the butchers of Mecca, and I am not content with such a standing. To which of the two parties, then, shall I attach myself?

ʿAbd Allāh said, “If you must do something, then join ʿAlī.”

He replied, “May your mother mourn you! If I go to him he will say, ‘You are no more than one of the Muslims,’ but if I go to Muʿāwiyah he will take me into his inner circle and make me a partner in his enterprise.”

So he went to Muʿāwiyah. (1)

It is also said that he told ʿAbd Allāh, “You advised me to stay out of the conflict, and that is better for my Hereafter; while you, Muḥammad, advised me with what would make my name more prominent. Mount up, both of you.”

He arrived at Muʿāwiyah’s court and found him preaching, exhorting the people of Syria about the blood of the martyr.

He said, “O Muʿāwiyah, your tales have scorched my liver! Do you imagine we oppose ʿAlī because of some merit of ours over him? By Allah, no! It is nothing but this world that we are scrambling for. By Allah, either you allot me a share of your worldly domain or I shall break with you.”

Muʿāwiyah therefore granted him Egypt, even though its people had already pledged their obedience to ʿAlī. (2)

al-Ṭabarānī relates: Yaḥyā ibn ʿUthmān told us, Saʿīd ibn ʿUfayr told us, Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān—from his father—from Yaʿlā ibn Shaddād ibn Aws—from his father:

He entered upon Muʿāwiyah while ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ was with him. Shaddād sat down between the two and said, “Do you know what has made me sit between you?

“I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say: ‘If you see those two together, separate them, for by Allah they never meet except upon treachery.’” (3)

It is also reported that ʿAlī wrote to ʿAmr, and Muʿāwiyah read the letter aloud to him, saying, “You see what ʿAlī has written to me: either you satisfy me or I shall join him.”

ʿAmr asked, “What do you want?”

He answered, “Egypt.”

So Muʿāwiyah made it over to him. (4)