Another prophecy by Imam Ali (a.s.)

regarding the Umayyad dynasty

In the book ‘Peshgoyi haaye Amirul Momineen’, it is mentioned that:

“In the sermon 144 of Nehjul Balagha, Imam Ali (a.s.) firstly spoke about the wisdom behind the deputation of the Prophets and the Messengers; wherein, he spoke in a section of the sermon about the cognition of the misguided ones and the oppression of Abdul Malik.

          Imam (a.s.) in the beginning of the sermon:

بعث اللّٰہ رسلہ بِما خصّہم بِہِ مِن وحیِہِ، وجعلہم حجّة لہ علی خلقِہِ، لِئلاّ تجِب الحجّة لہم بِتَرکِ الاِعذارِ اِلیہِم، فدعاہم بِلِسانِ الصِّدقِ اِلٰی سبِیلِ الحقِّ۔

                            ....أین الّذِین زعموا أَنَّہم الرّٰاسِخون فِی العِلمِ دوننا کذباً وبغیاً علینا؟ أَن رفعنا اللّٰہ ووضعہم، وأعطانا وحرمہم، وأَدخلَنا وَأَخرجہم، بِنا یُستعطَی الہُدی،  وَیُسْتجلَی العمی، اِنَّ الْأَئِمَّةَ مِن قریش غُرِسوا فِی ہذا البطنِ مِن ہاشِم، لا تصلح علی سِواہم، ولا تصلُح الوُلاة مِن غیرِہم۔

“Allah deputed prophets and distinguished them with His revelation. He made them as pleas for Him among His creation, so that there should not remain any excuse for people. He invited people to the right path through a truthful tongue.

          ….Where are those who falsely and unjustly claimed that they are deeply versed in knowledge, as against us, although Allah raised us in position and kept them down, bestowed upon us knowledge but deprived them, and entered us (in the fortress of knowledge) but kept them out. With us guidance is to be sought and blindness (of misguidance) is to be changed into brightness. Surely Imams (divine leaders) will be from the Quraysh. They have been planted in this line through Hashim.[1] It would not suit other nor would others be suitable as heads of affairs.

          In another part of this sermon, he said:

آثروا عاجِلاً، وأَخَّروا آجِلاً، وترکوا صافِیاً، وشرِبوا آجِناً کأَنِّ أنظر اِلی فاسِقِہِم وقد صحِب المنکر فألِفَہ، وَبَسِي بِہِ ووافقہ، حتی شابت علیہِ مفارِقہ، وصُبِغت بِہِ خلائِقہ، ثمّ أَقبل مُزبِداً کالتّیّارِ لا یبالِی ما غرّق، أو کَوَقْع النّٰارِ فی الہَشیمِ لا یحفِل ما حرَّق۔

 "They have adopted this world and abandoned the next world; left clean water and drunk stinking water. I can almost see their wicked one who committed unlawful acts, associated himself with them, befriended them and accorded with them till his hair grew grey and his nature acquired their tinge. He proceeded onward emitting foam like a torrential stream not caring who he drowned, or, like fire in straw, without realising what he burnt."

          In this sermon, Imam (a.s.) has talked about a man whose dirt and filth and impurity has become a part of his nature and character. This person is in Imam’s view someone who is impure and filthy by origin and descent, and would grow old with his bad inner self.

          There is a difference between a person who commits undesirable acts out of ignorance, worldly desires and deceit, and often realises his sins and mistakes and asks for forgiveness, and regrets his actions, and a person whose indecent acts have become a part of his personality and self. In such a condition, he does not pay attention towards his deeds and is incapable of understanding the goodness or badness of his deeds.

          Hindu Shah says in the book ‘Tijarab us Salaf’: One day Abdul Malik bin Marwan said to Saeed bin Musayyab: ‘I have become such that I do not feel delighted on doing a good deed and do not feel sad on committing an undesirable deed.’

          Saeed said: ‘Your heart has now died completely.’ 

Abdul Malik bin Marwan is someone who committed a number of shameful and undesirable acts in the twenty one years of his rule: Firstly, appointment of Hajjaj bin Yusuf Thaqafi, famous amongst the Arabs for his bloodsheds, in Iraq.

          Hajjaj had imprisoned thousands of people in his prison who were mostly from the Hashemite dynasty, reciters of Quran, jurisprudents of Islam and the Shiites of Imam Ali (a.s.). He had commanded that the prisoners were to be given water mixed with salt or lime and donkey’s excreta in the place of food.[2]

          Secondly, he set the Holy Ka’aba on fire and demolished it.

          The illustrators of ‘Nehjul Balagha’ have given several views about the one whom Imam (a.s.) has regarded as ‘Fasiq’. As per the view of ibn e Meethum: It is possible that Imam’s actual intention by the word ‘their Fasiq’ was Abdul Malik bin Marwan, and the intention behind the pronoun ‘their’ was the Umayyad dynasty itself.

          Wali ibn e Abil Hadeed says: It is not far-fetched in my opinion that the intention behind ‘Fasiq’ was those who were named as the companions but were of indecent character, like Mughaira bin Sha’ba, Amr e Aas, Marwan bin Hakam, Mu’awiyah and a few others.

          It is possible that Imam (a.s.) might have indicated towards Mu’awiyah bin Abi Sufiyan, as he ruled for twenty years after the martyrdom of Imam Ali (a.s.). In this duration, he committed a series of prohibited acts and did not regret any of his deeds; as impurity and filth had become a part of his nature and behaviour.

          At the time of Imam Ali (a.s.), Mu’awiyah initiated the battle of Siffeen in which a large number of Muslims were killed and after the Martyrdom of Imam (a.s.), he commanded his subordinates to curse and abuse Imam (a.s.), the caliph of Muslims, from all the mosques and pulpits, and this greatly undesirable act went on for sixty years until Umar bin Abdul Aziz eradicated this act completely.

          Mu’awiyah appointed Yazid as his successor in the final days of his life; Yazid was someone who committed these prohibited acts openly and had no fear in propagating inhuman acts.

          It is said that when Mu’awiyah (the second), grandson of Mu’awiyah, came into power, after forty days or more, he ascended the pulpit of the Mosque in Syria and said: O people! The acts committed by my predecessors, be it right or wrong, cannot be continued by me any further. You can appoint anyone whom you feel appropriate for this position, and descended the pulpit and went back to his house, then closed the doors on himself until he died or was killed and this statement caused the power to shift from the sons of Sufyan towards the sons of Marwan.

           But Mu’awiyah bin Sufyan did not hold even this level of decency and justice, and with the help of his plots and deceits, he made the tribal heads pledge in favour of his impure and lecherous son Yazid, and thus appointed him as the supreme head over the Muslims. Mu’awiyah lived for more than seventy years and reached the final stage of his life; as the Imam (a.s.) indicated in his sermon.[3]

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[1] Probably this word of Imam (a.s.) is an indication towards Thaqeefa. When the ‘Ansaar’ claimed the caliphate, Abu Bakr said, “Al Aemmatu min Quraysh” (The Imams will be from Quraysh), and rejected the claim of ‘Ansaar’ with this statement. Imam (a.s.) says: Indeed, the Imams are from Quraysh, but not any tribe of Quraysh, but only from the Hashemite Dynasty. Imam Ali (a.s.) was a Hashemite from the side of his mother and father.