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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.
.Forward to Sermon 73.Back to Sermon 71.
