al-Mutawakkil ala Allah II, Abd al-Aziz ibn Ya'qub
Cairo caliph [884–903] — a Hashimi between Hashimis, who read hadith with the author's father; hailed in the sultan's presence 16 Muharram 884. In his reign Qaytbay made the hajj no sultan had made for over a century; he died Wednesday, last of Muharram 903, naming his son Ya'qub al-Mustamsik.
Reign · Abbasid Caliphate of Cairo · no. 15 in the chain · 1479–1497 CE
Ruled the caliphate
Events of the reign
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Al-Sakhawi's hajj of 896 and final settling in Medina, 1491
In 896/1491 al-Sakhawi made the hajj and sojourned in Mecca until mid-898, when he moved to Medina, stayed months and fasted Ramadan 898 there, then returned to Mecca in its Shawwal; he remained a resident of the two sanctuaries until his death, the people of both cities and their visitors transmitting from him and collecting his works. In his final years he completed or refined several texts there and trained students in hadith transmission.
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Al-Sakhawi's hajj of 892 and second long sojourn, 1487
Al-Sakhawi performed the hajj in 892/1487 and then sojourned in Mecca through 893 and 894. His standing quarrel with his Egyptian peers — most famously al-Suyuti — made the sanctuary cities all the more welcoming.
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Al-Suyuti takes charge of the Baybarsiyya and begins to withdraw, 891/1486
From 891/1486 al-Suyuti was also placed in charge of the Baybarsiyya khankah. About forty years old, he decided to retire from public life: he progressively resigned his functions and stopped delivering fatwas, giving as reasons the corruption and ignorance in the milieu of the ʿulamaʾ. At the same time his relations with Sultan Qa’it Bay grew acrimonious, for he refused to pay the customary monthly visit to the ruler.
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Al-Suyuti declares himself a mujtahid, c. 888/1483
Probably in 888/1483 al-Suyuti declared that he had reached the rank of mujtahid mutlaq muntasib, exercising ijtihad within the method of the Shafiʿi imam, and affirmed that his ijtihad extended beyond the revealed law to hadith and the Arabic language. The claim aroused a real fitna among his contemporaries, chief among them the traditionist Muhammad al-Sakhawi.
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Al-Suyuti announces himself as the renewer of the ninth century, c. 898/1492
In consistency with his claim to ijtihad, al-Suyuti, two or three years before 900/1494, announced himself as the renewer (mujaddid) of Islam for the ninth century of the Hijra — the subject of an epistle in his Hawi and of a passage in his autobiography al-Tahadduth bi-niʿmat Allah.
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Al-Suyuti named 'supreme qadi' by the caliph, then the nomination is retracted, 902/1496
In 902/1496 al-Suyuti succeeded in having himself nominated 'supreme qadi' by the Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil in Cairo, but the caliph had to retract when faced with the hostility of the ʿulamaʾ. For al-Suyuti, the Abbasid caliphs were the incarnation of legitimacy, the best guarantors of the revealed Law and the prophetic Sunna.
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Albanian Rebellion (1481–1484)
Draft card for Albanian Rebellion (1481–1484); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Battle of Ağa Çayırı
Draft card for the Battle of Ağa Çayırı in 1488, fought between the Ottomans and their Anatolian rivals; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Battle of Anfao (1493)
Draft card for Battle of Anfao (1493); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Battle of Axarquía (1483)
Draft card for Battle of Axarquía (1483); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Battle of Cătlăbuga
Draft card for the Battle of Cătlăbuga in 1485, Stephen the Great's victory over the Ottoman army; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Battle of Krbava Field
Draft card for the Battle of Krbava Field in 1493, the great Ottoman victory over the Croatian nobility; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Battle of Moclín (1485)
Draft card for Battle of Moclín (1485); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Battle of Una
Draft card for the Battle of Una in 1483, the Ottoman-Croatian clash on the Una river; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Battle of Urfa (1480)
Draft card for the Battle of Urfa in 1480, the Aq Qoyunlu defeat of the Mamluk invasion; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Battle of Vrpile
Draft card for the Battle of Vrpile in 1491, the Croat ambush of an Ottoman raiding force; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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The Bayezid II complex (Beyazidiye) is built at Edirne
The Beyazidiye külliye was built on the west bank of the Tunca in 1484-8 by the architect Hayrettin — a mosque, a hospital, an insane asylum, a medical school, a hospice, an imaret, a bakery and food depots; a chronogram on the mosque gate gives the date 893/1488.
