Proceeding onwards to Jâbia, the Caliph made a circuit from thence over the whole of Syria. [Sidenote: Muâvia appointed to the chief command in Syria.]He visited all the Moslem settlements, and gave instructions for the disposal of the estates of the multitudes swept away by the plague, himself deciding such claims as were laid before him. As both Yezîd, the governor of Damascus, and Abu Obeida had perished in the pestilence, Omar now appointed Muâvia, son of Abu Sofiân and brother of Yezîd, to the chief command in Syria, and thus laid the foundation of the Omeyyad dynasty. Muâvia was a man of unbounded ambition, but wise and able withal; and he turned to good account his new position. The factious spirit which built itself up on the divine claim of Aly and Abbâs, the cousin and uncle of the Prophet, and spurned the Omeyyad blood of Muâvia, was yet in embryo. Aly, as well as Abbâs, had hitherto remained inactive at Medîna. The latter, always weak and wavering, was now enfeebled by age; the former, honoured, indeed, as well for his wit and judgment as for his relationship to Mahomet, was amongst the trusted counsellors of the Caliph, but possessed of no special power or influence, nor any apparent ambition beyond a quiet life of indulgence in the charms of a harem varied constantly with fresh arrivals. Neither is there any reason to suppose that at this time the former opposition to Islam of Abu Sofiân or of Hind, the parents of Muâvia, was remembered against them. Sins preceding conversion, if followed by a consistent profession of the Faith, left no stain upon the believer. It was not till the fires of civil strife burst forth that the ancient misdeeds of the Omeyyad race and their early enmity to the Prophet were dragged into light, and political capital made of them. The accession, therefore, of Muâvia at the present time to the chief command in Syria excited no jealousy or opposition. It passed, indeed, as a thing of course, without remark.[364] [Sidenote: Bilâl performs the office of Muedzzin.]