Al-Tabari
Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī was an influential Persian scholar and exegete of the Qur'an from Amol, who composed all his works in Arabic. Today, he is best known for his expertise in Qur'anic exegesis, Islamic jurisprudence and world history, but he has been described as "an impressively prolific polymath, he wrote on such subjects as poetry, grammar, ethics and medicine."His most influential and best known works are his Qur'anic commentary known as Tafsir al-Tabari and his historical chronicle Tarikh al-Rusul wa al-Muluk referred to Tarikh al-Tabari. Although it became extinct, al-Tabari's madhhab flourished among Sunni ulama for two centuries after his death, it was designated by the name Jariri. Tabari was born in Amol, Tabaristan in the winter of 838–9, he memorized the Qur'an at seven, was a qualified prayer leader at eight and began to study the prophetic traditions at nine. He left home to study in 236AH, he retained close ties to his home town. He returned at least twice, the second time in 290AH when his outspokenness caused some uneasiness and led to his quick departure.
He first went to Rayy. A major teacher in Rayy was Abu Abdillah Muhammad ibn Humayd al-Razi, who had earlier taught in Baghdad but was now in his seventies. While in Ray, he studied Muslim jurisprudence according to the Hanafi school. Among other material, ibn Humayd taught Jarir Tabari the historical works of ibn Ishaq al-Sirah, his life of Muhammad. Tabari was thus introduced in youth to early Islamic history. Tabari quotes ibn Humayd but little is known about Tabari's other teachers in Rayy. Tabari travelled to study in Baghdad under ibn Hanbal, however, had died. Tabari made a pilgrimage prior to his first arrival in Baghdad, he left Baghdad in 242 A. H. to travel through the southern cities of Basra and Wasit. There, he met a number of venerable scholars. In addition to his previous study of Hanafi law, Tabari studied the Shafi'i, Maliki and Zahiri rites. Tabari's study of the latter school was with the founder, Dawud al-Zahiri, Tabari hand-copied and transmitted many of his teacher's works. Tabari was well-versed in four of the five remaining Sunni legal schools before founding his own independent, yet extinct, school.
His debates with his former teachers and classmates were known, served as a demonstration of said independence. Notably missing from this list is the Hanbali school, the fourth largest legal school within Sunni Islam in the present era. Tabari's view of Ibn Hanbal, the school's founder, became decidedly negative in life. Tabari did not give Ibn Hanbal's dissenting opinion any weight at all when considering the various views of jurists, stating that Ibn Hanbal had not been a jurist at all but a recorder of Hadith. On his return to Baghdad, he took a tutoring position from the vizier, Ubaydallah ibn Yahya ibn Khaqan; this would have been before A. H. 244 since the vizier was out of office and in exile from 244 to 248. There is an anecdote told that Tabari had agreed to tutor for ten dinars a month, but his teaching was so effective and the boy's writing so impressive that the teacher was offered a tray of dinars and dirhams; the ever-ethical Tabari declined the offer saying he had undertaken to do his work at the specified amount and could not honourably take more.
That is one of a number of stories about him declining gifts or giving gifts of equal or greater amount in return. In his late twenties, he travelled to Syria and Egypt. In Beirut, he made the significant connection of al-Abbas b. al-Walid b. Mazyad al-'Udhri al-Bayruti. Al-Abbas instructed Tabari in the Syrian school's variant readings of the Qur'an and transmitted through his father al-Walid the legal views of al-Awza'i, Beirut's prominent jurist from a century earlier. Tabari arrived in Egypt in 253AH, some time after 256/870, he returned to Baghdad making a pilgrimage on the way. If so, he did not stay long in the Hijaz. Tabari had a private income from his father while he was still living and the inheritance, he took money for teaching. Among Tabari's students was Ibn al-Mughallis, a student of Tabari's own teacher Muhammad bin Dawud al-Zahiri, he never took a judicial position. Tabari was some fifty years old, he was well past seventy in the year. During the intervening years, he was famous, if somewhat controversial, personality.