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Capture of Velez-Malaga (1487)
Draft card for Capture of Velez-Malaga (1487); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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The Excessive Dearth of 892
Shadharat registers 'the excessive dearth' for 892.
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The treacherous seizure of Alhama and the repulsed Muslim siege
The Marquis of Cadiz seized Alhama by stealth in the last days of the truce (887) — the blow that opened Granada's final war; Granada's folk besieged the garrison and nearly cut its water until relief armies forced them off, and a last escalade by men of Baza and Guadix was discovered and hurled from the heights.
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The surrender of Granada and the Christian entry into the Alhambra
Boabdil, the last Nasrid sultan, formally surrendered Granada to the Catholic Monarchs on 2 January 1492, 2 Rabi I 897, ending the Nasrid kingdom. The Encyclopaedia of Islam attributes the fall to the split between Boabdil and his uncle al-Zaghal, Castile's exploitation of divisions, its artillery and war of attrition, and the Maghrib's and Mamluk Egypt's inability to send help. Al-Maqqari records sixty-seven surrender conditions, which the Christians later broke until forced conversion in 904 AH.
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The Bayyazin revolt and the fall of Loja
Castile released the captive Boabdil, clothed him and armed him to split the Muslims — Vélez submitted and 'peace' was cried in the markets; Granada's Bayazin quarter rose for him (Rabi I–Jumada I 891) while the Alcazaba stoned them. He then entered Loja seeking reconciliation with his uncle al-Zaghal, but the Castilian siege starved it into surrender on 26 Jumada I 891 — Ibn al-Khatib's ancestral town — and Granada openly said he had come only to hand Loja over as his ransom.
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The fall of Ronda and the west to the Castilians
The Castilian siege of Ronda (Jumada I 890): its walls battered while its men were away relieving Cartama, the town surrendered on aman and all western Malaga followed — then the autumn campaign took Qanbil, Mishaqar and Hisn al-Lawz until 'he turned nowhere without uprooting it'.
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Fall of Velez-Malaga and the rout before contact
The fall of Velez-Malaga (Jumada I 892): al-Zaghal's relief army — Granadans, Guadix men and Alpujarras levies — reached the besieged town only to break before contact when word came that Granada had risen for Boabdil; Velez surrendered on Friday 10 Jumada I and the whole east-Malaga coast submitted, opening the road to the great siege of Malaga itself.
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Fath al-Bari reaches Yemen, 901
In 901 a copy of Ibn Hajar's Fath al-Bari reached Zabid from the Haram — the book's first entry into Yemen; Sultan 'Amir ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab had sent for it and it was bought for him at a great price.
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Hungarian–Ottoman War (1492–1495)
Draft card for Hungarian–Ottoman War (1492–1495); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Jem Sultan hailed at Bursa for eighteen days
In the civil war after Mehmed II's death in 886/1481 the people of Bursa sided with Prince Jem, who held the town as sultan for eighteen days, struck coins in his name and planned to rule at least Anatolia with Bursa as capital. Al-Salabi has him resident at Bursa when his father died: he took the townspeople's allegiance, proposed dividing the empire, and when Bayezid refused and marched on Bursa, Jem fled to the Mamluk sultan Qaytbay in Egypt.
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Battle of Lucena and the capture of Abu Abd Allah
The battle of Lucena: Boabdil, hearing of his uncle's spoils at Malaga, led Granada's army raiding in Rabi I 888 until the Castilians cut him off in the mountains near Lucena; the army broke and the sultan himself was taken, handed secretly to the Castilian king's captain — the capture that let Castile play him against his father until Granada fell.
