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العواصم القواصم
أبو بكر بن العربي
Death: 543H 1148
DEFENCE AGAINST DISASTER by QADI ABU BAKR IBN AL-`ARABI
Accurately Determining The Position Of The Companions After The Death Of The Prophet, May Allah Bless Him And Grant Him Peace AL-`AWASIM MIN AL-QAWASIM
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353. What follows clarifies the narration above.
Al-Bukhari completed the chapter and pursued an excellent course. In his ‘Sahih’, he related what will render all of this invalid. That is that Mu`awiya gave the khutba while Ibn `Umar was present during that khutba. According to what Al-Bukhari 354. Book 64, chap. 29, pt. 5, p. 48. related from `Ikrima b. Khalid, Ibn `Umar said, "I came to Hafsa and her locks were dripping.
355. i.e. her locks were dripping water. Locks are called "nawsat" because they shake, i.e. move. I said, "The matter is as you have seen. None of the command has been given to me." She said, "True. They are waiting for you. I fear that there will be divisions if you hold back." She would not leave him alone until he went. When the people parted, Mu`awiya spoke. He said, "Whoever wants to speak about this matter should raise his head. We are better for him than himself and his father." Habib b. Maslama....
356. Habib b. Maslama al-Fihri of Makka. He was a child at the death of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Then he went to Syria for jihad. He was famous for his might and he is considered to be the conqueror of Armenia. It is said that he was the general of the relief army which went from Syria to rescue `Uthman from the hands of his attackers. The news reached him that he had been martyred while he was on his way. Therefore he went back. ....said, "Won’t you answer him?" `Abdullah said, "I got up and I wanted to say, ‘The one who fought you and your father for Islam, but I feared that I would say something which would split up the community and cause bloodshed and it would be understood other than how I meant it, so I remembered what Allah has prepared in the garden." Habib said, "You remembered and were protected."
Al-Bukhari related....
357. In ‘The Book of Seditions’ from the ‘Sahih’ (book 92, chap. 21, pt. 8, p. 99). ....that when the people of Madina deposed Yazid b. Mu`awiya, Ibn `Umar gathered his servants and his children together. He said, "I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say, ‘A banner will be set up for every traitor on the Day of Raising.’ We gave homage to this man according to the homage of Allah and his Messenger.
358. This luminous report which al-Bukhari relates in his ‘Sahih’ shames those who lied about Wahb b. Jarir in those contradictory reports that Ibn `Umar and others did not offer allegiance to Yazid and that Mu`awiya appointed people to cut off their heads if they refuted him when he lied against them, saying that they had given homage to his son. Now it is clear that he did not lie against them. Ibn `Umar announced in the most critical situation – during the rebellion of the people of Madina against Yazid at the instigation of Ibn az-Zubayr and his agent, Ibn Muti` - that the homage of the Shari`a to their Imam based on the homage to Allah and His Messenger was on his neck as it was on their necks and that it was one of the greatest sort of treachery that the community should give homage to an Imam and then fight him. Ibn `Umar did not limit himself to that in that rebellion against Yazid. Muslim related in ‘The Book of the Amirate’ of his ‘Sahih’ (book 33, hadith 58, pt. 6, p. 22) that Ibn `Umar came to Ibn Muti`, the agent of Ibn az-Zubayr and the instigator of this rebellion. Ibn Muti` said, "Give a cushion to Abu `Abdu’r-Rahman." Ibn `Umar said, "I have not come to sit with you.
I have come to you to relate a hadith to you which I heard from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, ‘Whoever takes a hand back from obedience will meet Allah without any proof on the Day of Rising. Whoever dies and does not have a homage on his neck, has died a death of ignorance.’" Muhammad b. `Ali b. Abi Talib (known as Ibn al-Hanafiyya) had a similar position with the agent of the rebellion, Ibn Muti`, which the reader will see in another place when the life of Yazid is discussed. I do not know of any greater perfidy than to give homage to a man according to the homage of Allah and His Messenger and then to start fighting him. I do not know of any of you who dismisses him nor gives homage in this matter except that there will be a sharp sword between him and me.
Company of muslims, look at what al-Bukhari related in the Sahih and at what we have already mentioned from him in the variant where `Abdullah b. `Umar did not offer homage and that Mu`awiya lied and said that he had given homage and then told his guards to cut off his head if he refuted him. He said in the version of al-Bukhari’s, "We gave homage to him according to the homage of Allah and the Messenger." There is conflict between the two of them, you yourselves can take the most likely statement in pursuing soundness and sincerity between the Companions and the Tabi’un. When you have not seen them - may Allah protect you from their sedition - do not be one of those who jump into their blood with their tongue and lick the rest of the blood on the earth like dogs after the horseman has removed his lance. The dog only gets the remainder of the blood which has fallen on the earth. A reliable just man related from `Abdu’r-Rahman b. Mahdi from Sufyan from Muhammad al-Munkadir. He said, "Ibn `Umar said when he gave homage to Yazid, ‘If he is good, we are pleased. If he is evil, we will be patient.’"
