86. On the day of the conquest of Mecca
On the day of the conquest of Mecca the Prophet (S) has ordered Khalid not to fight and not to kill anyone. The Prophet (S) had said to Khalid and az-Zubayr: “Do not fight except those who will fight you.” Nevertheless Khalid fought and killed more than twenty persons from Quraysh and four persons from Huthayl. The Prophet (S) entered Mecca and saw a woman killed on the way. He asked Handhala the clerk who had killed her. He said that Khalid bin al-Waleed had killed her. The Prophet (S) ordered Handhala to follow after Khalid and to forbid him from killing any woman, child or employee. 1
87. His violence to Bani Juthayma
Once the Prophet (S) had sent Khalid with three hundred men of the Muhajireen and Ansar after the conquest of Mecca to Bani Juthayma to invite them to Islam and not to fight them. Bani Juthayma had killed Khalid’s uncle al-Fakih bin al-Mugheera before in the pre-Islamic time. When Khalid came to bani Juthayma, he said to them: “Put your arms aside because all the people have become Muslims.” When they put their arms aside, he ordered his companions to tie them and then he began to kill them. He killed a great number of them. 2
When the Prophet (S) was informed of that, he raised his hands towards the heaven and said twice: “O Allah, I am clear of what Khalid bin al-Waleed has done.” 3
Then the Prophet (S) sent Imam ‘Ali (as) to the people of Juthayma and sent with him a great amount of money and ordered him to pay them blood money. Imam ‘Ali (as) paid them their shares and some of the money remained with him. He asked them: “Is there anyone that has not taken his right?” They said: “No, there is not.” He said: “Then I give you this remainder of the money as a precaution from the Prophet (S).” When he came back, he told the Prophet (S) of what he had done. The Prophet (S) said to him: “You have done well.” 4
Abbas Mahmood al-Aqqad has mentioned this event in his book Abqariyat Umar. He has said: “The Prophet (S) sent Khalid to Bani Juthayma to invite them to Islam and not to fight them. He ordered him not to fight anyone if he saw a mosque or heard azan. Then Bani Juthayma put their arms aside after argument among them and they gave in. Khalid ordered them to be tied and then he killed many of them.
One of them, called as-Sumayda’, escaped and came to the Prophet (S). He told the Prophet (S) of what had happened and complained against Khalid. The Prophet (S) asked him: “Did anyone deny Khalid’s doing?” The man said: “Yes, a yellow medium sized man and a red tall man.” Umar, who was present, said: “O Messenger of Allah, by Allah I know them. The first one is my son (Abdullah) and the other is Salim the mawla (freed slave) of Abu Huthayfa.”
After that it appeared that Khalid had ordered everyone to kill the captives whom he had captured. Abdullah bin Umar and Salim had set free two captives that they had captured…the Messenger of Allah raised his hands towards the heaven and said: “O Allah, I am clear of what Khalid has done.”…then the Prophet (S) sent for Ali bin Abu Talib (S) and ordered him to go to Bani Juthayma with camels and money. He (Imam Ali) paid them the blood money.”
The Prophet (S) did not kill anyone for that because the killers were Muslims and the killed ones did no say: “We have become Muslims” but they said: “We have apostatized” and this statement was not clear in showing that they believed in Islam and therefore a Muslim should not be killed for an unbeliever.
On the day of al-Bitah, Khalid has committed horrible crimes against Malik bin Nuwayra and his people. We have mentioned the details in chapter one of this book. Refer to that and ponder on it to know who was responsible for those horrible crimes when the blood, the monies and the honors of the Muslims had gone in vain and when the verdicts of Allah had been annulled, His sanctities had been violated and the revolt of the revolters against Khalid had been calmed. At the head of those revolters was Umar who, when becoming the caliph, had despised Khalid and hastened to depose him immediately as mentioned by Ibnul Atheer and the other historians.
1. For more details refer to Abqariyat Umar by al-Aqqad, p.266.
2. Here Khalid was not satisfied with contradicting the order of the Prophet (S) but also he violated many basic principles of Islam. Islam has forgiven all the sins that had been committed before the advent of the mission. Allah has said: “And do not kill any one whom Allah has forbidden, except for a just cause, and whoever is slain unjustly, We have indeed given to his heir authority, so let him not exceed the just limits in slaying” (17/33).
Khalid has exceeded in shedding the blood of those people just to revenge his uncle, who was mean and who had deserved to be killed. Moreover that Khalid was not the heir of his uncle nor had he the guardianship of his uncle. His crimes on that day, although he was the Messenger of the Prophet (S) to those people, were among the worst denied doings and they were not less than his crimes on the day of al-Bitah that could not be forgotten until the Day of Resurrection.
3. Sahih of al-Bukhari, vol.3 p.48, also mentioned by Ahmad bin Hanbal in his Musnad.
4. Mentioned by Ibn Jareer in his Tareekh, Ibnul Atheer in his Tareekh and all the historians and biographers who have recorded the biography of Khalid. Ibn Abdul Birr said in his book al-Istee’ab after mentioning this story: “This is a true tradition”.
The violations of Mo’awiya
88. Joining Ziyad to Abu Sufyan (as a son)
Ziyad was an illegitimate son of Sumayya, with whom Abu Sufyan (Mo’awiya’s father) had committed adultery while she was the wife of Ubayd. When Mo’awiya became the caliph, he announced that Ziyad was the son of Abu Sufyan according to a witness offered by Abu Maryam, the vintner and the pimp. 1 The Prophet (S) had said: “The child is to the bed and the stone is to the adulteress.” 2 The Prophet (S) had also said: “He, who does something contrary to our religion, is apostate.”