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The great Mecca earthquake of 886
On 17 Muharram 886 a tremendous earthquake struck Mecca, the like of which had not been heard.
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The Great Flood of Mecca in 887 AH
In mid-Dhu'l-Qa'da 887 came the tremendous flood of Mecca, the like unheard of: nearly a quarter of Mecca's houses ruined, the water passing the Kaaba's door inside the Sacred Mosque, and of God's creatures unnumbered dead.
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Lightning Burns the Mosque of Medina
In Shawwal 886 letters came from Medina: on the night of 13 Ramadan lightning struck the minaret, burning it with the noble mosque's roofs, treasuries and books — only the walls remained, a terrible affair.
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Ottoman invasion of Otranto
On Mehmed II's order Gedik Ahmed Pasha landed an Ottoman force in Italy and took Otranto — a short foothold that ended after the Conqueror's death.
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Ottoman–Mamluk War
Draft card for the Ottoman–Mamluk War of 1485–1491, the first contest between the two powers over Cilicia; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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The General Plague of 897
Shadharat registers for 897 'the wondrous general plague, the like of which was unheard, till it was said a quarter of the earth's people died'.
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The lightning strike on the Prophet's Mosque, 886
In Ramadan 886 a lightning strike burned the Prophet's noble Mosque — its roof, stores, book-treasury and lodgings, little of its arches and pillars left standing; some recited over it: 'the Prophet's sanctuary burned for no suspicion feared upon him nor any stain — but the Rawafid's hands touched those traces and fire purified them'. On 17 Muharram of the same year a tremendous quake struck Mecca, the like unheard of.
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The Second Lightning Strike on the Prophet's Mosque, 898
A second lightning strike on the Prophet's Mosque, Wednesday 18 Safar 898 — hitting the main minaret, shattering its crescent-helmet and felling its lower tier; the same year saw Bursa's wondrous plague and the burning of half the city.
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Pyatigorsk War (1492)
Draft card for Pyatigorsk War (1492); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Siege of Baza and the surrender of al-Zaghal
The siege of Baza (Rajab 894–Muharram 895): al-Zaghal threw in every levy from Guadix, Almeria and the Alpujarras and held the Castilians off all summer until siege engines sealed the town; starving, the defenders staged full markets to bluff the enemy spy — 'war is deception' — then surrendered the citadel on Friday 10 Muharram 895. Al-Zaghal himself met the Castilian at Almeria and handed over Guadix's citadel in early Safar: everything east of Granada passed to Castile 'in the blink of an eye'.
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Siege of Graciosa (1489)
Draft card for Siege of Graciosa (1489); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Siege of Kayseri
Draft card for Siege of Kayseri; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Siege of Loja (1482)
Draft card for Siege of Loja (1482); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Siege of Málaga
Draft card for the Siege of Málaga in 1487, the Catholic Monarchs' capture of the city; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Siege of Malaga and the captivity of its people
In 892 the Christians besieged Malaga by land and sea; its people fought with cannon, horse and foot until the food ran out and they ate beasts, horses and donkeys, wrote to both shores for relief and got none — promised safety, they surrendered the citadel keys in late Sha'ban and were taken captive, a deception the chronicler calls the infidels' trickery.
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Siege of Rhodes
Mehmed II sent a fleet under Mesih Pasha to besiege Hospitaller Rhodes; the fortress held and the expedition sailed home after months.
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Siege of Samarkand (1494–96)
Draft card for the Siege of Samarkand in 1494–96, the city's capture in the Timurid wars; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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Siege of Székesfehérvár (1490)
Draft card for Siege of Székesfehérvár (1490); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
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The Defeat of the Egyptian Army near al-Ruha
In 885 an Egyptian army under the dawadar Yashbak marched toward Iraq, met Uzun Hasan's son Ya'qub Shah's host near al-Ruha and broke — the survivors captured, Yashbak beheaded in late Ramadan. Curiously his great rival at home, the Hanafi chief qadi Shams al-Din al-Amshati, died in Egypt that same day.