William Muir

“ Abroad his rule was equally successful, and extended the boundaries of Islam in all directions.
'Amr. His death, 43 A.H.
'Amr held the government of Egypt during the rest of his long life, which, indeed, had been one of the most eventful in this history. No man influenced more than he the fortunes of the Caliphate. Brave in the field, astute in counsel, coarse and unscrupulous in word and deed, it was mainly to 'Amr that Mu'awiya owed his ascendency over 'Ali, and the eventual establishment of the Umeiyad dynasty. ”

“ He is also called after his mother, "Ziyad ibn Sumeiya." 295
turbulent city, now patrolled incessantly by an armed police of a thousand men. None might venture abroad at night on pain of death; and so ruthless was the order, that an unlucky Arab, wandering unawares into the precincts, was executed for the involuntary offence. His best friends were the Azd, especially those lately arrived from 'Oman, and he did not forget their services. The supremacy of law, an experience new to Al-Basra, repressed rebellion, and effectually enforced order where strife and faction had heretofore prevailed. ”

“ The experience of Africa along its northern shore did not materially differ from that of the East, for the Berbers were ever and anon rebelling after they had tendered their submission. Indeed, the struggle was harder here for the Roman settlements enabled the native population to offer a more stubborn resistance. ”

“ Is defeated and slain.
But a few years later 'Okba was surprised by a joint Roman and Berber army, and miserably perished with his whole army.1 The Muslims were driven back on Barka.
Hostilities with Greece.
On the side of Armenia and Greece, hostilities, suspended during the contest with 'Ali, were resumed by Mu'awiya at its close, and we read of a serious defeat sustained by the Greeks, 42 A.H. The Muslim army wintered in Armenia, and the campaign was prosecuted both by sea and land. In 50 A.H. a formidable expedition was directed against Constantinople. ”