He had originally been appointed governor of Syria by
the second Caliph, Omar, and was then reconɹrmed by
Othman, not the least because he was Umayyad kin—a
second cousin, in fact. But he was also extraordinarily
capable. By the time Ali was acclaimed Caliph, Muawiya
had ruled Syria for close to twenty years, and the whole
province—nearly all the land now known as Turkey,
Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, and Palestine—had
become his own personal ɹefdom, a powerhouse in its
own right.
Until now any role he had played in determining the
caliphate had been behind the scenes. Certainly there
had been rumors about his involvement in Othman’s
assassination. Had that secret letter that so incensed the
rebels been planted by Marwan on Muawiya’s orders?
Had Muawiya deliberately withheld the reinforcements
requested by the besieged Caliph? Whether there was
any truth to such rumors would always remain unclear,
and that was the way Muawiya liked it. If they were to
be proved true, they would assign power to him; if
proved untrue, they would underline his integrity and
loyalty to his cousin. So why acknowledge or deny?
Either way, rumor played to his advantage. If people
wanted to see him in the role of puppet master, staying
behind the scenes and pulling the strings, so be it. It
established him as a man it was always unwise to
ignore.
For the meantime, he had seemed content to