Maritime activity during the era of the Umayyad caliphs (41- 132ه / 662-750م)

Abstract

The naval wars were fought during the time of Caliph Othman bin Affan, at the insistence of his governor in the Levant, Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan, citing the proximity of the Romans to the cities of the Levant and the response to their repeated attacks on them. Caliph Muawiyah established the first Islamic fleet, and Muawiyah’s interest in the fleet continued until he assumed the Umayyad Caliphate, where he built a naval force that contributed to many Islamic conquests. Caliph Muawiyah and his predecessors after him tried to control Constantinople many times, but their attempts failed, and despite this failure, it strengthened The status of Muslims forced Byzantium to abandon their projects to recover the lands that had fallen within the territory of the Islamic State, and the project to conquer Constantinople remained a dream for Muslims until the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror was able to conquer Constantinople seven centuries after its conquest.