Muawiyah I

Muawiyah I (Arabic: معاوية ابن أبي سفيان; Transliteration: Muˁāwīya ibn ˀAbī Sufyān); (602 – 680) was the first Caliph of the Umayyad Dynasty. In Sunni Islam, he is perceived as having his life divided in two parts. During his first part, he was as one of the staunchest enemies of Muhammad and of Islam. After all, after the Battle of Badr, Muawiya was the heir-apparent to the pagan throne of Mecca, which was occupied by his father Abu Sufyan and mother Hind. After the defeat of his family, following the fall of Mecca in 8 AH, Muawiya converted to Islam and hence is regarded within Sunni Islam as a Sahabi (companion) of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad. This is where the second part of Muawiyah's life sarts. Also he was Katib Al-waḥi (scribe)^[1] – he later became a member of the Umayyad caliphate in Damascus.^[2]

Shia Muslims do not regard his conversion as sincere. They cite as evidence his allegedly being cursed by Muhammad (see section on physical appearances below) and Muawiyah's waging of continual civil war against the caliphate led by Ali, al-Hassan and many of the early companions. He engaged in a major civil war against the fourth and fifth (final) Rashidun (Rightly Guided Caliphs), Ali (Ali ibn Abi Talib) (Muhammad's son-in-law) and Muhammad's eldest grandson Al-Hassan. Muawiyah had considerable military success, including the seizure of Egypt. He assumed the caliphate after Ali's assassination and forcing the abdication of al-Hassan by threatening further bloodshed in 661 and led until 680.

Muhammad is reported to have said: "The Prophethood will be among you as long as Allah wills, then he will eliminate it if he so wills. Then a Caliphate on the model of Prophethood will prevail so long as Allah wills, then he will eliminate it if he so wills. Then there will be a biting monarchy as long as Allah wills, then he will eliminate it if he so wills. Then there will be an oppressive monarchy as long as Allah wills, then he will eliminate it if he so wills. Then a Caliphate on the way of Prophethood will prevail and he kept silent." [Ahmed](Citation needed).

It is accepted unanimously that the Caliphate was turned into a hereditary office by Muawiya I. though some argue that a similar type of hereditary office should have been set up for the descendants of Muhammad. the admonitions in the Quran to the peoples of the previous scriptures are insightful: The Jews say: the Christians have nought to stand upon, and the Christians say: the Jews have nothing to stand upon. and they (all) profess to study the Scripture, like unto their saying is what those say who know not, but God will judge between them in their quarrel on the day of judgement Quran 2:113 verily those who divide their faith and become parties, you have no part in them in the least thing, their affair is with God, then He will make known to them what they used to do Quran 6:159

The Prophetic tradition clearly states that the first rule will be a rightly guided caliphate on the model of Prophethood, and it is also agreed upon that the peoples' accepted representatives elected the first Caliph after the death of the Prophet, and the ultimate rule was from the Quran and sunnah - The definition used for this type of rule today is "constitutional republic" although different from man made constitutions.

Because of his involvement in the Battle of Siffin against Ali, whom the Shia Muslims believe was Muhammad's true successor (see Succession to Muhammad), because of the breaking the treaty he made with Hasan ibn Ali by appointing his son Yazid as ruler and that he was responsible for the deaths of various companions, Muawiyah has been hated and reviled by generations of Shi'a.

Early life

Umayyad Mosque, established during Muawiyah's era.

Mu'awiyah bin Abi-Sufyan was born in 602 C.E. into a clan, the Banu Umayya, of the Quraysh tribe. The Quraysh controlled the city of Makkah, in what is now western Saudi Arabia, and the Banu Abd-Shams were among the most influential of its citizens. Mu'awiya was a staunch follower of the pre-Islamic polytheism and like Abu Sufyan, opposed Muhammad before becoming a Muslim after Muhammad conquered Mecca.