It suffices us that Allah has said: “Call them by (the names of) their fathers: that is more equitable in the sight of Allah” (Qur’an 33:5).
This doing of Mo’awiya was the first doing of the pre-Islamic age that was applied openly in Islam. All the Muslims denied that but Mo’awiya did not pay any attention and he became indifferent to them. In fact he often became angry when Ziyad was not called by the name of Abu Sufyan until one of his coevals said to him: “Do you become angry when it is said that your father is chaste While you become delighted when it is said he is an adulterer?”
89. Entrusting his son Yazeed with the caliphate
Mo’awiya had entrusted his son Yazeed with the caliphate while he was yet an ignorant young boy drinking wine and playing with dogs and monkeys. He had not known anything of the religion. Yazeed was too excessive in corruption and his father Mo’awiya knew that well and he also knew well the high position of Imam Husayn (as) near Allah and His Messenger (S) and inside the hearts of the believers.
At that time there were still many of the first Muslims of the Muhajireen and the Ansar, of those who had participated in the battle of Badr and those who had participated in the homage of ar-Radhwan. Among them were many reciters of the Qur'an and many jurisprudents who were aware of the divine verdicts and the affairs of politics, the caliphate and the rule; nevertheless Mo’awiya did not pay any attention to their precedence in Islam nor to their great jihad in supporting the religion.
He made his wicked, dissolute and drunkard son as the caliph over those great companions; Yazeed that sinful and criminal dissolute who committed, a little time after being the ruler, his horrible crime in Kerbala against the master of the youths of Paradise, Imam Husayn (as), his family and his sincere companions…that crime which distressed the prophets and made the rocks cry.
Then Yazeed, according to a covenant from his father Mo’awiya,3 sent the criminal Muslim bin Aqaba to attack Medina. He committed horrible crimes against the people of Medina for three days. One thousand virgins from among the daughters of the Muhajireen and the Ansar were violated. 4 On that day ten thousand and seven hundred and eighty men of the Muhajireen, the Ansar, their offspring and the rest of the Muslims had been killed. No one of the Muslims of Badr had remained alive after this event. 5
A great number of women and children had also been killed. The soldiers pulled the suckling babies with their legs from their mothers’ laps and threw them against the walls and made their brains scatter before the eyes of their mothers. 6
Then the people of Medina were ordered to pay homage to Yazeed on condition that they were considered as slaves; whether Yazeed liked to enslave them or to set them free. The people paid homage under this condition while their monies were plundered, their bloods were shed and their women were violated. Then Muslim bin Aqaba sent the heads of the killed people of Medina to Yazeed. When the heads were thrown before Yazeed, he became delighted and he recited some verses of poetry.
After that Muslim bin Aqaba went to fight Ibn az-Zubayr, who had been paid homage as the caliph in Mecca. On his way to Mecca, Muslim bin Aqaba died. Then al-Husayn bin Numayr became the leader of the army by an order of Yazeed. He moved with his army until he arrived at Mecca. He ordered his army to set up mangonels towards Mecca. He ordered his men to throw Mecca with ten thousand stones in one day. The army blockaded Mecca for four months and kept on fighting every day until the news of Yazeed’s death came. The mangonels had hit the Kaaba and destroyed it besides the fire that had been set on it.
The horrible crimes of Yazeed from the beginning of his life until his death were more than to be included in the books or to be written down by the pens. They had deformed the face of history and blackened its pages. His father Mo’awiya always saw the dogs, monkeys, hawks and tigers of his son Yazeed, noticed his wines and corruptions, knew his horrible deeds, saw his playfulness with the beauties, knew his meanness and malice and knew well that he could not be entrusted with anything at all.
After all that how could Mo’awiya raise Yazeed to the high position of the caliphate of the Messenger of Allah, make him the ruler, the imam of the Muslims and make him control the necks of the umma?! By doing that Mo’awiya had cheated the umma whereas the Prophet (S) had said: “If a ruler, who rules some of the Muslims, cheats them, Allah will throw him into Hell.” 7
The Prophet (S) had also said: “Whoever manages some affairs of the Muslims and appoints someone out of favoritism to rule over them, Allah will curse him, will not forgive him and will put him into Hell.” 8 The Prophet (S) had also said: “If one, whom Allah has entrusted with His people, does not manage their affairs sincerely, he will never enter into Paradise.”
90. His corruption in Yemen
Once Mo’awiya had sent Bisr bin Arta’a to Yemen in the year forty A.H. to ravage there. The wali of Yemen at that time was Ubaydollah bin Abbas, who had been appointed by Imam ‘Ali (as) who was the caliph of the Muslims then. The people of Yemen were loyal and sincere to Imam ‘Ali (as). Bisr bin Arta’a subjected the people of Yemen to severe torment. He killed their men and captured their women by the order of Mo’awiya.
Refer to the books of history that have recorded the events of that year to see the horrible crimes that have committed by Bisr and his men; they have killed the old men, slain the sucklings, plundered the monies and captured the women.
