Lighthouse Fellowship

Sunday School

Islam, Terrorism, & War Series

Timeline of Critical Events

• 20 billion - 11,000 BC?? Creation (depending on interpretations...)
• 3761 BC? God speaks with Adam (traditional Jewish date)
• 3000-2500 BC? God speaks with Noah; Flood
• Noah's sons: (Genesis 10)

Japheth: Eurasia, Europe?, Greece, Italy, Russia, Turkey, Far East?

Ham: Egypt, Northern Africa, Canaan (Canaan was cursed to serve brothers), Nimrod who founded Nineveh and Babylon cities

Shem: Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Middle & Near East

• Tower of Babel built and God scatters languages (Gen. 11:6)
• 2091 BC God speaks with Abraham; Abraham moves into land of Canaan, modern day Israel; Abram's father, Terrah, may have been moon-worshiper in Ur (Babylonia)
• 2080 BC Abraham's wife's maidservant, Haggar, bears Ishmael (Gen. 16:12 & 17:18-21)
• 2066 BC Abraham's wife, Sarah, bears Isaac
• 2006 BC Isaac's wife, Rebekah, bears Esau and Jacob
• 1930-1915 BC Jacob (Israel) fathers 12 tribes of Israel
• 1876 BC Famine causes tribes to move to Egypt
• 1446 BC (1300-1250 BC?) Moses leads tribes out in the Exodus
• 1406 BC (1300's BC) Joshua leads tribes in conquest of Canaan
• 1200's BC "Sea Peoples" raid Mediterranean coasts, esp. Egypt; possibly Philistines
• 1100's BC Period of Judges
• 1050-1010 BC King Saul of Israel
• 1010-970 BC King David of Israel
• 970-930 BC King Solomon of Israel
• 928 BC Israel divides into two Kingdoms:

Israel to the North

Judah to the South

• 722 BC Israel defeated by Assyrians; Jews dispersed
• 586 BC Judah defeated by Babylonians; Jerusalem falls; Jews dispersed
• 800's -400's BC Time of the Prophets
• 538-432 BC Remnant returns; Restores Jerusalem under Zerubbabel, Ezra, & Nehemiah
• 612 BC Babylonians defeat Assyrians
• 500's BC Persian Empire firmly established
• 538 BC Persians defeat Babylonians
• 600's BC Roman Empire grows and expands
• 462-429 BC Peloponnesian Wars
• 311-281 BC Seleucid Empire of Syria founded, capital at Antioch
• 282-246 BC Septuagint written & Torah translated into Greek
• 246-222 BC Ptolemy 3^rd, ruled Seleucid Empire, conquers Egypt, Judea, Samaria, Galilee, & East Mediterranean
• 264-241 BC Punic Wars
• 185 BC Hinduism expands in China
• 167 BC Antiochus, Seleucid King, plundered & desecrated Temple at Jerusalem; persecuted Jews; set up Zeus altar in Temple; forced Jews to eat pork
• 167-164 BC Maccabee revolt; Temple rededicated
• 64 BC Roman General Pompey defeats Seleucid Empire
• 63 BC Pompey conquers Jerusalem; Israel part of Roman Empire
• 42 BC Julius Caesar declared God by Roman Senate
• 47-40 BC Israel occupied by Rome; Herod governor
• 37-4 BC Herod the Great rules Israel/Palestine region
• ~6-1 BC Jesus is born; Herod's massacre of children; flight to Egypt
• ~33AD Jesus is crucified
• 40-80 AD Gospels written & letters to Churches
• 54-68 AD Terrible Christian persecution under Roman Emperor Nero
• ~95 AD Bible completed
• 70-73 AD Rome, under Vespasian, destroys Temple; Marks the end of Israel as an independent state until 1948; Jews scattered again

 

• 400 AD Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible

Setting the stage for Islam:
The Roman Empire has ruled for centuries but is now in serious decline. It's territories stretch from Great Britain across most of southern Europe over to modern-day Turkey and down across most of northern Africa. Rome is embroiled in many wars on many fronts. Hordes of barbarians threaten from the East from modern-day Mongolia and China. The first wave of Scandinavian barbarians threaten from the north. They include the Vandals, Goths, Visigoths, Huns, Franks, Saxons, etc. These facts and internal turmoil over religion causes the Empire to split into two halves - the West being the "traditional" Roman Empire and the East being the new Byzantine Empire with its capital in Byzantium (later, Constantinople). Weakened by the split and threats on every border, the Western Empire falls in 476AD to barbarians.

This leaves the known world up for grabs. China and Japan are in internal strife. Europe is overrun with barbarian tribes. The Byzantine Empire is locked in mortal combat with the ancient Persian Empire leaving both weak. And, to their south, the desert lands of Arabia and the Middle East region are inhabited by a growing population of nomadic traders. No one rules. It is the beginning of the Dark Ages and the beginning of two new religions that will vie to replace Christianity.

