Editing Umayyad Caliphate (section)

===Origins===
{{main|Umayyad dynasty}}

====Early influence====
During the [[pre-Islamic Arabia|pre-Islamic period]], the [[Umayyad dynasty|Umayyads]] or Banu Umayya were a leading clan of the [[Quraysh]] tribe of [[Mecca]].{{sfn|Levi Della Vida|Bosworth|2000|p=838}} By the end of the 6th century, the Umayyads dominated the Quraysh's increasingly prosperous trade networks with [[Syria (region)|Syria]] and developed economic and military alliances with the [[Bedouin|nomadic Arab]] tribes that controlled the northern and central Arabian desert expanses, affording the clan a degree of political power in the region.{{sfn|Donner|1981|p=51}} The Umayyads under the leadership of [[Abu Sufyan ibn Harb]] were the principal leaders of Meccan opposition to the Islamic prophet [[Muhammad]], but after the latter captured Mecca in 630, Abu Sufyan and the Quraysh embraced Islam.{{sfn|Hawting|2000|pp=22–23}}{{sfn|Wellhausen|1927|pp=40–41}} To reconcile his influential Qurayshite tribesmen, Muhammad gave his former opponents, including Abu Sufyan, a stake in the new order.{{sfn|Hawting|2000|p=23}}{{sfn|Donner|1981|p=77}}{{sfn|Wellhausen|1927|p=20}} Abu Sufyan and the Umayyads relocated to [[Medina]], Islam's political centre, to maintain their new-found political influence in the nascent Muslim community.{{sfn|Wellhausen|1927|pp=20–21}}

Muhammad's death in 632 left open the succession of leadership of the Muslim community.{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|p=50}} Leaders of the [[Ansar (Islam)|Ansar]], the natives of Medina who had provided Muhammad safe haven after his [[Hegira|emigration from Mecca]] in 622, discussed forwarding their own candidate out of concern that the [[Muhajirun]], Muhammad's early followers and fellow emigrants from Mecca, would ally with their fellow tribesmen from the former Qurayshite elite and take control of the Muslim state.{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|p=51}} The Muhajirun gave allegiance to one of their own, the early, elderly [[companions of Muhammad|companion of Muhammad]], [[Abu Bakr]] ({{reign|632|634}}), and put an end to Ansarite deliberations.{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|pp=51–52}} Abu Bakr was viewed as acceptable by the Ansar and the Qurayshite elite and was acknowledged as [[caliph]] (leader of the Muslim community).{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|pp=51–53}} He showed favor to the Umayyads by awarding them command roles in the [[Muslim conquest of Syria]]. One of the appointees was [[Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan|Yazid]], the son of Abu Sufyan, who owned property and maintained trade networks in Syria.{{sfn|Madelung|1997|p=45}}{{sfn|Donner|1981|p=114}}

Abu Bakr's successor [[Umar]] ({{reign|634|644}}) curtailed the influence of the Qurayshite elite in favor of Muhammad's earlier supporters in the administration and military, but nonetheless allowed the growing foothold of Abu Sufyan's sons in Syria, which was all but conquered by 638.{{sfn|Madelung|1997|pp=60–61}} When Umar's overall commander of the province [[Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah]] died in 639, he appointed Yazid governor of Syria's [[Jund Dimashq|Damascus]], [[Jund Filastin|Palestine]] and [[Jund al-Urdunn|Jordan]] districts.{{sfn|Madelung|1997|pp=60–61}} Yazid died shortly after and Umar appointed his brother [[Mu'awiya I|Mu'awiya]] in his place.{{sfn|Madelung|1997|p=61}} Umar's exceptional treatment of Abu Sufyan's sons may have stemmed from his respect for the family, their burgeoning alliance with the powerful [[Banu Kalb]] tribe as a counterbalance to the influential [[Himyar]]ite settlers in [[Homs]] who viewed themselves as equals to the Quraysh in nobility, or the lack of a suitable candidate at the time, particularly amid the [[plague of Amwas]] which had already killed Abu Ubayda and Yazid.{{sfn|Madelung|1997|p=61}} Under Mu'awiya's stewardship, Syria remained domestically peaceful, organized and well-defended from its former [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] rulers.{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|pp=62–64}}

====Caliphate of Uthman====
[[File:Syria in the 9th century.svg|thumb|upright=1.2|Map of [[Bilad al-Sham|Islamic Syria]] (''Bilad al-Sham''), the metropolis of the Umayyad Caliphate. The founder of the Umayyad Caliphate, [[Mu'awiya I]], had originally been governor of the ''[[junds]]'' (military districts) of [[Jund Dimashq|Damascus]] (''Dimashq'') and [[Jund al-Urdunn|Jordan]] (''al-Urdunn'') in 639 before gaining authority over the rest of Syria's ''junds'' during the caliphate of [[Uthman]] (644–656), a member of the [[Umayyad dynasty|Umayyad family]]]]