In 630 CE, Muhammad and his followers conquered Mecca, and most of the Meccans, including the Abd-Shams, formally submitted to Muhammad and accepted Islam. General consensus among early Islamic historians is that Mu'awiyah, along with his father Abu Sufyan, became Muslims at the conquest of Mecca when further resistance to Muslims became an impossibility.^[3][4] Some scholars hold the view that Mu'awiya was the second of the two to convert, with Abu Sufyan convincing him to do it.

Muhammad welcomed his former opponents, enrolled them in his army and gave them important posts in what was to become the Caliphate. After Prophet Muhammad's death in 632, he served in the Islamic army sent against the Byzantine forces in Syria. He held a high rank in the army which was led by his brother Yazid ibn Abu Sufyan.

Governor of Syria

Caliph Umar (Umar ibn al-Khattab) had appointed Muawiyah Ibn Abu Sufyan as governor of Syria. In the year 640, Umar appointed Muawiyah as governor of Syria when his brother died in an outbreak of plague. Muawiyah gradually gained mastery over the other areas of Syria, instilling remarkable personal loyalty among his troops and the people of the region. By 647, Muawiyah had built a Syrian army strong enough to repel a Byzantine attack and, in subsequent years, to take the offensive against the Byzantines in campaigns that resulted in the capture of Cyprus (649) and Rhodes (654) and a devastating defeat of the Byzantine navy off the coast of Lycia (655). At the same time, Muawiyah periodically dispatched land expeditions into Anatolia.

According to the chronicler Theophanes the Confessor, Muawiyah I, after capturing Rhodes sold the remains of the Colossus of Rhodes to a traveling salesman from Edessa. The buyer had the statue broken down, and transported the bronze scrap on the backs of 900 camels to his home. Pieces continued to turn up for sale for years, after being found along the caravan route.

All these campaigns came to a halt with the accession of Ali to the caliphate, when a new and decisive phase of Muawiyah's career began.

Conflict with Ali

Muawiyah fought a protracted campaign against Ali, allegedly seeking justice for the assassinated caliph Uthman Ibn Affan. Aisha (Aisha bint Abu Bakr) (Muhammad's widow), Talhah (Talha ibn Ubayd-Allah) and Al-Zubayr (Abu ‘Abd Allah Zubayr ibn al-Awwam) were all in agreement with Muawiyah that those who assassinated Uthman should be brought to justice. However, Ali refused to apprehend and punish Uthman's murderers fearing rebel infiltration of the Muslim ranks. This resulted in Muawiyah refusing to acknowledge Ali's caliphate.

Muawiyah did not participate in the campaign by Aisha, Talhah and Al-Zubayr against Ali that ended in the Battle of the Camel.^[5] The city of Basrah went over to them but they were defeated in battle by Ali. Talhah and Al-Zubayr were killed. Ali pardoned Aisha and had her escorted back to Medina.

Ali then turned towards Syria, where Mu'awiyah was in open opposition. He marched to the Euphrates and engaged Mu'awiyah's troops at the famous Battle of Siffin (657). Accounts of the clash vary – however, it would seem that neither side had won a victory, since the Syrians called for arbitration to settle the matter, arguing that continuing civil war would embolden the Byzantines.^[6] There are several conflicting accounts of the arbitrations. One account suggests that Muawiyyah’s army were ordered to adorn the tips of their swords with pages from the Quran in an attempt to confused the army of Ali and prevent them from winning the battle. As a result, the army of Ali ceased fighting so as not to bring harm to the Quran. Mu'awiyah proposed a cease-fire which Ali agreed to and it was decided to end the conflict through peaceful talks^[7].

In the meantime, dissension broke out in Ali's camp where some of his former supporters, later known as Kharijites, felt that Ali had betrayed them by entering into negotiations. Ali set out to quell the Kharijites. At about the same time, unrest was brewing in Egypt. The governor of Egypt, Qais, was recalled, and Ali had him replaced with Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr (the brother of Aisha and the son of Islam's first caliph Abu Bakr). Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr's rule resulted in widespread rebellion in Egypt. Mu'awiyah ordered 'Amr ibn al-'As to invade Egypt and 'Amr did so successfully.

