What role did Mu'awiyah ibn Abi-Sufyan play in the corruption of Islam?
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The History of Islam as told by the Orthodox seem to depict a downward spiral after Ali. Mu'awiyah and his descedents come across as total hedonists. Being a pagan heir in Mecca and devotee to the pre-Islamic pagan Kaaba, and then converting to Islam when left with no other choice, furthermore becoming ruler (thus re-establishing the Quraysh dominance), his rein predates the earliest hadith by heaps of years, plenty of time to exact influence over codified 'Islam'. The nationalism, racialism, political opulence, etc that appear within the hadith could all easily be motivated by Mu'awiyah's own personal interests, and subsequently the interests of the Umayyads. He sounds like a proper arab Constantine (or perhaps a cross between Constantine and Judas). Were the later scholars who defined Islam as it stands today his Council of Nicea?