Few people are more important when establishing the caliphate and establishing the Arab-Muslim Empire in the early phases of its existence. One of them is Mu' awiya ibn Abi Sufyan.

There is a lot of controversies in Islam about this great man. But this does not detract from the extraordinary achievements he made in his lifetime. Mu'awiya is a powerful figure in the history of Islam. Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan is undoubtedly the most elusive and ambiguous of the early caliphs.

Furthermore, he was a political genius at a time when nothing else could have saved the Islamic Empire from dissolution, regardless of what we think of him as a ruler and a man (a matter on which opinions disagree sharply, to put it gently). He goes through numerous stages in his life and work.

There is a wealth of information on Mu' awiya ibn Abi Sufyan in this book, from his life and times in the Islamic Empire through his character, controversies, and reign.

Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed Shams