Among the figures of his age, he had access to sources of information equal to anyone, except those who were directly connected with decision making within the government. Most, if not all, the materials for the histories of al-Mu'tadid, al-Muktafi, the early years of al-Muqtadir were collected by him about the time the reported events took place, his accounts are as authentic. Tabari's final years were marked by conflict with the Hanbalite followers of Al-Hasan ibn'Ali al-Barbahari, a student of the students of Ibn Hanbal. Tabari was known for his view that Hanbalism was not a legitimate school of thought, as Ibn Hanbal was a compiler of traditions and not a proper jurist; the Hanbalites of Baghdad would stone Tabari's house, escalating the persecuti
Rashidun Caliphate
The Rashidun Caliphate was the first of the four major caliphates established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was ruled by the first four successive caliphs of Muhammad after his death in 632 CE; these caliphs are collectively known in Sunni Islam as the Rashidun. This term is not used in Shia Islam as Shia Muslims do not consider the rule of the first three caliphs as legitimate; the Rashidun Caliphate is characterized by a twenty-five year period of rapid military expansion, followed by a five-year period of internal strife. The Rashidun Army at its peak numbered more than 100,000 men. By the 650s, the caliphate in addition to the Arabian Peninsula had subjugated the Levant, to the Transcaucasus in the north; the caliphate arose out of the death of Muhammad in 632 CE and the subsequent debate over the succession to his leadership. Abu Bakr, a close companion of Muhammad from the Banu Taym clan, was elected the first Rashidun leader and began the conquest of the Arabian Peninsula.
He ruled from 632 to his death in 634. Abu Bakr was succeeded by Umar, his appointed successor from the Banu Adi clan, who began the conquest of Persia from 642 to 651, leading to the defeat of the Sassanid Empire. Umar was assassinated in 644 and was succeeded by Uthman, elected by a six-person committee arranged by Umar. Under Uthman began the conquest of Armenia and Khorasan. Uthman was assassinated in 656 and succeeded by Ali, who presided over the civil war known as the First Fitna; the war was between those who supported Uthman's cousin and governor of the Levant and those who supported the caliph Ali. The civil war permanently consolidated the divide between Sunni and Shia Muslims, with Shia Muslims believing Ali to be the first rightful caliph and Imam after Muhammad. A third faction in the war supported the governor of Egypt; the war was decided in favour of the faction of Muawiyah, who established the Umayyad Caliphate in 661. After Muhammad's death in 632 CE, his Medinan companions debated which of them should succeed him in running the affairs of the Muslims while Muhammad's household was busy with his burial.
Umar and Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah pledged their loyalty to Abu Bakr, with the Ansar and the Quraysh soon following suit. Abu Bakr thus became the first Khalīfaṫu Rasūli l-Lāh, or Caliph, embarked on campaigns to propagate Islam. First he would have to subdue the Arabian tribes which had claimed that although they pledged allegiance to Muhammad and accepted Islam, they owed nothing to Abu Bakr; as a caliph, Abu Bakr never claimed such a title. Rather, their election and leadership were based upon merit. Notably, according to Sunnis, all four Rashidun Caliphs were connected to Muhammad through marriage, were early converts to Islam, were among ten who were explicitly promised paradise, were his closest companions by association and support and were highly praised by Muhammad and delegated roles of leadership within the nascent Muslim community. According to Sunni Muslims, the term Rashidun Caliphate is derived from a famous hadith of Muhammad, where he foretold that the caliphate after him would last for 30 years and would be followed by kingship.
Furthermore, according to other hadiths in Sunan Abu Dawood and Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal, towards the end times, the Rightly Guided Caliphate will be restored once again by God. Shortly before his death, Muhammad called all the Muslims who had accompanied him on the final Hajj to gather around at a place known as Ghadir Khumm. Muhammad gave a long sermon; the Muslims responded, "Allah and His messenger." Muhammad said: Behold! Whosoever I am his master, this Ali is his master. O Allah! Stay firm in supporting those who stay firm in following him, be hostile to those who are hostile to him, help those who help him, forsake those who forsake him. O people! This Ali is my brother, the executor of my, the container of my knowledge, my successor over my nation, over the interpretation the Book of Allah, the mighty and the majestic, the true inviter to its, he is the one who acts according to what pleases Him, fights His enemies, causes to adhere to His obedience, advises against His disobedience. He is the successor of the Messenger of Allah, the commander of the believers, the guiding Imam, the killer of the oath breakers, the transgressors, the apostates.
