Conversation between Shabath bin

Rab’ee and Mu’awiyah regarding the death of Ammar

Shabath bin Rab’ee narrates a significant incident regarding his interaction with Mu’awiyah in the Battle of Siffeen, when he wasn’t ready to take his hands off Ammar’s murder in any condition.

Ibn e Atheer has mentioned this incident in his book in the following manner:

Shabath bin Rab’ee said to Mu’awiyah: Do you wish to kill Ammar bin Yasir?

Mu’awiyah said: What can possibly stop me from this act? If I lay hands on the son of Sumayya, I will kill him against the death of Othman’s slave.

Shabath said: I swear to the God apart from whom there is no God, you will not be able to fulfil this desire until you separate uncounted heads from shoulders, and the earth makes the boundaries of the sky narrow for you.

Mu’awiyah said: If such happens, it will be narrower for you.[1]

With respect to this point that Mu’awiyah himself narrated the continual narrations which mention that the Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h.) said: ‘Ammar will be killed by a group of oppressors’, in reply of the question asked by Shabath bin Rab’ee that: Do you wish to kill Ammar bin Yasir?- he said: What will stop me from this act? It proves that Mu’awiyah stood openly against the saying of the Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h.).

 The reply given by Mu’awiyah to Shabath bin Rab’ee in the Battle of Siffeen regarding the killing of Ammar e Yasir, proves this important point that Mu’awiyah did not care about the sayings of the Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h.) and his prophecies regarding the killers of Ammar.

With regard to the bright character and known face, and the greatness that Ammar held before everyone, but with the purpose of attaining his immoral goals and for laying hands on the government and power, Mu’awiyah shed his blood and made Hell an eternal abode for himself.

The personality of Ammar e Yasir is so grand and significant that Hajjaj bin Yusuf e Thaqafi, the most brutal person of his time, was of the belief that: If the entire human race joins hands in order to kill Ammar bin Yasir, the entire human race will be sent to Hell.

Ibn e Atheer, one of the Sunni clerics, writes in his book:

          Some said: Abul Ghaziya, who killed Ammar, lived till the time of Hajjaj bin Yusuf. One day, he came before Hajjaj bin Yusuf. Hajjaj honoured him and then asked: Did you kill the son of Sumayya (Ammar)?

He said: Yes.

Hajjaj said: Whoever wishes to witness a great man on the Day of Resurrection, should see this person as he killed the son of Sumayya.

At that time, Abul Ghaziya demanded something from Hajjaj but he did not fulfil it.

Abul Ghaziya said: We make this earth suitable for them and they don’t give us anything in return and think that we will be honoured on the Day of Resurrection.

Hajjaj said: Yes. By God, whoever owns teeth like the Mount Uhad and thigh like the Mount Wareqaan and his association is like that of Madina and Rabza, he will become extremely honourable on the Day of Resurrection! By God, if the entire human race on earth joins hands to kill Ammar, they will all be sent to Hell.

Abdur Rahman bin Sulami says: When Ammar was killed, I went inside the army of Mu’awiyah to find out if it had initiated the same amount of uproar between them, like it initiated between us?

Our story with Mu’awiyah’s army is such that whenever the flames of war extinguished, they would talk to us and we would talk to them. At that time, I saw that Mu’awiyah, Amr e Aas, Abul Aa’war and Abdullah bin Amr are having a conversation.

I took my horse near them so that I do not miss their conversation. Abdullah bin Amr said to his father: Dear father! You have killed this person today and do you know what the Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h.) has said about him?

He asked: What has he said?

He said: Was it not such that when the Prophet’s mosque was being constructed, people used to lift one brick at a time but Ammar lifted two at once, and strived so much for this work that he became unconscious. The Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h.) sat beside him, cleaned the dust and mud from his face and said: ‘O son of Sumayya! Withhold yourself. Others are lifting one brick at a time whereas you are lifting two at a time; even then you will be killed by a group of oppressors.

Amr e Aas said to Mu’awiyah: Did you hear what my son said?

Mu’awiyah said: What is he saying?

Amr narrated the entire conversation before Mu’awiyah. Mu’awiyah asked: Did we kill him?! He was killed by that person who brought him to the battlefield!!

          I couldn’t understand who was more astonishing, he or they?[2]

                You are now aware of Hajjaj’s remark about the assassinator of Ammar. Abdullah bin Amr, who was one of the heads of Mu’awiyah’s army, had the same opinion about the assassinator of Ammar. Pay attention to the following incident:

          ‘Two men were disputing each other for the clothes and accessories of Ammar, which he had with him in the battlefield, after his death. Both of them came to Abdullah bin Amr bin Aas to resolve their dispute.

          Abdullah said: Woe upon you. Go away from me. The Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h.) said: What did Quraysh have against Ammar? Ammar used to invite them towards heaven and they were inviting him towards hell; his assassinator and those who loot his clothes and accessories will be the dwell in Hellfire.[3]