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| 908–32 |
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| AL-MUQTADIR. Raised to the Abbasid throne at the age of 13 because he could be easily manipulated, he lived for pleasure. The hard work of restoration achieved by his three predecessors was reversed. The economy declined due to the breakdown of the irrigation system on which agriculture in Iraq was dependent. | 1 |
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| 909–1171 |
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| THE FATIMID DYNASTY. Ubayd Allah, the founder of the Isma’ili Shi’ite dynasty, declared himself caliph in Qayrawan in 910, with the support of the Kutama Berbers. He claimed descent from the son of the sventh imam, Isma'il (d. 760). Isma’ili Shi’ism did not become the faith of the region. The Fatimids first invaded Morocco (917) and tried unsuccessfully for the next 40 years to consolidate control there. In 969 they conquered Egypt and later, Syria. | 2 |
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| 910 |
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| Death of Abu al-Qasim al-Junayd, master of the Baghdad school of mysticism. The development of Sufism during this period moved away from earlier forms of asceticism after splitting in the 9th century into two branches, the sober (sahw) and the drunken (sukr). Al-Junayd became the first to formalize the sober school of Sufism, which advocated the integration of the divine into the soul in this world. He opposed the drunken, or ecstatic, approach of mystics like Bayazid al-Bistami (d. 874), who suggested that they had achieved personal union with the divine. | 3 |
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| 913 |
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| Death of the geographer Ibn Khuradadhbih, who had served in the Abbasid administration as the director of the royal post and spy service. His Book of Routes and Kingdoms remains the earliest Islamic work of geography. | 4 |
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| 922 |
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| Death of Husayn al-Hallaj. The mystic was executed in Baghdad after a trial for heresy in which his opponents accused him of claiming divinity. Political disapproval of his contacts with Isma’ili Shi’ite groups probably was most responsible for his execution in the Sunni Abbasid capital. His poetry and mystical thought inspired many Sufis after his death. | 5 |
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| 923 |
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| Death of Muhammad al-Tabari, known for his monumental chronicle, The History of the Prophets and Kings, as well as for his Qur'anic exegesis. | 6 |
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| c. 925 |
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| Death of Muhammad al-Razi, a famous philosopher and physician who first diagnosed the difference between smallpox and measles. His medical observations were informed by the study of classical authors but also relied on empircal observation. He wrote a 12-volume medical encyclopedia and developed the discipline of pharmacology. Al-Razi's medical observations synthesized Greek and Arab knowledge about birth control, which was generally considered permissible in Islam. His compendium listed 50 contraceptive methods for women. | 7 |
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| 927–1090 |
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| THE ZIYARID DYNASTY. The founder of the dynasty, Mardawij ibn Ziyar, was a native of Daylam who established an independent Sunni regime in northern Iran. He claimed descent from pre-Islamic Iranian royalty and asserted his independence in 930, when he conquered the cities of Rayy, Qazvin, Zanjan, and Qum. In the following year he took Hamadan and Isfahan. By 932 he had consolidated control of the provinces of Tabaristan and Gurgan. Under pressure, he entered the service of the Samanid dynasty (933) and planned to overthrow the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad, but was murdered by his Turkish slave troops (935). The dynasty struggled on through the 10th century, caught between Buyids and Samanids, and maintained a presence in northern Iran into the 11th century. | 8 |
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| 929 |
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| Death of Muhammad al-Battani, a mathematician famed for his accurate calculations of planetary movements. | 9 |
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| 929–90 |
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| THE HAMDANIDS OF MOSUL. The Hamdanids were an Arab family of Twelver Shi’ite Muslims descended from the Arab tribe of Taghlib. They served the Abbasids as governors of northern Iraq, and in 929 the Hamdanid Nasir al-Dawla al-Hasan (d. 969) began to establish his independent rule at Mosul. He paid tribute to the Abbasids only when forced. He drew support from his brother Sayf al-Dawla, who established a Hamdanid regime in Aleppo in 945. Nasir al-Dawla's sons fought among themselves, and Hamdanid control of Mosul ended when the Uqaylids took the city. | 10 |
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| 930 |
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| The Qarmatis sacked Mecca and carried off the black stone from the Ka'ba. It was not returned until 951. | 11 |
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| 934–40 |
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| AL-RADI. The caliph, manipulated by the military and the prime minister, had little control over territory beyond the city of Baghdad. Real power became vested in the new position of the supreme commander (amir al-umara), which was seized by the military governor Ibn Ra'iq. The Abbasid government was bankrupt. | 12 |
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