Muawiya [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

"Do not revert to disbelief after me by striking (cutting) the necks of one another". Sahih al Bukhari Arabic-English Volume 9 hadith number 198

The Holy Prophet said, "Your blood, property, honour and skin (ie body) are sacred to one another" Sahih al Bukhari Arabic-English Volume 9 hadith number 199

It is narrated on the authority of 'Abdullah b. Mas'ud that

The Prophet, said, "Abusing a Muslim is Fusuq (evil doing) and killing him is Kufr (disbelief)." [Sahih al-Bukhari Volume 9, Book 88, Number 197]

So these ahadith and verse make it clear:

To kill a Muslim is an act of kufr (so one is at risk of losing one's faith)

The intentional killing of a mu'min places the perpetrator in hell

Now with these facts in mind we should ask 'how many believers were intentionally killed at Sifeen?'

The ONLY way that these actions can be defended is if there is a clear provision in Islam that entitles an individual to fight and kill his Muslim brother. If no such provision exists then in light of the Qur'an and hadith ALL those who fought against Imam Ali (as), committed kufr, they are murderers and are therefore in hell.

There had to be clear text to support the stance of the parties. The fighting was between two groups of believers. One group was led by the rightful Khalifa of the time who was supported in his actions by the Qur'an and words of Rasulullah, and on the opposing side we had Abu Sulaiman's client Mu'awiya who had no basis under the Shari'a to transgress in the manner that he did. It is indeed sad that Abu Sulaiman does not even possesses the courage to admit which party was correct in light of the Qur'an and Sunnah. Rather than do so, he continues to defend Mu'awiya's transgression.

Try as he may these defences are of no avail. We have the guarantee of Rasulullah (s) in this hadith from Sahih Bukhari Chapter, Fighting for the Cause of Allah (Jihaad) Volume 4 hadith number 67 that Ikrima narrated:

"Ibn 'Abbas told him and 'Ali bin 'Abdullah to go to Abu Said and listen to some of his narrations; so they both went (and saw) Abu Said and his brother irrigating a garden belonging to them. When he saw them, he came up to them and sat down with his legs drawn up and wrapped in his garment and said, "(During the construction of the mosque of the Prophet) we carried the adobe of the mosque, one brick at a time while 'Ammar used to carry two at a time. The Prophet passed by 'Ammar and removed the dust off his head and said, "May Allah be merciful to 'Ammar. He will be killed by a rebellious aggressive group. 'Ammar will invite them to (obey) Allah and they will invite him to the (Hell) fire."

So from this hadith we learn

A rebellious group will kill Ammar

Ammar will invite this rebellious group to submit to the will of Allah

This rebellious group shall be inviting him to Hell Fire

Rasulullah (s) deemed the opponents and killers of Ammar a rebellious group that was inviting him to Hell Fire i.e. Destruction. This is clear proof that this group was deviant and was so far from the truth that it was in effect recruiting people to destruction in the next world. This being the case how can individuals who in Rasulullah's own words were inviting Ammar to the Hell Fire be deemed (as Abu Sulaiman would like us to believe) to be pious, innocent individuals searching for the truth?

For Nawawi to comment that neither side should be called impious is symptomatic of those who refuse to separate truth from falsehood. How can we not declare impious those that are deemed impious according to the Qur'an and Sunnah? Allah (swt) deems such individual transgressors and Rasulullah (s) had described those that would fight Imam 'Ali (as) as Baghi (rebels). If Allah and his Rasul (s) have condemned this seditious element then why should we be condemned for doing likewise?