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says: When
Ibn as-Sawda' arrived in ash-Sham, he met Abu
Dharr and said to him: Abu Dharr, are you not
surprised at Mu'awiyah who says: 'Wealth belongs
to God', whereas everything belongs to God? Then
he adds: Mu'awiyah intends to swallow the whole
of the public funds and revenue, and deprive the
Muslims of it."(120)
Here at-Tabari is quoting the story of 'Abd Allah
ibn Saba', the fabulous hero of the history of
Islam, with the title of Ibn asSawda' and we have
shown in the book of 'Abd Allah ibn Saba', two
volumes of which have been published, that it
is full of lies and fables, and interested readers
can refer to them.
All the historians who have succeeded at-Tabari
have more or less followed his example in quoting
the said story. For example, Ibn al-Athir, the
great historian of the 7th century, writes in
his history book: 'In that year (30th of the Hijrah)
the incident of Abu Dharr's exile from ash-Sham
to Medina by Mu'awiyah took place. Many things
have been said about the motive and cause of this
matter including Mu'awiyah's abuses and threats
to Abu Dharr and his expulsion on a bare camel,
his exile to Medina in that tragic state, which
should be left, unsaid. If it is true, it would
be fitting to offer an excuse for 'Uthman about
this matter such as the claim that a ruler and
imam can chastise his subject and so on, and not
make use of such incidents as a basis of irony
and criticism towards 'Uthman. These narrations
contain matters, which I do not like to quote.
But Mu'awiyah's apologists have offered some excuses
in this connection. They write… "(121)
Then he narrates the story of 'Abd Allah ibn Saba',
the imaginary and untrue hero of the stories of
Sayf ibn 'Umar from at-Tabari, and this is exactly
what Ibn Kathir, Ibn Khaldun and others have done.
But when we refer to at-Tabari's words, we see
that he does not disregard the numerous calamities,
which have befallen Abu Dharr owing to their being
false and forged, but he merely does not like
to quote them, since he does not wish to blemish
such Prophet's companions as 'Uthman and Mu'awiyah.
Then he speaks of apologists and excuse-makers
and fills his great book with their false and
fabulous reports, such reports which he himself
calls "fibs". Thus he closes the door
of truth
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