Khafif set out on pilgrimage to the Holy Ka’ba, He only carried with him a jug and a rope with which he would draw water. As he journeyed through the wilderness he saw many deer standing at the top of a wall drinking water. As he approached they all ran away and the level of water also went down. Inspite of all his efforts he could not draw water from this lower level. He prayed to Allah to raise the level of water as he had done previously for the deer. The Divine voice was heard in reply, “We cannot do so as you rely upon the rope and jug besides Us”. Immediately Khafif threw away the jug and rope and the water level rose and he was able to quench his thirst. When he related the incident to Hadhrat Junaid in Makkah he said, “The Almighty was testing your dependence on Him. Had you waited patiently longer the water would have overflowed to the top.” (Tadhkeratul Auliya)
From the very beginning of Ali’s Caliphate Mu’awiya’s propaganda was at work. The display of the blood-stained garments of Uthman and the amputated fingers of Na’ila quickly aroused the emotions of the people to fever-pitch and Mu’awiya had no difficulty in extracting from them a mass promise to avenge Uth- man’s blood. They readily swore allegiance to him, not as Caliph, but as their leader in this resolve. With all the vehemence at his command, he daily addressed the congregations in the principal mosque at Damascus, accusing Ali of having sacrificed the innocent lamb of Uthman to further his ambitious designs of ‘kingship. He further emphasized that the election of Ali was highly irregular and illegal, in so much as it was not endorsed by the voice of all the people of the Arabian peninsula, and he maintained, from the outset, that the allegiance of Talha and Zubair had only been obtained. by coercion.
At the news of Ali’s victory over Talha and Zubair, and of the augmentation of his forces, Mu’awiya was obliged to reconsider his position. He decided to take no hasty steps but to continue with his insidious propaganda. Talha and Zubair, he now presented to the people as martyrs, the noble defenders of Uthman who gave their lives in protest against this illegal election. Ali had pursued and harassed all those who had objected to the illegality of his election, with a sword in his hand, and after having obtained a victory over the confederates of Mecca, had stifled all democratic germs in an unconstitutional manner. The stigma of ill-treating the Prophet’s widow, Aishah, could not be washed away and if it were true that Ali had shown moderation and kindness towards her, then it was nothing short of a ruse to protect himself against the growing wrath of the nation.
Ali had already contemplated invading Syria, before the rebellion of Talha and Zubair, and the renewed threat to their liberties further united the Syrians behind their deposed governor. The extent of their devotion is well illustrated by their response to a particularly impassioned sermon of Mu’awiya’s: “Countrymen, said Mu’awiya from the pulpit, “tell me, will you forsake me in so just a cause and at such a critical moment? If for retaliating Uthman’s blood, I give up my life, am I not justified, by trying to avenge the murder of a ruler who was your patron and a benevolent father to you?” To such overtures the Syrain crowd declared. “We will not wash with water, nor sleep on beds, till we have slain the murderers of Uthman and their abettors, root and branch.
It is possible that, if Ali had pressed his advantage after the Battle of Camel, history would have had a different story to tell; but, Mu’awiya was whipping up mass emotions and telling the people that Syria was in danger. All that Ali had done was to write yet another letter of conciliation.
Ali’s Letter from Kufa
While Ali was consolidating his power at Kufa, he made another abortive attempt to get Mu’awiya to do him homage. He sent his trustworthy ambassador, Jarir ibn Abdullah, with a letter and asked Mu’awiya to submit to his authority for the solidarity of Islam. Mu’awiya as usual detained Ali’s envoy and wrote a letter to Amr bin As, asking him to advise him what steps to take, and also begging him to come in person to discuss the matter with him.
Amr bin As Joins Mu’awiya at Damascus
Mu’awiya, as usual, daily harangued Ali from the pulpit and on one Friday in his Khutba, dwelt at length on the importance of the divine commands of Jihad” wherein it was incumbent upon every male Muslim to draw sword for the defence of justice. “How long” said he, “will you remain passive spectators to a reign of terror? It behoves every believer to put an end to it.”
Hardly was the impassioned discourse of Mu’awiya finished then Amr bin As arrived at Damascus, with a body of troops from Palestine. Some chroniclers hold that the meeting had been artfully pre-arranged in order to give a colourful ending to the dramatic speech which had deeply stirred the people. At the news of Amr’s arrival, Mu’awiya descended from the pulpit to go and meet him, and the entire assembly followed at his heels. As they approached the square where Amr stood with his Palestinian soldiers, Mu’awiya told the congregation that Amr’s arrival was nothing short of a miracle, while Amr, at the sight of Mu’awiya, fell prostrate before him and, swearing the oath of fealty acknowledged him as’ Caliph.
1. Some writers say that Amr’s oath of allegiance at this stage was only a friendly gesture and that Mu’awiya was not proclaimed Caliph till 40 A.H. (661 A.D.) in Jerusalem.
