Year 28 AH
It is said that at its very beginning came the expedition to Cyprus, already mentioned above. Sīf relates from his informants that Muʿāwiyah kept urging the Commander of the Faithful ʿUmar to permit a naval campaign, arguing that the Byzantines were now close to Ḥimṣ. ʿUmar replied, “One village among the villages of Ḥimṣ whose people hear the barking of their dogs and the crowing of their cocks is dearer to me than everything that lies upon the sea.” Muʿāwiyah persisted until he almost won ʿUmar over, whereupon ʿUmar wrote to ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ: “Describe the sea and those who sail it for me.” ʿAmr wrote back:
“I have seen a vast creature upon which rides a tiny creature. When it is still, it sears the hearts; when it moves, it bewilders the minds. Certainty aboard her is scant, while doubt is abundant. Those upon her are like worms on a splinter of wood: if it tilts, they drown; if they survive, they are left dazed.”
When ʿUmar read the letter he wrote to Muʿāwiyah, “By Allah, I shall never set a Muslim upon it.”
Abū Jaʿfar al-Ṭabarī adds: Muʿāwiyah campaigned against Cyprus and made peace with its inhabitants on payment of the jizyah (tribute).
Al-Wāqidī reports that in this same year Ḥabīb ibn Maslama raided the district of Suriyya, a region of Byzantine territory.
In the same year ʿUthmān married Nāʾilah bint al-Farāfiṣa; she embraced Islam before the marriage was consummated.
That year al-Walīd ibn ʿUqbah campaigned in Azerbaijan and concluded with them a treaty identical to the one Hudhayfah had arranged earlier.
Few deaths are accurately recorded for these years, as you can see.