How It Evolved

Across the whole span

Four threads that run through every chapter

The chapters tell the story in order. These four views cut across it: where the centre of gravity of Islam lay, when each idea and practice first appears in the record, which text belongs to which century, and how women's religious roles changed. Every figure here is drawn from the evidence cited in the chapters, and links back to it.

The moving centre

Schematic, not to survey accuracy

Where the centre of gravity of Islam sat in each period. It starts in Mecca and Medina, moves with the caliphs to Damascus and Baghdad, divides among Cairo, Córdoba and the Turkish, Persian and Indian courts, and ends in South and Southeast Asia, now home to most of the world's Muslims. Numbers are chapter numbers; follow them in order.

01 01 · Ẓafār, c. 300–610 CE 02 02 · Mecca, c. 570–632 CE 03 03 · Medina, 610–c. 700 CE 04 04 · Kufa, 632–661 CE 05 05 · Damascus, 661–750 CE 06 06 · Baghdad, 750–c. 1000 CE 07 07 · Konya, c. 700–1300 CE 08 08 · Cairo, c. 1000–1400 CE 09 09 · Istanbul, c. 1400–1800 CE 10 10 · Dirʿiyya, c. 1700–1920 CE 11 11 · Lahore, 1920–1979 CE 12 12 · Tehran, 1979–2001 CE 13 13 · Jakarta, 2001–2026 CE
  1. 01 Ẓafār Ḥimyar, whose kings turned to one god c. 380 c. 300–610 CE
  2. 02 Mecca Mecca and Medina in western Arabia c. 570–632 CE
  3. 03 Medina Medina, where the tradition places the collection of the text 610–c. 700 CE
  4. 04 Kufa Medina, then the garrison towns of Iraq; ʿAlī's capital 632–661 CE
  5. 05 Damascus Syria, capital of the Umayyad caliphs 661–750 CE
  6. 06 Baghdad Iraq, capital of the Abbasid caliphs from 762 750–c. 1000 CE
  7. 07 Konya From Basra and Baghdad to Rūmī's Anatolia c. 700–1300 CE
  8. 08 Cairo Mamluk Egypt, seat of the Abbasid caliphs after 1261 c. 1000–1400 CE
  9. 09 Istanbul The Ottoman capital, beside Safavid Isfahan and Mughal Delhi c. 1400–1800 CE
  10. 10 Dirʿiyya Najd, where the pact of 1744 was made c. 1700–1920 CE
  11. 11 Lahore British India and Pakistan; the Jamāʿat-i Islāmī, 1941 1920–1979 CE
  12. 12 Tehran Iran's revolution and the Islamic Republic 1979–2001 CE
  13. 13 Jakarta Indonesia, the country with the most Muslims 2001–2026 CE

Each point marks the place a chapter treats as the centre of its period, not the only place Muslims lived; from the first century of Islam there were Muslim communities in many regions at once, and the line between points is a reading order, not a route. A centre outside the frame is pinned to its edge. Coastlines from Natural Earth (public domain).

When each idea arrives

The first datable appearance of each idea and institution, with the text or document that attests it. Read top to bottom and the series' argument is visible: the Qur'an's text is early, but the Prophet's name on coins, the word "islām" on a public monument, the hadith canon, the schools of law, the Sufi orders, the madrasa and every modern movement arrive later, each with a date.

300 CE 500 CE 600 CE 650 CE 700 CE 750 CE 850 CE 1000 CE 1200 CE 1400 CE 1600 CE 1800 CE 1900 CE 1975 CE 2026 CE

Density of first appearances on the compressed axis used across the Islam series. The clusters fall in the 680s and 690s, when ʿAbd al-Malik puts the Prophet and the Qur'an on coins and monuments (§5); in the ninth and tenth centuries, when law, hadith and theology take their classical shape (§6); and in the twentieth, after the caliphate is abolished (§11).

