Rulers, commanders, scholars and scientists who served Islam and Muslim civilisation
See also the dynasty pages on Islamic history and the Companions.
Rulers and commanders
Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz (Umar II) (عمر بن عبد العزیز)
- Umayyad caliph from 717 to 720 CE, named successor by his cousin Sulayman.
- Turned the state’s attention inward, recalled the failed campaign against Constantinople, encouraged non-Arab Muslims (mawali), and ended the official public cursing of ‘Ali.
- Often called the “fifth Rightly Guided Caliph”; his was the only Umayyad tomb the Abbasids spared.
Sources: World History Encyclopedia — Umayyad dynasty
Tariq ibn Ziyad (طارق بن زیاد)
- Berber commander who landed in Iberia in 711 CE at the rock that bears his name — Gibraltar (Jabal Tariq).
- Defeated the Visigothic king Roderic at the Battle of Guadalete (711); with Musa ibn Nusayr, most of al-Andalus was taken by 714.
Sources: World History Encyclopedia — Umayyad dynasty
Muhammad bin Qasim (محمد بن قاسم)
- Lived c. 695–715 CE; a young commander under the Umayyad governor al-Hajjaj.
- Arrived in Sindh in 711; his forces reached the Beas river by 712, and he governed the region for the Umayyads.
- Granted Hindus and Buddhists the status of protected communities (dhimmis), free to practise their religion — a step the Encyclopedia of India calls remarkably liberal.
Sources: World History Encyclopedia — Umayyad dynasty · Encyclopedia.com — Muslim rule in India
Abd al-Rahman I (عبد الرحمن الداخل)
- Grandson of Caliph Hisham who escaped the Abbasid massacre of the Umayyads and reached al-Andalus.
- Founded the Emirate of Córdoba in 756 and ruled until 788, continuing Umayyad rule in Spain.
Sources: World History Encyclopedia — Umayyad dynasty
Nur al-Din Zengi (نور الدین زنگی)
- Ruler of Aleppo from 1146 until his death in May 1174; Damascus came under his rule after the failed Second Crusade.
- His commander Shirkuh took Egypt in 1169, where Salah al-Din then governed on his behalf — laying the foundations of Salah al-Din’s work.
Sources: World History Encyclopedia — Zengids · World History Encyclopedia — Saladin
Sultan Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi (Saladin) (صلاح الدین ایوبی)
- Born 1137/38 in Tikrit; died 4 March 1193 in Damascus. Sultan of Egypt, Syria, Yemen and Palestine and founder of the Ayyubid dynasty; Britannica calls him “the most famous of Muslim heroes”.
- Ended the Fatimid caliphate in Cairo; took Damascus (1174) and Aleppo (1183).
- Destroyed the Crusader army at Hattin on 4 July 1187 and recovered Jerusalem on 2 October 1187, ending almost nine decades of Frankish rule there; most Christian inhabitants were ransomed rather than killed, and Eastern Christians were allowed to stay.
- Fought the Third Crusade to a standstill; the 1192 settlement with Richard I left the Crusaders a coastal strip and gave Christian pilgrims safe passage.
- Remembered even by his enemies as gallant and chivalrous; at his death the treasury held little more than one gold piece and 47 silver dirhams.
Sources: Encyclopaedia Britannica — Saladin · World History Encyclopedia — Saladin · World History Encyclopedia — Third Crusade
Sultan Qutuz and Sultan Baybars (قطز و بیبرس)
- Mamluk forces under Sultan Qutuz and Baybars defeated the Mongols at ‘Ayn Jalut, near Nazareth, on 3 September 1260 — halting the Mongol advance into the Islamic heartland.
- Baybars (c. 1223–1277) ruled from 1260 to 1277, installed an Abbasid caliph in Cairo (1261), took Antioch (1268), and built roads, bridges and a postal service between Cairo and Damascus.
Sources: Encyclopedia.com — Baybars · World History Encyclopedia — Eighth Crusade
Sultan Mehmed II al-Fatih (سلطان محمد فاتح)
- Born 30 March 1432; died 3 May 1481; reigned 1451–1481.
- Conquered Constantinople on 29 May 1453, ending the Byzantine Empire, and made it the Ottoman capital.
- Built the Topkapı Palace, the Grand Bazaar and the Fatih Mosque, issued law codes within the framework of religious law, and patronised scholars and poets.
Sources: World History Encyclopedia — Mehmed II
Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (Kanuni) (سلیمان قانونی)
- Reigned 1520–1566; under him the Ottoman Empire reached its height.
- Known as Kanuni (“the Lawgiver”) for harmonising dynastic law with the Shari‘ah; funded a major mosque complex, aqueducts and public kitchens.
Sources: World History Encyclopedia — Suleiman I
Tipu Sultan (ٹیپو سلطان)
- Born 1750; ruler of Mysore from 1782 until he was killed defending Seringapatam in May 1799 (sources give 3 or 4 May).
- Known as the “Tiger of Mysore” for resisting British expansion; his army used innovative iron-cased rockets.
- Historians also note his administration, his patronage of Hindu temples, and his collections of books and scientific instruments.