Umar's successor, [[Uthman ibn Affan]], was a wealthy Umayyad and early Muslim convert with marital ties to Muhammad.{{sfn|Madelung|1997|p=80}} He was elected by the ''[[shura]]'' council, composed of Muhammad's cousin [[Ali]], [[al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam]], [[Talha ibn Ubayd Allah]], [[Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas]] and [[Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf]], all of whom were close, early companions of Muhammad and belonged to the Quraysh.{{sfn|Madelung|1997|p=80}}{{sfn|Wellhausen|1927|p=45}} He was chosen over Ali because he would ensure the concentration of state power into the hands of the Quraysh, as opposed to Ali's determination to diffuse power among all of the Muslim factions.{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|p=70}} From early in his reign, Uthman displayed explicit favouritism to his kinsmen, in stark contrast to his predecessors.{{sfn|Madelung|1997|p=80}}{{sfn|Wellhausen|1927|p=45}} He appointed his family members as governors over the regions successively conquered under Umar and himself, namely much of the [[Sasanian Empire]], i.e. Iraq and Iran, and the former Byzantine territories of Syria and Egypt.{{sfn|Wellhausen|1927|p=45}} In Medina, he relied extensively on the counsel of his Umayyad cousins, the brothers [[Al-Harith ibn al-Hakam|al-Harith]] and [[Marwan ibn al-Hakam]].{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|p=75}} According to the historian [[Wilferd Madelung]], this policy stemmed from Uthman's "conviction that the house of Umayya, as the core clan of Quraysh, was uniquely qualified to rule in the name of Islam".{{sfn|Madelung|1997|p=80}}

Uthman's nepotism provoked the ire of the Ansar and the members of the ''shura''.{{sfn|Madelung|1997|p=80}}{{sfn|Wellhausen|1927|p=45}} In 645/46, he added the [[Al-Jazira (caliphal province)|Jazira]] (Upper Mesopotamia) to Mu'awiya's Syrian governorship and granted the latter's request to take possession of all Byzantine crown lands in Syria to help pay his troops.{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|p=63}} He had the surplus taxes from the wealthy provinces of [[Kufa]] and Egypt forwarded to the treasury in Medina, which he used at his personal disposal, frequently disbursing its funds and war booty to his Umayyad relatives.{{sfn|Madelung|1997|pp=80–81}} Moreover, the lucrative Sasanian crown lands of Iraq, which Umar had designated as communal property for the benefit of the [[amsar|Arab garrison towns]] of Kufa and [[Basra]], were turned into caliphal crown lands to be used at Uthman's discretion.{{sfn|Madelung|1997|p=81}} Mounting resentment against Uthman's rule in Iraq and Egypt and among the Ansar and Quraysh of Medina culminated in the [[Assassination of Uthman|killing of the caliph]] in 656. In the assessment of the historian [[Hugh N. Kennedy]], Uthman was killed because of his determination to centralize control over the [[Rashidun Caliphate|caliphate]]'s government by the traditional elite of the Quraysh, particularly his Umayyad clan, which he believed possessed the "experience and ability" to govern, at the expense of the interests, rights and privileges of many early Muslims.{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|p=75}}

====First Fitna====
After Uthman's assassination, Ali was recognized as caliph in Medina, though his support stemmed from the Ansar and the Iraqis, while the bulk of the Quraysh was wary of his rule.{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|p=75}}{{sfn|Madelung|1997|p=141}} The first challenge to his authority came from the Qurayshite leaders al-Zubayr and Talha, who had opposed Uthman's empowerment of the Umayyad clan but feared that their own influence and the power of the Quraysh, in general, would dissipate under Ali.{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|pp=75–76}}{{sfn|Hawting|2000|p=27}} Backed by one of Muhammad's wives, [[A'isha]], they attempted to rally support against Ali among the troops of Basra, prompting the caliph to leave for Iraq's other garrison town, Kufa, where he could better confront his challengers.{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|p=76}} Ali defeated them at the [[Battle of the Camel]], in which al-Zubayr and Talha were slain and A'isha consequently entered self-imposed seclusion.{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|p=76}}{{sfn|Wellhausen|1927|p=53}} Ali's sovereignty was thereafter recognized in Basra and Egypt and he established Kufa as the caliphate's new capital.{{sfn|Wellhausen|1927|p=53}}

Although Ali was able to replace Uthman's governors in Egypt and Iraq with relative ease, Mu'awiya had developed a solid power-base and an effective military against the Byzantines from the Arab tribes of Syria.{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|p=76}} Mu'awiya did not claim the caliphate but was determined to retain control of Syria and opposed Ali in the name of avenging his kinsman Uthman, accusing the caliph of culpability in his death.{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|pp=76, 78}}{{sfn|Wellhausen|1927|pp=55–56}}{{sfn|Madelung|1997|p=190}} Ali and Mu'awiya fought to a stalemate at the [[Battle of Siffin]] in early 657. Ali agreed to settle the matter with Mu'awiya by arbitration, though the talks failed to achieve a resolution.{{sfn|Hinds|1993|p=265}} The decision to arbitrate fundamentally weakened Ali's political position as he was forced to negotiate with Mu'awiya on equal terms, while it drove a significant number of Ali's supporters, who became known as the [[Kharijites]], to revolt.{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|p=79}} Ali's coalition steadily disintegrated and many Iraqi tribal nobles secretly defected to Mu'awiya, while the latter's ally [[Amr ibn al-As]] ousted Ali's governor from Egypt in July 658.{{sfn|Hinds|1993|p=265}}{{sfn|Kennedy|2004|p=80}} In July 660 Mu'awiya was formally recognized as caliph in [[Jerusalem]] by his Syrian tribal allies.{{sfn|Hinds|1993|p=265}} Ali was assassinated by a Kharijite dissident in January 661.{{sfn|Hinds|1993|p=59}} His son [[Hasan ibn Ali|Hasan]] succeeded him but abdicated in return for compensation upon Mu'awiya's arrival to Iraq with his Syrian army in the summer.{{sfn|Hinds|1993|p=265}} At that point, Mu'awiya entered Kufa and received the allegiance of the Iraqis.{{sfn|Wellhausen|1927|p=59}}