Imam al-Hasan (a.s) has showed his excellence and achievements, spread Mu’awiya’s bad deeds and disgraceful acts through this wonderful speech in which appeared his eloquent, miraculous nature, marvelous brevity, quick-wittedness, and strong proof. Through it he degraded Mu’awiya’s immoderation and hit the most prominent of his elements from among his known ancestry and lineage. Therefore, where is the feebleness and incapability of expressing himself, O Amr bin al-‘Aas?
3. The Imam’s affair in Sham became great. The people successively came to visit him and listen to his speech. So he (a.s) possessed the hearts, the feelings, and the sentiments. The clubs and the assemblies talked about his great excellence and talents. Mu’awiya’s hirelings were Amr bin al-‘Aas, al-Waleed bin ‘Aqaba, ‘Utba bin Abi Sufyan, and al-Mughira bin Shu‘ba. When they saw that, they were afraid that something dangerous would happen, the authority would escape them, and the thrones of the Umayyad government would be destroyed. So they held a meeting in the royal court. They mentioned to Mu’awiya that the people welcomed Imam al-Hasan, honored him, overcrowded to visit him, and that his (Imam al-Hasan)existence was dangerous to the Umayyad state. They thought that the best way to degrade his dignity and to make the people turn away from him was to summon him, to accuse his father of killing ‘Uthman, and to curse him because of that. This is the text of their speech: “Surely al-Hasan has enlivened his father and his name. He said, and the people believed him. He commanded them, and they obeyed him. They hurried to him. That will raise him to that which is greater than he is. What displeases us still reaches us from him.”
So Mu’awiya asked them: “What do you want?”
They said: “Send for him and let him come, that we may curse him, curse his father, revile and rebuke him, and tell him that his father had killed ‘Uthman, and make him acknowledge that. He will change nothing of that.”
It was well known to Mu’awiya that their opinion was silly and their thinking was far from correctness. That is because he had come to know that the Imam would defeat and succeed in disgracing them. So he said to them: “I do not see that and do not do it.”
“We have determined, O Commander of the faithful, to do that.”
“Woe unto you!” retorted Mu’awiya, “Do not do! By Allah, whenever I see him sitting with me I am afraid of his position.”
“Anyway send for him!” they demanded.
“Surely if I sent for him, I would treat him fairly,” stipulated Mu’awiya.
So Ibn al-‘Aas said: “Are you afraid that his falsehood will put an end to our right or his speech will exceed ours?”
When Mu’awiya saw that they insisted on him, he said to them: “Surely if I sent for him, I would command him to speak with the whole of his tongue.”
“Command him to do that,” they said.
Mu’awiya responded to what they wanted. He commanded them to follow a special plan during their speech with the Imam, saying: “If you disobeyed me and sent for him and refused (all things) except that, then do not be weak in speaking with him. Know that he belongs to the members of a House with whom none can find fault or on whom can fasten shame. But throw a stone at him through saying to him: ‘Surely your father killed ‘Uthman and disliked the caliphate of the caliphs before him.’”
Then he sent for Imam al-Hasan. The Imam rose, asked for his clothes, and put them on. He knew the purpose for this summons. So he went out supplicating with this supplication: “O Allah, I seek refuge with you from their evil, repel through You in their throats, and seek help from You against them! Therefore, suffice me against them however You will and whenever You will through might and strength from You, O Most Merciful of the merciful!”
Then Imam al-Hasan (a.s) walked until he reached Mu’awiya. When Mu’awiya saw him coming towards him, he welcomed and honored him. Then he turned to him and apologized to him: “O Abu Muhammad, surely these (people) sent for you and disobeyed me.”
However the Imam explained to him that his apology was not real, saying: “Glory belongs to Allah! The house belongs to you, and asking permission to enter it belongs to you. By Allah if you responded to what they wanted and to that which was in their souls, then I feel shame for you of the obscenity. If they overcame your opinion, then I feel shame for you of weakness. Therefore which of them do you acknowledge? And which of them do you deny? If I had come to know their place, I would have brought a number equal to them from among the Banu ‘Abd al-Muttalib, that I might not feel lonely because of you and them. Surely my guardian is Allah, and He befriends the good.”
Mu’awiya said: “Surely I disliked summoning you. However they urged me to do that though I disliked it. They and I will treat you fairly. We have
summoned you to make you confess that ‘Uthman was unjustly killed, and that it was your father who had killed him. Therefore listen to and answer them. Your loneliness and their gathering should not prevent you from speaking with the whole of your tongue.”
