Introduction
The topic that we present concerns the character of Yazeed ibn Mu'awiya. Whilst many would feel that this topic serves no purpose since all Muslims are aware of Yazeed's notorious character and heinous deeds, one should know that in recent years the increased influence and infiltration of Salafi and Nasibi minds into the Sunni consciousness has led to a sudden turnaround in the way that many ordinary Sunnis tend to view Yazeed.
If in the past the common Sunni would curse and condemn Yazeed, today voices shaped by influential Nasibi Shaykhs have led to Sunnis becoming confused on this topic. Some have adopted a code of silence, refusing to pass judgement on Yazeed, which is exactly what these Nasibi want; others have joined hands with these Nasibi wherein they have:
Openly advocated support for Yazeed's reign, deeming it legitimate
Rejected the notion that Imam Husayn's opposition was a battle between truth and falsehood.
Deemed Imam Husayn (as) a rebel (astaghfirullah)
Extolled Yazeed as a man of noble character
Denied his role in killing Imam Husayn (as)
Vigorously opposed cursing Yazeed
The true inspiration of the Nasibis is, unlike that of most Sunnis, a deep-seated resentment and hatred of the Ahlulbayt (family of the Holy Prophet (saws)). Numerous proofs of this exist on this website already. In this article we have decided to analyse the Nasibi appraisals for Yazeed. Whilst the focus of this article are the comments of Azam Tariq, and his passionate defence of Yazeed on the Haq,
Char Yaar Website, we also felt it imperative to clump these comments with similar comments of writers on Ansar.Org who are also trying to falsely portray themselves as warriors of Ahl'ul Sunnah.
Although we had rebutted some comments on Yazeed in our article on Mu'awiya we did not focus on the specific issue of Yazeed, who was in popular Muslim belief the most vile leader of Muslims ever. Hence the decision was taken to dedicate a separate and detailed rebuttal to this beloved Imam of the Nasibi movement.
Was there an ijma in Yazeed's Khilafath?
Kr-hcy.com states: ALL THE MUSLIM CITIZENS INCLUDING THE THEN LIVING SAHABA WITH THE EXCEPTION OF HAZRAT HUSAYN AND ABDULLAH BIN ZUBAIR SWORE ALLEGIANCE TO YAZID. WHEN HAZRAT HUSAYN DECIDED TO GO FROM MAKKAH TO KUFA WHERE THE PEOPLE WERE CONSTANTLY INVITING HIM FOR BAYT (OATH OF ALLEGIANCE) HIS CLOSE ASSOCIATES AND WELL-WISHERS LIKE ABDULLAH BIN UMAR, HAZRAT ABU SAEED KHUDRI, HAZRAT ABU DARDA, HAZART ABDULLAH BIN ABBASS, HAZART MUHAMMAD BIN ABU HANIFA ETC.
TRIED TO PERSUADE HIM NOT TO UNDERTAKE THIS JOURNEY AS IT WAS FULL OF RJSKS AND HAZARADS. THEY WERE HOWEVER, NOT SUCCESSFUL IN THEIR ATTEMPT AND HAZART HUSAYN PROCEEDED ON HIS MISSION OF REFORMATION CONCEIVED ON THE BASIS OF HIS OWN IJTEHAD.
Mu'awiya planned the succession of Yazeed for seven years We read in Iqd al Fareed Volume 2 page 247 Dhikr Mu'awiya:
"Mu'awiya spent seven years seeking to galvanise the people's minds towards giving bayya to Yazeed and he rewarded those that ascribed to his views. He [Mu'awiya] tried to get closer to those that opposed this purpose [to intimidate them]".
Mu'awiya appointed Mugheera bin Shuba to carry through his objective of intimidation As evidence we shall rely on the following texts of Ahl'ul Sunnah:
Al Bidayah wa al Nihaya Volume 8 page 79 The events of 56 Hijri
Tarrekh al Kamil Voilume 3 page 252 The events of 56 Hijri
Tareekh Ibn Khaldun Volume 3 page 16
Tareekh al Khulafa page 205 Dhikr Mu'awiya
Al Imama wa al Siyasa page 152
Nasa al Kafiya page 38
For the sake of brevity we shall cite al Bidaya
"Mu'awiya made plans to remove Mugheera bin Shuba from his post of Governor of Kufa and replace him with Sa'eed bin Aas. When Mugheera caught wind of his intention, he arrived in Damascus and said to Yazeed bin Mu'awiya 'Your father should appoint you as khalifah after him'. When Yazeed asked Mu'awiya if this was indeed the case, he replied 'Who said this to you?' He [Yazeed] said Mugheera bin Shuba.
