Lessons from Nahjul Balagha [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

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Sermon
72

SERMON 72

Amir al-mu'minin said about
Marwan ibn al-Hakam at Basrah. When Marwan was taken on the day of
Jamal, he asked Hasan and Husayn (p.b.u.t.) to intercede on his
behalf before Amir al-mu'minin. So they spoke to Amir al-mu'minin
about him and he released him. Then they said, "O' Amir
al-mu'minin he desires to swear you allegiance" Whereupon
Amir al-mu'minin said:

Did he not swear me
allegiance after the killing of Uthman? Now I do not need his
allegiance, because his is the hand of a Jew. If he swears me
allegiance with his hand he would violate it after a short while.
Well, he is to get power for so long as a dog licks his nose. He
is the father of four rams (who will also rule). The people will
face days through him and his sons.(1)

(1).
Marwan ibn al-Hakam was the nephew (brother's son) and son-in-law
of Uthman. Due to thin body and tall stature he was known with
the nickname "Khayt Batil" (the thread of wrong). When
Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan killed Amr ibn Said al-Ashdaq, his
brother Yahya ibn Said said:

O' sons of Khayt Batil
(the thread of the wrong) you have played deceit on Amr and
people like you build their houses (of authority) on deceit and
treachery.

Although his father
al-Hakam ibn Abi al-As had accepted Islam at the time of the fall
of Mecca but his behaviour and activities were very painful to the
Prophet. Consequently, the Prophet cursed him and his descendants
and said, "Woe will befall my people from the progeny of this
man." At last in view of his increasing intrigues the Prophet
externed him from Medina towards the valley of Wajj (in Ta'if) and
Marwan also went with him. Prophet did not thereafter allow them
entry in Medina all his life. Abu Bakr and Umar did likewise, but
Uthman sent for both of them during his reign, and raised Marwan
to such height as though the reins of caliphate rested in his
hands. Thereafter his circumstances became so favourable that on
the death of Muawiyah ibn Yazid he became the Caliph of the
Muslims. But he had just ruled only for nine months and eighteen
days that death overtook him in such a way that his wife sat with
the pillow on his face and did not get away till he breathed his
last.

The four sons to whom
Amir al-mu'minin has referred were the four sons of Abd al-Malik
ibn Marwan namely al-Walid, Sulayman, Yazid and Hisham, who
ascended the Caliphate one after the other and coloured the pages
of history with their stories. Some commentators have regarded
this reference to Marwan's own sons whose names are Abd al-Malik,
Abd al-Aziz, Bishr and Muhammad. Out of these Abd al-Malik did
become Caliph of Islam but Abd al-Aziz became governor of Egypt,
Bishr of Iraq and Muhammad of al-Jazirah.