THE STORY OF MU'AWIYA BUN ABU SUFYAN (r.t.a) (Episode 6)

 Muslims Till Death:

ASSALAAMU ALAYKUM WARAHMATULLAH WABARAKAATUHU . LET'S START TONIGHT'S EDUCATION. OUR TOPIC IS 👇.                                                                            *THE STORY OF MU'AWIYA BUN  ABU SUFYAN (r.t.a) (Episode 6)*                                                                                                              
Thursday 27th February 2025. 29 Sha'aban 1446 AH

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With minor exception, members of the clan were not appointed to the wealthy provinces nor the caliph's court, Mu'awiya largely limiting their influence to Medina, the old capital of the Caliphate where most of the Umayyads and the wider Qurayshite former aristocracy remained headquartered. The loss of political power left the Umayyads of Medina resentful toward Mu'awiya, who may have become wary of the political ambitions of the much larger Abu al-As branch of the clan—to which Uthman had belonged—under the leadership of Marwan ibn al-Hakam. The caliph attempted to weaken the clan by provoking internal divisions.
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Among the measures taken was the replacement of Marwan from the governorship of Medina in 668 with another leading Umayyad, Sa'id ibn al-As. The latter was instructed to demolish Marwan's house, but refused and when Marwan was restored in 674, he also refused Mu'awiya's order to demolish Sa'id's home. Mu'awiya dismissed Marwan once more in 678, replacing him with his own nephew, al-Walid ibn Utba.

Besides his own clan, Mu'awiya's relations with the Banu Hashim (the clan of the prophet Muhammad pbuh and Caliph Ali), the families of Muhammad's closest companions, the once-prominent Banu Makhzum, and the Ansar was generally better..
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Despite his relocation to Damascus, Mu'awiya remained fond of his original homeland and made known his longing for "the spring in Jeddah [sic], the summer in Ta'if, [and] the winter in Mecca". He purchased several large tracts throughout Arabia and invested considerable sums to develop the lands for agricultural use.

According to the Muslim literary tradition, in the plain of Arafat and the barren valley of Mecca he dug numerous wells and canals, constructed dams and dikes to protect the soil from seasonal floods, and built fountains and reservoirs.
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His efforts saw extensive grain fields and date palm groves spring up across Mecca's suburbs, which remained in this state until deteriorating during the Abbasid era, which began in 750. In the Yamama in central Arabia, Mu'awiya confiscated from the Banu Hanifa the lands of Hadarim where he employed 4,000 slaves, likely to cultivate its fields. The caliph gained possession of estates in and near Ta'if which, together with the lands of his brothers Anbasa and Utba, formed a considerable cluster of properties.
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One of the earliest known Arabic inscriptions from Mu'awiya's reign was found at a soil-conservation dam called Sayisad 32 kilometers (20 mi) east of Ta'if, which credits Mu'awiya for the dam's construction in 677/78 and asks God to give him victory and strength. Mu'awiya is also credited as the patron of a second dam called al-Khanaq 15 kilometers (9.3 mi) east of Medina, according to an inscription found at the site. This is possibly the dam between Medina and the gold mines of the Banu Sulaym tribe attributed to Mu'awiya by the historians al-Harbi (d. 898) and al-Samhudi (d. 1533). Mu'awiya possessed more personal experience than any other caliph fighting the Byzantines, the principal external threat to the Caliphate, and pursued the war against the Empire more energetically and continuously than his successors.
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The First Fitna caused the Arabs to lose control over Armenia to native, pro-Byzantine princes, but in 661 Habib ibn Maslama re-invaded the region.

The following year, Armenia became a tributary of the Caliphate and Mu'awiya recognized the Armenian prince Grigor Mamikonian as its commander. Not long after the civil war, Mu'awiya broke the truce with Byzantium, and on a near-annual or bi-annual basis the caliph engaged his Syrian troops in raids across the mountainous Anatolian frontier, the buffer zone between the Empire and the Caliphate.
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At least until Abd al-Rahman ibn Khalid's death in 666, Homs served as the principal marshaling point for the offensives, and afterward Antioch served this purpose as well. The bulk of the troops fighting on the Anatolian and Armenian fronts hailed from the tribal groups that arrived from Arabia during and after the conquest. Based on the histories of al-Tabari (d. 923) and Agapius of Hierapolis (d. 941), the first raid of Mu'awiya's caliphate occurred in 662/63, during which his forces inflicted a heavy defeat on a Byzantine army with numerous patricians slain.
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In the next year a raid led by Busr reached Constantinople and in 664/65, Abd al-Rahman ibn Khalid raided Koloneia in northeastern Anatolian. In the late 660s, Mu'awiya's forces attacked Antioch of Pisidia or Antioch of Isauria. According to the Muslim traditional sources, the raids peaked between 668/69 and 669/70. In each of those years there occurred six ground campaigns and a major naval campaign, the first by an Egyptian and Medinese fleet and the second by an Egyptian and Syrian fleet. In addition to these offensives, al-Tabari reports that Mu'awiya's son Yazid led a campaign against Constantinople in 669 and Ibn Abd al-Hakam reports that the Egyptian and Syrian navies led respectively by Uqba ibn Amir and Fadhala ibn Ubayd joined the assault.
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A popular Historian asserts that the multitude of campaigns that were reported during these two years represent coordinated efforts by Mu'awiya to conquer the Byzantine capital. Dismissing the conventional view of a many years-long siege of Constantinople in the 670s, which was based on the history of the Byzantine chronicler Theophanes the Confessor (d. 818), Jankowiak asserts that Mu'awiya likely ordered the invasion during an opportunity presented by the rebellion of the Byzantine Armenian general Saborios, who formed a pact with the caliph, in spring 667.
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The caliph dispatched an army under Fadhala ibn Ubayd, but before it could be joined by the Armenians, Saborios died. Mu'awiya then sent reinforcements led by Yazid who led the Arab army's invasion in the summer. An Arab fleet reached the Sea of Marmara by autumn, while Yazid and Fadhala, having raided Chalcedon through the winter, besieged Constantinople in spring 668, but due to famine and disease, lifted the siege in late June. The Arabs continued their campaigns in Constantinople's vicinity before withdrawing to Syria most likely in late 669.

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End of Today's Education. Subhaanaka Allaahumma wabihamdika asha-hadu an laa ilaaha illaa Anta astagfiruka wa atuubu ilaika. Suggestions and problems are welcome. *We shall continue on this story in sha Allah* . May  HE strengthen and make us steadfast in faith. May HE accept our ibaadat and grant us the Good in this World and the Hereafter. May Allah Azza wa jalla forgive and  grant us Jannah...AMIN