Reports on talk about rulers and entering upon them

It is narrated from Husayn bin Ali (may Allah have mercy on him) that Abd al-Malik said: Shaqiq (may Allah have mercy on him) came to al-Hajjaj. Al-Hajjaj said: What is your name? He said: The governor did not summon me before he knew my name. Al-Hajjaj said: I want to seek your help in some of my work. The narrator said: He said: I fear my own self concerning you. So he asked to be excused from his work, and al-Hajjaj excused him. The narrator said: When he left him, he stood up and said: Like this, and he feigned blindness. The narrator said: Al-Hajjaj said: Set the old man straight, set the old man straight.

It is narrated from Ibn Abjar (may Allah have mercy on him) that Ibn Awsat sent al-Sha'bi (may Allah have mercy on him) to al-Hajjaj, and he was the governor of Rayy. The narrator said: He was brought to Ibn Abi Muslim, and there were cordial relations between the two of them. Ibn Abi Muslim reproached him and said: I will take you to the governor; if the governor laughs in front of you, do not laugh. The narrator said: After that he was brought to al-Hajjaj.

An elder of the Nakha' tribe narrates from his grandmother that she said to him: In the time of al-Hajjaj, Sa'id bin Jubayr (may Allah have mercy on him) was in hiding with your father, and your father took him to Makkah, placing him in a chest.

It is narrated from Muhammad (may Allah have mercy on him) that Sayyiduna al-Walid bin Uqbah (may Allah be pleased with him) said during a sermon: O people of Kufah! I make it binding upon whoever gave me the name "the one with the thick chest hair" to stand up. Sayyiduna Adi (may Allah be pleased with him) was troubled by this binding oath, so he stood up and said to him: Whoever stands up and admits, 'I gave you this name,' will surely bear a scar.

Ibn Awn said: It was Sayyiduna Adi (may Allah be pleased with him) who had given him this name.

Abd al-Malik bin Abjar (may Allah have mercy on him) narrates that people were talking when Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) came out, and with him was Sayyiduna Aqil (may Allah be pleased with him), and with Aqil was a ram. The narrator said: Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Someone among us is being spoken ill of. Sayyiduna Aqil said: As for me and my ram, certainly not.

It is narrated from Mujammi' (may Allah have mercy on him) that Abd al-Rahman bin Abi Layla (may Allah have mercy on him) came to al-Hajjaj, and al-Hajjaj said to those sitting with him: If you wish to see the man who reviles the Commander of the Believers, Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him), this is Abd al-Rahman here before you, so look at him. Abd al-Rahman (may Allah have mercy on him) said: O governor! I seek refuge with Allah from reviling Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him). Three verses of the Book of Allah prevent me from that. Allah Almighty says: For the poor emigrants who were driven out of their homes and their properties, seeking the bounty of Allah and His pleasure, and helping Allah and His Messenger; it is they who are the truthful. Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) was among these people. Then he recited: And those who settled in the home and in faith before them. My father was among these people. And those who came after them say: Our Lord, forgive us and our brothers who preceded us in faith [Al-Hashr: 8, 9, 10]. I am among these people. Al-Hajjaj said: You have spoken the truth.

Ata bin al-Sa'ib said: Abu Ja'far Muhammad bin Ali asked me: Which people are you from? He said: I said: From a people whom others hate, that is, from Thaqif.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Dreams have by-names and they have names. So call them by their by-names and interpret them by their names, and a dream belongs to the first one who interprets it."

Abu Musa (may Allah have mercy on him) narrates that Sayyiduna al-Mughirah bin Shu'bah (may Allah be pleased with him) said to Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him): Write for these two men, namely Sayyiduna al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with him) and Sayyiduna Talhah (may Allah be pleased with him), the governorship of Kufah and Basrah, and write for Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) the governorship of Syria; in this way he will be pleased with you. Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I am not one to do something base in my religion. The narrator said: Later Sayyiduna al-Mughirah (may Allah be pleased with him) met Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him), and Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) asked him: Are you the one who said that? He said: Yes! He said: By Allah, none but Allah could protect from the evil of that matter.

It is narrated from Abu Musa (may Allah have mercy on him) that Ziyad wrote a letter to the Mother of the Believers, Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her), in this way: "From Ziyad bin Abi Sufyan," hoping that she too would write to him as "Ibn Abi Sufyan." The narrator said: She wrote in reply: "From the Mother of the Believers, Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her), to her son Ziyad."

It is narrated from Ibn Aslam that he said: Among the household of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), I have not sat with anyone like Ali bin Husayn.

It is narrated from Abu Musa that a man said to al-Hasan: O Abu Sa'id! By Allah, I do not see you making errors in speech. He said: O my nephew! I have moved past errors in speech.

Abdullah bin Shaddad said: Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said to me: Shall I not tell you something astonishing? Then he began to say: One day I was in my house and had lain down on my bed for the midday nap. I was told that there was a man at the door. I said: This man must have come at this time only for some need; send him in. He said: He came in. He said: I said: What need have you come for? He said: When will that man be raised from the grave? I said: Which man? He said: Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him). I said: He will be raised from the grave only when Allah Almighty raises those in the graves. He said: He began to say: Do you also say what these foolish people say? I said: Put this man out from my presence.