When Alī was assassinated in 661, Mu'awiyah, as commander of the largest force in the Muslim Empire, had the strongest claim to the Caliphate. Ali's son Hasan ibn Ali signed a truce and retired to private life in Medina.

Muawiyah said later: "I never fought against Ali, only about Uthman's death"^[1]. That was attested by Al-Sharif al-Radi in his book Nahj al-Balagha, he said:

In the war... When we met people of Al-Sham, it seemed that our god is one, our prophet is the same, our calling is the same, and no one is more of a believer than the other about believing in Allah, or the prophet. The misunderstandings were about Uthman's blood, and we have nothing to do with it.

—Al-Sharif al-Radi, ^[8]

Rule

In the year 661, Mu'awiyah governed the geographically and politically disparate Caliphate, which now spread from Egypt in the west to Iran in the east, by strengthening the power of his allies in the newly conquered territories. Prominent positions in the emerging governmental structures were held by Christians, some of whom belonged to families that had served in Byzantine governments. The employment of Christians was part of a broader policy of religious tolerance that was necessitated by the presence of large Christian populations in the conquered provinces, especially in Syria itself. This policy also boosted his popularity and solidified Syria as his power base.

In a manner similar to Byzantine admistrative practices, Mu'awiyah instituted several bureaucracies, called divans, to aid him in the governance and the centralization of the Caliphate and the empire. Early Arabic sources credit two diwans in particular to Mu'awiyah: the Diwan al-Khatam (Chancellery) and the Barid (Postal Service), both of which greatly improved communications within the empire.

To have an insight into Mu’awiyah’s character, we may mention what Ibn Katheer reports in his history book Al-Bidayah wal-Nihayah.

"At the height of tension when fighting was about to erupt at Siffin between Imam Ali and Mu’awiyah, Mu’awiyah was informed that the Byzantine Emperor raised a very large army and was drawing very close to the borders of the Muslim state. He wrote to him, giving him a very clear warning, 'By God, if you do not stop your designs and go back to your place, I will end my dispute with my cousin and will drive you out of the entire land you rule, until I make the earth too tight for you.' The Byzantine Emperor was scared off and abandoned his plans"

However, other scholars contend that he simply placated the Byzantine emperor with offers of land, gold, and slaves.^[9]

Mu'awiyah died May 6, 680, allegedly from a stroke brought on by his weight. He was succeeded by his son Yazid I. Mu'awiyah had held the expanding empire together by force of his personality, through personal allegiances, in the style of a traditional Arab sheikh. However Mu'awiyah's attempt to start a dynasty failed because both Yazid and then his grandson Muawiya II died prematurely. The caliphate eventually went to Marwan I a descendant of another branch of Mu'awiya's clan.

Mu'awiya and Mawalis

In accordance with the ways of Empire, Mu'awiya favoured his Arab subjects over non-Arab Muslims (the Mawalis) - the discriminatory treatment of non-Arab Muslims by the victorious Umayyad forces are documented by both Sunni and Shia sources as in the example below concerning Mu'awiya's commands to his governor Ziyad ibn Abih^[10][11][12] Mu'awiyah, in a famous letter addressed to Ziyad ibn Abih, the then governor of Iraq, wrote:

Be watchful of Iranian Muslims and never treat them as equals of Arabs. Arabs have a right to take in marriage their women, but they have no right to marry Arab women. Arabs are entitled to inherit their legacy, but they cannot inherit from an Arab. As far as possible they are to be given lesser pensions and lowly jobs.