Bisr had captured the women of Hamadan, who were sincere to Ahlul Bayt (as), and taken them to the market with naked legs. Whoever of them had had bigger legs (thighs) had been sold with high price. They were the first Muslim women that had been taken as captives in Islam. 9
I do not know whether these doings were more horrible and painful or his doing to the two children of Ubaydollah bin Abbas the wali of Yemen then. Ubaydollah fled from Bisr and entrusted his children to Ubaydollah bin Abd al-Mudan al-Harithy, who was the grandfather of the children (their mother’s father). Bisr killed the man among the thousands of the best Muslims he had killed in that event and killed his son too.
He began looking for the two children until he found them with a man from (tribe of) Kinana in the desert. When Bisr wanted to kill the two children, the man said to him: “Why do you kill them while they are innocent children? If you have determined to kill them, kill me before them.” Bisr killed the man and then he slaughtered the two children in front of their mother. The mother was shocked terribly and she wandered aimlessly about the desert. 10
A woman from Kinana said to Bisr when he slaughtered the children: “O you man, you have killed the men, then why did you kill these children? By Allah, no one has ever killed a child in the pre-Islamic age. O you (Bisr) bin Arta’a, by Allah a rule that is not established except by killing children and old men and by being merciless and indifferent to kinship is an evil rule.” 11 Refer to our book al-Fusool al-Muhimma to see the other horrible crimes of these criminals.
91. Killing the virtuous believers
It was great aggression and injustice that Imam Hasan (as), the master of Ahlul Bayt (as) at his time and the imam and caliph after his father Imam ‘Ali (as), had been killed by poison, which Ja’da bint al-Ash’ath had put in his food. Many true traditions had been narrated from Ahlul Bayt (as) about this fact and many historians had mentioned it in their books. Abul Hasan al-Mada’ini said: “Al-Hasan died in forty-nine A.H. when he was forty-seven years old. He was ill for forty days before his death.
Mo’awiya had asked Ja’da bint al-Ash’ath to insert poison to him. Mo’awiya said to her: “If you kill him with poison, I will give you one hundred thousand (dirhams or dinars) and I will marry you to Yazeed.” When al-Hasan (as) died, Mo’awiya gave her the money but he did not marry her to Yazeed. He said to her: “I fear that you may do to my son as you have done to the son of the Messenger of Allah.” 12
Al-Mada’ini mentioned that al-Husayn bin al-Munthir ar-Raqqashi had said: “By Allah, Mo’awiya had not given al-Hasan his due of what he has promised him at all. He killed Hijr and his companions, appointed his son Yazeed as the caliph and poisoned al-Hasan.” 13
Abul Faraj al-Isfahani said in his book Maqatil at-Talibiyeen: “Mo’awiya wanted his son Yazeed to be paid homage (of the caliphate) and nothing was more difficult to him than the matter of al-Hasan bin Ali and Sa’d bin Abu Waqqas. He inserted poison to them and they both died.”
Ibn Abdul Birr mentioned in al-Istee’ab, biography of Imam Hasan (as), that Qatada and Abu Bakr bin Hafs had said: “Ja’da bint al-Ash’ath has put poison in the food of al-Hasan bin Ali.
Some people have said that Mo’awiya had asked her to do that.” 14
People knew well what horrible crime Mo’awiya had committed in Marj Athra’ when killing the great companions of the Prophet (S); Hijr bin Adiy and his companions. He killed them because they refused to curse Imam ‘Ali (as). They were among “..those who remember Allah standing and sitting and lying on their sides and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth: Our Lord! Thou hast not created this in vain! Glory be to Thee; save us then from the chastisement of the fire” (Qur’an 3:191).
They were killed in fifty-one A.H. All the Prophet’s companions and the companions’ successors censured this crime of Mo’awiya. All the historians, who have recorded the events of that year, have detailed this event in their books.
Mo’awiya has also killed Amr bin al-Hamq al-Khuza’iy, who was one of the great companions of the Prophet (S). His head was the first head that had been carried in Islam. He had no guilt save his love to Imam ‘Ali (as), who had loved Allah and His Messenger and Allah and His Messenger had loved him.
Mo’awiya was not satisfied with killing the great believers until he killed the closest one to him himself; Abdurrahman bin Khalid bin al-Waleed, who had fought with him in Siffeen and had allied with him on the enmity of Imam ‘Ali (as) and after that Mo’awiya had sold him cheaply. He killed him for fear that people might choose him (as the caliph) instead of Yazeed. Refer to the biography of Abdurrahman in al-Istee’ab for details.
92. His bad deeds and his bad officials
If we wanted to mention all the verdicts that Mo’awiya had altered, the legal penalties he had annulled, the ordeals he had caused to people, the heresies he had invented during his reign and the unjust oppressors he had participated in his rule like al-Mugheerah bin Shu’ba, Amr bin al-Aas, Bisr bin Arta’a, Samra ibn Jundub, Marwan, Ibn as-Samt, Ziyad, Ibn Marjana, al-Waleed and their likes, who had suppressed the umma and subjected the people to severe torment by killing their men and capturing their women, we could not have enough ink and papers to mention all the terrible crimes that had been committed throughout long years of suffering. Praise be to Allah, Who has made us aware of the guidance of Ahlul Bayt (as) and the deviation of their enemies!
93. His hatred and aggression towards Ali
Mo’awiya’s hatred and aggression towards Imam ‘Ali (as) are well-known by all the peoples of the earth with their different religions, languages and colors. It is like the matter of Adam and the Satan. Here are some of the many traditions talking about loving and hating Imam ‘Ali (as) in Islam.