• 400-700 Early Dark Ages
• 476 Roman Empire falls & Byzantines at war with Persia
• 483 Buddha, in India founds Buddhism
• ~570 Muhammad born in Mecca in modern day Saudi Arabia; belonged to Quraish tribe; near Kabah, holy house of God for Islams (but at that time home to 360 pagan idols)
• 576 Persian Empire takes southern Arabia by defeating the Abyssinians (Ethiopia)
• 610 Muhammad's visions begin; allegedly from Angel Gabriel; wild visions & revelations about hell, Adam, women, etc.
• 622 Expelled from Mecca and established following in Medina; flight to Medina called Hegira, marks the beginning of Islamic calendar based on the Moon
• 627 Byzantines defeat Persians at Nineveh
• 628 Muhammad captures Mecca in Jihad, Holy War; emerges as cunning, viscous leader
• 629 Byzantines take Jerusalem
• 630-632 Muhammad founds Islam religion; writes Koran
• 630 Ummah - Muslim community concept saying that Muslims are greater than family
• 632 Mohammed dies
• 632-644 Expansion of Islam; conquers Damascus, Syria, Egypt, Persia, etc.
• 636 Muslims in Syria retake city of Jerusalem
• 638-664 Islamic expansion continues to include Iran, Armenia, Afghnistan, etc.; Caliphs Othman & Ali fight for control of Muslim federations leading to civil war

Ali will eventually become the Shi'ite Muslims

Othman will eventually become the Kharijite Muslims

• 673-678 Muslims war against Byzantines
• 688 Dome-of-the-Rock built over spot Muhammad allegedly ascended into Heaven
• 715 Umayyad Arabs take Spain; but halted in Germany
• 750 Abbasid Arabs defeat Umayyad Arabs except in Spain; Bagdad becomes their capital
• 700's Buddhism continues to grow in Japan
• 768-814 Charlemagne unites France, Italy, Northern Spain, Saxony, and Bavaria
• 800 Charlemagne crowned Holy Roman Emperor
• 843 Charlemagne's Empire divided
• 808-814 Bulgar Kingdom emerges and peaks; wars against Byzantines
• 910 Cluniac reforms the Christian Church
• 911 Rollo, Scandanavian, sets up Norman Kingdom in northern France, Gaul
• 1000 Viking raids in Europe
• 1071 Ottoman Empire begins
• 1066 Normans take Britain
• 1096-1099 1st Crusade captures Jerusalem
• 1147-1149 2nd Crusade fails against Turks
• 1169-1193 Saladin unites Muslims of Syria & Egypt and retakes Jerusalem
• 1189-1191 3rd Crusade retakes Jerusalem
• 1200's Ghengis Khan conquers China; sweeps through Turkey, Iraq, Iran, etc. and threatens Europe; his grandson will later defeat the Abbasid Muslims in 1258
• 1202-1204 4th Crusade against Constantinople
• 1206 Islam reaches India
• 1244 Turks retake Jerusalem
• 1200's Other Crusades fizzle
• 1270 9th Crusade under King Louis IX (St. Louis) of France leads to his death in Tunis; this effectively ends Europe incursions into the Middle East

These conditions continue, in very general terms, for the next 600+ years:

Mongol barbarians continued to roam the Far East, Asia, & Russia. Hinduism grew in India and other parts of the Far East. Islam spread and solidified in the Middle East. Jews were dispersed all across the world with large populations in Europe. Buddhism also grew and solidified in China and Japan. Christian Church reform continued on across Europe.

Modern Day Events:

• 1800's By 1812 Napoleon has taken the Middle East & North Africa
• 1800's By the end of the century the Turks retake most of the Middle East & North
• 1897 First Zionist Congress was held in Switzerland
• 1917-18 British conquer Jerusalem and Palestine from the Turks
• 1936 Plans are being made for a Jewish state; the Arab high Committee formed to oppose this
• 1930-40's Jews are slaughtered by the millions across Europe

• 1945 End of World War II
• 1948 Weakened Britain withdraws from assets in Middle East; allows the formation of the nation of Israel again; hours after declaring its independence, Israel is attacked by Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon
• 1949 Israel admitted to the UN as 59^th member
• 1950 Jordan annexed the West Bank and offered citizenship to all Palestinians wishing to claim it; this becomes the "disputed territory"
• 1967 Six-day war; Israel defeats combined Arab League of nations (Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, etc.) and gains territory - ie. the Palestinian occupied territories and others (West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights, East Jerusalem); retakes West Bank from Jordan
• 1970 PLO driven out of Jordan and flees to Lebanon
• 1973 Yom Kippur War; Israel prevails over combined Arab states (again!)
• 1978 Israeli forces attack PLO bases in Lebanon; peace agreements with Egypt signed with aid from Jimmy Carter
• 1982 Islamic Arabs in Lebanon form Hezbollah with Iranian help as a Shiite Muslim movement offshoot; Israel invades Lebanon and occupies Beirut; withdraws in 1985
• 1991 Persian Gulf War
• 1993 Oslo Peace Accord signed allowing thousands of PLO back into Palestine; Yasser Arafat becomes PLO chief
• 1994 Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat sign accord allowing Palestinian autonomy and limited self-rule
• Present Day PLO continues to car-bomb, suicide bomb, riot, etc. Israel responds; unrest continues