Mu'awiyah as a Model of Islamic Governance
Mu'awiyah was one of the Companions of the Prophet and
one of his scribes who recorded the Revelation. He was
appointed governor of greater Syria by 'Umar after the
death of his brother Yazid who had been appointed by
Abu Bakr, and remained governor under 'Uthman. As he
was related to 'Uthman, he was a leading force in
demanding that his murderers be brought to justice.
Thus he and 'Ali came to be on opposite sides in the
Fitnah or Civil War. Eventually 'Ali was murdered by a
Kharijite and his son Hasan declared khalif. When
Hasan realised he could not control the situation, he
handed over power to Mu'awiyah which led to peace and
re-unification of the Umma in 40/661, the year known
as the Year of the Jama'a, or Community. There was no
further major civil unrest - except for the odd
Kharijite agitation - during his reign. When he died,
another chapter of the Fitnah ensued in the form of
the war between his son Yazid and first Husayn, 'Ali's
son, and then Ibn az-Zubayr in the Hijaz.
So what was it about Mu'awiyah which made his rule so
successful to such an extent that the famous
historian, adh-Dhahabi, points out that after al-Hasan
had surrendered his claim to the khalifate, "Mu'awiyah
reigned without a rival, and without losing any of the
conquests of Islam. Neither 'Abdu'l-Malik, nor
al-Mansur, nor Harun ar-Rashid earned this praise,
unique in the annals of Islam"?
Before examining governance under Mu'awiyah, it must
first be pointed out that defining the nature of
governance in an Islamic context is somewhat
difficult, not least because it has been a long time
since Islam formed the foundation of governance and
Muslims have tended to base themselves on Western
political theories and then to "Islamicise" these
theories. Even the question of what an ummah is causes
problems. What precisely is the Muslim Ummah? When it
is translated as "nation", it is inevitable that some
of the connotations of the modern nation-state creep
in, or if "community" is used, it becomes a purely
social concept, something like a undefined social unit
without any real political role. So any attempt to
deal with Islamic governance is often fraught either
with tinges of historical romanticism and utopic
idealism, or else a pragmatism devoid of any real
Islamic content - and so we find ourselves like
Odysseus trying to pass between the twin perils of
Scylla and Charybdis without being destroyed by either
one. It is with the hope of avoiding these twin perils
that we will examine how Mu'awiyah, one of the most
successful of Muslim rulers, governed.
So what is the ummah? The concept of ummah was an
entirely new one which superseded previous tribal and
family allegiances, although these tendencies kept
coming back, particularly in the case in the Ridda, or
Revolt, which followed the death of the Prophet. We
read in the Qur'an: "You will not find any people who
believe in Allah and the Last Day who are loving to
anyone who opposes Allah and His Messenger, even if
they were their fathers or their sons, or their
brothers or their clan." (Qur'an 58:22) Acceptance of
and allegiance to the ummah, based on following Allah
and His Prophet, became one's primary allegiance. This
means that the umma is not a nation-state based on
ethnicity or language. It is not surprising, then,
that it left the Arabs of the time somewhat bemused.
Like the revelation with its uncompromising statement
of tawhid, the idea of a community whose central core
of political cohesion was based on that same principle
was entirely alien to them. In fact, it was probably
alien to just about everyone of the time. And indeed,
it kept being forgotten, and still is forgotten, in
favour of 'asabiyya, or tribal solidarity.
The ummah is further delineated in the Qur'an when
Allah says, "You are the best ummah brought forth to
mankind - enjoining the correct and forbidding the
incorrect and believing in Allah" (3:110) and "The
believers, men and women, are protector-friends of
each other, enjoining the correct and forbidding the
incorrect." (9:71)
The Covenant of Madinah stipulated that the Muslims
"Constitute one ummah" and "All believers shall rise
as one man against whomsoever rebels or seeks to
commit injustice, aggression, wrong action or spread
mutual enmity between the believers, even though he be
one of their sons. ... All believers are bonded
together to the exclusion of other men."
This, then, is the polity of the Muslims, and it is
clearly a political as well as a spiritual collective,
the one being a logical consequence of the other.