The Adoption of Byzantine Methods
Mu’awiya was essentially a man of his time, prepared to seize every advantage and to try out every he imitat-
new method that came his way. It particular ed the Graeco-Byzantine tactics and methods. Before their conquest by Islam, the Arabs who lived on the Syrian border had formed the Ghassanid kingdom. under the Graeco-Roman Emperors and in their craze for imitating the culture of the Greeks they had adopted Christianity, the religion of their masters and had cultivated a life which was even more Hellenic than that of Greek inhabitants. When Mu’awiya became the governor of Syria, he could hardly escape the Greek influence, and indeed he hellenised his province to an even greater degree than the Ghassanid rulers had done. He was the first of the Muslim rulers to introduce pomp and majesty into his court, in imitation of the refinement and luxury of Hellenic life, and in great contrast to the simple and austere piety of the early rulers of Islam. He was, as Andre Servier says of him, “a Bedouine and a hedonist in one”. Mu’awiya greatly enjoyed pomp and ceremony but he never forgot why he was behaving as he did. He knew that his lavish ostentation, his costly palaces, his constant display of power, won the admiration of his subjects and increased their dependence upon him for his bounty. The Syrians, who had been influenced by the pleasure- loving Greeks, much approved of his wayward luxuriance, even though the rigidly orthodox Muslims began to depict him as selfish, vain frivolous and profane. From the Greeks Mu’awiya also learned the value
of keeping a standing army and he was the first Muslim ruler to do this. In order to crush Ali, he is also said, according to the Shi’ite legends to have entered into a treaty with the Greeks, by which he pledged himself to pay an annual tribute to them certainly a new experience for an Islamic sovereign. For Mu’awiya the end always justified the means.
Transformation of the Character of the Caliphate
Amongst the Muslim rulers, Mu’awiya is reproached for being the first to transform the character of the Caliphate (Vicarate of the Prophet) into the “Muloo- kiat” (temporal sovereignty) through the secularisation of the supreme power. It was a conception of sovereignty which appealed to the men of his time and no Arab sovereign has left such a stamp of originality or so deep an impression on history as this genius in statecraft. Like the later European monarchs, Frederic the Great or Louis XIV of France, he moulded his policy to suit his own ends. He was the King, the Caliph, the Prime Minister, all in one, and it would have been no exaggeration for him to have said, “The State, it is I.”
In addition to establishing a precedent for an absolute monarchy, Mu’awiya also introduced the conception of primogeniture, nominating his son, Yezid, as his successor. The innovation changed the entire outlook of the Caliphate in the realm of ethics, of religion and of justice. The ancient Arab concept of democracy was dealt its death blow.
Commenting on this change in the nature of Cali-
phate Professor Freeman’ writes as follows: “But in thus converting the Caliphate into a hereditary monarchy he utterly changed its character. It soon assumed the character of a common oriental empire. Under the Umayyad dynasty we soon begin to hear of the same crimes, the same oppressions, which disfigure the ordinary current of Eastern history. The first Caliphs had been the chief among’ their brethern., they took counsel with the people in the mosque, their authority rested on the reverence of believers for their spiritual head. The Umayyads were masters of slaves instead of leaders of freemen, the public was no longer consulted and the public good as little, the Commander of the Faithful sank into an earthly despot,
1. Edward. A. Freeman-The history and conquest of the Saraceens. p. 72-73. Publishers Macmillian & Co. 1876.
H ruling by force like an Assyrian conqueror of old. The early Caliphs dwelt in the sacred city of Medina, and directed the counsels of the empire from besides the tomb of the Prophet. Mu’awiya transferred his throne to the conquered splendours of Damascus; and Mecca and Medina become the tributary cities to the ruler of Syria. At one time a rival Caliph, Abdullah established himself in Arabia; twice were the holy cities taken by storm and the Kab’ah itself was battered down by the engines of the invaders. No avenging birds appeared to visit the fierce Hajjaj with the fate of Abrahah; and the result of the mission of Muhammad and the conquest of his followers was practically to make his native country a subject province to the land which they had subdued.”
From the day that Amr paid homage to Mu’awiya as Caliph, Muslim rulers were to exercise an indefeasible right of primogeniture and princes and kings were to be judged by their birth and not by their merit and character. The Khutba or public oration from the pulpit which had previously imparted a sacredorial character to the Caliph became only an imperial order from Mu’awiya, designed to extract blind obedience for his unconstitutional acts. As time went on, the Caliphate became the prize of the strongest combatant, and although these secular rulers of the empire retained, in outward form at least, the spiritual claims of the vicar- ship of the Holy Prophet, the temporal character of the administration predominated. In the character of the first four Caliphs, Muslims all over the world recognised a sanctity-a special vicarship of the holy Prophet- which was sadly lacking in the subsequent rulers. Mu’ awiya is looked upon as the man who was entirely responsible for this regretable innovation.
In his monarchial ambitions Mu’awiya was to triumph over Ali; but he could not entirely triumph over the ethical principles for which that Caliph stood, lived and gave up his life.
Mu’awiya’s Hatred of Ali
No one knows at what exact point Mu’awiya determined to become Caliph. On the accession of Ali it is possible that his primary objective was the retention of Syria, with perhaps the addition of Egypt, but his horizon must have widened as he witnessed the dissension amongst Ali’s troops. As for his personal hatred of Ali, this was nothing new, reflecting as it did the old tribal rivalry between the Umayyads and the Hashimi- tes in the pre-Islamic era. When Uthman was murdered, Mu’awiya was quick to revive this ancient enmity under the guise of “Vengeance for the fallen Uthman” and, although not a religious man himself, he now used Qur’anic injunctions to prove that the murderers of Uthman must be punished. Because.. religion was called in the old rivalry assumed terrible proportions and personal hatreds took on the appalling dimensions of a full-scale Civil War.
Aal-e-Qutub Aal-e-Syed Abdullah Shah Ghazi 