A Muslim Convert Once Before

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ It was narrated that Shaykh Abu Sa’id ibn Abu al-Hasan Yasar al-Baswri ( q.s. ) said, “Mu’awiyah had four major flaws, each of which constituted a very serious offense: his illegitimate seizure of the imamate and granting himself absolute authority without consultation from the Muslim community; his declaring Ziyad to be his brother; his murdering Hujr ibn ‘Adi and his companions; and his appointment of an individual such as Yazid as the caliph of the Muslims.”  Ziyad ibn Abihi was a tyrant and murderer.  Sayyidina Hujr ibn ‘Adi ( r.a. ), was a swahabah of the Prophet ( s.a.w. ).   It is also said that Mu’awiyah ibn Abu Sufyan himself declared, “If not for my affection for Yazid, I would have exercised more discretion.”  This was with regard to selecting a successor.

Imam Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali wrote, in his Ihya’ ‘Ulum ad-Din , that Imam ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz said, “I saw, in a dream, the Prophet sitting in the company of Abu Bakr asw-Swiddiq and ‘Umar ibn al-Khaththab.  I greeted them and then sat down with them.  Whilst I was seated, ‘Ali and Mu’awiyah were led into a room, and the door was closed on them while I watched.  At once, ‘Ali emerged declaring, ‘By the Lord of the Ka’bah, Judgement is Passed in my favour.’  Then Mu’awiyah came out immediately behind him and said, ‘By the Lord of the Ka’bah, I am Forgiven.’” This is not a throwaway anecdote about the afterlife.  It is one of the clearest illustrations in the classical tradition of the Sunni orthodox position on the conflict between Sayyidina ‘Ali ibn Abu Thalib and Mu’awiyah ibn Abu Sufyan.  Both men emerge from that closed room with a favourable outcome.  Sayyidina ‘Ali is vindicated, his judgement upheld.  Mu’awiyah is fo...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The question was put forward to Habib ‘Ali Zayn al-‘Abidin ibn ‘Abd ar-Rahman al-Jifri, by SASA-Cairo President Shaykh Zakariya Matiyani regarding the recent claims by certain quarters in Cape Town claiming that the Prophet Muhammad ( s.a.w. ) condemned Mu’awiyah ibn Abu Sufyan, and that scholars such as Imam Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hanbal ( r.a. ) also mentioned a few things regarding Mu’awiyah.  What is the authentic view of the Ahl as-Sunnah wa al-Jama’ah ?   Habib ‘Ali replied, “The preponderant view among the Ahl as-Sunnah wa al-Jama’ah is to refrain from defaming his character and to state Allah is be Pleased with him.  Another, minority, opinion existed among Ahl as-Sunnah wa al-Jama’ah .  However, the relied upon position among them is to abstain from speaking ill of all the companions.  In addition, we acknowledge that companions had different statuses and that one cannot compare Mu'awiyah ( r.a. ) to Abu Bakr ( ...