How is Marwan ibn al-Hakam Still Considered a Swahabah in Sunni Islam?

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ 

Marwan ibn al-Hakam is considered to be a swahabah by many in Sunni Islam because he accepted Islam at the hands of the Prophet (s.a.w.).  He was the advisor to Yazid ibn Mu’awiyah, after previously being secretary to Yazid’s father. 

He was the one who advised Yazid to dispatch an army to Makkah and Madina, and that lead to the siege of the Haramayn, the sacking of the Prophet's Mosque, the burning of the Ka’bah, the murder of thousands of swahabah, and the rape of the womenfolk.  This event included the infamous Battle of al-Harrah. 

Marwan ibn al-Hakam also advised Yazid to send an army to intercept Sayyidina Husayn ibn ‘Ali (r.a.) and the Ahl al-Bayt at Karbala, leading to the massacre of the Prophet’s (s.a.w.) family.  This is the single greatest outrage in Islamic history. 

As the fourth Umayyad caliph, he continued the persecution of the Ahl al-Bayt, and lived more like an Arab king of Jahiliyyah than a Muslim ruler who met the Prophet (s.a.w.). 

How is such a person considered a swahabah?  Each of these acts would be more than enough to throw someone out of Islam.  What I find even more outrageous is that Sunni books of ahadits have no problem narrating from Marwan ibn al-Hakam.  How did someone like him even pass the strict criterion to be considered a narrator?  And not just any narrator, but one that is tsiqah, trustworthy, and part of swahih narrations.  His ahadits are even recorded in Swahih al-Bukhari.  This is shameful. 

This is an example of why we should be wary of simply taking ahadits even from the Shaykhayn.  There is only one incorruptible Revelation, the Qur'an.  Everything else, we treat with caution.


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