معاوية بن يزيد بن معاوية

معاوية بن يزيد بن معاوية

43 AH – 64 AH

Third Umayyad caliph, succeeded by his father's testament in Rabi' I 64 — a righteous youth whose forty-day (or three-month) caliphate passed in illness without public appearance; he refused to name a successor, saying 'I tasted none of its sweetness — why should I shoulder its bitterness?', and died about twenty-one 1.

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Era
The Umayyad Period
Region
Levant & Iraq
Identifiers
Wikidata
Review
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Overview

Mu'awiya ibn Yazid ibn Mu'awiya, the third Umayyad caliph. He was made caliph by his father's testament in Rabi' al-Awwal 64 AH, and died at about twenty-one years of age. 2

His caliphate

Al-Suyuti says that he was a young man of piety, and that his caliphate lasted from forty days to three months, during which he was ill and did not go out to the people. He refused to appoint a successor, saying that he had not tasted its sweetness and so would not bear its bitterness. 2

Al-Mas'udi's account

Al-Mas'udi says that he ruled for forty days, and it is said two months, and that he was given the kunya Abu Layla. There is disagreement about his death: it is said that he was given a drink, it is said that he died of his natural death, and it is said that he was stabbed. 3

The museum's data give his birth as 43 AH and his death as 64 AH; both are traditional dates and need an additional source.

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Participated in
Caliphate of Mu'awiya ibn Yazid

People and things also explored

Caliphate of Mu'awiya ibn Yazid

Sources

  1. Tarikh al-Khulafa — al-Suyuti (Dar al-Minhaj edition) , p. 347
  2. Tarikh al-Khulafa — al-Suyuti (Dar al-Minhaj edition) , p.347
  3. Muruj al-Dhahab — al-Masʼudi , p.70
  • Muhammad Qabbani, The Umayyad State from Birth to Fall (Damascus: Dar Wahy al-Qalam, 2006)
  • Lectures on the History of the Islamic Peoples: The Umayyad State — al-Khudari
  • The Umayyad State — Bakr Muhammad Ibrahim Bakr (1st ed., Markaz al-Raya lil-Nashr wal-I'lam, Cairo 2002)
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “معاوية بن يزيد بن معاوية”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/muawiya-ibn-yazid/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-19.

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Related

Caliphate of Mu'awiya ibn Yazid

Mu'awiya II ibn Yazid succeeded by his father's testament in Rabi' I 64, a righteous youth; he remained ill throughout, never appearing before the people nor leading them in prayer. His caliphate lasted forty days — some say two or three months — and he died aged twenty or twenty-one. When urged at his deathbed to name a successor he answered: 'I have tasted none of its sweetness — why should I shoulder its bitterness?'.