Sufyan ibn Awf
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Sufyān ibn ʿAwf ibn al-Mughaffal al-Azdī al-Ghāmidī () (died 672 or 673/674) was an
Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
commander in the service of the
Rashidun , image = تخطيط كلمة الخلفاء الراشدون.png , caption = Calligraphic representation of Rashidun Caliphs , birth_place = Mecca, Hejaz, Arabia present-day Saudi Arabia , known_for = Companions of t ...
caliphs
Umar ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb ( ar, عمر بن الخطاب, also spelled Omar, ) was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () as the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate o ...
() and
Uthman Uthman ibn Affan ( ar, عثمان بن عفان, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān; – 17 June 656), also spelled by Colloquial Arabic, Turkish and Persian rendering Osman, was a second cousin, son-in-law and notable companion of the Islamic proph ...
() and the
Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...
caliph
Mu'awiya I Mu'awiya I ( ar, معاوية بن أبي سفيان, Muʿāwiya ibn Abī Sufyān; –April 680) was the founder and first caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from 661 until his death. He became caliph less than thirty years after the deat ...
(). He fought as a partisan of Mu'awiya against Caliph
Ali ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...
during the
First Muslim Civil War The First Fitna ( ar, فتنة مقتل عثمان, fitnat maqtal ʻUthmān, strife/sedition of the killing of Uthman) was the first civil war in the Islamic community. It led to the overthrow of the Rashidun Caliphate and the establishment of t ...
, leading a raid against the latter's forces in Iraq. Throughout his military career, he was major commander in the wars with the Byzantine Empire. Though the medieval Arabic, Greek and Syriac accounts are not entirely consistent, he most likely was at the head of a large Arab army that was decisively defeated by the Byzantines in 673/74 and was slain during the battle.