This recommendation pleased Mu'awiya immensely; he kept Mugheera in post, and ordered him to drum up support for giving bayya to Yazeed. Upon his return to Kufa, Mugheera employed his trickery to secure the bayya for Yazeed". Mu'awiya set the wheels in motion and wanted people to give bayya to Yazeed.
It is critical to note that in doing so Mu'awiya was breaching the terms of the treaty that had been reached with Imam Hassan (as), namely that Mu'awiya would NOT appoint a successor after him and that the succession to the khilafat would return to the Imams of the Shia i.e. Al-Hassan (as) and after him his successor Al-Hussain (as). Mu'awiya is thus in breach of a solemn oath he took not to make the khilafat a monarchy by appointing his own son as Crown Prince.
Imam Hassan (as) made peace to avoid bloodshed
This issue is fundamentally tied up with the forced abdication of Al-Hassan (as) as khalifa in the face of Muawiya's rebellion against Imam Hassan (as)'s lawful and noble khilafat. Al-Hassan (as)'s is deemed by Jalal-ud-din Suyuti in his established Sunni account of the khilafat the fifth rightly guided khalifa, and while most Sunnis have not heard this he ruled for six months and was by their scholars rightly guided.
For this section we shall focus on the following texts of Ahl'ul Sunnah:
Irshad al Sari Sharh Bukhari Volume 1 page 198 Bab ul Fitan
Umdah thul Qari fi Sharh Bukhari Volume 11 page 361 Kitab al Fitan
Murqaath Sharh Mishqat Volume 11 page 379
Al Istiab Volume 1 page 370
For the sake of brevity we shall cite al Irshad:
"Imam Hasan did not abdicate on account of any bribe / wordly gain or weakness; rather he made peace so as to avoid fitnah and bloodshed."
Mu'awiya had agreed that the Khilafat would
return to Imam Hasan (as) when he died
This is undeniable and is testified to, amongst numerous other Sunni works, in:
Fathul Bari fin Sharh Bukhari Volume 3 page 65 Kitab al Fitan
Mirqat Sharh Mishqat Volume 11 page 38 Bab Manaqib Ahl'ul Bayt
Al Bidayah wa al Nihaya Volume 8 page 80 events of 57 Hijri
Hayaath al Haywaan Volume 1 page 53 Dhikr Khilafa
Tareekh Khamees Volume 2 page 29 Dhikr Hasan
Al Imama wa al Siyasa page 18 Sulh Hasan
Al Istiab Volume 1 page 370 Dhikr Hasan
For the sake of brevity we shall cite al Bidaya:
"At the time of the peace treaty, Mu'awiya agreed that the khilafat would return to Hasan when he died"
In Fathul Bari we read:
"At the time that the peace treaty was agreed Hasan stated that 'I have made this treaty on the condition that after Mu'awiya I succeed as Khalifa'.
The fact that Mu'awiya wanted to make Yazeed his successor was hugely embarrassing for him, since this contravened the peace treaty and hence the better option would be to remove Imam Hasan (as) (this has been discussed in our article on Mu'awiya). In the meantime Mu'awiya's flagrant breach of the treaty continued. This is an embarrassment for the Nasibis as this treaty and its terms are not controversial and accepted by all. Thus the Nasibis might claim that this happened after Imam Hasan (as) was martyred but the fact is
Mu'awiya sought to secure the bayya for
Yazeed whilst Imam Hasan was alive
We readAl Imama wa al Siyasa page 155 Dhikr bayya Yazeed
"An Iraqi tribal chief said to Mu'awiya 'As long as Hasan is alive the people of Iraq and Hijaz shall not give bayya to Yazeed."
Mu'awiya had potential successor and rival
Abdur Rahman bin Khalid poisoned
We read in al IstiabVolume 2 page 400
:
"Mu'awiya said to the people of Syria, 'I want to appoint a successor over you and need your advice'. The people liked Abdul Rahman bin Khalid, but Mu'awiya could not tolerate this, since his intention was to appoint Yazeed [his own son] as his successor. After this Abdul Rahman became ill and he [Mu'awiya] asked his Jewish physician Ibn Athaal to give him poison to drink. The physician then administered this poison to Abdul Rahman".