Being a Muslim necessarily entails certain political
consequences.
Having defined what the polity is, the question
becomes: how it is to be governed? Historically, there
has been two basic forms of governance - and indeed
Fiqh - which seem to reflect an eastern/ western split
- and we find the same split in the forms of
governance in eastern and western Christendom. In the
east, we find the imperial form, reflecting the
Persian Sassanid and Soghdian traditions, and, on the
other side, initially in the Hijaz and Syria, a more
open form of governance based on amirate and shura,
which moved to Spain when the Abbasids overthrew the
Umayyads. I leave the imperial form to others. From
138/756, the Ummah is split because the Umayyads in
Spain regarded the Abbasids as usurpers. From 316/929
there were two rulers with the title Amir al-Mu'minin,
and in 334/945, the Buwayhids, the Persian military
dynasty, assumed full power, and the khalif was a mere
figurehead.
This brings up the question of leadership: how is a
leader chosen?
When it comes to choosing the Khalif, in the early
community there were four ways that the Khalif was
chosen:
1. By the bay'ah of the people of loosing and binding
(ahl al-hal wa'l-'aqd) i.e. the 'ulama' (people of
knowledge), leaders and army commanders, as happened
with the first Khalif, Abu Bakr.
2. By the will and appointment of the preceding khalif
as happened with the second Khalif, 'Umar ibn
al-Khattab.
3. By a decision of the consultation (shura) of a
certain group - as with 'Uthman and 'Ali, the third
and fourth khalifs.
4. By the successful assumption of power of a man
possessing the requisite qualities and qualifications
to be khalif (sometimes in conjunction with 1 or 2).
When the khalif has been chosen, bay'ah takes place.
It is an act of validation by which the ruler accepts
the duties of office and receives the power to
discharge them, and the subjects undertake to obey
him. It is usually translated as "allegiance" but this
is somewhat unfortunate because rather than being
one-sided, it is an agreement undertaken by two
parties, like the conclusion of a sale from which the
word is derived. As in any transaction, each side has
an expectation of the other. In essence, the khalif
makes an undertaking or covenant ('ahd) to act
according to the Shari'a.
Hence the ruler has certain duties. He must respect
and enforce the Shari'a and thus he must protect the
interests of the ummah, defend or expand the
frontiers, carry out jihad, administer public
property, dispense justice and maintain internal
security.
The behaviour of the ruler vis-a-vis his subject is a
trust and a matter of grave concern for him in this
world and the Next. The ruler is empowered to
implement the Shari'a and all that entails, but he is
nevertheless a custodian, and he expects to be
corrected by the people of knowledge if he errs. When
Abu Bakr was given the bay'a as Khalif, he stood up
and addressed people, saying: O people! I have been
put in charge over you, but I am not the best of you.
If I act well, then help me, and if I act badly, then
put me right. Truthfulness is a trust and lying is
treachery. The weak among you is strong in my sight
until I restore his right to him, Allah willing. The
strong among you is weak in my sight until I take the
right from him, Allah willing. People do not abandon
jihad in the way of Allah but that Allah afflicts them
with humiliation. Shamelessness does not spread in a
people but that Allah envelops them in affliction.
Obey me as long as I obey Allah and His Messenger. If
I disobey Allah and His Messenger, you owe me no
obedience. (Sira Ibn Hisham)
This clearly indicates the existence of a certain
reciprocity in the relation between ruler and ruled.
Abu Bakr's successor, 'Umar ibn al-Khattab was also
concerned about overstepping his authority.
Salman said that 'Umar asked him, "Am I a king or a
khalif?" Salman answered, "If you have taxed the lands
of the Muslims one dirham, or more or less, and
applied it to unlawful purposes, then you are a king,
not a khalif." And 'Umar wept. (At-Tabari, Tarikh, p.
2754)
This view of leadership was also held by Mu'awiyah. He
came to Madinah and spoke to the people, saying, "I
desired the way followed by Abu Bakr and 'Umar, but I
was unable to follow it, and so I have followed a
course with you which contains fortune and benefits
for you despite some bias, so be pleased with what
comes to you from me even if it is little. When good
is continuous, even if it is little, it enriches.
