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PersonAD 602 – AD 680

Muawiya I

Also called: Muawiyah, Mu'awiya

Founder of the Umayyad caliphate (661–680); as governor of Syria he opposed Ali, made Damascus his capital and named his son as heir, making the caliphate hereditary

From the Umayyad clan of Mecca, he long governed Syria under the Rashidun caliphs and built a strong power base there. When his kinsman Uthman was murdered, he opposed Ali by demanding punishment of the killers. As caliph he ruled through Byzantine-style administration and his Syrian army, and built a navy that attacked Constantinople. By naming his son Yazid as heir he made the caliphate hereditary.

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2 related events

  1. 1
    AD 632 – AD 661The Rashidun Caliphaterelated figure

    After Muhammad’s death four caliphs, from Abu Bakr to Ali, led the Muslim world. In this period the Arabs conquered Byzantine Syria and Egypt and Sasanian Persia.

  2. 2
    AD 661Founding of the Umayyad Caliphatemonarch

    Muawiya, governor of Syria, became caliph with Damascus as his capital and founded the Umayyad dynasty. The caliphate became hereditary.

People who appear alongside

  • AliAD 600 – AD 661

    Fourth caliph (656–661), Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law, whom the Shia revere — with his descendants — as the only rightful successors (imams); assassinated at Kufa

  • Abu BakrAD 573 – AD 634

    First caliph (632–634), Muhammad’s close companion and father-in-law, chosen to lead the community after Muhammad’s death (the Shia hold that Ali should have succeeded); he reunited Arabia

  • UmarAD 584 – AD 644

    Second caliph (634–644), whose armies conquered Syria, Egypt, Iraq and Persia, and who fixed the Islamic calendar from the year of the Hijra

  • UthmanAD 576 – AD 656

    Third caliph (644–656), of the Umayyad clan, who had the standard text of the Qur’an compiled; resented for favouring his kin, he was killed by rebels in Medina

Themes this person appears in

  • The Rise of the Islamic WorldAD 570 – 1055

    From the revelation to Muhammad to the Seljuk entry into Baghdad — 450 years in which a new faith from Arabia built a civilisation stretching from Iberia to Central Asia and reached as far as Silla by sea