This Abdul Rahman was the son of Khalid bin Waleed, and he was Mu'awiya's general in Siffeen. Mu'awiya was willing to shed his blood to secure the transition of power to his son. While we the Shia have nothing but contempt for Khalid bin Waleed for reasons discussed elsewhere (he murdered a Muslim general during the khilafat of Abu Bakr so as to marry the general's beautiful wife, and prior to this had murdered thousands of
innocent Shias in the Yemen), Khalid is hailed as a great champion of the khilafat and a hero by the Sunnis.
The opposition of the family of Abu Bakr towards Mu'awiya's plans
We read inal Baidayah wa al Nihaya Volume 8 page 89
:
"Mu'awiyah wrote to Marwan [who was of the same Umayyad tribe as Uthman, Abu Sofyan, Mu'awiya and Yazeed] and told him to get the people of Madina to give bayya to Yazeed. When Marwan entered into discussions with the tribe of Salim, Abdul Rahman ibn Abu Bakr stated 'In the same way that one king nominates another king to succeed him; one Umayyad is seeking to appoint another Umayyad to succeed him'. Marwan then told Abdul Rahman to be silentwhen Abdul Rahman refused to give bayya to Yazeed, Mu'awiya sent Abdul Rahman one thousand dirhams.
Abdul Rahman replied 'Do you expect me to sell my religion for dinars?" Imam of Ahl'ul Sunnah Mahmud Abu Riyyah in his excellent Shaykh al Mudira page 168 states that Mu'awiya used force to secure bayya for Yazeed and discretely splayed with poison those that he could not bribe "Even if that meant using methods such as poison, he used this method that led to the deaths of Hasan, Abdul Rahman bin Abu Bakr and Abdul Rahman bin Khalid".
Whilst Nasibis such as Ansar have no love for Ahl'ul Bayt (as) we would at least urge them to look at the case of the son of Abu Bakr, the natural brother of Ayesha and brother in law of Rasulullah (s). Anyone who has the slightest love for Abu Bakr should have nothing to do with Mu'awiya.
Mu'awiya even killed Hadhrath Ayesha so as to secure the bayya for his sonWe read in Ahl'ul Sunnah's authoritative work Habeeb as Sayyar Volume page 58:
"In 56 Hijri Mu'awiya arrived in Madina to get people to give bayya to Yazeed, in this regard (the bayya) Ayesha became upset with Mu'awiya and openly expressed her discontent. Mu'awiya then instructed an acquaintance to dig a hole, cover it up and place a chair on the top of it and invite Ayesha to the house for a dinner. No sooner had Ayesha settled down on the chair that she fell through the hole that had been dug. Mu'awiya order the hole to be covered, he then made his way from Madina to Makka".
Ayesha is the mother of the believers and no momin would ever contemplate killing his mother. This legitimate bayyah that these Nasibi like singing about cannot be deemed to be the correct by anyone that has love for Ayesha in his heart. To secure this bayya, Mu'awiya murdered the son and daughter of Abu Bakr, he killed Imam Hassan (as), Sa'd bin Abi Waqqas and Abdur Rahman bin Khalid.
Is there really any ground to deem an ijma that involved the murder of these prominent personalities? If this is still deemed ijma then we would like to counter this by stating that Uthman was also killed by the ijma of the people, do you accept this ijma? Contradictions abound in Sunni Islam, really harsh ones that only those of the attitude 'I was born into a Sunni family and will die a Sunni' can accept.
The family of Umar's opposition towards the bayya of Yazeed
We read inFathul Bari Volume 13 page 80
:
"Mu'awiya asked Abdullah ibn Umar to give bayya to Yazeed. Mu'awiya then sent 100,000 dirhams to Abdullah ibn Umar, he refused to accept this. He then sent a treasure chest to Hifa with the message that he gives bayya. Ibn Umar said 'These dirhams are because he is chasing bayya'
The family of Uthman's opposition towards the bayya of Yazeed and Mu'awiya's use of bribery to secure compliance
We read inal Imama was al Siyasa Volume 2 page 184
:
"At the time that bayya was being given to Yazeed, Uthman's son Sa'eed approached Mu'awiya, and said 'Commander of Syria, on what grounds are you making Yazeed your successor, and why are you ignoring me? After highlighting some of his own faults he [Sa'eed] then said 'If you object to making me the khalifa then at least give something to me'. Mu'awiya said 'I'll give you the province of Khurasan. Sa'eed accepted and recited a eulogy 'Even if may father Uthman were alive he would not give me as much as Mu'awiya just did'.