  1. 622–627 A community of believers bound by pact Majority view The "Constitution of Medina", preserved in the sīra Pacts organising Medina's clans, Muhammad's followers and its Jews into one community (umma); most scholars accept the document as early.
  2. 643 (first dated use); adopted c. 638 by tradition A Muslim calendar counted from the hijra Consensus PERF 558, a Greek–Arabic receipt from Egypt Twenty-one years after the emigration to Medina, Arab commanders date an official receipt by the Hijri year.
  3. 643 Arabic written with dots to tell letters apart Consensus PERF 558 The oldest dated Arabic papyrus already uses the dots that early Qur'an copies use only sparingly.
  4. c. 650 (r. 644–656) A standard written Qur'an Majority view Collection reports in al-Bukhārī; the shared spelling of early manuscripts Tradition credits ʿUthmān with a standard codex; one written archetype behind the early copies supports a date around his reign.
  5. 662–663; 677–678 Leaders called "commander of the believers" Consensus Hammat Gader and Ṭāʾif dam inscriptions of Muʿāwiya The caliph's title in public inscriptions, a generation after the conquests; neither names Muhammad.
  6. 685–686 Muhammad named on a dated Muslim document Consensus A silver drachm of Bīshāpūr, Iran "In the name of God, Muhammad is the messenger of God", struck for a governor loyal to Ibn al-Zubayr.
  7. 691–692 "Islām" proclaimed on a public monument Consensus Dome of the Rock inscriptions Qur'anic verses in public, including "the religion with God is islām" and a rejection of the Trinity.
  8. 693–697 (74–77 AH) The caliph as "God's deputy" on coins Consensus "Standing caliph" gold coins Coins with the caliph's standing figure and the title khalīfat Allāh, before the aniconic reform.
  9. 696–697 (77 AH) Coins without images Consensus ʿAbd al-Malik's reformed dinar Figures removed; the creed and Qur'anic verses fill both faces.
  10. c. 697–700 Arabic as the language of government Majority view Umayyad registers of Iraq and Syria Arabic replaces Persian and Greek in the administration.
  11. before 820 Hadith of the Prophet as the second source of law Consensus al-Shāfiʿī, Risāla Al-Shāfiʿī's theory makes reports from the Prophet, beside the Qur'an, binding in law.
  12. 833–c. 848 The created Qur'an as state doctrine Consensus The miḥna of al-Maʾmūn and his successors Judges and scholars had to affirm that the Qur'an was created; Ibn Ḥanbal refused.
  13. c. 846 A collection of only "sound" hadith Majority view al-Bukhārī, al-Ṣaḥīḥ Later revered by Sunnis as the most authoritative book after the Qur'an.
  14. 9th c. "Ṣūfī" as the name of a circle Majority view Baghdad's mystics The word names a recognizable group in ninth-century Baghdad.
  15. 874; complete occultation 941 The hidden twelfth imam Consensus Twelver tradition The eleventh imam dies and his son's occultation begins; after 941 no agent speaks for him.
  16. c. 900–950 Organized schools of law Majority view Biographical and legal literature The Ḥanafī, Mālikī, Shāfiʿī and Ḥanbalī traditions become self-reproducing schools.
  17. before 936 Seven canonical readings of the Qur'an Consensus Ibn Mujāhid, Kitāb al-Sabʿa Seven readers chosen as authoritative; others became "irregular".
  18. 963 Public mourning for al-Ḥusayn on ʿĀshūrāʾ Majority view Reports from Buyid Baghdad The first public ʿĀshūrāʾ mourning in Baghdad, under a Shia dynasty.
  19. 1045–1046 A Sufi handbook for Sunni readers Consensus al-Qushayrī, Risāla The most widely read Sufi manual, arguing the path fits Sunni law and theology.