Discontent makes life grim."
He also said in a khutba which he delivered to the
people, "O people! By Allah, it is easier to move the
firm mountains than to follow Abu Bakr and 'Umar in
their behaviour. But I have followed their way of
conduct falling short of those before me, but none
after me will equal me in it."
The Greek historian Theophanus does not call Mu'awiyah
a king or an emperor, but rather a primus inter pares,
or in Greek, a protosymboulos, "a first among equals".
Theophanus also referred to 'Umar ibn al-Khattab as
"primus inter pares", so there cannot have appeared to
be much difference between the rule of 'Umar and that
of Mu'awiyah to an outside non-Muslim observer. We
must attribute the later fixation on Mu'awiyah as a
king with the sense of an absolute monarch or despot
to the backdating of things that happened later.
The role of Mu'awiyah is interesting in modern terms
because the rule of Mu'awiyah and his immediate
successors involves bringing disparate elements into a
single unity - as there were really three power bases
for a time: Syria and the Umayyads, Iraq where 'Ali
based himself, and the Hijaz as represented by Ibn
az-Zubayr. How did Mu'awiyah manage to bring about a
unity and prevent the fragmentation of the Ummah into
three states? Eventually the single unit broke up
again under the Abbasids, and never again were the
Muslims a single entity. During Mu'awiyah's rule, he
had no rivals, a situation which was never to prevail
again. Even the Ottomans, the most successful in later
times, did not encompass the entire community of
Muslims.
The fitnah itself was partially a reaction to the
centralisation of power. As the provinces manifested a
tendency towards autonomy, 'Uthman tried to counter
this by appointing people who were loyal to him - who
happened to be mostly from his family. Perhaps if
'Uthman had been of a less mild disposition, he might
have succeeded. Of course, this raises the question:
is it inevitable that such a large political unit will
break up into smaller autonomous or semi-autonomous
unit? Are 'nations' inevitable? Can this only be
countered by an imperial form - which is not the
original form of governance? What happens when the
centre will not hold?
Looking at the course followed by Mu'awiyah to
re-establish the centre, once peace was established,
Mu'awiyah reconciled many of the Muslims who had been
fighting each other by his generosity and fairness,
not to mention the intrinsic power of his position,
and resumed the conquests of Islam which had been
interrupted by the fighting. Even the most stubborn of
opponents would often melt under his generosity and
diplomacy. He also managed through fine diplomacy to
balance out the tribal rivalries which later destroyed
Umayyad rule. The importance of jihad cannot be
understated because without the external struggle
against the unbelievers, almost without fail the
struggle for power becomes internal.
We have an example of Mu'awiyah's astuteness when he
visited 'A'ishah, the daughter of the murdered
'Uthman, who was lamenting and crying for her father.
He said, "Cousin, our subjects have sworn to obey us.
In return, we promised to pardon them. If our act of
clemency is tarnished by the memory of the past, their
submission is also not free of regret. Each, with his
hand on his sword, searched the eyes of his comrades.
If we were to now break our commitments, we would push
them into being disloyal to us. That would open a
spate of new difficulties whose end result cannot be
foreseen. "
When his friends expressed surprise at the vastness of
his gifts to his opponents, he said, "a war costs
infinitely more." He said that he preferred to buy men
than to cut off their heads, and he took the example
of the Prophet, and the Book of Allah in this. This
amounts to the Qur'ânic category of ta'lif al-qulub,
reconciling hearts (see Qur'an 9:60). This is gaining
hearts rather than closing mouths, and it was a
technique which was quite effective with the unruly
Bedouins. Mu'awiyah asked 'Amr b. al-'As, "How great
is your cunning?" He replied, "I have never entered
into anything but that I got out of it." Mu'awiyah
said, "And I have never entered into anything that I
wanted to get out of!"