Salman al-Farisi said, when it was said to him “How greatly you love Ali”: “I have heard the Messenger of Allah (S) saying: “He who loves Ali, loves me and he who hates Ali, hates me.” 15
Ammar bin Yasir said: “I have heard the Prophet (S) saying to Ali: “O Ali, blessed is he who loves you and believes in you and woe unto him who hates you and disbelieves in you.” 16
Abu Sa’eed al-Khidri narrated that the Prophet (S) had said: “I swear by Him, in Whose hand my soul is. Whoever hates us, Ahlul Bayt, Allah will enter him into Hell.” 17
Abu Dharr said: “We did not know the hypocrites unless by their disbelieving in the Messenger of Allah, being late in coming to offer the prayers and by hating Ali bin Abi Talib.” 18
Ibn Abbas said: “Once the Prophet (S) looked at Ali and said: “O Ali, you are a master in this life and a master in the afterlife. Your lover is my lover and my lover is the lover of Allah. Your enemy is my enemy and my enemy is the enemy of Allah. Woe unto whoever hates you after me.” 19
Amr bin Shas al-Aslami (he was one of the Muslims who had attended the treaty of al-Hudaybiya) said: “Once I travelled with Ali to Yemen. He turned away from me in that travel until I felt angry with him. When I came back, I complained of him in the mosque and the Prophet (S) knew of that. When the Prophet (S) saw me, he gazed at me sharply. When I sat down, he said to me: “O Amr, by Allah you have hurt me.” I said: “I seek the protection of Allah if I hurt you!” He said: “Yes, you have. He who hurts Ali, hurts me.” 20
Abu Dharr narrated that the Prophet (S) had said: “O Ali, he who forsakes me, forsakes Allah and he who forsakes you, forsakes me.” 21
Al-Hafiz bin Abdul Birr said - as in Imam Ali’s biography in al-Istee’ab - that the Prophet (S) had said: “He who loves Ali, loves me. He who hates Ali, hates me. He who hurts Ali, hurts me and whoever hurts me hurts Allah.”
The Prophet (S) has said: “Why do some people hate Ali? He who hates Ali, hates me and he, who desists from Ali, desists from me. Ali is from me and I am from Ali. He has been created from my clay and I have been created from the clay of Abraham; “..offspring one from the other; and Allah is Hearing, Knowing” (3:34). O Burayda, have you not known that Ali…and he is your guardian after me.”
Some of the Prophet’s companions complained against Ali because of his strictness in the way of Allah. The Prophet (S) said: “What do you want from Ali? What do you want from Ali? What do you want from Ali? Ali is from me and I am from him and he is your guardian after me.”
Ibn Abdul Birr mentioned in al-Istee’ab (biography of Imam Ali) that some of the companions had narrated: “The Messenger of Allah said to Ali (may Allah be pleased with him): “No one loves you unless he is faithful and no one hates you unless he is hypocrite.” Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) often said: “By Allah it is the covenant of the (uninstructed) Prophet that no one loves me unless he is faithful and no one hates me unless he is hypocrite.” Muslim has mentioned this tradition in his Sahih.
The saying of the Prophet (S) “Whoever I am his guardian, here is Ali to be his guardian. O Allah, assist whoever assists him and be the enemy of whoever opposes him” has been recurrently narrated by most of the Muslims. We refer the researchers to our book Sabeel al-Mo’mineen in which we have mentioned the true traditions talking about considering loving Imam ‘Ali (as) as a main aspect of faith and hating him as a main aspect of hypocrisy.
94. Cursing Imam ‘Ali (as) in prayers
Ahlul Bayt (as) were the choice of Allah whom Allah had ordered the Muslims to pray for in all their obligatory and supererogatory prayers.
Ahlul Bayt (as) were those people whom Allah had purified from all uncleanness as He had revealed in His holy Book and with whom the Prophet (S) had challenged his enemies after the order of Allah. Allah had ordered the Muslims to love them and the Prophet (S) had imposed their guardianship on the Muslims by the order of Allah. They were one of the two weighty things that no one would deviate if keeping to and no one would be guided if deviating from.
Mo’awiya cursed Ali, Ameerul Mo'mineen, the master of the guardians, the brother of the Prophet (S), the sincerest assistant of the Prophet (S) who had striven to establish the religion, for whom the Prophet (S) had witnessed that he loved Allah and His Messenger and Allah and His Messenger loved him, who had been to the Prophet (S) as Aaron had been to Moses, who was the vizier of the Prophet (S), the imam of the umma and the father of the two grandsons of the Prophet (S) al-Hasan (as) and al-Husayn, the two masters of the youth of Paradise.
Mo’awiya not only cursed Ahlul Bayt (as); Imam Ali, al-Hasan and al-Husayn (peace be upon them) but he also cursed Abdullah bin Abbas, the scholar of the umma and the cousin of the Prophet (S). Mo’awiya cursed them although he knew well that glorifying them was one of the necessities of Islam. He cursed them although he knew well their high position near the Prophet (S). They were the family of the Prophet (S), the disciples of the mission, the ones among whom the angels and the revelation often descended and they were the source of knowledge and interpretation.
Mo’awiya was not satisfied with cursing them by himself. He ordered the people to curse Imam ‘Ali (as), the brother of the Prophet (S), the husband of Fatima az-Zahra’ (sa), the father of the infallible imams and the master of the umma. He forced the people to do that whether willingly or unwillingly and he made it as a law that cursing Imam ‘Ali (as) must be announced openly on the minbars every Friday and every Eid.