I speak by the authority of Allah. The word with me shall not be changed; this event has been narrated by both Shia and Sunni sources. Further, after the sermon, Abu Bakr and Uthman are all said to have given their allegiance to Ali, a fact, reported by both Shia and Sunni sources. In Medina, after the Farewell Pilgrimage and the event of Ghadir Khumm, Muhammad ordered an army to be mustered under the command of Usama bin Zayd, he commanded all the companions, except for his family, to go with Usama to Syria to avenge the Muslims’ defeat at the Battle of Mu'tah. Muhammad gave Usama the banner of Islam on the 18th day of the Islamic month of Safar in the year 11 A. H. Abu Bakr and Umar were among those. However, Abu Bakr and Umar resisted going under the command of Usama because they thought that he
Arabic
Arabic is a Central Semitic language that first emerged in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. It is named after the Arabs, a term used to describe peoples living in the area bounded by Mesopotamia in the east and the Anti-Lebanon mountains in the west, in northwestern Arabia, in the Sinai Peninsula. Arabic is classified as a macrolanguage comprising 30 modern varieties, including its standard form, Modern Standard Arabic, derived from Classical Arabic; as the modern written language, Modern Standard Arabic is taught in schools and universities, is used to varying degrees in workplaces and the media. The two formal varieties are grouped together as Literary Arabic, the official language of 26 states, the liturgical language of the religion of Islam, since the Quran and Hadith were written in Arabic. Modern Standard Arabic follows the grammatical standards of Classical Arabic, uses much of the same vocabulary. However, it has discarded some grammatical constructions and vocabulary that no longer have any counterpart in the spoken varieties, has adopted certain new constructions and vocabulary from the spoken varieties.
Much of the new vocabulary is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the post-classical era in modern times. Due to its grounding in Classical Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic is removed over a millennium from everyday speech, construed as a multitude of dialects of this language; these dialects and Modern Standard Arabic are described by some scholars as not mutually comprehensible. The former are acquired in families, while the latter is taught in formal education settings. However, there have been studies reporting some degree of comprehension of stories told in the standard variety among preschool-aged children; the relation between Modern Standard Arabic and these dialects is sometimes compared to that of Latin and vernaculars in medieval and early modern Europe. This view though does not take into account the widespread use of Modern Standard Arabic as a medium of audiovisual communication in today's mass media—a function Latin has never performed. During the Middle Ages, Literary Arabic was a major vehicle of culture in Europe in science and philosophy.
As a result, many European languages have borrowed many words from it. Arabic influence in vocabulary, is seen in European languages Spanish and to a lesser extent Portuguese, Catalan, owing to both the proximity of Christian European and Muslim Arab civilizations and 800 years of Arabic culture and language in the Iberian Peninsula, referred to in Arabic as al-Andalus. Sicilian has about 500 Arabic words as result of Sicily being progressively conquered by Arabs from North Africa, from the mid-9th to mid-10th centuries. Many of these words relate to related activities; the Balkan languages, including Greek and Bulgarian, have acquired a significant number of Arabic words through contact with Ottoman Turkish. Arabic has influenced many languages around the globe throughout its history; some of the most influenced languages are Persian, Spanish, Kashmiri, Bosnian, Bengali, Malay, Indonesian, Punjabi, Assamese, Sindhi and Hausa, some languages in parts of Africa. Conversely, Arabic has borrowed words from other languages, including Greek and Persian in medieval times, contemporary European languages such as English and French in modern times.
Classical Arabic is the liturgical language of 1.8 billion Muslims, Modern Standard Arabic is one of six official languages of the United Nations. All varieties of Arabic combined are spoken by as many as 422 million speakers in the Arab world, making it the fifth most spoken language in the world. Arabic is written with the Arabic alphabet, an abjad script and is written from right to left, although the spoken varieties are sometimes written in ASCII Latin from left to right with no standardized orthography. Arabic is a Central Semitic language related to the Northwest Semitic languages, the Ancient South Arabian languages, various other Semitic languages of Arabia such as Dadanitic; the Semitic languages changed a great deal between Proto-Semitic and the establishment of the Central Semitic languages in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include: The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation into a past tense; the conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation into a present tense.
The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms. The development of an internal passive. There are several features which Classical Arabic, the modern Arabic varieties, as well as the Safaitic and Hismaic inscriptions share which are unattested in any other Central Semitic language variety, including the Dadanitic and Taymanitic languages of the northern Hejaz; these features are evidence of common descent from Proto-Arabic. The following features can be reconstructed with confidence for Proto-Arabic: negative particles m *mā.
