The First Refuge

The First RefugeTimeline

Timeline

36 dates across fourteen centuries, from the first emigration to the present. Dates marked “about” or “by tradition” are exactly that.

36 shown

  1. About 615The first Muslims emigrate from Makkah to Abyssinia and are given protection by the Negus.The Horn
  2. About 630The Negus dies. The Prophet, peace be upon him, prays the funeral prayer for him in Madinah.The Horn
  3. About 640Bilal ibn Rabah, the first to call the adhan, dies in Syria.The Horn
  4. 670Uqba ibn Nafi founds Kairouan and its great mosque.North Africa
  5. Late 700sThe earliest mosque at Shanga on the Kenya coast, as dated by its excavator, Mark Horton.East coast
  6. 859Al-Qarawiyyin is founded in Fez, by tradition by Fatima al-Fihri.North Africa
  7. 972First Friday prayer at al-Azhar in Cairo. Lessons are recorded from 975.North Africa
  8. 996Ibn Abi Zayd of Kairouan, author of the Risala, dies.North Africa
  9. 1068Al-Bakri describes the capital of Ghana, with a Muslim town of twelve mosques.West Africa
  10. About 1085The rulers of Kanem, by Lake Chad, traditionally accept Islam.West Africa
  11. 1107The inscription at Kizimkazi on Zanzibar, dated 500 after the Hijrah.East coast
  12. 1324Mansa Musa of Mali makes the pilgrimage by way of Cairo.West Africa
  13. About 1330Ibn Battuta sails the east coast and praises Kilwa.East coast
  14. 1352Ibn Battuta crosses the Sahara to Mali.West Africa
  15. 1375Mansa Musa is drawn on the Catalan Atlas.West Africa
  16. 1496Askia Muhammad of Songhay sets out on the pilgrimage.West Africa
  17. 1528Estevanico, an enslaved man from Azemmour in Morocco, lands in Florida with a Spanish expedition.The Americas
  18. 1591A Moroccan army conquers Songhay. Ahmad Baba is deported to Marrakesh three years later.West Africa
  19. 1733Ayuba Suleiman Diallo is freed in England and painted by William Hoare. He goes home in 1734.The Americas
  20. 1777Morocco opens its ports to American ships, the first country to recognize the United States.North Africa
  21. 1788Abd al-Rahman Ibrahima is captured in Futa Jallon and sold to Natchez.The Americas
  22. 1790The South Carolina House hears the petition of the free Moors.The Americas
  23. 1804Usman dan Fodio’s reform movement begins. It becomes the Sokoto Caliphate.West Africa
  24. 1807Omar ibn Said arrives in Charleston.The Americas
  25. 1819Charles Willson Peale paints Yarrow Mamout in Georgetown.The Americas
  26. 1828Abd al-Rahman Ibrahima is freed after about forty years.The Americas
  27. About 1830Nana Asma’u organizes the jajis, traveling women teachers, in Sokoto.West Africa
  28. 1831Omar ibn Said writes his autobiography in Arabic in North Carolina.The Americas
  29. 1835African Muslims lead the Male revolt in Bahia, Brazil, during Ramadan. Lamine Kebe sails for Liberia.The Americas
  30. 1854Mahommah Gardo Baquaqua publishes his biography in Detroit.The Americas
  31. 1863Omar ibn Said dies in Bladen County, North Carolina.The Americas
  32. 1940Drums and Shadows records Sapelo Islanders’ memories of ancestors who prayed on mats and made saraka.The Americas
  33. 1988Timbuktu is placed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.West Africa
  34. 2012Timbuktu’s librarians begin moving hundreds of thousands of manuscripts to safety in Bamako.West Africa
  35. 2019The Library of Congress puts the Omar Ibn Said Collection online.The Americas
  36. 2023The opera Omar wins the Pulitzer Prize for Music, and the International African American Museum opens in Charleston.The Americas

Start reading at chapter IThe lives