CC BY
0INTERNAL POLITICS OF THE ARAB CALIPHATE DURING THE REIGN OF CALIPH MUAWIYAI
Azamat Fayzullayev
Tashkent State University of Oriental Studies
1st year magistrant https://doi.org 10.5281/zenodo.10644122
ABSTRACT
This article analyzes the main political changes that took place in the Arabic caliphate during the time of Muawiya I, the founder of the Umayyad dynasty, the internal policy of the state and the factors that influenced its determination. The article was based on the information provided by medieval Muslim historians at-Tabari and al-Baladhuri, modern historians Y. Wellhausen, M. Hinds, Y. Hirshfield, H. Kennedy, W. Madelung and others.
In 661, serious political changes took place in the Arab Caliphate. The throne of the caliphate in the country was occupied by Muawiyah ibn Abu Sufyan, a representative of the Banu Umayya clan, who had great influence in the "Dar an-nadwa" (Council of Elders) in Mecca even before Islam. First of all, Muawiya moved the capital of the state from Kufa during the time of Ali ibn Abu Talib to Damascus, the center of the Sham region, where he was viceroy for 20 years. During his time, it was established that the title of caliph would be inherited from generation to generation, and the previously existing system of electing the caliph from influential people was abolished. Before covering the period of Muawiya's caliphate, it is permissible to partially cover his governorship and the period before that.
Muawiyah I (603/605-680) is the founder and caliph of the Umayyad dynasty (661680). Full name: Muawiyah ibn Abu Sufyan ibn Harb ibn Umayya ibn Abdush Shams. His surname was Abu Abdurrahman. It is known and famous that the father of Muawiya ibn Abu Sufya, Abu Sufyan ibn Harb (565-653), was a fierce enemy of Islam before he became the head of the Quraysh tribe. Muawiya's mother was Hind bint Utba ibn Rabi'a (584-636). It is known to many that this woman also converted to Islam after the conquest of Mecca (630), and before that she was one of the fiercest enemies of Islam. Mu'awiyah ibn Abu Sufyan became a Muslim in 628, when the Hudaybiyah Treaty was concluded, but he kept it a secret. When the Quraysh converted to Islam in 630, he announced to everyone that he was a Muslim. He was 23 years old at that time. In 629, Prophet Muhammad married Umm Habiba, the widowed sister of Muawiya. When Mecca surrendered to the Muslims without a fight, Muawiya's elder brother Yazid also converted to Islam and became one of the commanders who served for Islam. By 632, Muslim rule had spread throughout the Arabian Peninsula, and Medina was recognized as the seat of the Islamic state. In order to reconcile with the Quraysh, Muhammad
ARTICLE INFO
Received: 01st February 2024 Accepted: 05th February 2024 Published: 07th February 2024
KEYWORDS caliph, governor, Syria, year of integration, bayat, reforms, ashrafs.
made Muawiyah ibn Abu Sufyan one of the scribes of revelation, Muawiyah was one of the seventeen literate members of the Quraysh at that time.
In the years 638-639, many companions, including the emir of Damascus, Yazid ibn Abu Sufyan, died from a cholera epidemic in the Amwas region of Syria, and his brother Muawiyah ibn Abu Sufyan became the emir of Syria. More than 25,000 Muslim soldiers and their relatives, including the army commander Abu Ubayda ibn Jarrah, died due to the plague in Amvos. Caliph Umar ibn Khattab appoints Mu'awiya as the governor of the present-day Syria, Palestine and Jordan, and Iyad ibn Ghanim as the governor of Khims and Jazira. Muawiyah ibn Sufyan continued his military campaigns, conquered the city of Caesarea, the capital of the Byzantine province of Palestine, and surrendered Ashkelon (Ashkelon). In 640641, he started a campaign against the Byzantine region of Cilicia (a part of Anatolia), the Muslims reached the city of Yevhait in the interior of Asia Minor, and in 644 attacked the city of Ammuria. Mu'awiya ibn Abu Sufyan sent an army led by Habib ibn Maslama Fihri from Syria in order to occupy the land of Armenians, according to the order of Caliph Umar ibn Khattab. After a certain period of fighting, the Armenians asked for a truce, and in the meantime a truce was concluded.
After Caliph Osman was executed in 656, he pledged allegiance to Ali ibn Abu Talib. The new caliph, Uthman ibn Affan, fired all the governors he had appointed. Displeased with this, Muawiya bin Abu Sufyan refused to pledge allegiance to the caliph. Because of this, the Battle of Siffin took place between Caliph Ali and Muawiya, governor of Syria (657 AD). After this conflict ended with the execution of Caliph Ali by a Khawarij assassin, Ali's son pledged allegiance to Imam Hasan. Six months later, Imam Hasan abdicated the caliphate in favor of Muawiya ibn Abu Sufyan in order to avoid further bloodshed among Muslims. Muawiya ibn Abu Sufyan became the legitimate caliph in 661. This year was called the "Year of the Community", state affairs were decided, national security spread everywhere. The work of acquiring new lands, which was stopped due to internal conflicts, has been started again.
