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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

A tradition from 'A'ishah

said to us: 'How nice it would have been to have a man with us to talk to!' I said: 'Should I send for Abu Bakr?' He remained silent and said again: 'How fine it would have been to have a man with us to talk to.' This time Hafsah said: 'Couldn't we send for 'Umar?' He did not answer, and then called a man and whispered something to him. The man went out and after some moments. 'Uthman arrived. The Prophet began to speak eagerly with him, and I heard these words: 'O 'Uthman! Let us hope that God will adorn you with the garment of caliphate and greatness, and if they tried to remove it from your body, never submit to it', and he repeated this sentence three times."
an-Nu'man ibn Bashir says: I said to her: "O Umm al-Mu'minin! Had you forgotten this tradition when you combatted so much with 'Uthman, and wanted to depose him, and even incited the people to kill him?"(390)
'A'ishah said: "My son! I had forgotten this tradition. So thoroughly as if I had never heard it."(391)
The incident took place in the following way: A letter arrived for 'A'ishah from the caliph Mu'awiyah, and the messenger was waiting for an answer. At this moment 'A'ishah remembered a tradition of the Prophet and quoted it for the caliph's messenger, stating that the Prophet had predicted that 'Uthman would in future assume the position of caliph (392) and in such a case he should never abdicate.
What is the connection of this letter with the tradition? Had Mu'awiyah asked her in his letter to defend 'Uthman? Or did 'A'ishah intend that an-Nu'man, Mu'awiyah's messenger, on his return to him, should quote the tradition for his master? Or was there some other reason for it?
Is it possible at all that 'A'ishah had really forgotten this tradition and similar ones which she had quoted for different people during Mu'awiyah's rule, all the time that she combatted against 'Uthman and incited the people to rise against him?
Whatever the reason may be, this tradition and similar ones which we will quote in the tradition section of this book, as well as the traditions that 'A'ishah has narrated in praise of the excellence of her father Abu Bakr, and 'Umar, and her cousin Talhah and others, place her in the rank of the most superior individuals who did their utmost in pleasing Mu'awiyah in

 

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