50 caliphs, sultans, commanders and scholars, from the first caliph to the founders of modern states. Each has a page with their life, their battles and the map of their time.
The Prophet's closest companion and father-in-law, and one of the first people to accept Islam. As the first caliph he fought the Ridda wars, sent the first armies into Iraq and Syria, and had the Quran gathered into one written copy.
The second caliph, called al-Faruq. In ten years his armies took Iraq, Syria, Egypt and western Iran. He created the diwan, founded Basra, Kufa and Fustat, started the Hijri calendar and received Jerusalem's surrender in person.
Married two of the Prophet's daughters, which earned him the title Dhu al-Nurayn, the possessor of two lights. As third caliph he sent a standard copy of the Quran to every province. Rebels killed him in Madinah in 656.
The Prophet's cousin and son-in-law, famous for his courage at Khaybar and for his learning. His caliphate was taken up by the first civil war, and he was assassinated in Kufa in 661.
The Prophet's grandson, son of Ali and Fatima. He refused to pledge allegiance to Yazid and was killed at Karbala on 10 Muharram 61 AH with members of his family. Muslims have marked the day, Ashura, ever since.
A companion of the Prophet who governed Syria for twenty years. He founded the Umayyad caliphate, built up its navy and made Damascus the capital. Naming his son Yazid as heir made the caliphate hereditary.
Won the second civil war, made Arabic the language of government and issued the first purely Islamic coins. He built the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.
Ruled for only two and a half years but is remembered for justice, simple living and fair treatment of non-Arab converts. Many call him the fifth rightly guided caliph.
The best known Abbasid caliph, whose Baghdad is the setting of the Thousand and One Nights. His reign saw the city at its richest, and the rivalry of his sons led to civil war after his death.
Won the throne from his brother al-Amin and made Baghdad's House of Wisdom a great centre of translation and science. He also began the mihna, which tried to force scholars to say the Quran was created.
Ruled al-Andalus for almost fifty years and declared himself caliph in 929. Under him Cordoba became one of the largest and richest cities in Europe, and he built the palace city of Madinat al-Zahra.
Called Sayf Allah, the Sword of God. He saved the army at Mu'tah, won the Ridda wars and led the victories in Iraq and at Yarmouk. He is remembered as undefeated as a Muslim commander and died in Hims in 642.
One of the ten companions promised paradise, called by the Prophet the trustworthy one of this community. He commanded in Syria under Umar and died in the plague of Amwas in 639.
An early convert from the clan of the Prophet's mother. He won at Qadisiyyah, took the Persian capital Ctesiphon and founded the garrison city of Kufa.
Conquered Egypt between 640 and 642 and founded Fustat, the camp city that grew into Cairo. Later he sided with Muawiya and represented him at the arbitration after Siffin.
A Berber commander who crossed into Spain in 711 at the rock still named after him, Gibraltar. He defeated King Roderic at Guadalete and took Toledo before being recalled to Damascus.
A young relative of the governor al-Hajjaj who conquered Sindh and Multan in 712 and 713 while still a teenager. After al-Hajjaj died and a new caliph came to power, he was recalled and died in prison at about twenty.
Governor of Khurasan who conquered Bukhara, Samarkand and Khwarazm. He was killed by his own troops in 715 after rebelling against the new caliph Sulayman.
The Seljuk sultan who defeated and captured the Byzantine emperor at Manzikert in 1071, then released him for a ransom. His victory opened Anatolia to the Turks.
Son of Zengi. He united Muslim Syria, took Damascus in 1154 and made the war against the crusaders a common cause. He ordered the carved minbar meant for Al-Aqsa that Salahuddin later installed.
A Kurdish officer who ended the Fatimid caliphate in 1171 and united Egypt and Syria. He destroyed the crusader army at Hattin and retook Jerusalem in 1187 without a massacre. Even his enemies wrote of his generosity.
Mamluk sultan of Egypt who refused to submit to Hulagu and led the army that beat the Mongols at Ain Jalut. He was assassinated on the way home a few weeks later.
A Kipchak Turk sold as a slave who rose to command the Mamluk vanguard at Ain Jalut. As sultan from 1260 he took most of the remaining crusader castles and seated the Abbasid caliphs in Cairo.
