An Intifada begins against Israeli occupation of Palestinian land

Hamas (acronym in Arabic for 'Movement for Islamic Resistance') is founded in the occupied territories to lead armed resistance against Israel

Ayatollah Khomeini declares a fatwa against Salman Rushdie for his Satanic Verses

Osama bin Laden's involvement in the fight against Soviet forces in Afghanistan leads to his development of al-Qaeda

A new party, the Islamic Salvation Front, seems certain to win the Algerian election – until the army intervenes

Algeria is plunged into a brutal civil war between a military junta and Muslim terrorists

The mujaheddin, after removing from power the Soviet-backed president Najibullah, proclaim an Islamic state

Mullah Mohammed Omar, in Kandahar, forms a group devoted to fundamentalist Islam and calls it Taliban (meaning students of the Qur'an)

Louis Farrakhan's Nation of Islam organizes a Million Man March into Washington

Thousands of Shia Muslims are massacred by the Taliban in Mazar-e-Sharif, in a brief spell before they are driven from the city

An amnesty is declared for some 8000 Muslim terrorists held in Algeria's gaols

The Russian army returns to Chechnya after Islamic militants commit acts of terrorism

Controversial cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad are published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten