'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas related that Abu Sufyan ibn Harb sent him to Heraclius, the Byzantine Emperor, and he called for the letter of the Messenger of Allah which Dihya had brought to the governor of Busra, who in turn passed it on to Heraclius. He read it out, saying, 'In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate, from Muhammad, the slave of Allah and His Messenger, to Heraclius, ruler of the Byzantines. Peace be upon the one who follows guidance. I call you to Islam. If you become Muslim, you will be safe and Allah will double your reward. If you turn away, then you incur the wrong action of your subjects. "O People of the Book! Come to a proposition which is the same for us and you (to His words) Bear witness that we are Muslims." (3:54)'"

'Ubaydullah ibn 'Abdullah said, "Mu'awiya went on his first hajj when he was the khalifa and 'Uthman ibn Hanif al-Ansari came to him and said, 'Peace be upon you, Amir, and the mercy of Allah.' The people of Syria objected to that and said, 'Who is this hypocrite who shortens the greeting of the Amir al-Mu'minin!' 'Uthman made his camel kneel and said, 'Amir al-Mu'minin! These men object to something which you know better than them. By Allah, I used to this greeting for Abu Bakr, 'Umar, and 'Uthman, and none of them objected to it.' Mu'awiya said to those of the people of Syria who had spoken, 'Take it easy! It was partly as he stated. But when the civil war engaged the people of Syria, they said, "Do not shorten the greeting of our khalifa in our presence (i.e. from Amir al-Mu'minin to Amir)." People of Madina, I will treat you as friends even though you use 'Amir" for a zakat collector.'"