Muawiyah I

Mu'awiyah I (602 - May 6, 680) was founder of the Umayyad Dynasty of caliphs. He fought against the Fourth Caliph, 'Ali (Muhammad's son-in-law), seized Egypt, and assumed the caliphate after 'Ali's assassination in 661. He reigned from 661 to 680. His given name was Mu'awiyah ibn Abu Sufyan.

Rule

After his accession to the position of Caliph, Mu'awiya governed the geogaphically and politically disparate Caliphate, which spread from Egypt in the West to Iran in the East, by strengthening the power of his allies in the newly conquered Arab territories. Prominent positions within 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. Mu'awiyah instituted several Byzantine-style bureaucracies, called diwans, 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, or chancellery, and the bareed, or postal service, both of which greatly improved communications within the empire. However, such a substantial dependance on the personal allegiance that Mu'awiyah could personally generate inevitably resulted in some instability after his death, such as the second Fitna in 680.

Related Topics:
Iran - Fitna - 680

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