Umayya ibn Abd-Shams () is the progenitor of the line of the
Umayyad caliphs.
The clan of
Banu Umayya as well as the dynasty that ruled the
Umayyad Caliphate
The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a member o ...
are named after Umayya ibn Abd-Shams.
Umayya succeeded
Abd-Shams as the (judge / commander) of the Meccans. This position was likely an occasional political post whose holder oversaw the direction of Mecca's military affairs in times of war instead of an actual field command. This proved instructive as later Umayyads were known for possessing considerable political and military organizational skills.
After a rivalry with his cousin,
Hashim ibn Abd-Manaf, Umayya ibn Abd-Shams ibn Abd-Manaf was banished by the Meccans to the Levant (''Bilad al-Sham''), where he and his progeny stayed, and he became a merchant. This later assisted his grand-son
Mu'awiya
Mu'awiya I (–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 death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and immediately after the four Rashid ...
ibn
Abi-Sufyan ibn
Harb ibn Umayya to establish the new caliphate whose capital was
Damascus
Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...
.
The Banu Umayya
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His children were:
* Abu al-'As
* Harb
* Al-'As
* Abu 'Amr
* Abu al-'Is
* Safiyya
References
*https://archive.org/details/nasqurPDF
6th-century Arab people
Family of Muhammad
People from Mecca
Tribes of Arabia
Banu Abd Shams
510s births
{{Islam-bio-stub