We read in Tareekh ibn Asakir Volume 6 page 159 Dhikr Saeed bin Uthman:
"The people of Medina liked Saeed bin Uthman disliked Mu'awiya. At the time of the bayya to Yazeed, Sa'eed came to Mu'awiya, and Mu'awiya asked him 'My brother's son why did the people say what they say?' Saeed replied by citing a Madinan poem 'Verily by Allah, Yazeed is not deserving of khilafat, after Mu'awiya our leader is Sa'eed'. Saeed then said 'Which part of this poem offended you?' Sa'eed then began to highlight his own faults saying 'Sa'eed is mischievous and witty'. Mu'awiya sought to resolve the matter by sending him 100,000 dirhams and appointing him as Governor over Khurusan".
Abu Sulaiman is chanting that his Imam Yazeed obtained the ijma of the Sahaba. The fact is, in the first instance the leading families of Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman wore opposed to the khilafat of Yazeed, and Mu'awiya secured their consent via political assassination, intimidation and bribery. Only the family of Ali (as) refused to be bought, and around them rallied the last sincere companions, who were killed by Yazeed when they rallied to the side of Husayn (as) at Karbala.
Marwan's opposition towards the bayya of Yazeed and Mu'awiya's use of bribery to secure his complianceWe read in al Imama wa al Siyasa Voume 1 page 164, Bayya Yazeed:
"At the time that bayya was given to Yazeed, Marwan became perturbed, he reached Damascus and began to outline his own personal merits such as his age [experience over Yazeed]. Mu'awiya then gave Marwan a 1000 dinar reward."
That did the trick and shut him up, Marwan was also on board now! We read inMuruj al Dhahab Volume 3 page 38
:
"When bayya was administered to Yazeed, Marwan became concerned and went to Damascus, and began to cite his own merits citing his age. Mu'awiya calmed him down and said 'After my successor, the Khilafat shall go to you'. Yazeed then appointed Marwan as his successor and sent him back to Medina"
That's right Yazeed, keep the khilafat in the family.
The opposition of the Arab tribes to the bayya of Yazeed
We read inThalkhees ibn Asakir Volume 5 page 92 Dhikr Khalida bin al Mu'ammar
"When the Commander of Syria [Mu'awiya] initiated his desire [to appoint Yazeed] the tribe of Rabia opposed this and the tribe of Abid al Qays joined them (i.e. refused to give bayya). The tribe of Barr bin Wa'l and the tribe of Khalid bin al Mu'ammar also joined in opposition. When the tribe of Rabia refused to give bayya other Arab tribes followed suit. This perplexed Mu'awiya immensely."
Nasibi Hujjaj bin Yusuf's admission that he used violence to secure the khilafat for Yazeed We read in Iqd al Fareed Volume 2 page 20 about the assassination of witnesses to Yazeed's playboy lifestyle in Mu'awiya's palace:
"Hujjaj bin Yusuf once told Mu'awiya's grandson Khalid bin Yazeed
'Listen, I killed one hundred people with this sword, as they deemed your father [Yazeed] to be a kaafir, and they would testify to his drinking, to the point that that their blood on this sword would testify that Yazeed was the khalifa.'"
Is this how this ijma was achieved - through the slaughtering of opponents and witnesses? Is this the 'legitimate' method via which the people happily gave bayya to Yazeed? If the people had been silenced through such methods, it does not in any way mean that they deemed Yazeed's khilafat to be rightful. When they saw that Yazeed was not even prepared to spare the life of the grandson of Rasulullah (s) they simply adopted taqiyyah through fear of death. Securing allegiance under the threat of death can never constitute ijma. We see a situation in which the whole Ummah was terrified of being killed by Mu'awiya's de facto secret police unless they gave bayya to Yazeed.
Banu Hashim's opposition to the bayya of Yazeed was the reason for their genocideWe shall now quote directly fromal Imama wa al Siyasa page 163
:
"Mu'awiya sent a letter to Husayn that stated 'Banu Hashim, Salaamun Alaykum, accept Yazeed's leadership and refrain from opposing me'.
