Assassination of Ali
Power passes to Mu'awiya, founder of the Umayyad dynasty
In January 661 the Kharijite Ibn Muljam mortally wounded Caliph Ali in the mosque of Kufa. His rival, the governor of Syria Mu'awiya, became caliph of the whole empire and ruled from Damascus, and the split between Ali's partisans, the Shia, and the Muslim majority became permanent.
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Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Europe
- 680 Battle of Ongal — 19 years later
Africa
- 652 The Baqt treaty with Nubia — 9 years earlier
Alive at the time
- Ali ibn Abi Talib (aged 61)
- Pakal the Great (aged 58)
- Wu Zetian (aged 37)
- Xuanzang (aged 59)