The speakers all over the Islamic countries had considered that horrible heresy as a part of the speeches of Fridays and the two Eids until the year ninety-nine A.H. when the best one of the Umayyads, Umar bin Abdul Aziz (may Allah reward him with good) cancelled it. Refer to whatever you like of the books of history to see the truth of what we have said. 22
Imam Hasan (as) had agreed with Mo’awiya on some conditions when they had made the treaty of peace between them. From among the conditions was that Mo’awiya was not to curse Imam Hasan’s father (Imam Ali) but Mo’awiya did not respond to this condition whereas he responded to the others. Then Imam Hasan (as) asked Mo’awiya not to let him hear cursing his father. Mo’awiya promised him to do that but he did not carry out his promise. 23
Mo’awiya cursed Imam ‘Ali (as) and Imam Hasan (as) from above the minbar of Kufa. Imam Husayn (as) got up to refute him but Imam Hasan (as) asked him to sit down and then Imam Hasan (as) himself got up and refuted Mo’awiya and exposed him before the people. This event has been mentioned by Abul Faraj al-Isfahani in Maqatil at-Talibiyeen and by other historians.
Mo’awiya kept on cursing Imam ‘Ali (as) and disavowing him before everyone and he forced the people to do the same. Once he ordered al-Ahnaf bin Qayss to do that but he refused 24 and he tried to incite Aqeel bin Abu Talib (Imam Ali’s brother) with money to curse Imam ‘Ali (as) but he also refused to do that.
Aamir bin Sa’d bin Abi Waqqas said: “Once Mo’awiya asked Sa’d bin Abi Waqqas: “What has prevented you from cursing Abu Turab (Imam Ali)?” Sa’d said: “Three things the Prophet (S) has said to him (Ali) that have made me not curse him at all. If I have one of them, it will be more beloved to me than the treasures of the world.
“Once the Prophet (S) left him behind in one of the battles. He asked the Prophet (S): “O Messenger of Allah, why have you left me with the women and children?” The Prophet (S) said to him: “Are you not satisfied to be to me as Aaron has been to Moses except that there will be no prophet after me?”
“Once again I have heard the Prophet (S) saying on the day of (the battle of) Khaybar: “I will give the banner to a man, who loves Allah and His Messenger and Allah and His Messenger love him.” We all looked forward to it but the Prophet (S) said: “Send for Ali!” Ali came while he was sore-eyed. The Prophet (S) spit in Ali’s eyes and gave him the banner and Allah granted him with victory.
And when this verse: “But whoever disputes with you in this matter after what has come to you of knowledge, then say: Come let us call our sons and your sons and our women and your women and our near people and your near people, then let us be earnest in prayer, and pray for the curse of Allah on the liars” (Qur’an 3:61)
was revealed, the Prophet (S) said: “O Allah, these are my family.” 25
Mo’awiya had killed Hijr bin Adiy and his companions just because they had refused to curse Imam ‘Ali (as). If they had responded to Mo’awiya in cursing Imam ‘Ali (as), Mo’awiya would have not killed them.
Refer to al-Aghani by Abul Faraj al-Isfahani, vol.16 and the events of the year fifty-one in Tareekh of Ibn Jareer and Tareekh of Ibnul Atheer to see the truth and to know that when Abdurrahman bin Hassaan al-Anzi had refused to curse Imam ‘Ali (as) in the meeting of Mo’awiya, Mo’awiya sent him to Ziyad and ordered him to kill Abdurrahman in a way that no one had ever been killed in Islam before. Ziyad had buried him while he was alive.
Mo’awiya had still kept on forcing people to curse Imam Ali (as) in every way. Some people of the Umayyads had said to him: “O Ameerul Mo'mineen (Mo’awiya), you have achieved your hopes. Would you stop cursing this man?” He said: “By Allah, I would not until children grow up and adults become old with it and until no one will mention a virtue of him.” 26
The Prophet (S) has said: “He, who curses Ali, curses me.” 27 Ahmad bin Hanbal mentioned in his Musnad 28 that Abdullah or Ubay bin Abdullah had said: “Once I came to Umm Salama and she asked me: “Is the Messenger of Allah cursed among you?” I said: “Allah Forbid! Glory be to Allah!” she said: “I have heard the Messenger of Allah saying: “He who curses Ali, (is as if he) curses me.”
Ibn Abdul Birr mentioned in al-Istee’ab, biography of Imam ‘Ali (as), that the Prophet (S) had said: “He, who loves Ali, loves me. He, who hates Ali, hates me. He, who hurts Ali, hurts me and whoever hurts me hurts Allah.” The true traditions talking about such matter are recurrent especially the traditions that have been narrated from Ahlul Bayt (as).
It is an indisputable fact that cursing a Muslim is a transgression according to the consensus of the Muslims. Muslim has mentioned in his Sahih a tradition saying that: “Cursing a Muslim is a transgression and fighting him is disbelief.”
95. His fights against Imam ‘Ali (as)
Mo’awiya marched with the rabbles of Sham to fight Imam ‘Ali (as) after the Muslims had paid homage to him as the caliph. He lit the fire of his rage and hatred and set the reigns of his tendencies free whereas Imam ‘Ali (as) invited him to return to Allah. The virtuous remainder of the first Muslims of Badr, Uhud, al-Ahzab, ar-Radhwan and a great number of the good believers were with Imam ‘Ali (as) and all of them invited to the way of Allah and to obey Ameerul Mo'mineen ‘Ali (as).
