THE STORY OF MU'AWIYA BUN ABU SUFYAN (r.t.a) (Episode 3)

 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 3)*                                                                                                                
Monday 24th February 2025. 27 Sha'aban 1446 AH

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Mu'awiya and Amr, who was widely respected by the Arab troops of Egypt, made a pact whereby the latter joined the coalition against Ali and Mu'awiya publicly agreed to install Amr as Egypt's lifetime governor should they oust Ali's appointee. Though he had the firm backing of the Kalb, to shore up the rest of his base in Syria, Mu'awiya was advised by his kinsman al-Walid ibn Uqba to secure an alliance with the Yemenite tribes of Himyar, Kinda and Hamdan, who collectively dominated the Homs garrison. He employed the early Muslim commander and Kindite nobleman Shurahbil ibn Simt, widely respected in Syria, to rally the Yemenites to his side.
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He then enlisted support from the dominant leader of Palestine, the Judhamite chief Natil ibn Qays, by allowing the latter's confiscation of the district's treasury to go unpunished. The efforts bore fruit and demands for war against Ali grew throughout Mu'awiya's domain. Mu'awiya handed Ali's envoy, the veteran commander and chieftain of the Bajila, Jarir ibn Abd Allah, a letter that amounted to a declaration of war against the caliph, whose legitimacy he refused to recognize. Mu'awiya secured his northern frontier with Byzantium by making a truce with the emperor in 657/58, enabling the governor to focus the bulk of his troops on the impending battle with the caliph.
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The two sides met at Siffin near Raqqa in the first week of June 657 and engaged in days of skirmishes interrupted by a month-long truce on 19 June. During the truce, Mu'awiya dispatched an embassy led by Habib ibn Maslama, who presented Ali with an ultimatum to hand over Uthman's alleged killers, abdicate and allow a shūrā (consultative council) to decide the caliphate. Ali rebuffed Mu'awiya's envoys and on 18 July declared that the Syrians remained obstinate in their refusal to recognize his sovereignty. On the following day, a week of duels between Ali's and Mu'awiya's top commanders ensued. The main battle between the two armies commenced on 26 July.
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As Ali's troops advanced toward Mu'awiya's tent, the governor ordered his elite troops forward and they bested the Iraqis before the tide turned against the Syrians the next day with the deaths of two of Mu'awiya's leading commanders, Ubayd Allah, a son of Caliph Umar, and Dhu'l-Kala Samayfa, the so-called "king of Himyar". The loss of Ubayd Allah was a blow to Mu'awiya's prestige as he had been the sole, non-Umayyad blood connection to the early caliphs to lend Mu'awiya his support at this juncture. Mu'awiya rejected suggestions from his advisers to engage Ali in a duel and definitively end hostilities. The battle climaxed on the so-called "Night of Clamor" on 28 July, which saw Ali's forces take the advantage in a melée as the death toll mounted on both sides.
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This prompted Amr ibn al-As to counsel Mu'awiya the following morning to have a number of his men tie leaves of the Qur'an on their lances in an appeal to the Iraqis to settle the conflict through consultation. Though this act represented a surrender of sorts as the governor abandoned, at least temporarily, his previous insistence on settling the dispute with Ali militarily and pursuing Uthman's killers into Iraq, it had the effect of sowing discord and uncertainty in Ali's ranks.

The caliph adhered to the will of the majority in his army and accepted the proposal to arbitrate.
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Moreover, Ali agreed to Amr's demand to omit his formal title, amīr al-muʾminīn (commander of the faithful, the traditional title of a caliph), from the initial arbitration document drafted on 2 August. According to Kennedy, the agreement forced Ali "to deal with Mu'awiya on equal terms and abandon his unchallenged right to lead the community", and Madelung asserts it "handed Mu'awiya a moral victory" before inducing a "disastrous split in the ranks of Ali's men". Indeed, upon Ali's return to Kufa in September 658, a large segment of his troops who had opposed the arbitration defected, inaugurating the Kharijite movement.
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The initial agreement postponed the arbitration to a later date. Information in the traditional sources about the time, place and outcome of the arbitration is contradictory, but there were likely two meetings between Mu'awiya's and Ali's respective representatives, Amr and Abu Musa al-Ash'ari, the first in Dumat al-Jandal and the last in Adhruh. Ali seemingly abandoned the arbitration after the first meeting in which Abu Musa—who, unlike Amr, was not particularly attached to his principal's cause —accepted the Syrian side's claim that Uthman was wrongfully killed, a verdict that Ali opposed.
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The final meeting in Adhruh collapsed and by then Mu'awiya had emerged as a major contender for the caliphate. Following the breakdown of the arbitration talks, Amr and the Syrian delegates returned to Damascus where they greeted Mu'awiya as amīr al-muʾminīn. In April/May 658, Mu'awiya received a general pledge of allegiance from the Syrians. In response, Ali broke off communications with Mu'awiya, mobilized for war and invoked a curse against Mu'awiya and his close retinue as a ritual in the morning prayers.  Mu'awiya reciprocated in kind against Ali and his closest supporters in his own domain.
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In July, Mu'awiya dispatched an army under Amr to Egypt after a request for intervention from pro-Uthman mutineers in the province who were being suppressed by the governor, Caliph Abu Bakr's son and Ali's stepson Prophet . The latter's troops were defeated by Amr's forces, the provincial capital Fustat was captured and Muhammad was executed on the orders of Mu'awiya ibn Hudayj, leader of the pro-Uthman rebels. The loss of Egypt was a major blow to the authority of Ali, who was bogged down battling Kharijite defectors in Iraq and whose grip in Basra and Iraq's eastern and southern dependencies was eroding. Though his hand was strengthened, Mu'awiya refrained from launching a direct assault against Ali.
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Instead, his strategy was to bribe the tribal chieftains in Ali's army to his side and harry the inhabitants along Iraq's western frontier. The first raid was conducted by al-Dahhak ibn Qays al-Fihri against nomads and Muslim pilgrims in the desert west of Kufa. This was followed by Nu'man ibn Bashir al-Ansari's abortive attack on Ayn al-Tamr then, in the summer of 660, Sufyan ibn Awf's successful raids against Hit and Anbar.
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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