  20. 1065–1067 The state-endowed madrasa Majority view The Niẓāmiyya of Baghdad Niẓām al-Mulk's college, endowed for Shāfiʿī law and Ashʿarī theology.
  21. 1105 Preaching jihad against the Crusaders Consensus al-Sulamī, Book of Jihad Preached in Damascus six years after the fall of Jerusalem.
  22. 12th–13th c. Sufi orders with founders and chains of masters Consensus Qādiriyya, Suhrawardiyya, Chishtiyya, Shādhiliyya, Mevleviyya Organized orders take shape around named masters, lodges and initiation.
  23. 1261 A caliph without power, in Cairo Consensus The Mamluk court After Baghdad's fall, an Abbasid is proclaimed caliph under Mamluk protection.
  24. 1501 Twelver Shiism as a state religion Consensus Shah Ismāʿīl's proclamation in Tabriz The Safavids make Iran Shia within about a century.
  25. c. 1582 Akbar's Dīn-i Ilāhī Majority view Mughal court sources A circle of discipleship around the emperor; whether it was a religion is debated.
  26. 1744 A pact of preacher and prince Consensus Pact of Dirʿiyya Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb and Muḥammad ibn Saʿūd join religious reform to a state.
  27. 1774 The Ottoman sultan recognised as caliph by treaty Consensus Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca Russia recognises the sultan's religious authority over the Crimean Tatars as caliph.
  28. 1839 Guarantees for all subjects, of whatever religion Consensus Edict of Gülhane Gülhane promises every subject security of life, honour and property; the edict of 1856 promises non-Muslims legal equality.
  29. 1844 A messiah after Muhammad: the Bāb Consensus The Bāb's announcement in Shiraz The beginning of the Bābī movement, from which the Bahāʾī faith grew.
  30. 1869–1876 Islamic law written as a civil code Consensus The Ottoman Mecelle Ḥanafī civil law codified in articles.
  31. 1889 The Ahmadiyya Consensus Mirza Ghulam Ahmad's first oath of allegiance, Ludhiana A movement whose Muslim status other Muslims came to dispute.
  32. 20th c. "Salafiyya" as a movement's name Majority view History of the term (Lauzière) The label for ʿAbduh and al-Afghānī is largely a later construction.
  33. 1924 A printed standard Qur'an Consensus The Cairo edition The reading of Ḥafṣ ʿan ʿĀṣim becomes the world standard.
  34. 3 March 1924 No caliph at all Consensus Turkey's Law No. 431 The Ottoman caliphate abolished.
  35. 1925 Islam without a caliphate Consensus ʿAlī ʿAbd al-Rāziq, Islam and the Foundations of Governance An al-Azhar scholar argues Islam requires no caliphate; he is stripped of his rank.
  36. 1928 Islamism: a movement for an Islamic state Consensus Ḥasan al-Bannā's Muslim Brotherhood Followed by Mawdūdī's Jamāʿat-i Islāmī (1941) and Quṭb's Milestones (1964).
  37. 7 September 1974 A state defines who is a Muslim Consensus Pakistan's Second Amendment A parliament declares the Ahmadiyya non-Muslim.
  38. 1970 lectures; 1979 constitution Rule by the jurist Majority view Khomeini's lectures in Najaf; Iran's constitution A Shia clerical state, new in Shia history.
  39. 1992 Women reading the Qur'an for equality Consensus Amina Wadud, Qur'an and Woman A reading of the Qur'an's verses on gender from the text, not later law.
  40. 2004–2005 Mutual recognition of the schools Consensus The Amman Message Eight schools of law recognised as Muslim, and declaring their followers apostates forbidden.
  41. 2014 Scholars answer a self-declared caliph Consensus Open Letter to al-Baghdadi More than 120 scholars reject the "Islamic State" on classical grounds.

