Muslims established their first navy seventeen years after the death of the Prophet Muhammad (in June 632). As these early Muslims consolidated their Arabian holdings, eventual conflict came about against the Byzantine Empire who controlled parts of northern Arabia. War raged between the rising power of the Arabs and the, at the time, the decadent power of the Byzantines (they would come to see a revival around the 10th and 11th centuries). Since the Eastern Roman Empire held many Mediterranean islands, the Muslims thought it strategically important to take some of these bases. While the Umayyad dynasty remained in power, the Arab-Byzantine wars spanned three continents with the Mediterranean serving as a major front. Even after the Abbasids reduced Umayyad holdings to the Iberian Peninsula, the latter dynasty still made occasional campaigns in the Mediterranean. Often at times tension between the Berbers and the Arabs in North Africa hindered more successful campaigning in the region during this period.
| 649 | Caliph Uthman's reign establishes Islam's first naval force: Muawiyah ibn Abu Sufyan-governor of Syria, Palestine, and Jordan--dispatches a fleet of 500 ships under Abdullah ibn Qays Harthi to conquer Cyprus. During Uthman's reign, Muslim armies expand deeper into North Africa, Asia Minor, and Central Asia. |
| 652 | Muawiyah dispatches his namesake Muawiyah ibn Khudayj on the Muslims' first raid against Byzantine Sicily. Despite having an alliance with Gregory, the Byzantine governor in North Africa, the Muslim flotilla doesn't make much headway aside from some loot and captives. |
| 653 | Muslim led by Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan control Cyprus. Umm Haram dies. She took part in the battle of Cyprus. She fell off her mount after the victory and was buried in Cyprus. |
| 654 | Muslims raid the island of Rhodes. |
| 667 | Abdullah ibn Qays leads the Umayyad fleet on another expedition against Sicily. It returns with some jewel-studded icons of silver and gold. A possibility exists of follow-up campaigns against the island by Abdullah in 668 or 669. |
| 672 | Muslims occupy Rhodes |
| 674 | Muslims wrest part of the island of Crete. |
| 697 | Byzantine and Berber refugees from North Africa flee to Sicily following the Muslim conquest of Carthage. Sicily becomes a base from which the defeated lead attacks against the Muslims. Due to its strategic position in the Mediterranean and its ownership by the enemy (Byzantium), Sicily –since the initial attacks in 652–becomes a focal point of attacks from the Muslim forces. |
| 704 | Musa ibn Nusayr, the Umayyad's governor of North Africa, sends his son on campaigns against the Mediterranean islands of the Balearics, Sicily, and Sardinia. |
| 710 | Musa sends an expedition against Sardinia. |
| 711 | Muslims attack Byzantine Sardinia. An account by Ibn Athîr relates that due to the atrocities committed by the Muslims, a storm destroyed many ships on the return voyage. |
| 727 | Bishr ibn Safwan leads a Muslim force from North Africa against Sicily. |
| 728 | Ubayda ibn Abd al-Rahman, successor to Bishr, dispatches Uthman ibn Abu Ubayda to head a campaign against Sicily. |
| 729 | Ubayda sends Mustanir ibn al-Harith on another attack against Sicily. |
| 730 | From Syria, a Muslim force raids Sicily. |
| 732 | Abd al-Malik ibn Qatan raids Sicily. Abdallah ibn Ziyad leads a Muslim attack on Sardinia. |
| 733 | Byzantines use Greek fire to defeat a Muslim attack on Sicily led by Abu Bakr ibn Suwayd. |
| 734 | Ubaydullah ibn Habhad, governor in North Africa, sends an unsuccessful attack against Sicily. |
| 735 | Ubaydullah ibn Habhad dispatches an attack against Sardinia. |
| 740 | Ubaidallah ibn al-Habhâb, governor in Africa, calls off a siege of Syracuse, Sicily, upon payment of tribute. The expedition, under Habib ibn Abu Ubayda, designed to conquer the island has to be delayed due to a Berber revolt in North Africa. |
| 753 | Abd al-Rahman, son of Habib ibn Abu Ubayda, sends his brother Abdullah on what is to be the most successful Muslim expedition against Sicily to date. Like the one in 740, this too must be called off on account of a revolt in North Africa. The Byzantines take advantage of the distracted Muslims and refortify their position in the Mediterranean making them safe from Muslim attack. |
| 798 | Muslims invade the Balearic Islands. |
| 800 | Ibrahim I ibn al-Aghlab, a former officer in the Abbasid army, begins his reign as Emir in Ifriqiyya (Tunisia). Members of his dynasty (the Aghlabids) will become major players on the Mediterranean scene. |
| 810-820 | Muslims attack Sardinia, Corsica, etc.; they occupy the Balearic Islands, Nice and parts of Southern Italy. |
| 812 | Abul Abbas Abdullah I becomes the next Aghlabid ruler. |
| 813 | Aghlabid ruler Abul Abbas Abdullah I concludes a ten-year peace treaty with Gregory, the Byzantine patrician of Sicily. Pope Leo III lets Charlemagne know that Muslim emissaries sailing to Sicily are using Venetian boats. |
| 817 | Aghlabid emir in Tunis, Ziyadat-Allah I, begins his reign. |
| 818 | Umayyads control the islands of Corsica, Izira, Majorca, and Sardinia. |
| 819 | Muhammad ibn Abdullah bin al-Aghlab commands a Muslim expedition from North Africa against Sicily. |
| 825 | The rebels who were defeated by al-Hakam in 814 conquer Crete with the support of Egypt. |
