Hadith of Mu'awiyah bin Abi Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with him)

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah bin Abi Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with him): I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "I am only a distributor (a treasurer), while in reality it is Allah who gives. So whomever I give something with a good heart, it will be blessed for him; and whomever I give something because of the greed of his soul and his intense insistence in asking, his likeness is that of one who eats but is never satisfied."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him); he says: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "Every intoxicant is forbidden for every believer."

It is narrated from Umar bin Ata (may Allah have mercy on him) that Nafi' bin Jubayr (may Allah have mercy on him) sent him to Sayyiduna al-Sa'ib bin Yazid (may Allah be pleased with him) to ask him (what he had witnessed). Sayyiduna al-Sa'ib (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "I prayed the Friday prayer with Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) in the maqsurah (the place reserved for the imam). When I had said the salam, I stood up (right there) to pray (a voluntary prayer). Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) said to me: 'When you have prayed the Friday prayer, do not join it to another prayer until you have spoken or gone out (from there), for the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded us to do this.'"

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) that, while addressing (the people) from the pulpit with a lock of hair in his hand, he said: "What is the matter with your women that they put things like this (artificial hair) on their heads? I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: 'There is no woman who joins to the hair of her head the hair of someone else except that it is sheer falsehood and deception.'"

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah bin Abi Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with him) that a hadith "similar to this" is reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) that "he saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) eat liba' (the first thick milk after an animal gives birth, colostrum), and then he (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed without performing (fresh) ablution." In the chain of this report there is technically a break (inqita'), because a narrator between the Successor Muhammad bin al-Munkadir (may Allah have mercy on him) and Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) is unnamed (unknown).

It is narrated from Humran bin Aban (may Allah have mercy on him) that Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah bin Abi Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with him) addressed us in a sermon and said: "You certainly pray a prayer that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not use to pray; rather, he used to forbid it." By this he meant the two rak'ahs after Asr.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah bin Abi Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with him): I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "Among the people before you there was a man who met a scholar or a worshipper and said that he had killed ninety-nine people unjustly, so is there any way of repentance for me? He replied: No. So he killed him too. Then he met another man and said that he had killed a hundred souls unjustly, so is there any way of repentance for me? He replied: If I were to tell you that Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, does not accept the repentance of one who repents, I would certainly be lying. Near here is a place of worship in which some people are engaged in the worship of Allah; go to them and worship Allah together with them; perhaps Allah will accept your repentance. So he set off towards them, but he died before reaching them. At this the angels of punishment and the angels of mercy disputed, so Allah Almighty sent an angel (to judge), who said: Measure the distance between the two places; whichever he is nearer to, he will be counted among its people. When they measured, they found him nearer to the settlement of the repentant by the length of a fingertip, so Allah Almighty forgave him." In the chain of this report, al-Walid bin Muslim was in doubt whether this hadith is narrated from Ibn Abi al-Muhajir (may Allah have mercy on him) or from Abu Abd Rabb (may Allah have mercy on him).

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Deeds depend only on their endings. (A deed) is like a vessel: when its upper part is pure and good, its lower part also remains pure; and when its upper part becomes impure and spoiled, its lower part also becomes impure."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him): I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "Whoever drinks wine, flog him; then if he drinks again, flog him again; and if he does it yet again, kill him."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) (the one reporting from him is the daughter of Hisham bin al-Walid bin al-Mughirah (may Allah have mercy on her), who used to nurse Sayyiduna Ammar (may Allah be pleased with him)) that Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) came to visit Sayyiduna Ammar (may Allah be pleased with him) in his illness. When he left him, he supplicated: "O Allah, do not decree his death at our hands," for I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "Ammar will be killed by a rebellious group."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) that "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), (when) he heard the muezzin, said the same words that the muezzin had said."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "You think that I will be the last of you to die. Beware! I will be the first of you to die, and you will follow me (to the next world) group after group, while you are striking one another's necks (entangled in mutual strife)."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever loves the Ansar, Allah Almighty will love him; and whoever bears hatred and enmity towards the Ansar, Allah Almighty will hate him."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah bin Abi Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said "something similar to this".

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah bin Abi Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "'Umra (property given to someone for life) is valid for those who receive it (and becomes their permanent ownership)."

It is narrated from Abd al-Rahman al-A'raj bin Hurmuz (may Allah have mercy on him) that al-Abbas bin Abdullah bin al-Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him) married his daughter to Abd al-Rahman bin al-Hakam (may Allah have mercy on him), and Abd al-Rahman also married his daughter to him, and the two of them had made this mutual exchange itself the dowry (mahr). So Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah bin Abi Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with him), while he was caliph, wrote to Marwan (may Allah have mercy on him) and ordered him to separate them, and he wrote in his letter: "This is the shighar marriage, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) has indeed forbidden it."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah bin Abi Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with him): I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "Emigration (hijrah) will not come to an end until (the door of) repentance is closed (he (peace and blessings be upon him) said this three times), and repentance will not come to an end until the sun rises from its place of setting."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah bin Abi Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with him): I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "The eye is the drawstring of the anus; so when the eye sleeps, the drawstring is loosened."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah bin Abi Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with them both) that he said: "I went to Sayyidah Umm Habibah (may Allah be pleased with her), the wife of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was praying in a single garment. I said (in surprise): Am I seeing him (peace and blessings be upon him) pray in this state, as I see? She replied: 'Yes, and it is the very garment in which there happened all that (i.e., intimacy and the like) which happens (at the time of marital relations).'"

