810 al-Amin names son Musa in Friday prayers as successor, bringing up question of al-Ma'mun's place in the succession order as established in the "Meccan documents"
810 al-Ma'mun refuses to yield, is declared a rebel when he refuses to come to Baghdad
811 al-Amin sends army under 'Ali b. 'Isa against al-Ma'mun's forces commanded by Tahir b. Husayn; 'Ali killed; Tahir defeats a second army sent by al-Amin; al-Jibal province in hands of Tahir's forces; Syria in disorder
812 al-Husayn, son of 'Ali, briefly deposes al-Amin and declares for al-Ma'mun; al-Amin restored but al-Ma'mun's troops occupy Khuzistan; Baghdad invested by al-Ma'mun's generals Tahir and Harthamah b. A'yan
813 Tahir's men kill caliph when Baghdad falls; Harthamah had promised him self conduct
813-833 Caliphate of al-Ma'mun: court favor to new translations of Falsafah works from Greek; attempt to suppress the new Ahl al-Hadith piety (belief in uncreated Qur'an) with support of Mu'tazili kalam (theological discussion)
814-815 Abu Saraya and Muhammad b. Ibrahim b. tabataba raise Shi'i revolt in Kufah, put down by Harthamah
816 Harthamah killed by al-Ma'mun's vizir al-Gadl b. Sahl
816-817 Revolt of Babak against large landlords and Arabs, centered in Azerbaijan
817 Baghdadis try to persuade Mansur, son of al-Mahdi, to declare himself a claimant; he refuses
817 al-Ma'mun makes the Shi'i 'Ali al-Rida ('eighth' imam) his heir on the advice of his vizir Fadl, but Baghdadis and others in Iraq revolt; so also one of al-Ma'mun's generals
817 Baghdadis recognize Ibrahim, another son of al-Mahdi; 'Ali al-Rida warns al-Ma'mun of the nature and gravity of the situation; al-Ma'mun may have felt his vizir Fadl had not faithfully so apprised him
818 'Ali al-Rida dies; Fadl killed, possibly by order of caliph; al-Ma'mun moves westward toward Baghdad
819 al-Ma'mun enters Baghdad; rival caliph submits; has then to face a Khariji revolt, unrest in various provinces, and Babak's revolt; Tahir too powerful to remove, becomes almost independent governor in Khurasan, principal commander of al'Ma'mun's troops
819-873 Tahrids, as hereditary governors, authonomous in Iran and the east
820Death of al-Shafi'i, founder of the Shafi'i school of Islamic law
828? Death of al-Asma'i, Arabic grammarian and lexicographer, collector of old Arabic poetry
833-842 Caliphate of al-Mu'tasim: introduction of Turkish mercenaries as basis of caliphal power (and capital moved from Baghdad to Samarra)
842-847 Caliphate of al-Wathiq, last great 'Abbasid ruler of a relatively unweakened empire
845? Death of Abu-Tammam, collector of old Arabic poetry, poet in his own right who imitated the old style
847-861 Caliphate of al-Mutawakkil, who abandoned the caliphal attempt to prescribe theological orthodoxy through Mu'tazilism, and gave support to Ahl al-Hadith piety; persecuted the Shi'is; first caliph to be murdered by his turkish soldier corps
850? Death of al-Khwarazmi, 'father of algebra,' mathematician (user of the 'Indian' numerals) and astronomer
855 Death of Ahmad b. Hanbal, disciple of al-Shafi'i, founder of the Hanbali school of Islamic law, persecuted by al-Ma'mun as symbol of Ahl al-Hadith resistance to Mu'tazili orthodoxy; he became imam of an intransigent school of fiqh
861-945 Breakup of 'Abbasid power; province after province becomes essentially independent, until at the end the caliphal government loses all territorial power; economic and social prosperity persist or increase in most areas
861-869 Three caliphs in the hands of the Turkish soldiery; all but the central provinces break away from effective control
861-910 Saffarids (military family) ruling independently in eastern, and sometimes in most of, Iran
864-928 Zaydi Shi'i state in sub-Caspian lands
868-906 Ibn Tulun, and sons, practically independent governors in Egypt
869 Death of Ibn Karram, Muslim evangelist of Khurasan
