Ziyad ibn Abi Sufyan was adopted by Abu Sufyan and was born in Ta'if (in what is now Saudi Arabia) to a member of the Banu Fuqaim, of unknown parentage, due to the promiscuity of his mother. The Umayyad Mu`awiyah Sufyan, governor at Damascus, opposed Ali's rule and repeatedly tried to lure his kinsman Ziyad to his camp. In 659 CE,Caliph Ali sent Ziad ibn Abi Sufyan to suppress a Persian rebellion in Estakhr. Ziad succeeded at this and stayed on as governor. In 661 Ali was assassinated and Mu`awiyah succeeded as Caliph. In 662, he sent Mughira, his governor at Kufa, to Istakhr to recall Ziyad to Damascus and Ziyad obeyed.