It is narrated from Kaysan (may Allah have mercy on him) that Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) addressed us in a sermon and said: "Indeed the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade seven things, and I too forbid you from them. Beware! Among them are: wailing (over the dead), singing, making images, (indecent) poetry, gold, the skins of predatory animals, (women's) displaying their adornment (before non-mahram men), and the use of silk."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever dies while he is under no pledge (of allegiance and obedience) to any imam dies the death of Jahiliyyah."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah bin Hudayj (may Allah be pleased with him): I was with Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah bin Abi Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with him) when a letter came to him from one of his officials (governors), informing him that he had fought the Turks and defeated them, and of the large number of them he had killed and the abundant spoils he had taken. At this Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) became angry and ordered that it be written to him: "I have understood what you mentioned of the killing and the spoils; now beware of ever daring to do anything of the kind again, and do not fight them at all until my order reaches you." I asked him: O Commander of the Believers, why is that? He said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "The Turks will surely overpower the Arabs to such an extent that they will drive them back to the places where the desert plants (shih and qaysum) grow." For this reason I dislike fighting them.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah bin Abi Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with him): I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "Soon there will be rulers who will not be checked (for their wrongdoing); they will fall blindly into the Fire one after another."

It is narrated from a cousin of Abu al-Shammakh al-Azdi (may Allah have mercy on him) (who was a Companion of the Messenger) (may Allah be pleased with him) that he came to Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) and said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "Whoever is made responsible for any affair of the Muslims and shuts his door to the poor, the weak and the needy in the face of their needs and their poverty, Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, will shut the door of His mercy against him on the day of his need and want, when he is most in need of it." The narrator says: I could not establish clearly whether the one who related this saying was Sayyiduna al-Azdi (may Allah be pleased with him), relating it to Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him), or whether Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) himself said to Sayyiduna al-Azdi (may Allah be pleased with him): "I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Jarir (may Allah be pleased with him) that he heard Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah bin Abi Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with him) delivering a sermon; he said: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) passed away at the age of sixty-three, and Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) and Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) also passed away at the age of sixty-three."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "All of you, perform ablution." He says: Then when he (peace and blessings be upon him) had finished his ablution, he (peace and blessings be upon him) looked at me and said: "O Mu'awiyah! If you are made the ruler of any affair, fear Allah Almighty and act with justice." Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) says: Because of this blessed saying of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), I kept thinking that I would soon be tested with some office of government and its responsibility, until I was entrusted with the position (of rule).

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah bin Abi Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Indeed Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, is neither overpowered nor deceived, nor can He be informed of anything He does not know. When Allah Almighty intends good for someone, He grants him deep understanding of the religion; and the one to whom He does not grant understanding of the religion, Allah does not care about him in the least."

Abu Qabil (may Allah have mercy on him) narrates that Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) addressed us in a sermon on a Friday and said: "In fact this wealth is our wealth, and this fay' is our fay'; we give to whomever we wish and withhold from whomever we wish." No one gave any reply to this statement of his. Then on the second Friday he said the same thing again, but still no one responded. Then on the third Friday, when he repeated the same thing, a man from among those present in the mosque stood up and said: "Not at all! Rather, the wealth is our wealth and the fay' is our fay'; whoever comes between us and it, we will settle the matter with him by our swords." When Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) had finished the prayer, he summoned that man; he was brought to him, and he seated him beside himself on the throne. Then he gave the people permission to enter, and they came in. Then he addressed the gathering and said: "O people! I spoke on the first Friday and no one checked me; on the second Friday too no one replied; but on the third Friday this man gave me life (by speaking the truth), may Allah give him life. I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: 'Soon there will come people who will speak (wrongly) and no one will rebut them; they will plunge blindly into the Fire as monkeys tumble over one another.' So I feared that Allah Almighty might make me one of them. But when this man rebutted me, he revived me, may Allah give him life, and now I have strong hope that Allah Almighty will not include me among those (threatened) people."
Imam Abu Ya'la (may Allah have mercy on him) said: I found it written in my book through Suwayd (may Allah have mercy on him); although I did not find on it the mark of my having heard it directly from him, the mark "sahih" was placed on it, because of which I was in doubt about having heard it, but my strongest supposition is that I heard this hadith from him.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah bin Abi Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with him) that, while addressing the people, he said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "A group from my Ummah will always remain firmly established upon the religion of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic; those who try to humiliate them or those who oppose them will not be able to harm them, until the command of Allah comes while they are (steadfast) upon that." Umayr bin Hani' (may Allah have mercy on him) says: (Hearing this) Malik bin Yukhamir al-Saksaki (may Allah have mercy on him) said: O Commander of the Believers! I heard Sayyiduna Mu'adh bin Jabal (may Allah be pleased with him) say that it (that blessed group) will be in the land of Sham. So Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) said (to those present): Here is Malik bin Yukhamir (may Allah have mercy on him), who, swearing by his own life, claims that he heard Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) say that they are the people of Sham.

