معاوية بن أبى سفيان

This biography follows Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan, the governor of Syria who later founded the Umayyad caliphate. It looks at his early life, his rise within the young Islamic state, and the struggles over leadership that followed the murder of Ali. The book weighs the character and decisions of its subject against the events of his age, presenting a figure who is often judged harshly in tradition and asking how such judgments were formed.