Mu'awiyah was famous for both for his self-possession
or hilm and for his political finesse, his daha'. To
have daha' means to be a good orator, to have firm
resolution in matters, a fertile imagination, an
ability to foresee future turns of events, and an
ability to manoeuvre people. Mu'awiyah had the ability
to single out enemies and turn them into allies. Ibn
az-Zubayr said of him, "Truly the son of Hind deployed
a dexterity and mental resourcefulness as one will
never see after him. When we tried to impose something
on him, an irritated lion with claws unsheathed would
not show more audacity than him. He knew when to give
into us, to even allow himself to be tricked when we
tried to do that to him. He was the most artful of
men, more crafty than a thief. I wished that we would
never lose him, just as a rock remains on this
summit," pointing to the mountain of Abu Qubays
outside Makkah.
An example of this is found in al-Baladhuri which
involves his wife, Fakhita bint Quraza: She said to
him, "Amir al-Mu'minin, why do you flatter people when
you know that they are treated fairly by you? If you
were to take the upper hand, they would be the ones
abased and you would have force over them." He said,
"Bother you! There still is some force in the Arabs.
If it were not for that, I would turn them upside
down." She said, "By Allah, there is only you and you
have power over them!" He said, "Would you like me to
show you some of that on their part?" She said, "Yes."
So he put her in a room and lowered a curtain over it
and then commanded his doorman to admit one of the
nobles at the door.
He admitted a man from Qays called al-Harith.
Mu'awiyah said, "Little Harith! Is it you who attacks
the khalifate and disparages its people? By Allah, I
would like to make an example of you!" He replied,
"Mu'awiyah, have you summoned me for this? By Allah,
my arm is strong and my spear is straight! My sword is
sharp and my answer ready. If you do not take what I
give with thanks, then you will be wrested from what
we dislike with humiliation." He said, "Remove him
from me." He was removed.
Fakhita said, "How bold this one is and how strong his
heart!" Mu'awiyah said, "That is only due to his pride
in how his people obey him."
Then he ordered the doorman who admitted a man of
Rabi'a called Jariya. Mu'awiyah said to him, "Little
Jariya, it has reached me that you cause disaffection
in the army and show little gratitude." He said, "And
what should we be grateful for? You only give to avert
and you are only forbearing out of flattery. Strive
your hardest! Rabi'a is behind me, a strong support!
Their shields have not grown rusty since they polished
them, and their swords have not become blunt since
they sharpened them!" He said, "Remove him."
Then he commanded his doorman who brought in a man
from Yemen called 'Abdullah. He said to him, "Little
'Abd! You have behaved badly to people and spoken
freely. I have heard such evil things about you that I
want to exile you! You will be a lesson for the people
of Syria!" He said, "Mu'awiyah! Did you summon me for
this and then use the diminutive of my name without
using my kunya? I call you Mu'awiyah, the name of a
female dog who barks at dogs! Restrain yourself! That
would be better for you!" He said to his doorman,
"Remove him."
Fakhita said, "Flatter people with your effort and
some of your gentleness and forbearance. Allah will
disgrace the one who censures you!"
As regards his hilm, or his forbearance, the quality
of resorting to force only when absolutely necessary,
Mu'awiyah is known for his famous saying, "I do not
apply my sword where my lash suffices, nor my lash
where my tongue is enough. And even if there be one
hair binding me to my fellow men, I do not let it
break. When they pull, I loosen, and if they loosen, I
pull."
Mu'awiyah was welcoming to his subjects at every hour
of the day, including mealtimes. He created the first
postal system and put it at the disposition of his
subjects to use. He was known for his impartiality and
justice, even where his family was concerned. He did
not make 'Uthman's mistake of putting his relatives
into the limelight to the exclusion of others. He
would often give judgement against the Umayyads in
favour of the Hashimites, especially if it involved
Hasan ibn 'Ali whom he was always eager to honour. He
once imposed 100 lashes to 'Abdu'r-Rahman ibn
al-Hakam, the brother of the governor, Marwan, and
confiscated his property. He would have an incorrect
punishment publicly rescinded on the minbar, no matter
who had issued it.
One thing that is clear in Mu'awiyah is his reliance
on shura and openness to his subjects with some
modifications because of the situation in Syria.
Az-Zuhri said, "Mu'awiyah acted for two years (in
Syria) as 'Umar had acted without altering it."
