Muawiya and the capital at Damascus

Part oneA governor of Syria

In the summer of 661 CE, the leaders of Kufa, in Iraq, gathered to swear allegiance to a man who had governed Syria for twenty years. Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with him) was not an easy figure for Iraq to welcome. Five years of war among Muslims lay behind that day, and the Prophet's ﷺ cousin and son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) had died only months before.

What made the day possible was a decision by Ali's son al-Hasan (may Allah be pleased with him), the Prophet's ﷺ grandson. He chose to hand the leadership to Muawiya rather than see more Muslims die, though he had every right to press his own claim. The terms of the agreement are told in slightly different ways, but every account agrees that his choice ended the fighting. Muslims remember 41 AH as the Year of Unity, Am al-Jama'ah.

From the hadith

Narrated Al-Hasan Al-Basri:

By Allah, Al-Hasan bin `Ali led large battalions like mountains against Muawiya. `Amr bin Al-As said (to Muawiya), "I surely see battalions which will not turn back before killing their opponents." Muawiya who was really the best of the two men said to him, "O `Amr! If these killed those and those killed these, who would be left with me for the jobs of the public, who would be left with me for their women, who would be left with me for their children?" Then Muawiya sent two Quraishi men from the tribe of `Abd-i-Shams called `Abdur Rahman bin Sumura and `Abdullah bin 'Amir bin Kuraiz to Al-Hasan saying to them, "Go to this man (i.e. Al-Hasan) and negotiate peace with him and talk and appeal to him." So, they went to Al-Hasan and talked and appealed to him to accept peace. Al-Hasan said, "We, the offspring of `Abdul Muttalib, have got wealth and people have indulged in killing and corruption (and money only will appease them)." They said to Al-Hasan, "Muawiya offers you so and so, and appeals to you and entreats you to accept peace." Al-Hasan said to them, "But who will be responsible for what you have said?" They said, "We will be responsible for it." So, whatever Al- Hasan asked they said, "We will be responsible for it for you." So, Al-Hasan concluded a peace treaty with Muawiya. Al-Hasan (Al-Basri) said: I heard Abu Bakr saying, "I saw Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) on the pulpit and Al-Hasan bin `Ali was by his side. The Prophet (ﷺ) was looking once at the people and once at Al-Hasan bin `Ali saying, 'This son of mine is a Saiyid (i.e. a noble) and may Allah make peace between two big groups of Muslims through him."

How had it come to this? In 656 the caliph Uthman was killed in Madinah by rebels, and the Muslims were left deeply divided over what should follow. Ali took the caliphate. Muawiya, Uthman's kinsman, called first for justice for the killers, and the two sides met in 37 AH at Siffin, on the Euphrates. After heavy losses on both sides they agreed to settle the matter by arbitration. The quarrel was not settled, and a group that left Ali's army, the Khawarij, kept plotting against both leaders. Ali was struck down in the mosque at Kufa in 40 AH.

Muawiya belonged to the Umayyads, a clan of Quraysh in Makkah. His father, Abu Sufyan, had led Quraysh against the Prophet ﷺ for years. The family accepted Islam when Makkah was opened in 8 AH, and Muawiya's sister, Umm Habibah (may Allah be pleased with her), was already one of the Mothers of the Believers.

Under Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) Muawiya served in the armies in Syria. In 18 AH a plague swept the province and killed several commanders, among them his brother Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan, who had been governing Damascus. Umar gave Muawiya that post, and Uthman ibn Affan (may Allah be pleased with him) later widened it to cover most of Syria.

Twenty years in one province taught him a great deal. He knew its Christian Arab tribes, who joined his army and were loyal to him. He also knew its long coast, open to attack from the sea, and he pressed for a Muslim fleet. Ships took Cyprus in the late 640s, and in 655 the Muslim navy beat a large Byzantine fleet in the Battle of the Masts, off the southern coast of Anatolia.

The lands he now ruled were enormous. They held Syria, Egypt, Iraq and Iran, with Arabia at the heart, and they were home to Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians and many Muslims. Kufa and Basra, the garrison cities that Umar had founded, were the armies' homes in Iraq. Governing so wide a world from one capital meant choosing governors who could keep the peace, and Muawiya set about finding them.

Part twoDamascus becomes the capital

Now Damascus became the seat of the caliphate. It was a sensible choice. The city stood where the desert meets farmland, watered by the Barada river and surrounded by orchards, close to the Byzantine frontier and to the Syrian tribes who made up his strongest troops. Madinah and Kufa were far away and full of old loyalties.

Muawiya governed as a patient politician. He kept the existing administrations in the provinces and chose capable governors, often for ability rather than family. Al-Mughirah ibn Shu'bah, a Companion, ran Kufa. Ziyad ibn Abihi, a gifted administrator and speaker, held Basra, then Kufa too, and managed Iraq and the east. A postal service carried news across the lands, and an official seal made letters harder to forge. After three of the first four caliphs had been struck down, Muawiya kept guards near him.

He also made room for non-Muslims. Christians served in his administration, and Christian writers of the time describe his years as a period of peace. Muslims have judged the change of style differently ever since. Some saw order restored after years of war. Others missed the plain, open ways of the first caliphs in Madinah.

On the frontier, raids into Byzantine Anatolia continued every year. Between 674 and 678 a Muslim fleet, with his son Yazid among its commanders, besieged Constantinople. The city held, helped by Greek fire, a burning mixture the Byzantines used against ships, and the fleet withdrew. Accounts differ on some details of these years. In the west, Uqba ibn Nafi founded Qayrawan, in what is now Tunisia, around 50 AH. It became the base for Muslim advances across North Africa.

Muawiya's last act as ruler was also his most debated. In his final years he asked the leading men of the empire to pledge their loyalty to Yazid as his successor. Until then no caliph had named his son to follow him. Many accepted it as the way to avoid another war. Others, in Madinah and Makkah, refused. Muawiya died in Damascus in April 680, and the argument over his choice was about to be tested.

Twenty years in one province taught him a great deal.

WatchThe lecture for this chapter

Lecture Al MuqaddimahMu'awiyah, the Founder of the Umayyad Caliphate (opens on YouTube)

The mapWhere it happened

• Madinah
• Kufa
• Damascus
• Constantinople
• Qayrawan

This map is a simple sketch to help you picture where events took place. Positions, distances and borders are approximate, so please use it for reference only, not as an accurate map.

SourcesSources for this chapter