# Mu'awiya, Umayyad state from 661

> From 661 Mu'awiya ran a fast-growing state from Damascus by keeping the skilled officials who already ran Syria and putting them to work for the new state.

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Last checked: 2026-11-12
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

## The starting point

Mu'awiya had governed Syria for about twenty years before he became caliph. Syria had been run by Rome and then Byzantium for centuries, and it had trained clerks, tax records and a large Christian population ([Britannica](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Muawiyah-I)).

## Day one

- **Civil service:** he kept the administrative methods that already worked. Christians from families that had served Byzantium held senior posts, and Greek stayed in use in the tax offices for decades ([Britannica](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Muawiyah-I)).
- **New offices:** he is credited with two bureaus (diwans). One was a chancellery (diwan al-khatam), which sealed and copied official letters so they could not be forged. The other was a postal and courier service (barid) to speed news across the state ([Barid](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barid)).
- **Consultation:** he kept the old Arab councils. The shura was a council of notables. The wufud were delegations from the Arab communities that kept the caliph informed and carried his word home.

## What was new

He did not tear down a working system to start again. He kept the people who knew how to run things and made them serve a new state. Speed of communication, through the barid, held a large territory together.

## How it held people together

Tolerance of Christian officials was part of his policy in a land with a large Christian population. Community leaders were heard through the shura and the wufud.

## The result

The Umayyad state lasted until 750 and grew into one of the largest states the world had then seen. Arabic became its language of government under his successors ([Umayyad Caliphate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umayyad_Caliphate)).

## What critics record

His rule followed the first civil war (fitna) among Muslims, and many Muslims, Shia Muslims above all, view his part in it critically. He secured allegiance for his son Yazid, which began hereditary rule. Many scholars since have criticised that break with choosing the caliph by consultation ([Britannica](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Muawiyah-I)).

## What it shows for Somalia

Somalia already has trained people working in ministries, states, banks and telecom firms. A new start can keep what works and the people who make it work.

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