Historical Analysis of the Obedience of the People of Shām to Muʿāwiyah (with a Focus on the Analysis of the Narrations of Their Praise and Condemnation in Nahj al-Balāghah)

The pure obedience of the people of Shām to Muʿāwiyah is a special and common language. In some statements of Nahj al-Balāghah, the people of Shām are presented with characteristics such as ignorance, meanness and baseness, violence, vileness, despicable, humiliation and rude servants. Some historians have stated that the reason for the compliance of the people of Shām is lack of intelligence, blind compliance, lack of thought and reflection, indifference to the news and hidden events. This is despite the fact that based on some propositions of Nahj al-Balāghah, the people of Shām are described as orderly, trustworthy, loyal and united, and even Imam Ali (as) wished: “I wish Muawiya would exchange ten Iraqis for one from Shām”. This research is descriptive-analytical, focusing on the Umayyad movement in Shām, and the reason for the pure compliance of the people of Shām. Among the results of this research is that although the people of Shām had special characteristics, but these characteristics were used by the Umayyad movement under the leadership of Muʿāwiyah to use the positive characteristics of the people of Shām by relying on their pre-Islamic beliefs and policies that fit their spirit.