blood from my body and wounds so that I may face Mu'awiyah by the heavenly bridge and plead for justice at the Divine Presence "(219)(220)

Mu'awiyah put to death many of the Imam's friends and supporters like Hujr and his followers, on the one hand owing to the rancor he felt towards them, and on the other hand because he wanted to reinforce the basis of his rule, since they were likely to rebel soon against the paganism which was being revived, thus creating a serious danger for his government. So we see that Mu'awiyah was not averse to any forbidden act in order to strengthen the pillars of his rule, since the basis of his thought were pagan ideas and values. Where paganism is a supreme ruler, there exists nothing to bind people, and no true principle has any worth, and no human virtue and no quality wins respect.
He spent the first part of his twenty years of caliphate in the firm establishment of his rule, and the last part of it in making it hereditary for his sons. You will read more about this subject in the forthcoming chapters.

Government becomes hereditary (imperial)

I tore up the affair of this ummah to such an extent that it can never be repaired.
al-Mughayrah ibn Shu'bah
Their religion has indeed been worthless in their mind.
Mu'awiyah

When the rule of Mu'awiyah was established and its pillars became firm, and no danger threatened his position any more, he had a new idea. Perhaps it would be more correct to say that this idea had always existed in his mind, since, as we have already seen, this was a part of the counsels given to him by his father, Abu Sufyan. This idea was nothing but making the Umayyad government hereditary. So he started making his idea an actual fact. In this task he made use of every existing factor in the country, and employed every trick and scheme and crime