But there was deafness into Mo’awiya’s ears that he did not hear their invitation and he insisted on his oppression. He spared no effort to go on his deviation until he killed on that day a great number of the Muslims 29 that such a number had never been killed in any sedition before whereas the Prophet (S) had said: “Cursing a Muslim is transgression and fighting a Muslim is disbelief” 30 and he also had said: “If someone wants to separate your unity and scatter your gathering while you have agreed on one (leader) of you, you are to kill him.” 31
Ibn Abdul Birr said in al-Istee’ab, biography of Imam ‘Ali (as): “Some traditions have been narrated from Ali, Ibn Mas’ood and Abu Ayyoob al-Ansari that Ali has ordered his followers to fight those who had broken the homage on the day (the battle) of al-Jamal, the oppressors (Mo’awiya and his followers, the people of Sham) in Siffeen and the Kharijites in an-Nahrawan. It was also narrated that ‘Ali (as) had said: “I have found no way save to fight or to disbelieve in what Allah has revealed.”
It sufficed Imam ‘Ali (as) in his fighting against Mo’awiya that Allah has said: “And if two parties of the believers quarrel, make peace between them; but if one of them acts wrongfully towards the other, fight that which acts wrongfully until it returns to Allah's command” (Qur’an 49:9).
No doubt that Mo’awiya and his followers were oppressive and they had acted wrongfully. This had been agreed on unanimously by the umma. The Prophet (S) had warned of that beforehand. Abu Sa’eed al-Khidri said: “We carried the adobes of the mosque one by one but Ammar carried two by two. The Prophet (S) passed by him, wiped the dust away from his head and said: “Blessed is Ammar! He will be killed by the aggressive party. Ammar will invite them to Allah and they will invite him to Hell.”32
According to this tradition Mo’awiya was among the ones who had been meant by this Qur’anic verse: “And We made them Imams who call to the fire, and on the day of resurrection they shall not be assisted. And We caused a curse to follow them in this world, and on the day of resurrection they shall be of those made to appear hideous” (Qur’an 28:41-42).
They are clear texts from the holy Book of Allah and the holy Sunna of the Prophet (S). Ponder on them and you are free to decide on them. The Prophet (S) has said: “Fighting against Ali is as fighting against me and making peace with him is as making peace with me.” He has also said on the day when he has covered the five (himself, Ali, Fatima, Hasan and Husayn) with his garment: “I am a war against whoever fights them and peace to whoever makes peace with them and an enemy of whoever opposes them.”
He has also said to Imam ‘Ali (as): “O Allah, assist whoever assists him, be the enemy of whoever opposes him, support whoever supports him and disappoint whoever disappoints him” besides many other sayings like this which have been narrated by all the umma.
96. Fabricating traditions against Imam Ali
The Mu’tazilite Sheikh Abu Ja’far al-Iskafi said: “Mo’awiya has forced some companions and some successors to fabricate bad traditions about ‘Ali (as) to defame him and to lead people to disavow him. He gave them bribes for that in order to encourage the others to do the same. They fabricated what had pleased him. Among the fabricators were Abu Hurayra, Amr bin al-Aas and al-Mugheera bin Shu’ba and from among the successors was Urwa bin az-Zubayr. Az-Zuhri said that Urwa bin az-Zubayr had told him that Aa'isha had said to him: “Once I was with the Prophet (S) when al-Abbas and Ali came. The Prophet (S) said to me: “O Aa'isha, these two men will die on other than my religion.”
Abdurrazaq narrated that Ma’mar had said: “Az-Zuhri had two traditions narrated by Urwa from Aa'isha about ‘Ali (as). One day I asked him about them. He said to me: “What do you have to do with them (Urwa and Aa'isha) and their traditions? Allah is more aware of them and of their traditions. I suspect them when they talk about the Hashemites.” As for the first tradition, we have mentioned it and as for the other one, Urwa pretended that Aa'isha had said to him: “Once I was with the Prophet (S) when al-Abbas and Ali came. The Prophet (S) said: “O Aa'isha, if you like to see two men of Hell, you can look at these two coming ones.” I looked and I saw that they were al-Abbas and Ali bin Abu Talib.”
As for Amr bin al-Aas, he said - as mentioned by al-Bukhari and Muslim in their Sahihs: “I have heard the Messenger of Allah saying: “The (members of the) family of Abu Talib are not my guardians. My guardian is Allah and the good believers.”
As for Abu Hurayra, he narrated that ‘Ali (as) had become engaged to the daughter of Abu Jahl during the life of the Messenger of Allah (S) and he made him angry. The Messenger of Allah made a speech on the minbar and said: “By Allah, the daughter of the guardian of Allah (Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet) can never gather together with the daughter of the enemy of Allah, Abu Jahl. Fatima is a piece of me. Whatever hurts her hurts me. If Ali wants to marry the daughter of Abu Jahl, he has to be away from my daughter and then let him do whatever he likes.”
This tradition has also been mentioned in Sahih of Muslim and Sahih of al-Bukhari narrated by al-Musawwir bin Makhrama az-Zuhri as mentioned by al-Murtadha in his book Tanzeeh al-Anbiya’ wel-A’immah. He said that it had been narrated by Husayn al-Karabeesi, who had been known of his deviation from Ahlul Bayt (as) and of his enmity towards them and so his traditions could not be accepted.
