Early life

Mu'awiyah bin Abi-Sufyan was born in 602 C.E. into the Banu Umayya sub-clan of the Banu Abd-Shams clan of the Quraysh tribe. The Quraysh controlled the city of Mecca (in the west of present-day Saudi Arabia) and the Banu Abd-Shams were among the most influential of its citizens. Mu'awiya and the rest of his family were staunch opponents of the Muslims before the ascendancy of Muhammad.

In 630 CE, Muhammad and his followers conquered Mecca, and most of the Meccans, including the Abd-Shams clan, formally submitted to Muhammad and accepted Islam. Mu'awiyah, along with his father Abu Sufyan, became Muslims at the conquest of Mecca when further resistance to Muslims became an impossibility.[14][15] Some scholars hold the view that Mu'awiya was the second of the two to convert, with Abu Sufyan convincing him to do it.

Muhammad welcomed his former opponents, enrolled them in his army and gave them important posts in what was to become the Caliphate. After the Prophet Muhammad's death (632) Mu'awiya served in the Islamic army sent against the Byzantine forces in Syria. He held a high rank in the army led by his brother Yazid ibn Abu Sufyan.

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