Cyprus: The foster and foreign land

Umar, the second of the Rashidun caliphs (meaning “rightly guided,”) did not approve Damascus Governor Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan's request for permission to conquer Cyprus. Before writing a reply to his governor, the caliph asked Amr ibn al-As about the expeditions and ships used in the Mediterranean and did not find seafaring safe. His letter read, “I will not allow a single Muslim to travel on those ships.”