Sources: Encyclopedia.com — Tipu Sultan · World History Encyclopedia — Anglo-Mysore Wars · National Army Museum — Tipu Sultan’s war turban
Emir Abd al-Qadir al-Jaza’iri (امیر عبد القادر الجزائری)
- Lived 1807–1883; from a Qadiri Sufi family, proclaimed Commander of the Faithful in 1832, and led Algerian resistance to France, building an administration and army.
- In exile in Damascus during the riots of July 1860, he protected Christians when few others would.
Sources: Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World — ‘Abd al-Qadir
Omar al-Mukhtar (عمر المختار)
- A Senusi religious teacher who led the resistance to Italian rule in Cyrenaica (Libya) from 1923 to 1931.
- Captured on 11 September 1931 and executed on 16 September 1931; honoured as Libya’s national hero.
Sources: Encyclopedia.com — Omar al-Mukhtar
Imams, scholars and reformers
The four imams of fiqh
- Imam Abu Hanifa (d. 150 AH / 767 CE) — founder of the Hanafi school. See Hanafi.
- Imam Malik ibn Anas (d. 179 AH / 795 CE) — his al-Muwatta’ is among the earliest works of fiqh. See Maliki.
- Imam al-Shafi‘i (d. 205 AH / 820 CE) — his al-Risala is the earliest work of legal theory (usul al-fiqh). See Shafi‘i.
- Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241 AH / 855 CE) — eponym of the Hanbali school. See Hanbali.
Sources: Encyclopedia.com — Fiqh
Imam Muhammad ibn Isma‘il al-Bukhari (امام بخاری)
- Lived 810–870 CE, born in Bukhara.
- Compiled al-Jami‘ al-Sahih, reportedly examining about 600,000 reports and recording about 7,397, with very strict criteria for chains of transmission.
- Sunni Muslims regard his collection as the most reliable after the Qur’an.
Sources: Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World — al-Bukhari
Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (امام غزالی)
- Born c. 1056 in Tus; died December 1111 in Tus.
- Taught at the Nizamiyya in Baghdad from 1091, left his post in 1095 for the Sufi path, and wrote Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din (Revival of the Religious Sciences) and Tahafut al-Falasifa.
- The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy calls him the most influential intellectual of his time.
Sources: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — al-Ghazali
Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi (Mujaddid Alf Thani) (مجدد الف ثانی)
- Lived 1564–1624, born in Sirhind; a Naqshbandi successor of Khwaja Baqi Billah.
- His Maktubat (536 letters) joined Sufi practice to strict observance of the Shari‘ah; the title “Renewer of the Second Millennium” gave the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi order its name.
Sources: Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World — Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi
Shah Waliullah Dehlawi (شاہ ولی اللہ محدث دہلوی)
- Lived 1703–1762; performed Hajj in 1731 and studied about 14 months in Makkah and Madinah.
- Wrote Hujjat Allah al-Baligha; his students and descendants shaped the later Deoband madrasa. Described as the most prominent Muslim intellectual of 18th-century India. See Deobandi tradition guide.
Sources: Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World — Shah Wali Allah
Allama Muhammad Iqbal (علامہ محمد اقبال)
- Born c. 1877 in Sialkot; died 1938. Studied at Cambridge and earned a PhD in Munich (1908).
- Poetry including Shikwa (1911), Asrar-e-Khudi (1915) and Javid Nama (1932); wrote The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam; president of the Muslim League in 1930. His thought shaped the national ethos of Pakistan.
Sources: Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World — Muhammad Iqbal
Scientists, historians and travellers
Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (الخوارزمی)
- Lived c. 780–c. 850; a scholar of the House of Wisdom in Baghdad under al-Ma’mun.
- His Hisab al-Jabr wa’l-Muqabala gave the world the word “algebra” and is called the first book written on the subject; the word “algorithm” comes from his name.
Sources: MacTutor (University of St Andrews) — al-Khwarizmi
Ibn Sina (Avicenna) (ابن سینا)
- Lived c. 970–1037, born near Bukhara; died in Hamadan.
- His al-Qanun fi al-Tibb (Canon of Medicine), in Latin translation, was the basis of medical teaching in European universities until the 17th century; al-Shifa’ is his great work of philosophy.
Sources: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Ibn Sina
Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) (ابن الہیثم)
- Born 965, possibly in Basra; died c. 1040, possibly in Cairo.
- His seven-volume Kitab al-Manazir (Book of Optics) gave the first correct explanation of vision and rested on experimental evidence.
Sources: MacTutor — Ibn al-Haytham
Ibn Khaldun (ابن خلدون)
- Born 1332 in Tunis; died 16 March 1406 in Cairo, where he served as a judge.
- His Muqaddima explains the rise and fall of states through ‘asabiyya (group solidarity); he is regarded as a founder of the philosophy of history and of social science.
Sources: Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World — Ibn Khaldun
Ibn Battuta (ابن بطوطہ)
- Born 25 February 1304 in Tangier; died 1368 or 1369, probably in Fez.
- Travelled from 1325 to about 1352 — roughly 120,000 km — and his Rihla is a key source on the 14th-century Muslim world.
Sources: World History Encyclopedia — Ibn Battuta