Life

Sufyan belonged to the
Ghamid The Ghamd (also transliterated as Ghamid, ar, غامد) is an Arab tribe of Azd tribe in Hejaz Region. History The tribe belongs to the Hejaz region, and it is considered one of the oldest tribe of Arabia according to genetic research and an ...
branch of the Azd Sarat tribe resident in the southern
Hejaz The Hejaz (, also ; ar, ٱلْحِجَاز, al-Ḥijāz, lit=the Barrier, ) is a region in the west of Saudi Arabia. It includes the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif, and Baljurashi. It is also known as the "Western Provin ...
(western
Arabia The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate. ...
). He was a companion of the Islamic prophet
Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد;  570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
. During the Muslim conquest of Byzantine Syria, he took part in the siege and capture of Damascus in 634 or 635 as a lieutenant of
Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah ʿĀmir ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Jarrāḥ ( ar, عامر بن عبدالله بن الجراح; 583–639 CE), better known as Abū ʿUbayda ( ar, أبو عبيدة ) was a Muslim commander and one of the Companions of the Islamic prophet M ...
. During the caliphate of
Uthman Uthman ibn Affan ( ar, عثمان بن عفان, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān; – 17 June 656), also spelled by Colloquial Arabic, Turkish and Persian rendering Osman, was a second cousin, son-in-law and notable companion of the Islamic proph ...
(), he became a loyalist of Syria's governor
Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan Mu'awiya I ( ar, معاوية بن أبي سفيان, Muʿāwiya ibn Abī Sufyān; –April 680) was the founder and first caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from 661 until his death. He became caliph less than thirty years after the deat ...
. For a certain period, the latter appointed Sufyan ''ṣāḥib al-ṣawāʾif'', i.e. chief commander of the summer expeditions into
Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
territory in
Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
, across the
northern frontier ''Northern Frontier'' is a 1935 American adventure film directed by Sam Newfield and written by Barry Barringer. The film stars Kermit Maynard, Eleanor Hunt, Russell Hopton, J. Farrell MacDonald, LeRoy Mason, Gertrude Astor, Ben Hendricks Jr. a ...
. During the
First Muslim Civil War The First Fitna ( ar, فتنة مقتل عثمان, fitnat maqtal ʻUthmān, strife/sedition of the killing of Uthman) was the first civil war in the Islamic community. It led to the overthrow of the Rashidun Caliphate and the establishment of t ...
between Mu'awiya and Caliph
Ali ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...
(), Sufyan led a raid against Ali's positions in Iraq in 659/660 or the summer of 660. Sufyan first reached
Hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...
and Sandawda, both on the west bank of the
Euphrates The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers'') ...
, and upon finding them deserted by their garrisons and inhabitants, who fled at the news of Sufyan's impending assault, he proceeded toward Anbar, on the east bank of the river. During the attack, the commander of the Anbar garrison, Ashras ibn Hassan al-Bakri, and thirty of his soldiers were slain. After looting the town, Sufyan withdrew to Syria without proceeding to
al-Mada'in Al-Mada'in ( ar, المدائن, , ; ) was an ancient metropolis situated on the Tigris River in modern-day Iraq. It was located between the ancient royal centers of Ctesiphon and Seleucia, and was founded by the Sassanid Empire. The city's na ...
as instructed by Mu'awiya, who nonetheless praised him for the expedition's efficiency and success. He promised to install Sufyan to any office he wished. The attacks contributed to the flight of many Iraqis to Syria during the war. Mu'awiya ultimately prevailed in the conflict and became caliph in 661. He restarted the campaigns against Byzantium after the lull caused by the civil war and in 665 appointed Sufyan alongside his own son Yazid to lead a summer raid against the Byzantines; Sufyan and his men entered Byzantine territory before Yazid, but shortly after withdrew as a result of disease. In the medieval Muslim accounts of
al-Ya'qubi ʾAbū l-ʿAbbās ʾAḥmad bin ʾAbī Yaʿqūb bin Ǧaʿfar bin Wahb bin Waḍīḥ al-Yaʿqūbī (died 897/8), commonly referred to simply by his nisba al-Yaʿqūbī, was an Arab Muslim geographer and perhaps the first historian of world cultu ...
(d. ) and
al-Tabari ( ar, أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), more commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari ...
(d. 923), Sufyan was a commander of a raid against Byzantine territory in 670/71. According to the Muslim traditional historians
al-Waqidi Abu `Abdullah Muhammad Ibn ‘Omar Ibn Waqid al-Aslami (Arabic ) (c. 130 – 207 AH; c. 747 – 823 AD) was a historian commonly referred to as al-Waqidi (Arabic: ). His surname is derived from his grandfather's name Waqid and thus he became fa ...
(d. 822),
Khalifa ibn Khayyat Abū ʿAmr Khalīfa ibn Khayyāṭ al-Laythī al-ʿUṣfurī () (born : 160/161 AH/777 AD– died 239/240 AH/854 AD) was an Arab historian. His family were natives of Basra in Iraq. His grandfather was a noted muhaddith or traditionalist, and Kh ...
(d. 854), al-Ya'qubi and al-Tabari, Sufyan led an expedition against the Byzantines in 672, during which al-Waqidi and al-Ya'qubi state he died. According to the Syriac historian
Theophilus of Edessa Theophilus of Edessa (Greek: Θεόφιλος, 695–785 CE), also known as Theophilus ibn Tuma and Thawafil, was a Greco-Syriac medieval astrologer and scholar in Mesopotamia. In the later part of his life he was the court astrologer to the Abbasi ...
(d. 785), Sufyan was slain with 30,000 of his men by a Byzantine army led by the
patricians The patricians (from la, Wikt:patricius, patricius, Greek language, Greek: πατρίκιος) were originally a group of ruling class families in ancient Rome. The distinction was highly significant in the Roman Kingdom, and the early Roman Rep ...
Florus, Petronas and Cyprian in 673/74;
Michael the Syrian Michael the Syrian ( ar, ميخائيل السرياني, Mīkhaʾēl el Sūryani:),( syc, ܡܺܝܟ݂ܳܐܝܶܠ ܣܽܘܪܝܳܝܳܐ, Mīkhoʾēl Sūryoyo), died 1199 AD, also known as Michael the Great ( syr, ܡܺܝܟ݂ܳܐܝܶܠ ܪܰܒ݁ܳܐ, ...
(d. 1199) further notes that the location of the battle was at a
Lycia Lycia (Lycian language, Lycian: 𐊗𐊕𐊐𐊎𐊆𐊖 ''Trm̃mis''; el, Λυκία, ; tr, Likya) was a state or nationality that flourished in Anatolia from 15–14th centuries BC (as Lukka) to 546 BC. It bordered the Mediterranean ...
n coastal city under siege by the Arabs. The battle was a turning point at this stage of the Arab–Byzantine wars, setting the Byzantines up for a counter-offensive over the following several years. In the biography of Sufyan by
Ibn Asakir Ibn Asakir ( ar-at, ابن عساكر, Ibn ‘Asākir; 1105–c. 1176) was a Syrian Sunni Islamic scholar, who was one of the most renowned experts on Hadith and Islamic history in the medieval era. and a disciple of the Sufi mystic Abu al-Najib S ...
(d. 1176), Sufyan is said to have been killed in Byzantine territory in 674.


References


Bibliography

* * * * *{{citation , last=Ulrich , first=Brian John , title=Constructing Al-Azd: Tribal Identity and Society in the Early Islamic Centuries , year=2008 , publisher=University of Wisconsin , location=Madison 670s deaths Umayyad people of the Arab–Byzantine wars Azd Generals of the Umayyad Caliphate Military personnel killed in action People of the First Fitna People of the Muslim conquest of the Levant Companions of the Prophet