Mu'awiyah himself said that he had done his best to
follow the behaviour of Abu Bakr and 'Uthman. But when
he realised that the environment and circumstances in
Syria were different from those in Madinah, and that
the prevailing culture and people were different, he
modified his style of governance accordingly.
Mu'awiyah himself used this excuse to 'Umar when he
came to Syria in 18 AH and Mu'awiyah met him with a
great retinue. 'Umar disliked that, but Mu'awiyah
excused himself, saying, "We are in a land where there
are many enemy spies. We must display the might of
power in which the might of Islam and its people lie.
We will frighten them by that." 'Umar was satisfied
with that.
This use of pomp does not mean that Mu'awiyah indulged
himself in luxury, taking advantage of the excuse that
he was impressing the Byzantines with his wealth.
Mu'awiyah could be seen speaking to the people on the
minbar of Damascus wearing a patched garment. Yunus
ibn Maysar al-Himyari said, "I saw Mu'awiyah riding in
the Damascus market with his servant behind him. He
was wearing a shirt with a patched pocket, going along
in the Damascus markets."
Although Mu'awiyah is said to be the first king in
Islam as he himself is credited, probably
posthumously, as saying, "I am the first of the kings
and the last of the khalifs," it was a rather strange
sort of kingship. He continued to receive deputations
from the provinces and the tribes and consulted these
assemblies as much as possible, asking for their
counsel, mixing with them, and accepting their
criticisms. In fact, he knew just how to allow
individualism scope without letting it run rampant. He
did not worry about what they said about him, saying,
"I do not trouble about words as long as they do not
lead to deeds," certainly well anticipating the
principle of free speech, but with responsibility for
any actions to which such words might lead.
He also let people speak their piece and allowed
malcontents to vent their bad temper. When informed of
a vicious satire against him and another Arab, he
said, "I know a more effective method both of us
should raise our hands to heaven to pray against our
adversary!" This freedom of expression also provided a
healthy brake on centralisation, as people knew that
they would always have a hearing. They could always
speak out against something and be assured of a
hearing in the presence of the Khalif.
Deliberations between the khalif and the bedouins took
place in the Community Mosque, where the speakers were
free and unconstrained towards the khalif. It is
reported about him: "If he wanted to do something, he
'had a look at the people,'" i.e. he consulted them.
When he wanted to undertake a major decision, such as
delegating Yazid as the next khalif, he summoned such
a shura and the debate was unrestrained and very
lively indeed.
On one occasion, Mu'awiyah ascended the minbar and
praised Allah. When he wanted to speak, a lad of the
Ansar interrupted him and said, "Mu'awiyah! What makes
you and the people of your house more entitled to this
wealth than us! Allah gave it as spoils to the Muslims
by our swords and our spears. We have no wrong action
against you that we know of other than our slaying of
your uncle Walid, your grandfather 'Uqba, and your
brother Hanzala." Mu'awiyah said, "By Allah, nephew,
you did not kill them. Rather Allah killed them with
angels upon angels at the hands of the sons of their
father. That was not a fault nor a loss." The Ansari
said, "So where is the fault and loss then?" He said,
"You spoke the truth. Do you need something?" He said,
"Yes. I look after an old woman and sisters and things
have been hard on us." Mu'awiyah said, "Take what you
can from the treasury." The boy took it and then
Mu'awiyah resumed his khutba.
Once in Madinah, he visited a house he wanted to buy
and the owner, whose wits were somewhat addled, got up
and chased him with a stick. Mu'awiyah was amused.
In another instance, Mu'awiyah had sent 500 dinars to
an Ansari who thought the amount paltry. He told his
son to go and throw it in the khalif's face. The young
man came and told Mu'awiyah what he had been told to
do by his father. Mu'awiyah put his hand over his face
and said, "Come on, obey your father, but do not be
too hard on your uncle!" The man threw the money to
the ground and Mu'awiyah doubled the amount.
Once, losing his composure, he described a bedouin as
lying in a report he was giving. The nomad retorted,
'By Allah, the liar is to be found in your shirt!"
