First Muslim Navy
One of the ambitions of Mu’awiya (Rad.A) was to conquer the Byzantine capital, Constantinople and with this end in view, a formidable expedition was sent against Constantinople under the command of his pleasure-loving son, Yazid. The expedition was not successful for various reasons. The name of Mu’awiya (Rad.A) will remain fresh in the memory of the readers as the builder of the first Muslim Navy. While he was the governor of Syria, he had built a fleet of nearly 500 ships to fight with the Greeks on the Mediterranean Sea. With this fleet he conquered Cyprus, Rodes and other Greek islands near the coast of Asia Minor. Mu’awiya (Rad.A) made great progress in extending his rule in the East. Herat, having rebelled, was stormed in 41 A.H./661 A.D. and two years later Kabul was captured. Ghazna, Balkh, Qandahar, Bukhara, Samarkand and Tirmidh were also annexed to the empire of Islam. Thus the reign of Mu’awiya (Rad.A), ”witnessed not only the consolidation but also the extension of the territories of the Caliphate”.