After Caliph Ali was killed, Muawiya appointed Dahhaq ibn Qays as governor of Syria and started his army towards Kufa. When Muawiyah was recognized as the caliph of the Islamic state in Kufa, everyone in Jerusalem pledged allegiance to him. According to the Arab geographer al-Maqdisi, who lived in the 10th century, Caliph Muawiya I further expanded the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and took the oath of allegiance from Muslims there. In a historical chronicle compiled by an unknown Syrian historian, it is reported that Muawiya took the oath of allegiance from the Arab tribal chiefs in Jerusalem and that they prayed in congregation at Golgotha and the Temple of the Virgin Mary in the Garden of Gethsemane..1
Muoviya xalifaligining markazi bo'lgan Suriyadagi boshqaruv haqida ana'anaviy musulmon manbalarida ma'lumotlar kam uchraydi. U Damashq-da o'zi qurdirgan saroyda yashagan va xalifalik xazinasini ham Kufadan Damashqqa keltirgan. Suriyadagi qabila askarlariga tayanib, ularning maoshini Iroqdan keladigan daromad hisobiga oshirgan. Eng ko'p maoshlar Qudo'a va Kinda qabilasidan chiqqan 2 000 nafar zodaonlarga to'lanib, ular xalifaga turli ishlar yuzasidan maslahatlar berardilar va qarorlarni bekor qilish huquqiga ega edilar. Banu Kalb qabilasi rahbari Ibn Bahdal, Suriya-dagi qurayshliklar rahbari Abdurahmon ibn Xolid, qays qabilasi rahbari Dahhok ibn Qays ham Muoviya I ning xalifalikdagi tayanchlari
1 Marsham 2013, pp. 94 and 106.
hisoblangan.2 Muoviya davrida devonlar (vazirliklar) yaratilib, aloqa (raso'il), moliya (xotam) va xabar-pochta (barid) ishlari yo'lga qo'yiladi. Tarixchi at-Tabariy bergan ma'lumotlarga qaraganda, xavorijlardan Buroq ibn Abdulloh ismli kishi 661-yilda Muoviyani Damashq masjidida namoz o'qiyotgan chog'da o'ldirishga uringanidan so'ng, xalifa buyrug'i bilan "haras" (shaxsiy soqchilar), "shurta" (saralangan qo'shinlar) va masjidlar atrofida maxsus "maqsura" (qo'riqlanadigan hudud) lar tashkil etiladi.3 Xalifaning xazinasi ko'p jihatdan Suriyadan keladigan soliq tushumlariga, Iroq va Arabistondagi xalifaga tegishli yerlardan keladigan daromadga bog'liq bo'lgan. Shuningdek, xalifa urushlar davrida lashkarboshilar qo'lga kiritgan harbiy o'ljalarning beshdan bir qismini ham olishga haqli edi. VIII asr tarixchisi Sayf ibn Umarning yozishicha, xalifa Muoviya I Jazira (Yuqori Mesopotamiya) ga Banu Sulaym, Banu Mudor va Banu Robi'a qabilalari vakillarining ko'chib kelishini to'xtata olgan, Kufa va Basradan kelgan qochoqlarni Qinnasrin-Jazira tumaniga joylashtirgan.4 Bu bilan qabilalar o'rtasida nizolar kelib chiqshining oldini olgan. Tarixchi al-Balazuriy esa bu ishlar Muoviyaning vorisi Yazid davrida (680-683) sodir bo'lgan deb yozadi.
Muawiyah maintained the earlier Byzantine style of governance in Syria, and Christians were also able to participate in governance. The head of the tax collection department was Sargun ibn Mansur, a Christian. Sargun's father Mansur worked as a servant under the Byzantine emperor Herakli (610-641). Muawiya was tolerant towards the Christians in Syria, everyone agreed with his policies, and the conditions of the local population were as comfortable as during the Byzantine period. Initially, the coins minted by Muawiya were not accepted in Syria because they did not have the sign of the cross. According to a Greek manuscript dated 663, Muawiya I authorized the restoration of a Roman-style bath at Lake Tiberias near the Hamat Gader healing spring in southern Syria. This thing helped to cure people suffering from various diseases, so the local Christians were also grateful to the caliph. Historian Yizhar Hirshfield writes that Caliph Mu'awiya tried to please and gain the trust of the local population by restoring the bathhouse. The caliph himself often spent the winter in the Sinnabra palace near Lake Tiberias. Also, Muawiya I greatly helped in the restoration of the church in Edessa, which was destroyed by an earthquake in 679. He paid special attention to the development of the city of Jerusalem and built mosques there.