Surprised, Mu'awiyah smiled and said, "Here is the
repayment of precipitation!"
He said, "There is nothing I like better than anger I
swallow by which I hope for the reward of Allah."
He said, "Intelligence and forbearance are the best
things granted to mankind. If someone is reminded, he
should remember. If someone is given something, he
should be thankful. If someone is tested, he should be
steadfast. If someone is angry, he should restrain it.
If someone has power over another, he should forgive.
If someone does wrong, he should ask forgiveness. If
someone makes a promise, he should fulfill it."
Mu'awiyah said to 'Amr ibn al-'As, "I free myself from
there being a wrong action greater than my pardon,
ignorance greater than my forbearance and a fault
which I do not cover and evil greater than my charity
(ihsan)."
He remarked about his fierce governor and
half-brother, Ziyad, "Ziyad mastered Iraq with the
sword and I mastered Iraq, Syria, the Hijaz and the
Yemen with forbearance."
Once some people came to Mu'awiyah and said that his
governor had cut off someone's hand on simple
suspicion without clear evidence, and Mu'awiyah paid
them the blood money for the hand and dismissed the
governor in question, asking them whom they would like
as governor instead.
Another important point was the answerability of the
ruler to scholars. He appointed people as qadi who
were known for their knowledge of the Shari'a.
Mu'awiyah himself was subject to judgement. We have
the following story in the Ansab al-Ashraf of
al-Baladhuri:
'Abdu'r-Rahman b. Zayd ibn al-Khattab owned some land
which was next to the land of Mu'awiyah. Mu'awiyah's
trustee in Madinah, his client an-Nadir, took
'Abdu'r-Rahman's land and added it to Mu'awiyah's land
and informed him of this. 'Abdu'r-Rahman said, "I have
evidence that Abu Bakr granted it to me on account of
my father's participation in the fighting at Yamama."
An-Nadir said, "This is the land-grant of the Amir
al-Mu'minin."
He took the dispute to Marwan b. al-Hakam and he said,
"Make peace between yourselves." He did not like to
give a definitive judgement against Mu'awiyah. So
'Abdu'r-Rahman b. Zayd went to Syria. When he reached
Mu'awiyah's door, the doorman met him at al-Khadra' in
Damascus. He said to him, "Ask permission for me to
visit the Amir al-Mu'minin! He put him off, so he
raised his voice, saying, "I must see him! Our ties of
kinship must be maintained and our property kept safe
which we need more than having it taken from our
possession!" Mu'awiyah heard him and said, "Let him
in."
He entered and greeted him and said, "Your trustee in
Madinah has gone too far and has taken my land grant
received from the khalif of the Messenger of Allah,
may Allah bless him and grant him peace, which was
allowed me by 'Umar. He went to my land and claimed
that he had a letter from 'Uthman that he had given it
to you. How could 'Uthman give to you a right which
was mine?" Mu'awiyah said, "You left your land without
cultivating it until I worked it. Then I planted 5000
palm-shoots in it. I said, 'It is the grant of Abu
Bakr and it is related that 'Umar heard that some
people sequestered some land and then left it idle and
some other people came and cultivated it. He said that
it belonged to the one who cultivated it.'" He said,
"By Allah, you have not spoken the truth, Mu'awiyah!
Give me justice!" He said, "Then I must have the qadi,
who is Fadala b. 'Ubayd al-Ansari az-Zuraqi."
The Qadi would not come to the khalif and stayed in
his house, saying "One comes to the arbiter." So
Mu'awiyah and 'Abdu'r-Rahman went to him and he gave
them a cushion and said, "Sit down on it."
'Abdu'r-Rahman made his previous statement and
Mu'awiyah made his previous statement. Fadala thought
that the statement of 'Abdu'r-Rahman's was right and
gave judgement in his favour.
Mu'awiyah said, "We accept what you have said. What is
your opinion about what we have planted in it?" He
said, "That was undertaken by you. If 'Abdu'r-Rahman
wishes, he can pay the price of your planting, and if
he wishes, he can make you responsible for them in
exchange for the price of the land." 'Abdu'r-Rahman
said, "You have been fair!"