869 Death of al-Jahiz, Mu'tazili theologian, master of the Arabic prose essay
869-883 Revolt of Zanj (African) slaves in lower Iraq
869-892 al-Muwaffaq, exectuvie brother of Caliph al-Mu'tamid, re-establishes caliphal authority between Syria and Khurasan
870 Death of al-Bukhari, author of the greatest collection of canonical hadith reports; paired with that of Muslim (d. 873)
873? Death of al-Kindi, often called 'the first Faylasuf'; death of Hunayn ibn Ishaq, important translator of Hellenistic works into Arabic
873-940 The twelfth imam of the Twelver Shi'is having disappeared, he is represented by four wakils, in the Lesser Ghaybah; after which, in the Greater Ghaybah, the Twelvers lose contact with their imam
875-998 Samanid (Persian) governors semi-independent, but usually in accord with caliphal policy, in Transoxania
883Death of Dawud b. Khalaf, founder of the Zahiri school of Islamic law
889 Death of Ibn-Qutaybah, grammarian, theological and literary critic, prose writer in the spirit of adab, moderate exponent of new forms
890-906 Qarmatians, Arab bands of Isma'ili Shi'is, active in Iraqi and Syrian deserts; they mark the beginning of rise to power of various Shi'i groups, thus hastening the collapse of caliphal control
892 Death of Muhammed al-Tirmidhi, collector of hadiths and systematizer of categories of isnad criticism
892 Dath of al-Baladhuri, collector of hadiths; wrote history of Arab conquests
892-908 Al-Mu'tadid (to 902), son of al-Muwaffaq; and then al-Muktafi; caliphal control stabilized from Egypt to western Iran, with Aghlabid governors in North Africa and Samanid governors in eastern Iran tributary but not under control
894 Qarmatian Shi'i state in east Arabia founded
900? Zaydi state in the Yemen founded
900 Samanids under Isma'il add Khurasan to their rule, upon ousting the Saffarids; soon become patrons of Persian language works
905-979 Arab Hamdanids autonomous, and sometimes independent, in Mosul (and later Aleppo); they support Shi'ism
908-932 Caliphate of al-Muqtadir; caliphal authority again founders on misrule; Shi'i families in considerable power at capital
909-972 Isma'ilis establish Fatimid caliphate in Maghrib, replacing Aghlabids
913-942 Arabic and Persian culture both favored under Nasr II, Samanid in Transoxania and Khurasan
923 Death of Ibn Jarir al-Tabari, commentator on the Qur'an; and historian (his history reaches to 913) using chronological sequence; in contrast to his great contemporary, Ahmad al-Baladhuri (who dies in 892)
925 Death of al-Razi (Rhazes), Faylasuf, alchemist, physician
929 Dedath of al-Battani, mathematician (trigonometry), astronomer
929-1031 Umayyad rulers in Spain assume the caliphal title (912-961: caliph 'Abd al-Rahman III re-establishes Muslim united power within Spain); Spanish Arab culture flourishes so as to attract local Christian participation
934-1055 Rulers of Persian Buyid military family independent at separate centers in western Iran and Iraq using Persian and Turkish soldiers; favor Twelver Shi'ism
935 Death of al-Ash'ari, reconciled the methods of Mu'tazili kalam with the dogmas of the Ahl al-Hadith
935-945 Diminishing remnants of caliphal power wielded by an amir al-umara, military chief, till that office is taken over by Buyids occupying Baghdad
937-969 Ikhshidid governors independent in Egypt
940 Death of Rudaqi, first classical Persian poet
950 Death of al-Farabi, Faylasuf-metaphysician
951 Death of al-Istakhri, geographer, who wrote a description of the world using work of al-Balkhi (d. 934)
956 Death of al-Mas'udi, well-travelled and erudite writer, 'philosophical' historian
965 Death of al-Mutanabbi', last great poet in older Arabic style, paragon of subtlety in poetic allusion
970? Collection of 'Epistles' (Rasa'il) of the Ikhwan al-Safa', a comprehensive compilation of esoteric (Pythagorean-type) 'scientific' and metaphysical knowledge