Appearance and habits

There are conflicting reports regarding his appearance. According to certain sources, he was short with a large tummy. (The following is unclear as no specific hadith is mentioned)It has been argued that in the Arabic culture and language the expression is a colloquialism which means a wish that the person's belly be so full of blessings of Allah (in the form of food) that his belly cannot take anymore, or that he wishes the persons blessings to be without an end. This is similar to the English saying of a father saying to his son in a soccer match to "Break a leg". However, the two pre-eminent Masters of Sunni Hadith, Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim, have rejected absolutely the latter apology for Mu'awiya, and Imam Muslim indeed places the Hadith-e-Muawiya in the Chapter of those Cursed by Mohammad.^[13] Further, the Imam Nisa'i was murdered when he recited this Hadith in the presence of pro-Muawiya Arab-speaking Syrians as it was perceived as a curse of Mu'awiya, which debates the unreferenced suggestion that the term was a form of praise and not condemnation.^[14] Shias often question why there are no reliable precise accounts of Mu'awiya actually participating in any battles after his conversion to Islam - no names of enemies he personally defeated in combat are known.

Legacy

Mu'awiyah greatly beautified Damascus likening it to Rome, and developed a court to rival that of Constantinople. He expanded the frontiers of the empire, reaching the very gates of Constantinople at one point, though the Byzantines drove him back and he was unable to hold any territory in Anatolia. Sunni Muslims credit him with saving the fledgling Muslim nation from post civil war anarchy. However, Shia Muslims charge that if anything, he was the instigator of the civil war, and weakened the Muslim nation and divided the Ummah, fabricating self-aggrandizing heresies^[15] and slander against the Prophet's family^[16] and even selling his Muslim critics into slavery in the Byzantine empire.^[9]

One of Muawiyah's most controversial and enduring legacies was his decision to designate his son Yazid as his successor. According to Shi'a doctrine, this was a clear violation of the treaty he made with Hasan ibn Ali, in which Muawiyah said he would not make his son his successor. However, it should be noted that Hasan had died well before Yazid was declared a possible successor.

Sunni View

Many Sunni historians view Muawiyah as a companion of Muhammad, and hence worthy of respect for this reason, and many Sunnis Muslims indeed revere him, taking great issue with the Shia criticism and vilification of him.^[17] However, other Sunni Muslims, while refusing to adopt the negativity of Shia sentiment to Muawiya nevertheless quietly withhold according him religious status owing to his rebellions against Ali and al-Hassan, who are regarded as pious rulers, Muawiyah being regarded as a worldly king of dubious sincerity. Sunnis believe that the imperial legacy of Muawiyah was overshadowed by his materialistic ambition for personal power and materialistic dominion - he fought against Ali, causing great bloodshed and slaying many highly regarded companions of Muhammad who took the side of Ali over many years, often cruelly murdering them; and though Ali defeated Muawiyah in battle Muawiya continued to raise the banner of war and civil strife against Ali's legitimate successor Al-Hassan. Finally Muawiyah transformed the caliphate from an elective monarchy with some emphasis on religious qualification into a hereditary one with no such stringent requirement, by designating his son Yazid as his successor.

A Sunni hadith says:

"..Muawiyah 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..."^[18]

Sunni scholars interpret Hasan's willingness to abandon his claims in favor of Mu'awiyah as proof that Al-Hasan, Muhammad's eldest grandson, did not go so far as to view Muawiyah an apostate, renegade and hypocrite. Al-Hasan, they say, did so for the sake of peace and ending the civil war. Some Sunni Muslims say Hasan entered into the treaty simply to prevent further civil war and bloodshed. Pro-Alid Sunnis also say as Shias do that Al-Hassan aimed to show the Muslim world that the Umayyads should not be entrusted with responsibility for protecting the religion founded by Al-Hassan's grandfather since Muawiya would violate all the terms of the treaty, thereby proving himself untrustworthy.

Shi'a View

The Shi'a view Mu'awiyah as a tyrant, usurper and murderer. His supposed conversion to Islam before the conquest of Mecca is dismissed as a fable, or mere hypocrisy. He is also described as a manipulator and liar who usurped Islam purely for political and material gain of his father's loss. He was also widely regarded as a tyrant and usurper by both Shia Arabs and Persians, who despite being ruled by Sunni Arabs and their vassals for centuries, ultimately found the egalitarian Shia creed more palatable than the oppressive, Arab-supremacist tribal rule of Mu'awiya. Ali was noted for upholding the rights of non-Arab Muslims, whereas the Umayyads are remembered in Persian history for squashing them. The Umayyads suppressed Persian culture and language, and a number of Iran's greatest contributors to Persian literature - both Shias like Ferdowsi and Sunnis like Sa'di - took the side of Ali, not Mu'awiyah.