The main problem in the internal politics of the Arab caliphate was to unite different tribes into a single center. The troops were also made up of representatives of different tribes and most of them lived in Syria. The caliphate tended to be socially disintegrating. That is why caliph Muawiya I used indirect rule, that is, he gave great rights to the governors of the region in civil and military affairs. Although the governors were formally subordinate to the caliph and sent a portion of the taxes to the treasury, in practice most of the taxes remained with the provincial governors and Damascus received a small share. During the reign of Muawiya, governors relied on ashraf (tribal heads) and served as mediators between the caliph and the ashraf. Instead of absolute rule as in the time of Hazrat Ali, Muawiya ruled the country with the help of political union of different tribes. Usually, the caliph preferred to win over his political opponents by giving them gifts and lands instead of fighting them. According to the
2 Kennedy 2004, pp. 86-87
3 Kennedy 2001, p. 13.
4 Hinds 1993, p. 266.
Volume 1, Issue 1,
CENTRAL ASIAN JOURNAL OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH AND MANAGEMENT STUDIES A
English historian Hugh Kennedy, caliph Muawiya ruled the country by agreeing with the people in power in the provinces and including influential people in his government. In short, during the reign of Caliph Muawiya, internal politics in the Arab caliphate was stable due to the coexistence of Muslims and representatives of other religions. In addition, the fact that Christian officials work side by side with Muslims in the caliph's palace in Damascus confirms that religious tolerance in the country is in a very good state. However, the caliphate remained socially prone to crisis, as the state existed only through the union of various tribes. As a result of this alliance, the political, economic and military power of the caliphate was strengthened, and the caliph was forced to consult with the tribal leaders.
References:
1. Muhammad Sodiq Muhammad Yusuf. "Islom tarixi", 2-kitob. T.; "Hilol-nashr", 2018. 11-12-betlar.
2. Hinds, Martin (1993). "Mu'awiya I b. Abi Sufyan". The Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition.
3. Hirschfeld, Yizhar (1987). "The History and Town-Plan of Ancient Hammat Gader".
4. Hoyland, Robert (1999). "Jacob of Edessa on Islam". Leuven: Peeters Publishers.
5. Kaegi, Walter E. (1992). Byzantium and the Early Islamic Conquests. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
6. Kennedy, Hugh (2001). The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State.
7. Kennedy, Hugh (2004). The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates: The Islamic Near East from the 6th to the 11th Century.
8. Marsham, Andrew (2013). "The Architecture of Allegiance in Early Islamic Late Antiquity: The Accession of Mu'awiyah in Jerusalem, 661 CE".
9. Madelung, W. (1997). The Succession to Muhammad: A Study of the Early Caliphate.
10. Al-Tabari. Henri Lammmens (editor). Annales quos scripsit Abu Djafar Mohammed ibn Djarir at-Tabari.Volume II.
11. Julius Wellhausen. The Arab Kingdom and its Fall. Calcutta, 1927.
12. Faizullayeva, O. H. (2022). Artistic Conditionality and Poetic Function of Signs in Lyrical Series. Eurasian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 14, 20-29.
13. Fayzullayeva, O. (2022). General Typological Characteristics Of Lyric Cycles. Science and innovation, 1(B5), 231-236.
14. Fayzullayeva, O. (2023). LYRIC IMAGE OF" I" IN CYCLES. Евразийский журнал технологий и инноваций, 1(6 Part 3), 118-125.
15. Fayzullayeva, O. (2024). THE ISSUE OF FORM AND CONTENT IN LYRIC CYCLES. Евразийский журнал технологий и инноваций, 2(1), 55-60.
16. Fayzullayeva, O. X. (2020). DIVERSITY IN WRITING UZBEK SONNETS. Theoretical & Applied Science, (4), 627-633.
17. Kholbekovna, F. O. (2021). The Issue of Artistic Idea in Poetry. European Scholar Journal, 2(4), 233-236.
18. Kholbekovna, F. O. (2022). The artistic-aesthetic nature of rauf parfi's poetry. Asian Journal of Research in Social Sciences and Humanities, 12(5), 332-340.
19. Kholbekovna, F. O., & Oglu, E. B. J. (2021). Development and Improvement of Cyclicity. Annals of the Romanian Society for Cell Biology, 12049-12054.
Volume 1, Issue 1, February 2024
Page 115
CENTRAL ASIAN JOURNAL OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH AND MANAGEMENT STUDIES À
20. Mamatkulov, M., & Fayzullayeva, O. (2024). Expression Of Symbols And Allegorical Images In Lyric Cycles. Modern Science and Research, 3(1), 1-7.
