601 CE: Ali ibn Abi Talib is born in Mecca.

610 CE: Ali ibn Abi Talib accepts Islam, and becomes one of the first Muslims.

619 CE: Both, Ali's father Abu Talib, and Prophet Muhammad's first wife Khadija pass away. The year is termed as the year of sorrow.

622 CE: Ali ibn Abi Talib stays behind during the Prophet Muhammad's hegira (migration to Mecca) to return the possessions of people entrusted to the Prophet.

656 CE - 661 CE: The murder of Caliph Uthman causes the eruption of the First Fitna (civil war). Muawiya surfaces as a major opposer of the Rashidun Caliphate.

656 CE: The Battle of the Camel.

656 CE - 661 CE: Ali ibn Abi Talib succeeds Uthman to become the fourth and final caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate.

657 CE: Battle of Siffin.

657 CE: Ali ibn Abi Talib moves his empire's capital to Kufa in Iraq.

659 CE: A peace treaty is signed between the Byzantine Empire and the Rashidun Caliphate.

661 CE: Caliph Ali is assassinated by the Kharijites.

670 CE: Hasan ibn Ali, Shia Islam's second imam (his father, Ali ibn Abi Talib, being the first imam), is poisoned to death.

680 CE: Husayn ibn Ali, Shia Islam's third imam, is beheaded by Yazid I's force at the Battle of Karbala in present-day Iraq.