Then Fadala said, "Amir al-Mu'minin, is this being
done to the like of the descendants of Zayd and
'Umar?" Mu'awiyah said to his gardener, "Anything he
takes a liking to in our land, is his by the
connection of kinship," and he wrote to his trustee to
that effect on his behalf and settled his debt and
gave him the highest pension (sharaf al-'ata'). He
said, "You deserve it, nephew of al-Faruq and son of
the martyr." And he gave him some money.
When 'Abdu'r-Rahman had gone, Fadala said to
Mu'awiyah, "By Allah, if you had acted otherwise, he
would have gone to the people of the City of Hijra and
to the rest of the people and complained about you.
Then what is neither good nor attractive would have
occurred." Mu'awiyah said, "May Allah repay you for
helping me to the truth!" Ibn Zayd left and took his
money.
There are various things to be seen in this story.
First of all, when 'Abdu'r-Rahman b. Zayd considered
he had been wronged by the governor, Marwan, he felt
free to go straight to the Khalif and take up the
matter. Although Mu'awiyah's position was based on
valid ijtihad, realising that it was a conflict
between himself and someone else, Mu'awiyah empowered
the Qadi to judge over him. This means that the khalif
was not above the judgement of the Shari'a. Indeed,
the Qadi would not even go to the khalif. The khalif
had to go to the qadi, which indicates that all were
equal as far as the Shari'a was concerned, and
Mu'awiyah accepted this. He accepted it when the
judgement went against him and even thanked the Qadi
for ensuring that he did what was right. There is
absolutely no sense of royal prerogative here and a
complete admission that he was in the wrong and the
willingness to be corrected and put right.
So in this early vision of leadership, the khalif has
conditional rather than absolute authority as a despot
would have. Once Mu'awiyah said in a khutba, "'Umar
appointed me over Syria and then 'Uthman did so after
him. By Allah, I never swindled nor monopolised. Then
Allah appointed me to command, and I did well
sometimes and badly sometimes." Then a man stood up
and said, "O Mu'awiyah! Rather you monopolised and
were bad and neither good nor just!" He said to the
man, "Sit down. Why are you speaking?" They went on to
exchange words with each other until Mu'awiyah said,
"Sit down or I will make you sit down." At which the
man exclaimed, "I will not sit down! I will go as far
from you as possible!" He made to leave and Mu'awiyah
said, "Bring him back." They brought him back and
Mu'awiyah said, "I ask Allah's forgiveness. I saw you
when you came to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah
bless him and grant him peace, and greeted him and he
returned the greeting to you and you were guided to
him and he accepted that from you. You became a good
Muslim. We have spoken harshly to you. Tell us what
you need and I will give to you and you will be
satisfied."
The Companion, al-Miswar b. Makhrama visited Mu'awiyah
and said, "Peace be upon, you, O king!" He said, "I
know better what you said. Why do you attack the
amirs?" He replied, "I do not leave anything without
criticising it." He said, 'Miswar! We are not innocent
of wrong actions but we hope for the mercy of Allah. I
am following a Shari'a of certainty in which Allah
accepts the good and overlooks the evil. If I were to
be given a choice between Allah and what is other than
Him, I would chose Him, and then He would take care of
my needs."
He once wrote to 'A'ishah requesting some succinct
advice and she wrote back, "I heard the Messenger of
Allah say, 'If anyone seeks the pleasure of people at
the expense of the wrath of Allah, Allah will entrust
him to them until the one who praised him becomes his
critic. If anyone seeks the pleasure of Allah at the
expense of people, Allah will be enough for him
against them.'" He took this to heart and later said
on the minbar of Damascus, "No one abandons
fearfulness of Allah but that the one who praised him
becomes his critic."
One of the instructions of Mu'awiya to a new governor
was: "Open your door to the people; thus you will
have information from them. You and they are equal.
When you decide on a matter, express it openly to the
people, and no one will expect anything or make
demands on you, and you will be able to carry it out.
When you encounter your enemies, and they defeat you
at the border of your territory, do not let them
defeat you in its interior. If your companions need
you to assist them personally, do so."
