Mu{ʽ}āwiyah I

born с 602, Mecca, Arabian Peninsula

died April/May 680, Damascus, Syria

First caliph (661–680) of the Umayyad dynasty.

Born into a clan that initially rejected Muhammad's preaching, he accepted Islam only after Muhammad had conquered Mecca. As governor of Damascus he built up the Syrian army until it was strong enough to resist attacks of the Byzantine Empire. He opposed the leadership of Alī, the fourth caliph, and eventually took the field against him. He claimed the caliphate after ʽAlī's death. To win the loyalty of non-Syrian Arabs, he introduced methods by which the tribes could keep the caliph informed of their interests. He channeled tribal aggressiveness into anti-Byzantine campaigns and in North Africa sent forces that captured Tripolitania and Ifrīqiyyah. To administer his large empire, he adopted Roman and Byzantine procedures, employing Christian bureaucrats whose families had served in Byzantine governments. By securing his son as his successor, he established hereditary rule. Though disparaged by later Muslim historians for deviating from Muhammad's leadership style and by Shīʽites for his role in usurping the authority of ʽAlī and his family, he is often portrayed in the Arabic literary tradition as the ideal ruler.

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