It is confirmed that Hamid b. `Abdu’r-Rahman said, "We came to one of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, when Yazid b. Mu`awiya was appointed. He said, "You say that Yazid b. Mu`awiya is not the best of the community of Muhammad nor does he have the most fiqh among them nor is he the greatest of them in honour. I say that. However, by Allah, I prefer that the community of Muhammad be united rather than split. Do you think that a door which the community of Muhammad can enter and which is wide enough for them will be unable to cope with a single man if he enters it?" They said, "No." He said, "Do you think that if the community of Muhammad said that no man among them should shed the blood of his brother, nor take any of his property, would that be enough for them?" They said, "Yes." He said, "That is what I say to you." Then he said, "The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, ‘Only good will come to you from modesty.’"
All of these sound reports show you that Ibn `Umar submitted in the business of Yazid and that he gave homage to him, gave him a pledge, and held to what the people held to. He entered into what the muslims entered. He forbade himself and those connected to him after that from leaving or breaking that contract. It is clear to you that whoever says that Mu`awiya lied when he said, "Ibn `Umar gave homage" since he did not give homage and that Ibn `Umar and his companions were asked and said, "We did not give homage," has lied. In his riwayats, al-Bukhari supported Mu`awiya’s words on the mimbar, "Ibn `Umar gave homage" since Ibn `Umar himself affirmed that....
359. When Madina rebelled against Yazid.
....as well as affirming his submission to him. He kept that position. Which of the two groups is more likely to be truthful if you know? Is it the group on which al-Bukhari spoke or that on which another spoke? Take the firmest and soundest for yourself, or be quiet about all of it. Allah will undertake your success and your preservation. The Companion to whom Hamid b. `Abdu’r-Rahman alluded was Ibn `Umar. Allah knows best. If it was another, then there are two great men who agree on this statement. It supports what we established for you. The rule of the less excellent is valid even if there is someone who is better than him when he assumes power. To remove it or seek the more excellent man is to allow what is not permitted. That splits unity and divides the community. If it is said that Yazid drank wine, we said, "That is only admissible by two witnesses. Who then testified to that against him?"
360. Mu`awiya, although he had intense love for Yazid because of his cleverness and perfect gifts, preferred that he grow up far from him in the midst of the natural form of the roughness and gallantry of the desert life, so that he would have the qualities suited to the task which awaited those like him. He sent him to the tents of the desert with his uncles of Quda`a so that he would have the position of his mother, Maysun bint Bajdal when she said: I prefer a house in which the winds tremble, to a lofty castle. Yazid passed his youth and the beginning of his manhood in that environment. It was not long after his father went to the mercy of Allah until he established the centre which Allah desired for him. When the atmosphere was free from Ibn az-Zubayr at the death of Mu`awiya, his agents began to spread lies against Yazid in the Hijaz and they ascribed what they were not allowed to ascribe to him. Ibn Kathir quoted in "The Beginning and the End’ (8:233) that `Abdullah b. Muti` (the agent of Ibn az-Zubayr) went with his companions in Madina to Muhammad b. `Ali b. Abi Talib, known as Ibn al-Hanafiyya.
They wanted to depose Yazid and he rejected them. Ibn Muti` said, "Yazid drinks wine and does not pray. He has exceeded the judgment of the Book." He told them, "I have not seen him do what you mentioned, and I have been with him and I have stayed with him. I saw him constant in the prayer and desiring good. He asked about fiqh and kept to the sunna." They said, "That was pretence for you on his part." He said, "What could he fear from me or hope so that he should display humility to me? Would he tell you what you said about him drinking wine? If he let you know, then you must be his partners. If he did not tell you, it is not allowed for you to testify to what you do not know." They said, "He is caught in our opinion, even if we did not see him." He told them, "Allah rejects that in the people of testimony. He said, ‘except those who have testified to the truth with knowledge.’ (43:86). I do not have any of your business."
They said, "Perhaps you dislike for anyone besides yourself to assume power. We will entrust our business to you." He said, "Fighting is not permitted in what you want to do, either by a follower or one who is followed." They said, "You fought with your father." He said, "Bring me the like of that for which my father fought and I will fight for the like of what he fought." They said, "Command your sons, Abu’l-Qasim and al-Qasim to fight with us." He said, "If I would command them, I would fight." They said, "Take a position with us in which you encourage people to fight." He said, "Glory be to Allah. Command people to do what I would not do and that with which I am not content? Then I would not be giving good counsel to His slaves for Allah." They said, "Then we will force you." He said, "Then I would command people to have fearful awareness of Allah, the creatures do not like the wrath of the Creator."
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