The Pious Make No Excuses for Yazid ibn Mu’awiyah

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

We should be amazed that there are Muslims who dare make excuses for Yazid ibn Mu’awiyah in his murder of Sayyidina Husayn ibn ‘Ali (r.a.) and the Ahl al-Bayt.  There are even those who make this preposterous claim that since Yazid “was the son of a great swahabah”, he would not have done that.  Mu’awiyah ibn Abu Sufyan was not exactly exemplary amongst the swahabah.  The ignorance of such Muslims is astounding.  We should not forget that Abu Lahab ‘Abd al-‘Uzza ibn ‘Abd al-Muththalib was the paternal uncle of the Prophet (s.a.w.).  Here are some facts that Muslims are uncomfortable with because of their influence by the Wahhabi sect. 

The Hanafi scholar, Imam Sa’ad ad-Din Mas’ud ibn ‘Umar at-Taftazani (r.a.) said, “The truth is that Yazid was pleased by the killing of Husayn and his humiliation of the Ahl al-Bayt is mutawatir, even if the details are narrated by single individuals.” 

Hafizh ‘Imad ad-Din Abu al-Fida’ Isma’il ibn ‘Umar ibn Katsir (r.a.) wrote, in al-Bidayah wa an-Nihayah, “Traditions inform us that Yazid loved worldly vices, would drink, kept the company of boys with no facial hair, played drums, kept dogs; not a day would go by when he was not in a drunken state.”  His saying, “kept the company of boys with no facial hair”, referred to pederasty; Yazid was a bisexual paedophile.  His saying “kept dogs”, was a polite translation that he enjoyed bestiality.  It was not clarified whether he directly engaged in it himself.  When he was killed, he was cut up and fed to those same dogs.  The part that he “played drums” referred to debauchery that accompanied the music. 

Imam Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Idris ash-Shafi’i (r.a.) said, “Yazid was a drunkard, cruel ...” and, “It is permissible to curse him.” 

Imam Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hanbal (r.a.) told his son, Shaykh Swalih (r.a.), “My dear son, there is no faithful Muslim on this earth who can claim Yazid’s friendship, and why should not I curse the man to whom Allah (s.w.t.) has Cursed in the Qur’an?” 

Imam Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali (r.a.) wrote, “One group of Islam believes that Yazid did not agree on the murder of Husayn.  But the fact is that when two kings fight with each other, one becomes recessive, another dominant.  If the recessive king is killed, and the dominant king claims that the latter was killed by mistake and he was not personally present in the battlefield, this excuse will not be accepted.  The same with the situation in Karbala.  Husayn, his companions and family members were martyred, their heads were placed on the tip of spears.  Undoubtedly, Yazid was responsible for it.” 

Imam Ahmad al-Faruqi ibn ‘Abd al-Ahad as-Sirhindi (q.s.) said, “Yazid falls into the category of constant transgressors and the debauched.” 

Imam Shams ad-Din Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Ahmad adz-Dzahabi (r.a.) transmitted a narration attributed to Ziyad, who reported, “Yazid gave me alcohol to drink; I had never drunk alcohol before.  I enquired when he had obtained its ingredients.  Yazid replied, ‘It is made of sweet pomegranate, honey from Iswfahan, sugar from Hawaz and grapes from Burdah.’”  He further said, in this long narration, “Yazid indulged in alcohol, and would participate in action that opposed the shari’ah of Allah (s.w.t.).” 

Hafizh ibn Katsir (q.s.) also wrote, about al-Hurrah, “Yazid ordered his army to ransack Madina for three days.  Companions and their children were slaughtered openly; other heinous acts were also perpetuated.  In those three days in Madina, it is difficult to mention the type of acts that were carried out.  By doing this, Yazid wanted to secure his governance.  The Prophet of Islam (s.a.w.) said, ‘Whosoever perpetuated injustice and terrorised the residents of Madina, the Curse of Allah, His angels and all the people are upon such a person.’” 

Do these Muslims have any idea how many hundreds of narrations and fatawa there are against Yazid?  And they still want to make excuses for him?  One of our awliya’ said, “No pious Muslim makes excuses for Yazid.”  Scholars who issued fatawa cursing Yazid or declaring him to be a kafir for this murder and his many acts, or both include Imam Abu al-Fadhl ‘Abd ar-Rahman ibn Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad Jalal ad-Din as-Suyuthi (q.s.), Imam adz-Dzahabi (r.a.), Sayyid Shihab ad-Din Abu ats-Tsana’ Mahmud ibn ‘Abdullah al-Aluwsi (r.a.), Imam Shihab ad-Din Abu al-Fadhl Ahmad ibn ‘Ali ibn Hajr al-‘Asqalani (r.a.), Imam Shibab ad-Din Abu al-‘Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hajr al-Haytsami (r.a.), Shaykh Ahmad ibn Muhammad at-Tijani (q.s.), Imam Muhammad ibn ‘Ali ash-Shawkani (r.a.) and so many hundreds more.  There is no ikhtilaf in this matter.