Early Islamic History, the Maronite Chronicle, and Theophanes

Although Islamic tradition places the date of Ali's assassination to Ramadan in January 661 CE (A.H. 40), Marsham (2013) notes that the Arabic tradition regarding the First Fitna (aka the first Muslim Civil War) is beset with chronological difficulties and based on the Maronite Chronicle and Theophanes, this may have occurred in 658 CE at the latest. Attempts to reconcile these accounts with early Islamic History is discussed further in Marsham (2013) and possibly Nodelke (1876:83). Robert Hoyland in Palmer et al (1993:30 n. 134 notes the following:

Arabic sources are generally agreed that ‘Ali was killed in Ramadan 40 (January 661 = AG 972). Our chronicler may have been misled by the fact that ‘the Syrians acknowledged Mu'awiya as caliph in Dhu ’1-Qa‘da 37 (April 658=969)’ (Tabari, 11, p. 199), or he may be better informed than we. Theopharies, p. 347 also places ‘Ali’s death earlier than the accepted date, in (559160. [R.H.]

Mu'awiya proclaimed Caliph in Jerusalem

Elad (1995:150) notes

Goitein cites a number of traditions in which the Holy Land (al-Arcl al-Muqaddasa) is mentioned, testifying, in his opinion, to the religious status of Palestine:

2. A tradition in the name of Ibn Hawala: "The Messenger of God put his hand on my head and said: when the [caliphate] will fix its place in the Holy Land, earthquakes and other tribulations will occur and the Hour [of the Last Judgement] will be nearer than my hand is now to your head."¹⁵

It seems that this hadith was created in the context of one of the struggles between the Umayyads and their opponents, and was introduced in the Fitan literature, that deals with the Last Days and their turmoils.

footnotes

15 Goitein, S. D. (2010). VII. The Sanctity Of Jerusalem And Palestine In Early Islam. in Studies in Islamic History and Institutions. S. D. Goitein, Brill: 135-148. p. 143 (quoting Abu- Dawad's Sunan).

Goitein (2010:143) states

A Jewish religious scholar predicted to the caliph `Omar that "the governor of the Holy Land," that is to say Mu'awiya, would at one point take his place as ruler of Islam.⁵ A canonical collection of traditions about the Prophet reports the following story in the name of Ibn Hawala one of his younger companions:

The Messenger of God put his hand on my head and said: when the (caliphate) will fix its place in the Holy Land, earthquakes and other tribulations will occur and the Hour (of the Last Judgment) will be nearer than my hand is now to your head.⁶

Footnotes

5 Tabari, part I, pp. 3252-2.
6 Sunan Abfi Da'fid, book 15, par. 33.

Background - The 1st Muslim Civil War

Marsham (2013:90-91) provides background

Muʿāwiya’s accession took place in the context of the civil war, or fitna, of AH 36–41/656–661 CE. This was the first time that extensive violent conflict had taken place within the Ḥijāzī (West Arabian) ruling elite of the new monotheist polity. In the Islamic historical tradition the war is said to have been triggered by the murder of the third caliph, ʿUthmān b. ʿAffān (r. 644–656). Following ʿUthmān’s death, the Prophet’s cousin, ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, was proclaimed caliph at Medina in Arabia, before moving the caliphal capital from there to Kufa, in Iraq. ʿAlī was not universally recognized as caliph—not least because ʿUthmān’s assassins were among his supporters. Muʿāwiya, who was at that time the long-standing governor of the province of Syria, was among those who did not declare his allegiance, but neither did he participate in an alliance against ʿAlī. ʿAlī defeated this alliance at the “battle of the Camel” in Jumāda II 36/December 656. At this juncture Muʿāwiya took up arms against ʿAlī, demanding that he hand over ʿUthmān’s assassins. A battle at Ṣiffīn, on the northern Euphrates, was inconclusive, and the two parties agreed to a truce and negotiations. Some of ʿAlī’s followers rebelled at this decision, and ʿAlī was forced to fight them. ʿAlī won, only to be assassinated by one of the rebels in the congregational mosque at Kufa — an event usually dated to mid-to-late Ramaḍān 40/late January 661. ʿAlī’s son, al-Ḥasan, was proclaimed caliph in Iraq, but surrendered shortly thereafter to Muʿāwiya and his Syrian army.

These events remained central to some of the fiercest doctrinal disputes in early Islam. In part because of the importance of the civil war for on-going doctrinal debates, a vast amount of literature about it was generated in the first centuries of Islam, much of it contradictory and confused. That Muʿāwiya b. Abī Sufyān (r. 661–680) emerged as the victor is of course beyond doubt, but the chronology and sequence of events is not at all clear.