Was Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiyah a Tābiʿī?
Compiled by: Tauheed.com
Question:
Was Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiyah considered a Tābiʿī?
Answer:
No, Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiyah was not a Tābiʿī.
Definition of a Tābiʿī
Imām al-Nawawī رحمه الله said:“A Tābiʿī is one who met the Companions while being a believer in the Prophet ﷺ, and died upon Islām.”
(Sharḥ al-Nawawī ʿalā Muslim 1/15)
Imām Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī رحمه الله said:“The Tābiʿūn are those who met the Companions while being believers, and died upon Islām.”
(al-Iṣābah fī Tamyīz al-Ṣaḥābah 1/10)
Hence, being the son of a Companion does not automatically make one a Tābiʿī unless he accompanied the Companions, benefitted from them, and remained upon Islām. The Status of Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiyah
- His father, Amīr Muʿāwiyah رضي الله عنه, was indeed a Companion.
- However, mere lineage does not make Yazīd a Tābiʿī.
Views of the Muḥaddithīn on Yazīd
Imām Ibn Kathīr رحمه الله (d. 774H):“No ḥadīth is narrated from Yazīd with a known authentic chain, and the muḥaddithīn did not count him among reliable or trustworthy narrators.”
(al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah 11/650)
Imām Ibn Ḥajar رحمه الله (d. 852H):“None of the reliable scholars narrated from Yazīd, nor is his statement accepted in ḥadīth.”
(Lisān al-Mīzān 6/289)
Meaning:- No trustworthy narrator reported aḥādīth from him.
- Scholars of ḥadīth did not consider him reliable in narration.
Scholarly Consensus
ʿAllāmah Shiblī Nuʿmānī رحمه الله (d. 1322H):“Yazīd was neither a Companion, nor a Tābiʿī, nor was he counted among the scholars or the muḥaddithīn.”
(Sīrat al-Nuʿmān 2/32)
Imām al-Suyūṭī رحمه الله:In Tārīkh al-Khulafāʾ, while listing the Tābiʿīn, he did not include Yazīd at all.
(Tārīkh al-Khulafāʾ, p. 191)
Conclusion
Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiyah was:
Not a Companion- Not a Tābiʿī
- Not a narrator of ḥadīth
- Not a scholar of Islām
- Not trusted by the muḥaddithīn
- No Companion or Tābiʿī took knowledge from him
Therefore, calling Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiyah a Tābiʿī is incorrect and contrary to the consensus of the scholars and the methodology of the Salaf.