Mu'awiya opposed Ali, the rightful Imam, out of sheer greed for power and wealth. His reign opened the door to unparalleled disaster, marked by the persecution of Ali, slaughtering of his followers,^[19] and unlawful imprisonment of his supporters,^[20] which only worsened when Yazid come into power and the Battle of Karbala ensued. Mu'awiya is alleged to have killed many of Muhammad's companions (Sahaba), either in battle or by poison, due to his lust for power. A few historical figures killed by Mu'awiya include: the Sahaba Amr bin al-Hamiq,Muhammad ibn abu bakr^[21] Malik al-Ashtar,^[22] Hujr ibn Adi^[23] (to which the families of Abu Bakr and Umar condemned Mu'awiyah for,^[24] and the Sahaba deemed his killer to be cursed^[25]) and Abd al-Rahman bin Hasaan (buried alive for his support of Ali).^[26]

• Kokab wa Rifi Fazal-e-Ali Karam Allah Wajhu, Page 484, By Syed Mohammed Subh-e-Kashaf AlTirmidhi, Urdu translation by Syed Sharif Hussein Sherwani Sabzawari, Published by Aloom AlMuhammed, number B12 Shadbagh, Lahore, 1 January 1963.

• Habib Alseer Rabiyah AlAbrar, Volume 1, Alama JarulAllah Zamik (530 Hijri),

• Hadoiqa Sanai, by Hakim Sanai (Died 525 Hijri, at Ghazni), Page 65-67,

• Namoos Islam, by Agha Hashim Sialkoti, Published Lahore, 1939 - Pages 66–67

• Tazkarah Tul-Aikram Tarikh-e-Khulafa Arab-Wa-Islam by Syed Shah Mohamed Kabir Abu Alalaiyi Dana Puri, Published Le Kishwar Press, Lakhnow, April 1924/ 1346 H</ref>

Mu'awiyah was also responsible for instigating the Battle of Siffin, the bloodiest battle in Islam's history, in which over 70,000 people (among them many of the last surviving companions of the Prophet Muhammad) were killed. Notable among the Companions who were killed by Mu'awiyah's forces was Ammar bin Yasir, a frail old man of 95 at the time of his murder. Shi'i Muslims see his being killed at the hands of Mu'awiyah's army as significant because of a well-known hadith narrated by Abu Hurayrah in which the Prophet is recorded to have said: "Rejoice Ammar! The transgressing party shall kill you."^[27]

When the tide of the battle was turning in Ali's favor, Mu'awiyah stalled Ali's troops by raising the Qur'an on the tip of a bloody spear as a sort of "holy book shield" against attack by Muslims.^[28] This sort of act is widely regarded as blasphemy and desecration of God's word, and Shia scholars condemn Mu'awiyah for it, arguing such a practice would today be condemned by Sunni Muslims just as much as Shia Muslims.

The killing of the two children of Ubaydullah ibn Abbas can also be found in Sunni and Shi'a texts.^[29]

[...] Then he [i.e. Mu'awiyah] was informed that Ubaidullah had two infant sons. So he set out to reach them, and when he found them - they had two (tender) forelocks like pearls - [and] he ordered to kill them.^[30]

From the Shia point of view, Imam Hasan ibn Ali did not sign the treaty with Mu'awiya because he liked him; rather, he did so to prevent even worse bloodshed than had already happened at Siffin. Hasan's intention was to preserve the Muslim Ummah and eventually restore the Caliphate to its rightful heirs, the Prophet's family (as per the terms of the treaty). Unfortunately he was unable to do this as he was fatally poisoned on Mu'awiyah's orders, according to remour, but never verified.

See also

• Second Fitna
• Sunni view of the Sahaba

References

External links

• Muawiyah I, from Encyclopædia Britannica.
• Sunni views
• Shia views