Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Erhan, post: 3568961, member: 104070&quot;]As an enthusiast of early caliphate history I like to discuss the life of the founder of Umayyad caliphate Muawiya I.</p><p><br /></p><p>Muawiya was born into Umayyad clan his father was a rich and prominent member of the ruling class in pre-Islamic arabia. He controlled all incomes and trades on the silk road going to Arabia. When Muhammad started preaching new religion , the prominent Umayyads were his main opponents. They tortured and killed many early muslims and supporters of Muhammad. Mua&#039;wiya&#039;s father Abu sufyan is considered as Muhammad number one enemy of the time. However, Muhammad support grew and his army was able to conquer mecca where Umayyad resided. After the conquest , Umayyads ask for mercy and Muhammad forgave them and accepted them to convert to Islam.</p><p><br /></p><p>Abu sufyan told his son Mua&#039;wiya that now the old fashion objection is not working and best policy would be to attack the new religion from within by infiltrating in it and change its core values in the society.</p><p><br /></p><p>after Muhammad death 4 caliphs were chosen to lead muslims. these early 4 caliphs were pious men who were close companions of Muhammad. The third caliph called Uthman however, was from Umayyad clan and he granted his clan members a great power and appointed them as governors including Mua&#039;wiya who was appointed as governor of the Syrian province which was conquered recently from byzantine empire.</p><p><br /></p><p>Mua&#039;wiya used this opportunity to greatly expand his power base in Syria and when opposition grew against Uthman unjust policies , the rioters attacked Uthman house and killed him . The muslims at this time decided to appoint Ali (who was a very close companion of Muhammad and his cousin ) as the 4th caliph. Ali however, was very just ruler and wanted to revive the just policies of Muhammad . He ordered Mua&#039;wiya to resign from governorship of Syria however, Mua&#039;wiya started a propaganda against him in Syria and introduced Ali as enemy of islam and killer of the 3rd caliph. He asked for revenge for Uthman blood and war with Ali. The two armies fought a battle called Siffin where Ali almost won . At this point Mua&#039;wiya used a trick by putting the holy books into the spears and asking muslims to stop the fight and judge by the holy book. This trick worked well for him and a huge number of Ali&#039;s army forced him to stop the civil war against Mua&#039;wiya and eventually assassinating Ali. After Ali assassination Mua&#039;wiya became the sole contender for the position of caliph. He founded the Umayyad dynasty and for first time in islam history he decided to appoint his son yazid I as the next caliph this grew a lot of opposition as the previous caliphs were chosen by a counsel of senior companions of Muhammad and they saw Mua&#039;wiya action as a step toward changing caliphate into kingdom. However, Mua&#039;wiya was a very cunning man. he started to force the older and leaders of community by bribes or threat to agree on his decision of appointing Yazid as caliph. Mua&#039;wiya was first caliph who put his name with the title of &quot;Commander of faithful&quot; on Arab-Sasanian coins. He is one of the cursed figures in Shia doctrine of islam due to his animosity toward Ali and his sons. Even today shia curse him in their prayers. The coins which has Mua&#039;wiya name and title as &quot;Commander of faithful&quot; are rare IMO. I was lucky to get one from Tim Wilke one of the previous dealers in VCoins. The coin has the name and title of Mua&#039;wiya in Pahlavi Sasanian script. Please share your related coins of Mua&#039;wiya or Umayyad or Arab-Sasanian which are relevant.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]949949[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]949948[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in