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Mu'awiya I (c. 600 – 680) was the founder and first caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, serving from 661 until his death. He acceded less than thirty years after the Islamic prophet Muhammad's death and shortly after the four Rashidun caliphs. He embraced Islam after Muhammad's conquest of Mecca in 630. Afterward, Mu'awiya became one of his scribes and, by the 640s, the governor of Syria. After Caliph Uthman was assassinated in 656, Mu'awiya opposed his successor, Ali. They fought to a stalemate during the First Muslim Civil War. When Ali was assassinated in 661, Mu'awiya compelled Ali's son Hasan to abdicate. As caliph, Mu'awiya relied on his Syrian supporters and conferred autonomy to the provinces. He fought the Byzantines throughout his reign, and renewed the Muslim conquests. His controversial appointment of his son Yazid I as successor introduced dynastic rule to Islamic politics. Mu'awiya is honored by Sunni Muslims as a companion of Muhammad, but reviled by Shia Muslims for opposing Ali. (Full article...)