Abd al-Malik bin Abjar relates that al-Sha'bi reached two men who were busy backbiting him and speaking ill of him. He said: Pleasant and wholesome for Azzah, without any ailment, is whatever of our honour and reputation she has considered lawful.

Abd al-Malik bin Abjar (may Allah have mercy on him) narrates that Sa'id bin Jubayr (may Allah have mercy on him) came to al-Hajjaj, and al-Hajjaj said: You are the wretched one (Shaqi), the son of a broken one (Kusayr). He said: I am the fortunate one (Sa'id), the son of a mended one (Jubayr). Al-Hajjaj said: I will kill you. He said: If you kill me, then my mother named me rightly.

It is narrated from al-Aswad that he said: I said to Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her): Allegiance is being pledged to a man from among those set free at the conquest of Makkah, meaning Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him). Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: Do not be astonished; this is the dominion of Allah Almighty, which He gives to whom He wills.

Sayyiduna al-Walid bin Uqbah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: There has been no prophethood that was not followed by kingship.

It is narrated from Abu Qilabah (may Allah have mercy on him) that a man of Quraysh called Thumamah was the governor of Sana'a. When the news of the martyrdom of Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) reached him, he began to weep and wept much. When he recovered, he said: Today prophethood has been snatched away, or he said: the caliphate of prophethood has been snatched away, from the Ummah of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and this caliphate has turned into kingship and rule by force; whoever overpowers something will devour it.

It is narrated from Ayyub (may Allah have mercy on him) that he said: Al-Hasan said to me: Are you not astonished at Sa'id bin Jubayr (may Allah have mercy on him), that he came to me and began asking me about fighting al-Hajjaj, and with him were some of the chiefs, that is, the companions of Ibn al-Ash'ath?

Qays (may Allah have mercy on him) said: I heard Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) in his final illness, when he had bared his arms, which looked like palm branches, and he was saying: By Allah, I would wish to remain alive among you for more than three days. The people said: You will go to the mercy and forgiveness of Allah. He said: Allah Almighty does what He wills, and if He dislikes a matter, He changes it.

Ibn Bishr added to this: "The world is nothing but what we have known and what we have experienced."

It is narrated from Abu Burdah (may Allah have mercy on him) that Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I fought Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) solely because of Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him).

It is narrated from al-Sha'bi (may Allah have mercy on him) that a young man of Quraysh came to Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) and spoke harshly to him. Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) said to him: O my nephew! I forbid you from going to the ruler. Indeed, the ruler becomes angry like a child and seizes like a lion.

Al-Sha'bi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Ziyad said: The Commander of the Believers has not outdone me in any area of statecraft except one. I appointed a man as governor of a region, and he reduced its revenue. He feared my reprimand and fled to the Commander of the Believers. I wrote to him: This is a bad lesson for those under me. He wrote to me: It is not proper for me and you to treat people with one and the same policy. If we are both lenient, people will plunge into sins, and if we are both severe, we would be driving people along the paths of destruction. The right way is that you be suited to severity, harshness and sternness, and that I be suited to gentleness, kindness and mercy.

Amir (may Allah have mercy on him) said: I heard Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) say: The result of the division of any nation has been that the people of falsehood prevailed over the people of truth, except for this Ummah.

Sa'id bin Suwayd (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) led us in the Friday prayer at al-Nukhaylah in the forenoon, then he addressed us and said: I did not fight you so that you would start praying, nor so that you would start fasting, nor so that you would start performing Hajj, nor so that you would start paying zakah. I know well that you do all of these things. I fought you only so that I might rule over you. And Allah Almighty has given me this authority, though you dislike it.

Huzayl bin Shurahbil (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) addressed us and said: O people! You came and willingly pledged allegiance at my hand. Had you pledged allegiance at the hand of an Abyssinian slave with cut ears and nose, I would have gone with you to pledge allegiance at his hand as well. The narrator said: When he came down from the pulpit, Sayyiduna Amr bin al-As (may Allah be pleased with him) said to him: Do you know what you have done today? You claim that the people willingly pledged allegiance at your hand, and that had they pledged allegiance at the hand of an Abyssinian slave with cut ears and nose, you too would have gone to pledge allegiance with them. The narrator said: Hearing this, Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) climbed the pulpit and said: O people! Is there anyone else more deserving of this matter than I?

It is narrated from Urwah (may Allah have mercy on him) that Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Forbearance is nothing but another name for experience.

It is narrated from Abdullah bin Buraydah (may Allah have mercy on him) that Sayyiduna al-Hasan bin Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) came to Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him). Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Today I give you a gift such as I have not given to anyone before you, and I will not give such a gift to any of the Arabs after you. Having said this, he gave him four hundred thousand, and he accepted it.

Abdullah bin Buraydah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: My respected father and I went to Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him). He seated my father on the couch. Then food was brought and we ate; then a drink was brought and we drank. Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: There is nothing that I found delicious in my youth and still take now except milk and good conversation, for I still take them.