Abu Ja’far added: “Al-A’mash said: “When Abu Hurayra came to Iraq with Mo’awiya in the year of (Jama’a), he came to the mosque of Kufa. When he saw that many people had come to receive him, he knelt on his knees and hit his head with his hand many times and said: “O people of Iraq, you pretend that I fabricate the sayings of Allah and His apostle to be in Hell. I swear by Allah that I have heard the Prophet (S) saying: “Every apostle had a sanctum. My sanctum is Medina. Whoever spoils in Medina, will be cursed by Allah, the angels and all the people.” I swear by Allah that Ali has spoiled in it!” When Mo’awiya heard him saying that, he endorsed him, rewarded him and made him the wali of Medina.” 33
Sufyan ath-Thawri narrated from Abdurrahman bin Qasim that Umar bin Abdul Ghaffar had said: “When Abu Hurayra came to Kufa with Mo’awiya, he sat at the gate of Kinda in the night and people sat around him. One day a young man from Kufa - he might be al-Asbagh bin Nabata - came and said to him: “O Abu Hurayra, I ask you , by Allah, if you have heard the Prophet (S) saying to Ali bin Abu Talib: “O Allah, support whoever supports him and be the enemy of whoever opposes him.” Abu Hurayra said: “Yes, I have.” The young man said: “I swear by Allah that you have supported his enemies and opposed his assistants.” Then he left.” 34
In short, Mo’awiya spared no effort and let no way unless he walked in to do wrong to Imam ‘Ali (as).
“Those who do wrong will come to know by what a (great) reverse they will be overturned” (Qur’an 26:227).
97. Breaking the promises he had given to Imam Hasan (as)
Mo’awiya invited Imam Hasan (as) to peace and Imam Hasan (as) responded to him unwillingly because responding to the peace with Mo’awiya was the less one of the two evils and the easier of the two expected dangers 35 especially after Mo’awiya had accepted the conditions of Imam Hasan (as) and promised him before Allah that he would keep to them and he announced that in Iraq and Sham.
Many historians 36 mentioned that Mo’awiya had sent a blank paper with his seal on its bottom to Imam Hasan (as) and wrote to him: “Write down your conditions as you like in this blank paper which I have sealed.”
He sent his letter and the blank paper to Imam Hasan (as) with Abdullah bin Aamir. Imam Hasan (as) did not want to write down his conditions with his own handwriting. He dictated them to Abdullah bin Aamir and Abdullah wrote them down as Imam Hasan had dictated them. Then Mo’awiya wrote all that with his own handwriting, sealed it with his seal and certified it with promises and binding oaths. He made the people of Sham witness it and then he gave it to Abdullah bin Aamir to deliver it to Imam Hasan (as). 37
Mo’awiya enclosed the treaty with his saying “On Mo’awiya bin Abu Sufyan is the covenant and the oath of Allah and the faithfulness that Allah has ordered His people to keep to as He has bound Himself with.”
But Mo’awiya was indifferent to the treaty and he did not carry out any of its conditions. He put the promises and the oaths under his feet. He cursed Imam ‘Ali (as) and Imam Hasan (S) at the presence of Imam Hasan (as) and Imam Husayn (as) in the mosque of Kufa which was full of the crowds of people who had come to celebrate the treaty of peace. 38
Then his policy kept on gushing out with all what contradicted the holy Qur'an and the Sunna. He committed every denied thing in Islam. He killed the virtuous believers, violated the honors, plundered the wealth, imprisoned the free people, exiled the reformers and appointed the vicious and evil people as the viziers of his state such as Amr bin al-Aas, al-Mugheera bin Shu’ba, Ibn Sa’eed, Bisr bin Arta’a, Samra bin Jundub, Ibn as-Samt, Marwan bin al-Hakam the deviate and the son of the deviate, Ibn Murjana, al-Waleed bin Aqaba and Ziyad bin Sumayya, whom he had deprived of his legal father and ascribed him to his adulterer father Abu Sufyan and made him his brother to impose him on the Shia in Iraq to subject them to severe torment, to kill their men, capture their women, scatter them here and there, plunder their monies, burn their houses and to spare no effort in wronging them to support Mo’awiya in being loyal to carry out the conditions of his treaty with Imam Hasan (as)!!!
Mo’awiya had ended his horrible crimes with poisoning Imam Hasan (as) in order to pave the way for the rule of his drunkard son, who, later on, committed terrible crimes and brought fearful disasters to Medina, Mecca and Kerbala in every day of his life, which he had spent in fighting Allah and His Messenger (S).
We resort to Allah and pray Him to make us free from Yazeed and from the one who has made him control the necks of the Muslims “Certainly you have made an abominable assertion whereby almost the heavens are torn, and the earth is split asunder and the mountains fall in ruins” (Qur’an 19:89-90).
1. Al-Mukhtasar by Ibn Shuhna.
2. It means that the illegitimate child is to be ascribed to the husband, on whose bed his wife has committed adultery, while the adulterous wife must be stoned.
3. Ibn Jareer at-Tabari in his Tareekh, vol.7 p.63, Ibn Abd Rabbih in al-Iqd al-Fareed, vol. 2 when mentioning the event of al-Harrah. Neither Yazeed nor his father had paid any attention to the saying of the Prophet (S) “Whoever frightens Medina Allah will frighten him and the curse of Allah, the angels and all the people will be on him. Allah will not forgive him on the Day of Resurrection.” Mentioned by Ahmad bin Hanbal in his Musnad, vol.4.
