Page:Muhammad Diyab al-Itlidi - Historical Tales and Anecdotes of the Time of the Early Khalîfahs - Alice Frere - 1873.djvu/81

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THE FAITHFUL ARAB AND HIS LOVING
WIFE.

TRANSLATOR'S PREFATORY NOTE.

Abu-Sufyân commanded the Kuraish against the Muslims at the battles of Bedr, and Ohod, and also at the siege of el-Medînah. He was at that time one of the Prophet's bitterest enemies; but after his conversion to el-Islám, which occurred in A.H. 8, and was, it would seem, the result of policy rather than conviction, he became one of Muhammad's most zealous adherents. Abuʾl-Fedâ relates that after his conversion, Abu-Sufyân demanded three things of the Prophet. First: That he was to be made Commander-in-Chief of all forces that were to act against the infidels. Secondly: That the Prophet would appoint as his Secretary Abu-Sufyân's son, Muʾâwiyah. Thirdly: That the Prophet would marry his daughter, Gazah. The two first petitions Muhammad granted, but refused to comply with third. He was already married to Umm-Habîba, another of Abu-Sufyân's daughters.

In the last year of the first Khalîfah, Abu-Bekr's reign, A.H. 13, Muʾâwiyah was sent in command of a large force, to the assistance of his half-brother Yezid, at that time Commander-in-Chief of the Muslim army then invading Syria. After the reduction of that province, which took place six years later, during the reign of ʾOmar, the second Khalîfah, Muʾâwiyah was appointed prefect of Syria. In A.H. 24, during the reign of ʾOthmân, the third Khalîfah, Muʾâwiyah gained many advantages over the imperial forces, took several towns, and reduced the islands of Cyprus, Aradus, and Ancyra, exacting from their inhabitants a yearly tribute