Biography of yazid

7th-century Arab military commander

Not to be confused with Yazid ibn Mu'awiya, the second Umayyad caliph.

Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan ibn Harb ibn Umayya (Arabic: يزيد بن أبي سفيان بن حرب بن أمية, romanized: Yazīd ibn Abī Sufyān ibn Ḥarb ibn Umayya; died 639) was a leading Arab Muslim commander in the conquest of Syria from 634 until his death in the plague of Amwas in 639.

Following the capture of Damascus around 635, he was placed in command of the city and its military district. After the death of the overall Muslim commander of Syria, Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah, in 639, he was appointed by Caliph Umar (r. 634–644) the governor of Damascus, Jordan and Palestine.

Yazid was the elder half-brother of Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan, who was appointed as his successor over Damascus and Jordan by Umar and gradually became governor over all of Syria.

Early life

Yazid was a son of Abu Sufyan, a chief of the Quraysh tribe of Mecca, belonging to the Uma