Alids
The Alids are the dynasties descended from Ali ibn Abi Talib, son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Shia Muslims consider him the First Imam appointed by the first rightful caliph. Sunnis in the Arab world reserve the term sharif or "sherif" for descendants of Hasan ibn Ali, while sayyid is used for descendants of Husayn ibn Ali. Both Hasan and Husayn are grandchildren of Muhammad, through the marriage of his cousin Ali and his daughter Fatima; however since the post-Hashemite era began, the term sayyid has been used to denote descendants from both Hasan and Husayn. Arab Shiites use the terms habib to denote descendants from both Hasan and Husayn. To try to resolve the confusion surrounding the descendants of Muhammad, the Ottoman Caliphs during the 19th Century C. E. attempted to replicate the Almanach de Gotha to show verifiable lines of descent. Although not 100% complete in its scope the resulting "Kitab al-Ashraf", kept at the Topkapi Palace Museum in Istanbul is one of the best sources of evidence of descent from Muhammad.
There are several dynasties of Alid origin: Ali ibn Abi Talib Hasan ibn Ali Zayd ibn Hasan Hasan ibn Zayd of the Zaydid dynasty of Tabaristan Hasan ibn Hasan al-Mu'thannā Abd Allah al-Kāmil Musa al-Djawn Ibrahim Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Ukhaidhir of the Ukhaydhirite dynasty of Al-Yamamah Daud ibn Hasan Sulayman ibn Daud of the Sulaymanid dynasty of Yemen Ibrahim ibn Hasan Ismail ibn Ibrahim Ibrahim Tabataba ibn Ismail Qasim al-Rassi of the Rassid dynasty of Yemen Abdallah ibn Hassan Djafar ibn Abdallah of the Sharifs of Sousse, Tunisia Muhammad ibn Abdallah of the Alaouite dynasty of Morocco Idris ibn Abdallah of the Idrisid dynasty of Morocco Hammudid dynasty of Algeciras, Málaga and Kingdom of Granada Sulayman ibn Abdallah of the Sulaymanid dynasty of, Archgoul, Tenes Musa ibn Abdallah Abdallah ibn Musa Musa ibn Abdallah ibn Musa Banu Qatadah/Hashemites Sharifs of Mecca Kings of Jordan Kings of Iraq Kings of Hejaz Kings of Syria Sulayman ibn Abdallah of the Sulaymanid Sharifs of Mecca Husayn ibn Ali of the Shia Imams Ismaili Imams Fatimids Nizari Imams The Safavid dynasty claims descent from Husayn ibn Ali, sharing the first five original rulers with the Fatimids.
Many scholars have cast doubt on this claim, there seems to be consensus among scholars that the Safavid family hailed from Persian Kurdistan. Al Qasimi dynasty of Sharjah and Ras al-Khaimah, claims descent from Ali al-Hadi; this is a table of the interrelationships between the different parts of the Alid dynasties: Below is a simplified family tree of Husayn ibn Ali. For the ancestors of ibn Ali see the family tree of Ali. People in italics are considered by the majority of Sunni Muslims to be Ahl al-Bayt. Twelver Shia see the 4th to 12th Imamah as Ahl al-Bayt; the Hashemites of Sharifs of Mecca, Kings of Jordan and Iraq are descended from the other brother Hasan ibn Ali: The Alaouites, Kings of Morocco, are descended from the other brother Hasan ibn Ali through Al Hassan Addakhil: Genealogoical chart of the descent from Muhammad of the Idrisid dynasty, rulers of Fez and Morocco, Kings of Tunis, the Senussi dynasty and heads of the Libyan Senussi Order and Kings of Libya are descended from the other brother Hasan ibn Ali through Al Hassan Addakhil.
Descendants of Ali ibn Abi Talib Family tree of Ali Family tree of Muhammad Family tree of Husayn ibn Ali Genealogy of Khadijah's daughters Kaysanites Shia Descendants of Ali ibn Abi Talib: Hasanid branch of the Alides: Idrisid branch of the Alides: Fatimid branch
Clifford Edmund Bosworth
Clifford Edmund Bosworth FBA was an English historian and Orientalist, specialising in Arabic and Iranian studies. Bosworth was born in Yorkshire, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Oxford and MA and PhD degrees from the University of Edinburgh. He held permanent posts at the University of St Andrews, University of Manchester, at the Center for the Humanities at Princeton University, he was a visiting professor at the University of Exeter, where he held the post since 2004. Bosworth died on 28 February 2015, Somerset, he is the author of hundreds of articles in composite volumes. His other contributions include nearly 200 articles in the Encyclopaedia of Islam and some 100 articles in the Encyclopædia Iranica, as well as articles for Encyclopædia Britannica and Encyclopedia Americana, he was the chief editor of the Encyclopaedia of Islam and a consulting editor of Encyclopædia Iranica. His book The Islamic Dynasties has been translated to Persian; the Ghaznavids, their empire in Afghanistan and Eastern Iran 994–1040, Edinburgh University Press 1963, 2nd ed. Beirut 1973, repr.
