Mu'awiya ibn Hudaij

Abu Nu'aym Mu'awiya ibn Hudayj ibn Jafna ibn Qatira al-Sakuni al-Tujibi al-Kindi , was a general of the Kinda tribe who served under the first Umayyad caliph Mu'awiya I. Mu'awiya ibn Hudayj participated in the early Muslim conquests against the Byzantines in the Levant, Sicily and Ifriqiya, and also against the Sassanids at the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah.

Biography He first participated in the Battle of the Yarmuk, and the Battle of Jalula. According to Ibn al-Athir, Mu'awiya ibn Hudayj took part in the Arab conquest of Egypt under Amr ibn al-As, and in the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb under Abd Allah ibn Sa'd. Ibn Hudayj continued to serve under Abd Allah ibn Sa'd during the siege of Dongola, the capital of the Nubian Kingdom of Makuria. against the Alid governor Muhammad ibn Abi Hudhayfa until 657, when Ibn Abi Hudhayfa was captured and killed by the Umayyad emir of Syria, Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan. As open war broke out between Ali and Mu'awiya, he opposed Ali's appointment of Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr as the new governor of Egypt. In mid-658, he participated in the Umayyad invasion of Egypt under Amr ibn al-As that defeated the Alid loyalists, with Ibn Hudayj personally capturing and executing Ibn Abi Bakr.

In 664–665, he launched a raid on Sicily. Ibn Hudayj was provided with two hundred ships for the invasion by Caliph Mu'awiya. According to al-Baladhuri, he was the first Muslim commander to invade Sicily. After the first invasion, Ibn Hudayj continued to raid the island routinely. He garrisoned troops in Kairouan and conducted operations against Hadrumetum in the Tacape region (Lesser Syrtis). He was made the governor of Cyrenaica in 669.

Ibn Taghribirdi, Ibn al-Athir and al-Tabari all record a story that Ibn Hudayj blocked the appointment of Ibn Umm al-Hakam as governor of Egypt in 678, although he was long dead by that time.