Early conquests · 654
Battle of the Masts
The first great sea battle in Islamic history. The new fleet built in Egypt and Syria beat the emperor's navy and ended Byzantine control of the eastern Mediterranean.
Key facts
- When
- 654
- Where
- Off the coast of Lycia, Turkey
- Sides
- Rashidun navy vs Byzantine navy
- Commanders
- Abdullah ibn Sa'd vs Emperor Constans II
- Result
- Muslim naval victory
- Type
- Early conquests
- Chapter
- 1. The Rightly Guided Caliphs
Who led it
- Uthman ibn Affanc. 576 to 656
Married two of the Prophet's daughters, which earned him the title Dhu al-Nurayn, the possessor of two lights.
The wider picture: Uthman, Ali and the first civil war
Under Uthman the frontier reached Khurasan in the east and Libya in the west, and the first Muslim navy beat the Byzantine fleet in 654. Anger at provincial governors ended in Uthman's killing at his home in Madinah in 656. Ali moved the capital to Kufa and spent his caliphate fighting rival Muslim armies.
More early conquests battles
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