He also said, "Fear Allah and do not prefer anything
to that, for there is a reward in fearing Him." He
added, "Do not tempt anyone with that to which he has
no right, and do not make anyone feel hopeless
regarding his rights." This sense of duty to the
people under one's authority was important.
Mu'awiyah also said when he appointed someone, "The
matters most proper to be hastened are the rights of
Allah."
If you look closely at Mu'awiyah and examine his
behaviour, you will see that what he actually did was
to take on the Sunnah of the Prophet and try to embody
it as much as possible in a real and constructive way.
If one looks at his statements and behaviour, his
inspiration always came from the Prophet, may Allah's
blessings be upon him. He envisaged himself as
following in the footsteps of his predecessors.
At this point, we should perhaps remark on what is
perhaps the major criticism most people direct against
Mu'awiyah the fact that he chose his son Yazid to
succeed him, thereby instituting a dynasty. Mu'awiyah
had seen the effects of a civil war and was keen to
avoid another one. There was more than one possible
contender for leadership at that time. There was not
only Husayn, the grandson of the Prophet, may Allah
bless him and grant him peace, but also 'Abdullah ibn
az-Zubayr, who had an even larger following in the
Hijaz. 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar could also have made a
claim, but he was only interested in matters of the
deen. There were also various Kharijite groups waiting
for an opportunity to assert themselves.
Mu'awiyah, a great pragmatist, realised that Husayn
certainly had better character than his son and Ibn
az-Zubayr a wider following, but he realised also that
Yazid had the army of Syria behind him, which could
enforce peace and prevent civil war. He urged Yazid to
avoid bloodshed as much as possible. When criticised
for having people give their allegiance to Yazid in
advance, Mu'awiyah pointed out that Abu Bakr had named
'Umar as his successor before his death, and that the
upheaval involved in an election could lead to another
civil war, which would involve Muslim blood being shed
and offer the enemies of the Muslims an opportunity to
attack. It was not the desire for a dynasty which led
Mu'awiyah to have people offer allegiance to his son
while he was still alive, but the desire to ensure
peace and prevent civil war.
To repeat the judgement on Mu'awiyah in a nutshell:
The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace,
said: "The best of your Imams is the one you love and
who loves you, who gives to you and you to him."
During Mu'awiyah's rule he put into practice the
advice that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant
peace, had given him, "When you rule, do it well." He
was scrupulous about justice and was generous and fair
to people of all classes. He honoured people who
possessed ability and talent and helped them to
advance their talents, regardless of their tribe. He
displayed great forbearance towards the rashness of
ignorant men and great generosity towards the
grasping. He made the judgements of the Shari'a
binding on everyone with resolution, compassion and
diligence. He led them in their prayers and directed
them in their gatherings. He led them in their wars.
In short, he proved to be a balanced and model ruler.
'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas stated that he did not see a man
more suited to rule than Mu'awiyah.
There has been ample testimony to Mu'awiyah's
abilities. Ibn Taymiyyah said, "The behaviour of
Mu'awiyah with the people was the best behaviour of
any ruler. His people loved him," reflecting what the
Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is
recorded as having said in the Sahih of Muslim: "The
best of your Imams is the one you love and who loves
you, who gives to you and you to him." This was
Mu'awiyah's behaviour in a nutshell.
'Umar ibn al-Khattab said, "Do not mention Mu'awiyah
with anything but good. I heard the Messenger of
Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say,
'O Allah, guide him!'"
Abu Musa al-Ash'ari called him, "Aminu'llah," the
trusty one of Allah."
Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, the conqueror of Iraq and Iran
and one of the oldest Companions and one of the ten
promised the Garden, said that after 'Uthman, he did
not see anyone who judged by the truth more than
Mu'awiyah. He also said, " After 'Uthman I did not see
anyone giving more judgement for what was right than
Mu'awiyah."
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{Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom
(i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue
with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone
astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.}
(Holy Quran-16:125)
{And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in
His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites
(men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I
am one of the Muslims."} (Holy Quran-41:33)
The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Allah, if
Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of
camels." [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim]
The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, "Whoever
calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who
follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all."
[Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah]
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