Husayn replied saying:
'Mu'awiya your actions are those of a Zaalim [unjust and also sadistic, cruel person]. Shaytaan is working with you. You are shedding the blood of pious Muslims. You have declared Ziyad bin Sumayya [Abu Sofyan's bastard son] to be your brother and he has turned your khilafat into an unjust one. It is clear from your actions that you are not from the Ummah of Muhammad, Allah (swt) shall never forgive you for appointing that youth [Yazeed] as a successor who plays with dogs [civil expression for bestiality] and drinks alcohol.' Not a single member of Banu Hashim accepted Yazeed as Khalifah. Sa'd wrote to Mu'awiya and said the people of Medina had not accepted Yazeed as khalifah, and none of Banu Hashim have accepted Yazeed's khilafat".
The opposition of Abdullah ibn Abbas towards the bayya given to Yazeed We are continuing from where we left off in al Imama wa al Siyasa:
Mu'awaiya wrote to Abdullah ibn Abbas (both men are accepted as reliable, honest transmitters of Hadith and Santa Clauses by the Sunnis):
"Ibn Abbas, I hear that you are refusing to recognise Yazeed as my successor. I am within my rights to kill you to avenge Uthman's death since you were responsible for inciting people against him and I have no proof of your imanwhen you receive this letter go the Mosque of the Prophet, curse the killers of Uthman and give Yazeed bayya by placing your hand into my governor's hand. I have written this letter to warn you, and you know your heart better than I.
Ibn Abbas replied:
'I am in receipt of your letter and I understand its contents. I don't possess any proof of your iman, neither are you in the position to weigh the iman of others nor can we rely on your words. You are threatening to kill me, if you do, then I shall appear before the justice of Allah (swt) in such a manner that my blood shall speak out against you, and Rasulullah (s) shall also speak against you. Anyone that Rasulullah (s) speaks against shall never attain salvation. With regards to the allegation on the killing of Uthman, his children are alive, what is refraining them from cursing the killers of Uthman?'"
Ibn Qutaybah then records a letter from Mu'awiya to Banu Hashim that was sent to Ibn Jafer: 'Up until now my view of you was a good one. I have now received information on some matter about you that I dislike. If you don't accept my son's right to rule I shall pressure you and threaten you."
Ibn Qutaybah records Ibn Jafer's reply as follows:
"I received your letter, your intention is to force me to accept the khilafat of Yazeed. Well, we made you and your father accept Islam, and you only accepted out of desperation [i.e. Mu'awiya is an hypocrite who only 'converted' when he was beaten, and never embraced Islam in his heart]". Our Ahl'ul Sunnah brothers have an aqeedah that there were four rightly guided khalifahs. They should know that the family of these four khalifahs all opposed the Khilafat of Yazeed.
The opposition of the sons of Ashra Mubashura [the supposed 10 companions promised Paradise in Sunnidom] to the bayya of Yazeed, Mu'awiya's cursing them and advising Yazeed to kill them We read inIqd al Fareed Volume 2 page 247 Bayya Yazeed
as follows:
"At the time that bayya was administered to Yazeed, Mu'awiya asked Abdullah ibn Zubayr for his views on giving bayya. Abdullah said 'before rushing forward on this matter, you should think about the consequences carefully, to avoid embarrassment later. Mu'awiya then said 'It seems that the deceptive fox has become somewhat brave in his old age'.
We read in Tareekh Kamil Volume 3 page 284 Dhikr Bayya Yazeed:
"Mu'awiya came to Medina at the time that bayya was being given to Yazeed, he approached Abdullah Ibn Zubayr and said 'Your welcome is not acceptable here. You are like a mole that keeps his head buried in a hole and wags his tail outside, it may be that the mole is captured and his back broken'. With that Mu'awiya told him to go away and he smacked his (ibn Zubayr's) ride".
al Bidayah Volume 8 page 115 Dhikr Wafaath Mu'awiya
"Before his death Mu'awiya said to Yazeed, Ibn Zubayr won't accept your reign. He will approach you like a lion. When he opposes you then rip him to shreds."
Abdullah Ibn Zubayr is a great figure of Ahl'ul Sunnah and they believe that he is a son of Ashura Mubashra (The 'Heavenly Ten' who seemed to be killing each other). Zubayr was also the grandson of Abu Bakr and nephew of Ayesha. For Ahl'ul Sunnah it is indeed unfortunate that Mu'awiya had the audacity to disregard Ibn Zubayr's close relationship to Abu Bakr, to the point that he even advocated killing this 'esteemed' personality.
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Author: Rafed Network