Text stratigraphy

Which text belongs to which century, and which stream it belongs to. Bars show composition or compilation ranges, not single dates: where a chapter gives only an author's death, the bar ends there. Hover any bar for its note.

Bar opacity tracks confidence in the dating: solid for consensus, faded where contested. Two things this view makes obvious: the Qur'an and the first documents are a century and more older than the earliest biography of Muhammad (§0); and the hadith collections and the manuals of law were compiled two and three centuries after the Prophet (§6).

Women in Islam, tracked

Not an assertion that things got better or worse, but a cited datapoint at each stage, from Khadīja and the women of the first community to Sufi women, the queens of Aceh, the unveilings of the 1920s and 1930s and the debates of today.

  1. c. 595 (tradition) ▲ Khadīja, merchant and first believer Majority view A widowed merchant who employed Muhammad and married him; by tradition she comforted him after the first revelation and became the first believer. He took no other wife while she lived. Ibn Isḥāq; Ibn Saʿd
  2. 656 ◆ ʿĀʾisha at the Battle of the Camel Consensus Muhammad's widow joins Ṭalḥa and al-Zubayr against ʿAlī; after their defeat she is sent back to Medina. al-Ṭabarī; Madelung
  3. d. c. 801 (tradition) ▲ Rābiʿa al-ʿAdawiyya Majority view A woman ascetic of Basra who became the emblem of the love of God; most stories about her are centuries later. Cornell; ʿAṭṭār
  4. before 1021 ▲ A book of women Sufis Consensus Al-Sulamī records dozens of women devotees and teachers from Basra to Egypt, a tradition later handbooks largely left out. al-Sulamī, Dhikr al-niswa
  5. 12th–13th c. ◆ Women in the orders Majority view Women appear as patrons who endowed lodges, as members and occasionally as teachers, but rarely as heads of orders. Cornell; Green
  6. 1641–1699 ▲ Four queens of Aceh Majority view Aceh, the "verandah of Mecca", is ruled by four queens in succession. Ricklefs; Laffan
  7. from the 1830s ▲ Nana Asmaʾu's women teachers Consensus Usman dan Fodio's daughter, a poet in four languages, organises a network of women teachers who train rural women. Collected Works of Nana Asmaʾu
  8. 1923 ▲ Hudā Shaʿrāwī unveils Consensus Returning from a women's suffrage congress, she removes her face veil at Cairo station and founds the Egyptian Feminist Union. Leila Ahmed
  9. 8 January 1936 ◆ Reza Shah bans the veil Consensus Police remove chadors and headscarves in public; many women stay at home rather than go out unveiled. Chehabi
  10. 1961 ▲ A college for women at al-Azhar Consensus Egypt's reform law adds secular faculties and a women's college to al-Azhar. Zaman
  11. 1970s ◆ A new veiling Majority view The headscarf with modest dress spreads among students and professionals in Egypt, then much of the Muslim world. Leila Ahmed
  12. 1979 ▼ The Hudood zina ordinance Majority view Women who reported rape could be prosecuted; the number of women in Pakistani prisons rose sharply in the 1980s. Jahangir and Jilani
  13. 1987 ▲ Mernissi questions the transmitters Majority view Le harem politique applies the classical science of transmitters to hadith used to limit women's public role. Mernissi
  14. 1992 ▲ Qur'an and Woman Consensus Amina Wadud reads the Qur'an's verses on gender from the text, not from later law. Wadud
  15. 1996 ▼ The Taliban close girls' schools Consensus The Taliban ban girls from school and women from most work. Rashid
  16. 15 March 2004 ◆ France's school law Consensus Conspicuous religious signs banned in state schools, widely understood as aimed at the headscarf. Law 2004-228
  17. 18 March 2005 ▲ Wadud leads Friday prayer Consensus A mixed congregation in New York; most Sunni and Shia scholars regard it as invalid. Wadud, Inside the Gender Jihad
  18. 24 June 2018 ▲ Saudi women drive Consensus Women drive legally for the first time, while several activists who campaigned for it are detained. Saudi decree
▲ expansion ◆ mixed ▼ contraction Legal manuals and biographies describe what scholars prescribed or remembered, not how most women lived; the sources are overwhelmingly written by men (§0).

What these charts are and are not

Every date here is the first datable attestation in the surviving record, which is not the same as the date an idea began. Much of early Islamic history is known from books written a century or more later, so a first attestation is a floor, not a birth date. Where a date is contested, as with the year of Muhammad's death or the authenticity of a report, the confidence tag says so. The map is schematic and the time axis is compressed; both are labelled where they appear.