Cyprus was a Byzantine state, its capital was Constantinople (ancient Salamis), and its inhabitants owed the Orthodox Christian faith since the year 431 A.D. The church fused the people of the island and made it a social, religious and cultural unity, and the strong ancient ties between the clergy and the population created a kind of sense of solidarity Social, in light of a feature present throughout the successive ages, in which the island was subject to foreign sovereignty.

When the Muslims opened the sea openings, these became vulnerable to the attacks of the Byzantines from the nearby islands, and given that the military conflict between the Muslims and the Byzantines was in one of its ways at sea, Muawiyah realized the importance of building an Islamic fleet and this was due to several goals, namely: firstly with the aim of defending the coasts, secondly with the aim of invading the offshore islands Confrontation with the coast of the Levant, thirdly defending the open interior areas, and fourthly with the aim of continuing external trade relations with the Mediterranean countries, especially since this sea was still under the control of the Byzantines.

In implementation of this scheme, he wrote to Umar ibn al-Khattab asking him to allow him to board the sea, and to invade the islands near the coast of the Levant, but the Caliph did not authorize him as (he hated that Muslims carry invaders in it), and he wrote to him to restore the forts of the sea outposts, and to arrange the fighter in them, And the establishment of guards on their scenes and the use of fireplaces for them, to protect them from the incursions of the Byzantines.

It happened in the late days of Omar ibn al-Khattab, and the early days of Othman bin Affan, that the Byzantines prepared some coastal cities, as they recovered the city of Alexandria, so Muawiyah realized that an Islamic fleet had to be established to confront the Byzantine threat, to open the sea islands from which the enemy would launch, and to take them as launching bases for the invasion of Constantinople, It is the ultimate goal for Muslims.

Muawiya succeeded in persuading Othman bin Affan to ride the sea and allowed him to invade Cyprus to carry with him, his wife, his sister, daughter of Qarzah and his son, so that he knew that the sea was easy as it was portrayed for him, and he ordered him not to force people to ride with him except for those who chose the invasion willingly, and as soon as he obtained With the approval of the Caliph, Muawiyah decided to repair the boats that the Muslims seized from the Byzantines and bring them closer to the coast of the fortress of Acre, which he ordered restored. He also repaired the gulf of Tire, and wrote to the people of the coasts to prepare for the invasion of Cyprus, which he chose as a military target, for the activity of the Islamic fleet, thanks to its distinguished geographical position at the time, As a base for the conquest of Constantinople.

Muawiyah headed his first campaign on the island in the year 28 AH corresponding to the year 649 CE, and the Islamic fleet consisted of one hundred and twenty boats led by Abdullah bin Qais, and a group of companions went out with him, including Abuzer al-Ghafari, Ubadah bin al-Samit and his wife Umm Haram and al-Miqdad ibn al-Aswad and others. He was on the way to Cyprus with some Byzantine boats loaded with gifts, and the King of Cyprus sent them to Emperor Constantine II, so the Muslims seized them, and when the Islamic fleet arrived in Cyprus, it landed on its coast, and the Muslim soldiers raided its surroundings and looted many of its people, and the King of Cyprus was forced in light of his helplessness From the resistance to the request for reconciliation.

Muawiyah favored him on several conditions, which are: That the people of the island pay an annual tax amounting to seven thousand dinars, just as they pay the Byzantines like it. For the people of the island to know that the Muslims are by the moves of the Byzantines hostile to them, fourthly, to help the Muslims over the people of the island by way of them.

In fact, these conditions, imposed by Muawiya on the King of Cyprus, are modest, and it seems that he saw that the necessary conditions for stability on the island were not yet available, and that the campaign was nothing more than an exploration campaign, and a test of the strength of the Islamic navy, but military reasons pushed him to change his thinking, and that in In the year 32 AH, corresponding to 653 AD, when the people of the island helped the Byzantines in their war against the Muslims, and they gave them some boats for that, and they broke the reconciliation between them and the Muslims.

The revocation of peace caused Muawiyah to invade the island for the second time, in the year 33 AH, corresponding to 654 AD, so he opened it by force, took captivity from it, and its people approved their pacification, and deliberately Egyptianized it and settled the Muslims in it, so he sent twelve thousand of the people of the Court who subscribed to it, so they built There are mosques, as a group of people from Baalbek moved to it, and a city was built from it, and they set up giving gifts until he died.

The revocation of peace caused Muawiyah to invade the island for the second time, in the year 33 AH, corresponding to 654 AD, so he opened it by force, took captivity from it, and its people approved their pacification, and deliberately Egyptianized it and settled the Muslims in it, so he sent twelve thousand of the people of the Court who subscribed to it, so they built There are mosques, as a group of people from Baalbek moved to it, and a city was built from it, and they set up giving gifts until he died.