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  Chapters
1. A word from the Persian translator
2. Preface: aim of the survey and discussion
3. The lineage of Mu'awiyah: Abu Sufyan and Hind
4. The Umayyads in pagan times
  5   Abu Sufyan in the battle of Badr
6. Abu Sufyan in the battle of Uhud
7. Hind in the battle of Uhud
8 Abu Sufyan as leader in the battle of al-Khandaq
9. Feeling of weakness and proposal of peace
11. Mecca is captured
  12.   Abu Sufyan and his position in the Islamic community
  13   Abu Sufyan in the time of the first two caliphs
  14   Abu Sufyan in the time of 'Uthman
  15   Mu'awiyah in the time of the Prophet
  16   Mu'awiyah in the time of the caliphs
  17   Mu'awiyah and 'Uthman
  18   Abu Dharr facing Mu'awiyah
  19   A fable in the history of Islam
  20   Quranic Memorizers and Interpreters of Kufah in ash-Sham
  21   Mu'awiyah after 'Uthman
  22   Siffin, the battlefield scene of right over wrong
  23   The trickery of Mu'awiyah
  24   Abu Musa and 'Amr ibn al-'As
  25   ash-Shami plunderes
  26   Jariyah ibn Qudamah, a man of the Alawite front
  27   Two opposing politics
  28   Mu'awiyah in the time of Imam al-Hasan al-Mujtaba
  29   Motives for peace
  30   Cautious treatment of enemies
  31   Crafty Arabs in the trap laid by Mu'awiyah
  32   Heavy taxes
  33   The Shi'ah in torture and molestation
  34   Governing becomes hereditary and imperial
  35   Allegiance to Yazid in Basra
  36   Allegiance to Yazid in ash-Sham
  37   Allegiance to Yazid in Medina
  38   Allegiance to Yazid demands victims
  39   Ceremonies of allegiance to Yazid
  40   What caused the friendship between 'A'ishah and the Umayyads
41 Gifts of Mu'awiyah
  42   the influence of 'A'ishah in the rule of the Umayyads
  43   'A'ishah and Mu'awiyah in reciprocal contention
  44   Death of Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr
  45   'Abd ar-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr is poisoned
  46   'A'ishah is penitent about the battle of al-Jamal
  47   'A'ishah generosity
  48   Her family bigotry
  49   'A'ishah as an eminent orator
  50   'A'ishah as a well -dressed woman
  51   'A'ishah's monopoly of verdicts
  52   Anecdotes in the life of 'A'ishah
  53   TA brief glance at the life of Mu'awiyah
  54   Traditional making
  55   Freed persons and the caliphate
  56   A cover for inferiority complexes
  57   The fate of the noble persons who did not co-operate with Mu'awiyah
  58   Imam 'Ali is cursed on Islamic pulpits
  59   A group of people refuses to curse
  60   The ultimate goal of Mu'awiyah
  61   A tradition from 'A'ishah
  62   Conclusion and purpose
  63   Addendum
       

 

 

THE ROLE OF AISHAH IN THE HISTORY OF ISLAM
In the name of God, the almighty

Tradition making and its motives
in the time of Mu'awiyah

Then they narrated how the holy Prophet sent Mu'awiyah and his Sons much of the spoils of war as a consolation and softening of their hearts towards Islam, but the efforts of the Prophet to win them over truly to Islam proved to be of no avail. After embracing Islam Abu Sufyan had declared: "I wish I could mobilize warlike groups against this man!" On the day of battle when in the first hours of combat the Muslims retreated, Abu Sufyan said to his friends: "The rout and flight of these men will continue as far as the shores of the Red Sea!" On the day of the battle of al-Yarmuk after the Prophet's decease, when he observed the retreat of the Muslims, he cried out: "Long live the Romans!" and when the Romans retreated, he cried out:
"Woe upon you!" and at the same time here regretfully recited these lines:
"Of the noble Romans and emperors of Rome
No single member seems to have remained."
All these talks went on during the tyrannical rule of Mu'awiyah, whereas for the Arabs of the Arabian peninsula nothing was so worthy and noble as the memory of their fathers and ancestors and the story of their glory, greatness and courageous deeds. Arabs loved this, and did their utmost for its sake. Despite all the combats of true Islam against this attitude, it had not lost its force and had not been vanquished. The number of those, who truly followed Islamic verdicts and injunctions and had forgotten those pagan and superstitious ideas and customs, was very small.
It is quite clear that Mu'awiyah belonged to this group of notorious Muslims. During the short period of his association with the Prophet and his stay among the Muslims in Medina, no change of attitude had taken place in him. We discover this fact well from his conduct during his rule in ash-Sham he engaged in usury, and stored skins full of wine in his house; he gave away Muslims' public fund for his own whims and fancies as if they were his own property. The orators of the city sang his praises to his face. He arranged parties similar to those of pagan times for a narration of futile and imaginary stories of pride and greatness, and proudly and pompously said to those present: "All the Quraysh know that Abu Sufyan is the greatest man of them and the son of the noblest of them, of course, with

 

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