On Muʿāwiya and the Banū Umayya

Beyond general censures, the tradition preserves narrations directed at specific individuals by name. Chief among them is Muʿāwiya ibn Abī Sufyān, whom the author identifies as the ringleader of the transgressors. This chapter gathers the transmitted reports and the exegetical commentary surrounding them.

The Prophet’s dream and the revealed consolation

Ibn Abī Ḥātim,¹ Ibn Mardawayh,² al-Bayhaqī in al-Dalāʾil,³ and Ibn ʿAsākir⁴ all transmitted — from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab — who said: The Prophet ﷺ saw the Banū Umayya upon his pulpits; this grieved him, so God revealed to him: “It is only a worldly dominion that has been given to them” — and his eyes were set at rest. This is the meaning of the Most High’s words:

Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī stated in his commentary⁵ that this is the view of Ibn ʿAbbās, as related from ʿAṭāʾ. He further records⁶ that Ibn ʿAbbās said: the accursed tree in the Qurʾān refers to the Banū Umayya. He also notes⁷ that the Messenger of God ﷺ saw in a dream the Banū Marwān passing it among themselves.

Al-Nīsābūrī, in his commentary on Sūrat al-Qadr,⁸ records from al-Qāsim ibn al-Mufaḍḍal — from ʿĪsā ibn Māzin, from al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī (peace be upon him) — that the Messenger of God ﷺ saw in his dream the Banū Umayya treading upon his pulpit one after another; and in another narration: leaping upon his pulpit like monkeys. This weighed heavily upon him, whereupon God revealed:

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Al-Kawthar, the Night of Decree, and the Ḥakamid usurpers

Al-Suyūṭī transmitted in Tārīkh al-Khulafāʾ⁹ — from al-Tirmidhī, with his chain to al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī (peace be upon him) — that the Prophet ﷺ saw the Banū Umayya upon his pulpit, and this grieved him, whereupon there was revealed:

And there was likewise revealed “Indeed, We sent it down on the Night of Decree” — up to — “better than a thousand months”: that is, the dominion the Banū Umayya shall hold, O Muḥammad.¹⁰

Al-Suyūṭī also notes that al-Ḥākim transmitted this ḥadīth in his Mustadrak, and Ibn Jarīr in his Tafsīr,¹¹ tracing the chain to ʿAbd al-Muhayman ibn ʿAbbās ibn Sahl — from his father, from his grandfather — who said: The Messenger of God ﷺ saw the Banū al-Ḥakam ibn Abī al-ʿĀṣ leaping upon his pulpit like monkeys, and this grieved him, and he never smiled a full, unreserved laugh again until he died. God revealed concerning that:

Al-Suyūṭī remarks that its chain of transmission is weak, but that it has corroborating witnesses from the narrations of ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar, Yaʿlā ibn Murra, al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī, and others — which he had cited in his books of Tafsīr and Musnad, and alluded to in Asbāb al-Nuzūl.¹²

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Killing, banishment, and those most hateful

From the Prophet ﷺ: “The people of my household shall encounter from my nation killing and banishment, and verily the most intense in hatred toward us are the Banū Umayya, the Banū al-Mughīra, and the Banū Makhzūm.”¹³ This was transmitted by al-Ḥākim, who declared its chain of transmission sound.¹⁴

Al-Shawkānī, in Fatḥ al-Qadīr,¹⁵ cited the reports in this vein, and added: Ibn Mardawayh¹⁶ transmitted — from ʿĀʾisha — that she said to Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam: I heard the Messenger of God ﷺ say to your father and your grandfather: “Verily you are the accursed tree in the Qurʾān.”

Al-Shawkānī raised an objection to this narration, reasoning that Marwān’s grandfather did not live to see the time of prophethood.¹⁷

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A feeble objection against a well-attested narration

The author responds: this objection falls flat. The preposition lām in ʿĀʾisha’s statement is not the lām of direct address or communication; rather, it carries the meaning of “about” — as in the Most High’s words:

And His words: “Those who said of their brothers” (Āl ʿImrān 3:168) — meaning: about them and concerning their affair. So here likewise: he said about your father and your grandfather.

This is the interpretation that must be adopted. There is no basis for casting doubt upon a sound narration that has mutually reinforcing — indeed, massively transmitted — corroborating reports, on the basis of such a feeble justification.

Furthermore, even if the lām were one of direct address, this would still be possible with respect to al-Ḥakam himself, with his father conjoined to him by way of extension (taghlīban). This is clear to any fair-minded reader.

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The curse that flowed from his own tongue

In al-Bukhārī,¹⁸ with a chain to Abū Hurayra, who said: I heard the Truthful One, the Confirmed by others, say: “The destruction of my nation will be at the hands of young men from Quraysh.”

Marwān said: May the curse of God be upon those young men!

Abū Hurayra replied: If I wished to say the sons of so-and-so, the sons of so-and-so, I would have said it.

Ibn Ḥajar remarks in Fatḥ al-Bārī¹⁹ on this episode: one marvels at Marwān cursing the young men, given that it is apparent they are from his own progeny — as though God caused that to flow from his tongue, that the proof might be more forceful against them, in hopes that they might take heed. There have been transmitted narrations concerning the cursing of al-Ḥakam, the father of Marwān, and of his offspring; al-Ṭabarānī transmitted them, and most are disputed, while some are sound.