Amir (may Allah have mercy on him) said: A man came to Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) and said: O Commander of the Believers! Fulfil the promise you made to me. He (may Allah be pleased with him) asked: What did I promise you? He said: You promised that you would increase my stipend by one hundred dirhams. He said: I did not do so. He said: Yes, you did! He said: Who knows of this? He said: Al-Aswad, or he said: Ibn al-Aswad. He said: O Ibn al-Aswad, what is this man saying? He said: Yes! O Commander of the Believers, you did increase his stipend. So he ordered that the increase be given. Then he struck one of his hands on the other and said: I do not grieve that I ordered an increase of one hundred dirhams for a man; rather, I regret my own heedlessness, that I increased the stipend of a man of the Muhajirun by one hundred dirhams and then forgot it. At this Ibn al-Aswad said: O Commander of the Believers! Will he be free of fear concerning these dirhams? He said: Yes! He said: By Allah, you made no increase for him. But whoever calls on me to testify for him about money he is to receive from some chief, I testify for him; likewise, whoever asks me to testify for him about warding off some harm he fears from a person of rank, I testify for him.

Wahb bin Kaysan (may Allah have mercy on him) said: I heard Sayyiduna Jabir bin Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) say: In the Year of the Jama'ah, Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) sent Busr bin Artah (may Allah have mercy on him) to Madinah to take the pledge of allegiance from its people according to their banners and tribes. On the day when the Ansar were to come to him, Banu Salimah came to him. He said: Is Sayyiduna Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) among them? The people said: No. He said: Go back, for I will not take the pledge from them until Sayyiduna Jabir is among them. Sayyiduna Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) said: These people came to me and said: We adjure you by Allah to come with us and pledge allegiance, so that your blood and ours may be safe; for if you do not do so, our men able to fight will be killed and our children will be taken captive. Sayyiduna Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I asked them for respite until night. When night came, I went to Sayyidah Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her), the wife of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and told her the whole matter. She said: O my nephew! Go and pledge allegiance, and protect your blood and the blood of your people, for I too have ordered my nephew to pledge allegiance.

It is narrated from Wahb bin Kaysan that when allegiance was pledged at the hand of Sayyiduna Abdullah bin al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with him), a man from Iraq wrote him a letter: "Peace be upon you! I praise before you Allah Almighty, other than whom there is no god. To proceed: The obedient servants of Allah Almighty and the people of goodness have certain signs by which they are recognised, and which are seen in them: enjoining what is right, forbidding what is wrong, and carrying out obedience to Allah Almighty. And know that the likeness of the leader is that of a market: the same kind of people come to it as the kind of goods found in it. If he is of the people of goodness, righteous people come to him, and if he is wicked, the wicked and sinful come to him with their wickedness and sin."

Sa'id bin Wahb (may Allah have mercy on him) said: I was with Sayyiduna Abdullah bin al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with him) when he was told: Al-Mukhtar claims that revelation comes to him. He said: He has spoken the truth. Then he recited these verses: Shall I inform you upon whom the devils descend? They descend upon every sinful liar. [Al-Shu'ara: 221-222]

Shamir relates the saying of Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him): First there will be many kings, then tyrannical rulers, and then rebellious sultans will come.

Abu Nadrah said: We used to be told that severe bloodshed would befall the people of such-and-such a tribe, and when that happens, four men from among them will flee to the Romans and will bring the Romans against the Muslims.

Salim said: When allegiance was being taken from the people for Yazid bin Mu'awiyah, Marwan stood up and said: This is the exemplary way of Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him). Sayyiduna Abd al-Rahman bin Abi Bakr (may Allah be pleased with them both) stood up and said: This is not the way of Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him). He left aside his own family and the people of his tribe, and he saw that a man of Banu Adi bin Ka'b was the most qualified for this matter, and pledged allegiance at his hand.

Amir (may Allah have mercy on him) relates the saying of Muhammad bin al-Ash'ath (may Allah have mercy on him): Everything has its turn of dominance, so much so that even foolishness has its turn of dominance over wisdom.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) that when Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) removed Sayyiduna Shurahbil bin Hasanah (may Allah be pleased with him) from office, he said: O Umar (may Allah be pleased with him)! Have you removed me out of some displeasure? He said: No, but we have seen a man stronger than you, and we felt afraid before Allah Almighty to leave you in place when we have seen one stronger than you. Sayyiduna Shurahbil (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Then make my excuse clear to the people. So Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) stood on the pulpit and said: We had appointed Shurahbil bin Hasanah as governor, then we removed him without any displeasure, the reason being that we found someone stronger than him. We felt afraid before Allah Almighty to keep him in his post when we had found someone stronger than him. After that, in the evening, Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) saw that the people were going to the governor who had been appointed, while Sayyiduna Shurahbil (may Allah be pleased with him) sat alone with his hands clasped. He said: The world is indeed base.

Muhammad al-Katib (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) used to say: This matter can be set right by severity, but without tyranny, and by gentleness, but without weakness.