It is narrated from Sa'id bin al-Musayyib (may Allah have mercy on him) that Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) arrived, and a stick was brought to him with a piece of cloth tied at its tip (as a hairpiece of artificial hair). He (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "I did not think that anyone other than the Jews did this. Indeed, when this reached the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), he (peace and blessings be upon him) called it 'al-zur' (i.e., sheer falsehood and deception)."

Isa bin Talhah (may Allah have mercy on him) narrates: I was sitting with Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) when the muezzin came to inform him of the prayer. Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "Indeed, the people with the longest necks on the Day of Resurrection will be the muezzins."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah bin Ali al-Sulami (may Allah be pleased with him) that Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah bin Abi Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with him) led us in the three rak'ahs of Maghrib. He stood up after two rak'ahs (instead of sitting for the first sitting), so the people alerted him by saying Subhan Allah. At this he signalled to the people that they too should stand. Then when he had completed his prayer and said the salam, he turned towards the people, addressed them and said: "I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) do exactly as you saw me do, and had I not seen him (peace and blessings be upon him) do so, I would never have done it."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Amir al-Ash'ari (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said about the Ash'ari tribe: "They are from me and I am from them." Amir bin Abi Amir al-Ash'ari (may Allah have mercy on him) says: I narrated this hadith to Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him), and he said that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not say it like that; rather he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "They are from me and (belong) to me." I said: My father narrated the hadith to me in just this way, that he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "They are from me and I am from them." At this Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Then you know best the hadith your father narrated."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) that Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) came to a circle (of people) in the mosque and asked: "What has made you sit here?" They said: "We are sitting to remember Allah, the Mighty and Majestic." He asked: "By Allah, has nothing but this made you sit?" They replied: "By Allah, nothing but this purpose has made us sit." Then Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Know that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) came to a circle of his Companions and asked: 'What has made you sit here?' They said: 'We are sitting to remember Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, and to praise Him for guiding us to Islam and bestowing this great favour upon us.' He (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: 'By Allah, has nothing but this made you sit?' They said: 'By Allah, nothing but this purpose has made us sit.' He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: 'Listen! I did not make you swear out of any suspicion of you; rather, Jibril (peace be upon him) came to me and informed me that Allah Almighty is boasting about you to the angels.'"

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "On the Day of Resurrection, the people with the longest necks (i.e., distinguished and of high rank) will be the muezzins."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah bin Abi Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with him): I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "Indeed, if you pursue people's faults and hidden matters, you will corrupt them, or you will come close to corrupting them." Rashid bin Sa'd (may Allah have mercy on him) says that Sayyiduna Abu al-Darda' (may Allah be pleased with him) said about this saying that it is a statement which Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) heard himself from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and Allah Almighty benefited him through it.

It is narrated from Muhammad bin Ishaq (may Allah have mercy on him) that Nasr bin al-Hajjaj bin Ilat al-Sulami claimed Abdullah bin Rabah, the mawla (freed slave) of Sayyiduna Khalid bin al-Walid (may Allah be pleased with him), to be his brother. At this, Abd al-Rahman bin Khalid bin al-Walid stood up and said: "My mawla was born on the bed of my mawla (my father)." Nasr, on the other hand, said: "My brother left me an instruction concerning him." When their dispute grew long, they took the case to Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him); at that time there was a cushion (stone-like) under his head. The two of them each presented their claim, and Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "The child belongs to the one on whose bed it is born, and for the fornicator is the stone (deprivation)." At this Nasr said (alluding to the matter of Ziyad bin Abi Sufyan): "O Mu'awiyah! Then where was this judgement of yours regarding Ziyad?" Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) replied: "The judgement of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) is far better than, and takes precedence over, the judgement of Mu'awiyah." Since Abdullah bin Rabah would not accept Nasr's claim, Nasr (to win him over) composed these verses: "O Abu Khalid! Take a share equal to my wealth in inheritance, and take me as a brother who will stand by you and be present at times of trial and upheaval. O Abu Khalid! For you there is abundant wealth, high rank, and a noble lineage that will raise you to the heights. O Abu Khalid! Do not make our daughters slave-girls of Banu Makhzum when they are (free and) honourable. O Abu Khalid! If you fear Ibn Khalid (Abd al-Rahman), then (remember that) al-Hajjaj never feared Khalid. O Abu Khalid! Neither are we a fire, nor are they gardens in which still water is seen."