From Ghazni he led seventeen campaigns into India and built an empire from Iran to Punjab. He was among the first rulers widely called sultan, and his court drew the scholar al-Biruni and the poet Ferdowsi.
Lost to Prithviraj Chauhan at Tarain in 1191, came back to win in 1192, and laid the foundation of Muslim rule in Delhi. He was assassinated in 1206.
A Timurid prince from Fergana who lost his homeland, took Kabul and then won north India at Panipat in 1526. His frank memoir, the Baburnama, is one of the great autobiographies.
Became emperor at 13 and ruled for almost fifty years. He built the Mughal administration, brought Rajput kings into the empire and expanded it across north India.
Took the throne by defeating his brothers and confining his father. He ruled the empire at its largest, sponsored the Fatawa-e-Alamgiri law code and built the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore.
Ruler of Mysore who fought the East India Company in three wars, using iron-cased rockets that the British later copied. He died fighting at the walls of his capital in 1799.
Founder of the Ottoman dynasty, which takes its name from him. He led a small frontier state in north-west Anatolia against the Byzantines.
Took Constantinople at 21 and made it his capital, ending the Byzantine Empire. A patron of scholars and artists, he rebuilt the city as Istanbul.
In eight years he defeated the Safavids at Chaldiran and destroyed the Mamluk sultanate, bringing Syria, Egypt, Makkah and Madinah under Ottoman rule.
The longest reigning sultan, at 46 years. He won at Mohacs, besieged Vienna and is remembered at home as Kanuni, the Lawgiver.
A corsair from Lesbos who became grand admiral of the Ottoman navy. His victory at Preveza in 1538 gave the Ottomans control of the Mediterranean for a generation.
Ruled for 33 years, promoted the caliphate to Muslims worldwide and built the Hijaz Railway to Madinah. He is remembered for rejecting Zionist offers for Palestine, and was deposed by the Young Turks in 1909.
The last Ottoman caliph. Chosen in 1922 as caliph without political power, he was sent into exile when the office was abolished in 1924 and died in Paris.
An Ottoman officer who made his name at Gallipoli and led the Turkish War of Independence. As founder of the Turkish Republic he abolished the sultanate and, in 1924, the caliphate.
Took Riyadh in 1902 with a few dozen men, conquered the Hijaz in 1925 and founded the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932. Oil was found in 1938, and every king since has been one of his sons.
Poet and philosopher from Sialkot who wrote in Urdu and Persian. In 1930 he called for a Muslim state in north-west India, an idea that became Pakistan.
Lawyer and leader of the All-India Muslim League who led the campaign for Pakistan. He became its first governor-general in 1947 and died the following year.
A scholar at the House of Wisdom whose book on al-jabr gave algebra its name. His own name, through Latin, gave us the word algorithm.
Founder of the Hanafi school, the most followed school of law in Pakistan, India, Turkey and Central Asia. He refused a judgeship under the Abbasids and died in prison in Baghdad.
Founder of the Hanbali school and compiler of the Musnad. He was flogged and imprisoned for refusing the mihna and became a symbol of standing firm.
Compiled the Sahih al-Bukhari, which Sunni Muslims regard as the most reliable book after the Quran.
Physician and philosopher from near Bukhara. His Canon of Medicine was taught in European universities for about five hundred years.
Astronomer and mathematician who travelled with Mahmud of Ghazni and wrote a careful study of India. He measured the earth's radius from a hill at Nandana in today's Punjab, Pakistan.
Taught at the Nizamiyya college in Baghdad, then left to live as a Sufi. His Revival of the Religious Sciences is still one of the most read books in Islam.
Judge and philosopher of Cordoba whose commentaries on Aristotle shaped European thought for centuries. He also wrote Bidayat al-Mujtahid, a major comparison of the schools of Islamic law.
A traveller from Tangier who spent about thirty years on the road, from West Africa to China, and served as a judge in Delhi and the Maldives.
Historian from Tunis whose Muqaddimah explains how dynasties rise and fall through asabiyya, group solidarity. He met Timur outside Damascus in 1401.
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Khilafat aur Jangen puts this history in one Urdu PDF: 64 pages, 14 maps, family trees, charts and timelines from 632 to 2026.