them; when Umar obtained permission and went in to him, he saw the marks of the reed mat on his body and wept. Verses 28-29 of Surah al-Ahzab (the verses of choice, takhyir) called upon his wives to choose between the life of this world and Allah, His Messenger and the Hereafter; beginning with Aisha, all of them chose Allah and His Messenger.

Şubat–Mart 631 (Zilhicce) Worship #114

Abu Bakr leads the Hajj and the proclamation of Bara’ah

Hijri 9 age 60 Makkah – Mina

The Prophet ﷺ sent Abu Bakr to Makkah as the leader of the Hajj; after him he charged Ali with announcing to the pilgrims the opening verses of the newly revealed Surah al-Tawbah (Bara’ah). It was proclaimed at Mina: after this year no polytheist would perform the Hajj, no one would circle the Kaaba naked, those who had treaties would be granted their terms, and only Muslims would enter Paradise. Thus the Kaaba was completely cleansed of idolatry, and the ground was prepared for the Prophet’s Farewell Pilgrimage the following year.

631 Passing away #115

The deaths of his daughter Umm Kulthum and of the Negus

Hijri 9 age 60 Madinah

His daughter Umm Kulthum, the second wife of Uthman, died in the ninth year after the Hijrah; at her graveside the Prophet ﷺ said, “Let someone who has not been intimate with his wife tonight go down into the grave,” and assigned the task to Abu Talhah. In the same year came news of the death of the Negus Ashama, the ruler of Abyssinia; the Prophet ﷺ said, “A righteous servant has died today,” and together with the Companions performed the funeral prayer for him in absentia. The funeral prayer in absentia became a sunnah through this event.

631 Calling to Islam #116

The Christians of Najran and the mubahalah

Hijri 10 age 61 Madinah

A Christian delegation of sixty people came to Madinah from the region of Najran in Yemen; they were allowed to perform their own worship in the Prophet’s Mosque. After days of debate about the nature of Prophet Isa (Jesus), verse 61 of Surah Al Imran proposed that both sides come with their families and invoke the curse of Allah upon the liars (mubahalah); the Prophet ﷺ came with Ali, Fatimah, Hasan and Husayn. The people of Najran shrank from the mubahalah and made a jizyah treaty; they remained free in their religion. This was the first official treaty between Muslims and Christians.

Ocak 631 (Rebiülevvel) Passing away #117

The death of his son Ibrahim and the solar eclipse

Hijri 10 age 60 Madinah – al-Baqi‘

Ibrahim, aged sixteen to eighteen months, fell ill and died. The Prophet ﷺ took him in his arms and said through his tears, “The eye weeps and the heart grieves, but we say nothing that would displease our Lord. O Ibrahim, we are saddened by your parting.” On the same day the sun was eclipsed; when people linked this to Ibrahim’s death, the Prophet ﷺ said, “The sun and the moon are not eclipsed for the death or birth of anyone; they are signs of Allah, so when you see them, pray.” The eclipse prayer (kusuf) became a sunnah through this event. Ibrahim was buried in the cemetery of al-Baqi‘.

631 (Ramazan) Calling to Islam #118

Ali sent to Yemen and Yemen’s entry into Islam

Hijri 10 age 61 Yemen

The Prophet ﷺ sent first Khalid ibn al-Walid and then Ali to Yemen as caller to Islam and judge. When Ali read out the Prophet’s letter, the tribe of Hamdan embraced Islam all together in a single day; when the news reached Madinah, the Prophet ﷺ fell down in prostration. Mu‘adh ibn Jabal was also sent to Yemen as governor and teacher; the Prophet ﷺ advised him, “First teach them tawhid; make things easy, do not make them hard.” Ali joined the Prophet ﷺ in Makkah at the Farewell Pilgrimage with the zakat goods.

631–632 (Ramazan) Revelation #119

The final review of the Quran and the scribes of revelation

Hijri 10 age 61 Madinah

Every Ramadan the Prophet ﷺ would recite the whole Quran with Jibril (Gabriel), each reviewing it with the other from beginning to end; in the Ramadan of the tenth year after the Hijrah this review was done twice. The Prophet ﷺ took this as a sign that his death was near. Every verse that came down was written on leather, bone and palm leaves by the scribes of revelation, such as Zayd ibn Thabit, Ubayy ibn Ka‘b, Mu‘adh ibn Jabal, Uthman and Ali, and the Prophet ﷺ indicated in which surah each verse was to be placed. At his death the whole Quran was both written down and memorised; it was gathered into a single volume in the time of Abu Bakr.

Şubat 632 (25 Zilkade) Worship #120

Setting out from Madinah for the Farewell Pilgrimage

Hijri 10 age 61 Madinah → Makkah

The Prophet ﷺ set out from Madinah with all his wives and about one hundred thousand Companions for his first and only Hajj after the Hijrah; he wanted to teach the rites of Hajj by performing them. He entered ihram at Dhul-Hulayfah and walked to Makkah reciting the talbiyah. All along the way he gave a sense of farewell, saying, “Learn your Hajj rites from me; perhaps after this year I shall not meet you here again.” In Makkah he performed tawaf around the Kaaba and sa‘y between Safa and Marwah.

Mart 632 (9 Zilhicce, Cuma) Calling to Islam #121

The Farewell Sermon

Hijri 10 age 61 Arafat – the valley of Uranah

On the day of Arafah, at Arafat, he addressed more than one hundred thousand Muslims from the back of his camel; his words were repeated by Companions with loud voices and carried to the crowd. In the sermon he declared that blood feuds and usury were abolished, that life, property and honour were inviolable, the rights of women, that an Arab had no superiority over a non-Arab, and that those who held fast to the Quran and the Sunnah would not go astray; when he asked, “Have I conveyed the message?” and received the answer “Yes,” he said, “Bear witness, O Lord!” On the same day the verse “Today I have perfected your religion for you” (al-Ma’idah 3) was revealed. This sermon is regarded as one of the oldest universal declarations of human rights.

Mart 632 (10–13 Zilhicce) Worship #122

The completion of the Farewell Pilgrimage and Ghadir Khumm

Hijri 10 age 61 Muzdalifah – Mina – Makkah

The Prophet ﷺ stood at Muzdalifah, stoned the pillars at Mina, sacrificed a hundred camels (sixty-three with his own hand), had his head shaved and performed the tawaf of visitation. At Mina too he delivered a sermon, giving his final counsel to the ummah. On the way back to Madinah he halted at Ghadir Khumm and praised Ali with the words “Whoever I am a friend to, Ali is his friend too,” settling the complaints that had arisen on the return from Yemen. The Farewell Pilgrimage was the only occasion on which the rites of Hajj were taught to the ummah in all their detail.

About this chronology

The events are ordered by the dates widely accepted in the classical Seerah sources (Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Hisham, al-Waqidi, Ibn Sa’d) and in the Encyclopedia of Islam of the Turkish Diyanet Foundation (TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi). The year of some events in the Meccan period differs by a year or two between sources; in such cases the most common date is given, marked “civarı” (circa) where needed. Hijri years are shown for events of the Medinan period; ages follow the lunar calendar.

You can read the same chronology offline in the Dua Kitaplığı app; events shared from the app link to the matching event on this page.

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The Madinan Period

About this chronology

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