Sufism develops as a mystical strain within Islam

The Abbasids massacre the Umayyads in Damascus and establish a new caliphate

Muscat and Oman establish a tradition of spiritual rule by elected imams

Abd-ar-Rahman, escaping from the massacre of his family in Syria, establishes a new Umayyad dynasty at Cordoba

Islam reaches Shanga, off the east coast of Africa, with the building of a tiny wooden mosque

The Ismailis become a separate Shi'a sect when they dispute the succession after the death of the sixth imam

The Arabs get a foothold in Sicily and begin a slow process, not complete till AD 965, of squeezing the Byzantines out of the island

A Muslim dynasty is established at Gao, on the Niger

Mahmud of Ghazni marches an army across an Indian desert to destroy a great temple at Somnath, killing - it is said - some 50,000 Hindus

Islam reaches Kanem-Bornu, a joint kingdom encompassing the eastern and western shores of Lake Chad

A Muslim dynasty is established at Kilwa, on the east African coast

Toledo is captured from the Muslims by Alfonso VI of Castile, who continues the city's traditions of religious tolerance

Crusaders capture the holy city of Jerusalem and massacre the Muslim and Jewish inhabitants

Saladin deposes the Fatimid caliph and brings Egypt back to orthodoxy, acknowledging the rule of the Sunni caliph in Baghdad

The Muslim garrison of Acre surrenders to Richard I, who orders the massacre of 2700 of its members

Frederick II, leader of the sixth crusade, briefly recovers Jerusalem for the Christians by negotiating with the Muslims

Islam replaces Christianity as the religion of the kings of Dongola, in present-day Sudan

A Muslim ruler is established in Malacca, forming the first of many Muslim dynasties in the Malay archipelago

Bayazid II, the Turkish sultan, makes a special point of welcoming in Istanbul the Jews expelled from Spain

Muslims throughout Spain are ordered to convert to Christianity or to leave the kingdom

Ahmad ibn Ibrahim leads Muslim Somalis in a holy war against Christian Ethiopia, destroying churches and shrines

The Muslim reformer Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab makes an alliance with Muhammad ibn Saud, of significance to the later Saudi dynasty

A leader of the Ismaili sect is granted, by the shah of Persia, the hereditary title of Aga Khan

The All-India Muslim League is set up at a meeting of the Muhammadan Educational Conference in Dhaka

Sharif Hussein, the emir of Mecca, proclaims himself the leader of the Muslim world, thus launching an Arab revolt against the Ottoman empire