New Delhi 1992. The Islamic dynasties, a chronological and genealogical handbook, Edinburgh University Press 1967, revised ed. 1980. Sistan under the Arabs, from the Islamic conquest to the rise of the Saffarids, IsMEO, Rome 1968; the Book of curious and entertaining information, the Lata'if al-ma'arif of Tha'ālibī translated into English, Edinburgh University Press 1968. Iran and Islam, in memory of the late Vladimir Minorsky, Edinburgh University Press 1971; the legacy of Islam, new edition, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1974. The mediaeval Islamic underworld, the Banu Sasan in Arabic society and literature, 2 vols. Brill, Leiden 1976; the medieval history of Iran and Central Asia, Collected Studies Series, London 1977. The Ghaznavids and decay: the dynasty in Afghanistan and northern India 1040–1186, Edinburgh University Press 1977, repr. New Delhi 1992 Al-Maqrizi's "Book of contention and strife concerning the relations between the Banu Umayya and the Banu Hashim" translated into English, Journal of Semitic Studies Monographs, 3, Manchester 1981.
Medieval Arabic culture and administration, Collected Studies Series, London 1982. Qajar Iran, political and cultural change 1800–1925, Edinburgh University Press 1984; the History of al-Tabari. Vol. XXXII; the reunification of the Abbasid Caliphate. The caliphate of al-Ma'mun A. D. 812-833/A. H. 198–213, translated and annotated by C. E. Bosworth, SUNY Press, Albany 1987; the History of al-Tabari. Vol. XXX; the Abbasid Caliphate in equilibrium. The caliphates of Musa al-Hadi and Harun al-Rashid A. D. 785-809/A. H. 169–193, translated and annotated by C. E. Bosworth, SUNY Press, Albany 1989. Baha' al-Din al-Amili and his literary anthologies, Journal of Semitic Studies Monographs 10, Manchester 1989; the History of al-Tabari. Vol. XXXIII. Storm and stress along the northern frontiers of the Abbasid Caliphate; the caliphate of al-Mu'tas'im A. D. 833-842/A. H. 218–227, translated and annotated by C. E. Bosworth, SUNY Press, Albany 1991. Richard Bell, A commentary on the Qur'an, University of Manchester 1991, 2 vols.
The History of the Saffarids of Sistan and the Maliks of Nimruz, Columbia Lectures on Iranian Studies no. 7, Costa Mesa, Calif. and New York 1994. The Arabs and Iran. Studies in early Islamic history and culture, Collected Studies Series, Ashgate Publishing, Aldershot 1996; the New Islamic dynasties. A chronological and genealogical manual, Edinburgh University Press 1996; the UNESCO history of civilizations of Central Asia, Vol. IV, The age of achievement. A. D. 750 to the end of the fifteenth century. Part 1, The historical and economic setting, Paris 1998. Part 2, The literary, cultural and scientific achievements, Paris 2000; the History of al-Tabari. Vol. V; the Sasanids, the Byzantines, the Lakhmids and Yemen and annotated by C. E. Bosworth, SUNY Press, Albany 1999. A century of British orientalists 1902–2001, Oxford University Press for the British Academy 2001. Abu'l-Fadl Bayhaqi's Tarkh-i Mas'udi translated into English with a historical and linguistic commentary, to appear in the Persian Heritage Series, Columbia University, 3 volumes, New York, 2006.
Some 100 articles in learned journals, composite volumes, etc.. III, IV, V, in The Cambridge History of Arabic Literature, vols. I, III, in UNESCO History of Civilizations of Central Asia, vols. IV, V. UNESCO Avicenna Silver Medal, 1998 Dr Mahmud Afshar Foundation Prize for contributions to Iranian Studies, 2001 Prize by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, for contributions to Iranian historical studies, 2003 Triennial Award, 2003 Curriculum vitae Works by or about Clifford Edmund Bosworth in libraries (World
Muawiyah I
Muawiyah I was the founder and first caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate. He was the first who established the Umayyad dynasty in Islam of the caliphate, was the second caliph from the Umayyad clan, the first being Uthman ibn Affan. Muawiyah was appointed as the Governor of Syria. In 657, Muawiya's army attacked the army of Ali ibn Abi Talib at the Battle of Siffin. After the death of Ali in 661, Muawiya's army approached that of Ali's son and successor, Hasan ibn Ali. In order to avoid further bloodshed, Hasan signed a peace treaty with Muawiyah. Muawiyah assumed power. In power, Muawiyah developed a navy in the Levant and used it to confront the Byzantine Empire in the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara; the caliphate conquered several territories including Cyzicus which were subsequently used as naval bases. Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan was born in Mecca to Abu Sufyan ibn Harb and Hind bint Utbah into the Banu Umayya sub-clan of the Banu Abd-Shams clan of the Quraysh tribe; the Quraysh controlled the city of Mecca and the Banu Abd-Shams were among the most influential of its citizens.
