biography
pronunciation:
[mwawiya]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (c.602–680)
|
| biography:
| First Umayyad caliph (661–80). He opposed the Prophet Mohammed until the conquest of Mecca in 630, then became his secretary. Under the second caliph, Omar, he took part in the conquest of Syria and was made governor in 640. He rebelled against the fourth caliph, Ali, for the murder of his kinsman, the caliph Uthman, and fought him at the indecisive Battle of Siffin (657). With the help of Amr ibn al-As he gained control of Egypt, and after the assassination of Ali in 661 took over the caliphate, thus founding the Umayyad dynasty, and moved the capital to Damascus. He centralized control of the caliphate and extended it through conquests in North Africa and Afghanistan. |
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