Nasibi Hajjaj bin Yusuf’s admission that he used violence to secure the khilafat for Yazeed

Nasibi Hajjaj bin Yusuf’s admission that he used violence to secure the khilafat for Yazeed

We read in Iqd al Fareed, Volume 2 page 20 that Hajjaj bin Yusuf once told Mu’awiya’s grandson Khalid bin Yazeed about the assassination of witnesses to Yazeed’s playboy lifestyle in Mu’awiya’s palace:

أنا ابن الأشياخ من ثَقِيف، والعقائل من قُريش، والذي ضَرب مائة ألفٍ بسيفه هذا، كُلّهم يَشْهد على أبيك بالكُفْر وشُرْب الخمر، حتى أَقروا أنه خليفة

“I am the son of the noble man of Thaqif and the noble women of Quraish, (I am the one) who killed one hundred thousand people by this sword, all of them deemed your father Kafir and alcoholic, until they recognized him as caliph”

We read similar thing in Tarikh Kamil:

وأنا الذي ضربت بسيفي هذا مائة ألف كلهم يشهد أن أباك كان يشرب الخمر ويضمر الكفر

“I killed one hundred thousand people with this sword, as they deemed your father [Yazeed] to be a kaafir and drunkard”

We read in Semt al-Nujum al-Awali by al-Esami, Volume 2 page 134:

ولقد ضربت بسيفي هذا أكثر من مائة ألف، كلهم يشهد أنك وأباك وجدك من أهل النار

“I killed more than one hundred thousand people with this sword, as they deemed that you, your father and your grand father are in the hell”

Is this how this ijma was achieved – through the slaughtering of opponents and witnesses? Is this the ‘legitimate’ method via which the people happily gave bayya to Yazeed? If the people had been silenced through such methods, it does not in any way mean that they deemed Yazeed’s khilafat to be rightful. When they saw that Yazeed was not even prepared to spare the life of the grandson of Rasulullah (s) they simply adopted taqiyyah through fear of death. Securing allegiance under the threat of death can never constitute ijma. We see a situation in which the whole Ummah was terrified of being killed by Mu’awiya’s de facto secret police unless they gave bayya to Yazeed.

Banu Hashim’s opposition to the bayya of Yazeed was the reason for their genocide

We shall now quote directly from al Imama wa al Siyasa page 163:

“Mu’awiya sent a letter to Husayn that stated ‘Banu Hashim, Salaamun Alaykum, accept Yazeed’s leadership and refrain from opposing me’.

Husayn replied saying:

‘Mu’awiya your actions are those of a Zaalim [unjust and also sadistic, cruel person]. Shaytaan is working with you. You are shedding the blood of pious Muslims. You have declared Ziyad bin Sumayya [Abu Sofyan's bastard son] to be your brother and he has turned your khilafat into an unjust one. It is clear from your actions that you are not from the Ummah of Muhammad, Allah (swt) shall never forgive you for appointing that youth [Yazeed] as a successor who plays with dogs [civil expression for bestiality] and drinks alcohol….’… Not a single member of Banu Hashim accepted Yazeed as Khalifah. Sa’d wrote to Mu’awiya and said the people of Medina had not accepted Yazeed as khalifah, and none of Banu Hashim have accepted Yazeed’s khilafat”.

The opposition of Abdullah ibn Abbas towards the bayya given to Yazeed

We are continuing from where we left off in al Imama wa al Siyasa, Mu’awaiya wrote to Abdullah ibn Abbas:

“Ibn Abbas, I hear that you are refusing to recognise Yazeed as my successor. I am within my rights to kill you to avenge Uthman’s death since you were responsible for inciting people against him and I have no proof of your iman…when you receive this letter go the Mosque of the Prophet, curse the killers of Uthman and give Yazeed bayya by placing your hand into my governor’s hand. I have written this letter to warn you, and you know your heart better than I.

Ibn Abbas replied:

‘I am in receipt of your letter and I understand its contents. I don’t possess any proof of your iman, neither are you in the position to weigh the iman of others nor can we rely on your words. You are threatening to kill me, if you do, then I shall appear before the justice of Allah (swt) in such a manner that my blood shall speak out against you, and Rasulullah (s) shall also speak against you. Anyone that Rasulullah (s) speaks against shall never attain salvation. With regards to the allegation on the killing of Uthman, his children are alive, what is refraining them from cursing the killers of Uthman?’”

Ibn Qutaybah then records a letter from Mu’awiya to Banu Hashim that was sent to Ibn Jafer:

‘Up until now my view of you was a good one. I have now received information on some matter about you that I dislike. If you don’t accept my son’s right to rule I shall pressure you and threaten you.”

Ibn Qutaybah records Ibn Jafer’s reply as follows:

“I received your letter, your intention is to force me to accept the khilafat of Yazeed. Well, we made you and your father accept Islam, and you only accepted out of desperation [i.e. Mu'awiya is an hypocrite who only 'converted' when he was beaten, and never embraced Islam in his heart]“.

Our Ahl’ul Sunnah brothers have an aqeedah that there were four rightly guided khalifahs. They should know that the family of these four khalifahs all opposed the Khilafat of Yazeed.

The opposition of the sons of Ashra Mubashura [the supposed 10 companions promised Paradise in Sunnidom] to the bayya of Yazeed, Mu’awiya’s cursing them and advising Yazeed to kill them

We read in Iqd al Fareed Volume 2 page 247 Bayya Yazeed as follows:

“At the time that bayya was administered to Yazeed, Mu’awiya asked Abdullah ibn Zubayr for his views on giving bayya. Abdullah said ‘before rushing forward on this matter, you should think about the consequences carefully, to avoid embarrassment later. Mu’awiya then said ‘It seems that the deceptive fox has become somewhat brave in his old age’.

We read in Tareekh Kamil Volume 3 page 284 Dhikr Bayya Yazeed:

“Mu’awiya came to Medina at the time that bayya was being given to Yazeed, he approached Abdullah Ibn Zubayr and said ‘Your welcome is not acceptable here. You are like a mole that keeps his head buried in a hole and wags his tail outside, it may be that the mole is captured and his back broken’. With that Mu’awiya told him to go away and he smacked his (ibn Zubayr’s) ride”.

In al-Bidayah, Volume 8 page 115 under the topic of Muawiya’s death:

“Before his death Mu’awiya said to Yazeed, Ibn Zubayr won’t accept your reign. He will approach you like a lion. When he opposes you then rip him to shreds.”

Abdullah Ibn Zubayr is a great figure of Ahl’ul Sunnah and they believe that he is a son of Ashura Mubashra (The ‘Heavenly Ten’ who seemed to be killing each other). Zubayr was also the grandson of Abu Bakr and nephew of Ayesha. For Ahl’ul Sunnah it is indeed unfortunate that Mu’awiya had the audacity to disregard Ibn Zubayr’s close relationship to Abu Bakr, to the point that he even advocated killing this ‘esteemed’ personality.

Threats of physical violence to secure the bayya for Yazeed

In ‘Abu Hanifa ki Siyasi Zindagi’ [The political life of Abu Hainfa] page 51 and al-Misra Volume 2 page 115 it is cited the way that Abdullah bin Umro bin Aas gave bayya to Yazeed:

“When Ibn Sa’eed approached his door with firewood, and said ‘Give bayya to Yazeed otherwise I shall set your home alight’, Abdullah then joined the majority by giving bayya to Yazeed”.

Yes, burning people’s homes was a favourite threat from the khalifa to get people to see things their way. It didn’t work to get the Bayya when Abu Bakr and Umar burned Ali (as) and Fatima (as)’s house, but it worked here and got the desired result!