Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - Bayanai game da rayuwar farko da aikin Musulmi ba su da yawa. Wataƙila an haife shi kafin Hijira a 622, farkon kalandar Islama. Shi ɗan wani Uqba ne na Banu Murra, reshe na ƙabilar Larabawa na Ghatafan. Mai yiwuwa Musulmi ya koma Siriya daga Arabiya yayin mamayar Musulmi na yankin a cikin 630s. Ya zama mai goyon bayan kungiyar Umayyad na gwamnan lardin, Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan. A lokacin yakin basasa na Musulmi na farko
, Musulmi ya yi fice a kan jagorancin rundunar sojojin Siriya a cikin sojojin Mu'awiya a yakin Siffin a Upper Mesopotamia a kan Halifa Ali (656<unk>661) da magoya bayansa. Koyaya, bai sami ikon kwace iko daga na biyun na oasis na Dumat al-Jandal a arewacin Arabiya ba a lokacin yaƙi na gaba. Lokacin da Mu'awiya ya zama khalifa a shekara ta 661, ya ba wa Musulmi babban matsayi na mai karɓar harajin ƙasa a Falasɗinu, kodayake an san cewa bai yi amfani da wannan matsayin don wadatar kansa ba. Daga baya, lokacin da Mu'awiya ke kan gadon mutuwarsa, ya sanya Musulmi da gwamnan Damascus, al-Dahhak ibn Qays al-Fihri, masu mulki har sai dansa da zaɓaɓɓen magaji, Yazid I ((680<unk>683), ya koma Siriya daga fagen yaƙi da Byzantines a Anatolia.