At the time of the early Muslim conquests in the 630s, the principal Arab tribes in the Balqa were the Bali, the Judham, and the Lakhm. The Balqa was conquered by the Muslims under the commander Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan shortly after the capture of Damascus in late 634/early 635 and the peaceful surrender of Amman. Yazid's father Abu Sufyan owned a village in the Balqa called Biqinis. In 661, Yazid's brother Mu'awiya founded the Levant-based Umayyad Caliphate (661–750), under which the Balqa continued to prosper. Caliph Marwan I () granted the Sakun, a branch of the Kinda tribe the right to settle the Balqa in return for their support against anti-Umayyad tribes in Syria at the Battle of Marj Rahit. Several palatial residences for the Umayyad caliphs and princes were erected throughout the Balqa, including al-Mshatta, al-Ziza, Qastal, and Umm al-Walid, as well as Qusayr Amra, al-Kharane, Qasr al-Hallabat and Qasr Tuba further east along the desert fringe.