4. Tareekh al-Khulafa’ by as-Sayooti. Ibn at-Taqtaqi said in his book at-Tareekh al-Fakhri, p.107: “…it has been said that after this event when a daughter wanted to get married, her father could not guarantee her virginity and he said that she might have been violated during the event of al-Harrah.” Ash-Shabrawi said in his book al-Ithaf, p.66: “…in this event about one thousand virgins were violated and about one thousand women, who had had no husbands, became pregnant.” Ibn Khillikan said in his Wafiyyatul A’yan when mentioning this event: “Yazeed bin Mo’awiya, during his rule, has sent an army under the leadership of Muslim bin Aqaba to Medina. The army plundered Medina and drove its people to al-Harrah where the event took place. Many horrible crimes were committed by Muslim bin Aqaba and his army…it has been said that after this event of al-Harrah more than one thousand virgins of Medina became pregnant because of libertinism that had spread by the army of Yazeed.”
5. Ibn Qutayba in his book al-Imama wes-Siyasa and other historians.
6. Al-Imama wes-Siyasa by Ibn Qutayba, p.200.
7. Sahih of al-Bukhari, vol.4 p.155, Sahih of Muslim, vol.1 p.67.
8. Musnad of Ahmad, vol.1 p.6.
9. Al-Istee’ab by Ibn Abdul Birr, biography of Bisr.
10. Tareekh of Ibnul Atheer, al-Istee’ab of Ibn Abdul Birr.
11. Tareekh of Ibnul Atheer.
12. Sharh Nahjul Balagha, vol. 4 p.4.
13. Sharh Nahjul Balagha, vol. 4 p.70.
14. Ibid. vol.4 p.17.
15. Al-Hakim mentioned it in his Mustadrak, vol.3 p.130 and said that it was a true tradition according to the conditions of al-Bukhari and Muslim but they had not mentioned it in their Sahihs. Ath-Thahabi mentioned it in his Talkhees al-Mustadrak and said that it was a true tradition.
16. Mustadrak of al-Hakim, vol.3 p.135.
17. Ibid. vol.3 p.150, Talkhees al-Mustadrak by ath-Thahabi.
18. Mustadrak of al-Hakim, vol
19. Al-Hakim mentioned it in his Mustadrak, vol.3 p.128 and said that it was a true tradition according to the conditions of al-Bukhari and Muslim. Ath-Thahabi mentioned it in his Talkhees al-Mustadrak and said that all its narrators were trusted.
20. Mustadrak of al-Hakim, vol.3 p.122, Talkhees al-Mustadrak of ath-Thahabi.
21. Mustadrak of al-Hakim, vol.3 p.124.
22. Refer to the speech of the interpreters of Nahjul Balagha when mentioning the saying of Imam ‘Ali (as) “After me a man with a big throat and a large abdomen will appear to you. He will order you to curse me and to disavow me…” Refer to Sharh Nahjul Balagha, vol. 1 p.463 and the later pages to see the wonders.
23. Ibnul Atheer in Al-Kamil, Ibn Jareer in Tareekh al-Umam wel-Mulook, Abul Fida’ and Ibn al-Shuhna.
24. Mentioned by Abul Fida’ when talking about the events of the year 67 AH.
25. Sahih of Muslim, al-Khasa’is al-Alawiyya by an-Nassa’iy, Sahih of at-Tarmithi, al-Jam’ bayn as-Sahihayn, al-Jam’ bayn as-Sihah as-Sittah.
26. Sharh Nahjul Balagha, vol. 1 p.463.
27. Mustadrak of al-Hakim.
28. Vol.6 p.323.
29. Among the killed ones were many of the great companions of the Prophet (S).
30. Sahih of al-Bukhari, vol. 4 p.147, Sahih of Muslim, vol.1 p.44.
31. Sahih of Muslim.
32. Sahih of al-Bukhari, vol.2 p.93, vol.1 p.61.
33. Sharh Nahjul Balagha, vol. 1 p.358.
34. Sharh Nahjul Balagha, vol. 1 p.360.
35. Refer to the introduction of Sulh al-Hasan by Sheikh Radhy aal Yaseen.
36. Like Ibn Jareer in Tareekh al-Umam wel-Mulook, vol.6 p.93 and Ibnul Atheer in his Tareekh, vol.3 p.162.
37. Al-Imamah wes-Siyasa by Ibn Qutayba, p.200.
38. Mo’awiya surprised the people with this slighting and indifference to them, to the religion, to the Prophet (S) and to the Lord of the worlds but this impudence did not affect the patience and the great personality of Imam Hasan (as) who ascended the minbar and declared the truth and its people and exposed the untruth and its people. Refer to Sulh al-Hasan by Sheikh Radhy aal Yaseen, p.279-282.
88. Joining Ziyad to Abu Sufyan (as a son)
89. Entrusting his son Yazeed with the caliphate
90. His corruption in Yemen
91. Killing the virtuous believers
92. His bad deeds and his bad officials
93. His hatred and aggression towards Ali
94. Cursing Imam ‘Ali (as) in prayers
95. His fights against Imam ‘Ali (as)
96. Fabricating traditions against Imam Ali
97. Breaking the promises he had given to Imam Hasan (as)
