Muʿāwiyah ibn ʾAbī Sufyān | |||||
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Muʿāwiyah ibn ʾAbī Sufyān
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1st Caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate | |||||
Reign | 661–680 | ||||
Predecessor | Hasan ibn Ali | ||||
Successor | Yazīd ibn Mu‘āwiya | ||||
Governor of the Levant | |||||
Reign | 639-661 | ||||
Predecessor | Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah | ||||
Successor | Al-Dahhak ibn Qays al-Fihri | ||||
Born | 602 CE Mecca, Arabia |
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Died | 22 Rajab60 AH April 29 or May 1, 680 (aged 77–78) Damascus, Syria |
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Burial | Damascus, Syria | ||||
Issue | Yazīd ibn Mu‘āwiya (son) | ||||
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House | Sufyanid | ||||
Dynasty | Umayyad | ||||
Father | Abu Sufyan ibn Harb | ||||
Mother | |||||
Son | Yazid I | ||||
Religion | Islam |
Full name | |
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Muʿāwiyah ibn ʾAbī Ṣufyān (معاوية ابن أبي سفيان) |
Muawiyah I (Arabic: معاوية بن أبي سفيان, translit. Muʿāwiyah ibn ʾAbī Ṣufyān; 602 – April 29 or May 1, 680) established the Umayyad Dynasty of the caliphate, and was the second caliph from the Umayyad clan, the first being Uthman ibn Affan. During the first and second caliphates of Abu Bakr and Umar (Umar ibn al-Khattab), he fought with the Muslims against the Byzantines in Syria.
To stop the Byzantine harassment from the sea, Muawiyah developed a navy in the Levant and used it to confront the Byzantine Empire in the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara. The Caliphate conquered several territories including Cyzicus which were subsequently used as naval bases.
Muawiyah bin Abi-Sufyan was born in Mecca to Abu Sufyan ibn Harb and Hind bint Utbah (601 CE) into the Banu Umayya sub-clan of the Banu Abd-Shams clan of the Quraysh tribe. The Quraysh controlled the city of Mecca (in the west of present-day Saudi Arabia) and the Banu Abd-Shams were among the most influential of its citizens.The meaning of Muawiyah in Arabic is "strength of the arms". His father Abu-Sufyan struggled against Islam until Muhammad's army entered Mecca in 630.