In his youth, a stranger said. Upon hearing him, Hind his mother replied, his father Abu Sufyan ibn Harb struggled against Islam until Muhammad's army entered Mecca in 630. Muawiyah and Ali shared the same great-great grandfather,'Abd Manaf bin Qusay, who had four sons: Hashim, Muttalib and Abdu Shams. Hashim was the great grandfather of Muhammad. Umayyah bin Abdu Shams was the great grandfather of Muawiyah. Muawiyah and remaining members of his family were open opponents of the Muslims before the ascendancy of Muhammad. Along with his two older brothers, Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan and Utbah, Muawiyah was one of the members of the hunting party of his maternal uncle Walid bin Utbah that pursued Muhammad during the hijra, when Muhammad was hiding in Ghar al-Thawr. In 630, Muhammad and his followers entered Mecca, most of the Meccans, including the Abd-Shams clan, formally submitted to Muhammad and accepted Islam. Ibn Kathir wrote in his book Al-Bidāya wa-n-nihāya: "In terms of his appearance, he was fair and tall, bald with a white head and he had a beard that he used to colour with henna".
During the time of Abu Bakr, Muawiyah used to serve under his brother Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan. Muawiyah was one of the first to be sent into Syria. In May 636, Emperor Heraclius launched a major expedition against the Muslims, but his army was defeated decisively at the Battle of Yarmouk in August 636. In the battle, Muawiyah's brother Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan served under Khalid ibn al-Walid and Abu Ubaydah and was in command of one of the wings and Muawiyah was his second in command. Muawiyah's mother Hind took part in the battle. In 639, Muawiyah was appointed as the governor of Syria by the second caliph Umar after his brother the previous governor Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan and the governor before him Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah died in a plague along with 25,000 other people.'Amr ibn al-'As was sent to take on the Byzantine army in Egypt. With limited resources Muawiyah's marriage to Maysum was politically motivated, as she was the daughter of the chief of the Kalb tribe, a large Jacobite Christian Arab tribe in Syria.
The Kalb tribe had remained neutral when the Muslims first went into Syria. After the plague that killed much of the Muslim army in Syria, by marrying Maysum, Muawiyah started to use the Jacobite Christians, against the Romans. Muawiya's wife Maysum was a Jacobite Christian. With limited resources and the Byzantine just over the border, Muawiyah worked in cooperation with the local Christian population. According to some books the town of Caesarea was taken by Muawiyah in 640, when the last Byzantine Roman garrison in Syria and Palestine surrendered, but according to Al-Imam Al-Waqidi, the author of the oldest history books on Islam it was Muawiyah's friend'Amr ibn al-'As who expelled the Roman army from Caesarea.'Amr ibn al-'As who along with Muawiyah's brother Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan who became the governor of Syria, expelled the Roman armies from many Syrian cities and later'Amr ibn al-'As moved into Egypt. Under Muawiyah's governance the Syrian army became a major military force, he picked out the best leaders from various tribes whereas elsewhere in the state the military units were still based along tribal lines.
He saw to the comfort and the equipment of the troops, increased their pay and paid them on a regular basis when they were on duty. He kept the troops in training by an annual expedition against the Byzantines and therefore kept the Byzantines in a constant state of unease and therefore kept his northern border safe, he encouraged innovations in military technology. Muawiyah's armies used "Minjenique" machines to propel large stones onto enemy ramparts, he modernized the army, introducing specialized units for desert snowy terrains. New forts were built. Muawiya left the Byzantine and Persian administrative structures intact, being sure not to give his non-Muslim subjects any incentive to revolt; the postal system, created by Omar ibn al Khattab for military use, was now opened to the public by Muawiya. Uthman dismissed'Amr ibn al-'As from governorship of Egypt so Muawiyah asked him to join him in