When Mu’awiya kept silent, Amr bin al-‘Aas began speaking. He cursed Imam Ali, the Commander of the faithful and accused him of cursing Abu Bakr. He said that he disliked the caliphate, took part in killing ‘Umar bin al-Khattab and unjustly killed ‘Uthman. He ascribed all bad qualities to him. Then he turned to Imam al-Hasan and said to him: “O Banu ‘Abd al-Muttalib, Allah does not give you the dominion for your killing the caliphs, your regarding as lawful what Allah prohibited from among the blood, your craving after the dominion, and your doing the unlawful. Then surely you, O Hasan, say to yourself that the caliphate will reach you while you have neither mind nor reason. How do you see that Allah, the Most High, has deprived you of your reason and made you as the most foolish of Quraysh and (made the people) mock at you? That is because of your father’s bad deed. We have summoned you to curse you and your father. As for your father, Allah was alone with him and sufficed us against him. As for you, you are in our hands, and we will choose the qualities regarding you. If we killed you, then we would commit no sin towards Allah, and the people would find no defect with us. Therefore can you refute us and accuse us of lying? If you thought that we told a lie regarding a thing, then refute us in respect of what we have said; otherwise, you should know that you and your father are unjust!”
There is nothing in this speech except slander and cursing that issued from a soul full of falsehood and enmity toward Ahl al-Bayt, peace be on them.
After him, al-Waleed bin ‘Aqaba, a sinful person, said: “Surely you are ‘Uthman’s uncle. He was an excellent child to you. He knew your right. You are his sons-in-law. He was an excellent father-in-law to you. He honored you. However you were the first to envy him. Your father unjustly killed him; he has neither an excuse nor a proof. So how do you see that Allah avenged his blood and placed you in your position? By Allah, the Umayyads are better to the Hashimites than the Hashimites to the Umayyads, and Mu’awiya is better to you than yourself.”
Then he kept silent. After him, ‘Utba bin Abi Sufyan spoke. He showed his evil inners and enmity toward Ahl al-Bayt, saying: “O Hasan, your father was the wickedest of Quraysh to Quraysh, for he shed their blood, severed their blood relations, was long in sword and tongue, killed the living, and found fault with the dead. You were among those who killed ‘Uthman, and we will
kill you because of him. As for your hope for the caliphate, you have not struck its flint nor are you outweighing in its inheritance. You, the Hashimites, killed ‘Uthman. It is an act of truth to kill you and your brother. As for your father, Allah sufficed us against his affair and killed him for ‘Uthman. As for you, there would be against us neither sin nor enmity if we killed you because of ‘Uthman.”
After him, al-Mughira bin Shu‘ba spoke. He started with cursing Imam Ali, the Commander of the faithful, peace be on him. Then he said: “By Allah, I find no fault with him regarding a matter he betrayed, but he killed ‘Uthman.”
Then they kept silent. Imam al-Hasan faced them. He debated with them. He spread their defects and their disgraceful acts. He lauded the excellence of his father Imam Ali, the Commander of the faithful, peace be on him. In the first place he addressed Mu’awiya, saying: “O Mu’awiya, these (people) have not cursed me. But you have cursed me out of obscenity with which you are familiar, a bad opinion for which you are famous, a bad moral to which you have stuck, and aggression against us because of an enmity from you toward Muhammad, may Allah bless him and his family. However, listen, O Mu’awiya, and you listen! I will say regarding you and them something less than you have. I adjure you before Allah, O people, did you know that the person you cursed today performed prayers towards both qiblas? As for you, O Mu’awiya, you disbelieved in them (the two qiblas). You thought that they were misguidance. You worshipped al-Laat and al-‘Uzzaa
out of error. I adjure you before Allah, did you know that he pledged two allegiances-the allegiance of al-fath (the conquest), and the allegiance of al-ridwan (the good pleasure)? As for you, O Mu’awiya, you disbelieved in one of them and broke the other. I adjure you before Allah, did you know that he was the most appropriate for faith? As for you, O Mu’awiya, and your father, you were among those whose hearts were reconciled (al-mu’alafatu qulubuhum). You concealed unbelief and showed Islam; and you were attracted with money. I adjure you before Allah, did you know that he (Imam Ali) was the bearer of the standard of Allah’s Apostle, may Allah bless him and his family, at the Battle of Badr, and that the standard of the polytheists was with Mu’awiya and his father? Then he met you at the Battle of Uhud and of the Allies carrying the standard of Allah’s Apostle, may Allah bless him and his family, while the standard of the polytheists was with your father. During all of that Allah granted him conquest, showed his proof, supported his summons, and confirmed his speech. In all those places Allah’s Apostle, may Allah bless
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Author: Baqir Sharif al-Qarashi
