I say: none of this is sound, and the proposed interpretation is flimsy. What is closer to the issue is his ﷺ statement: “O Allah, if I have cursed or reviled anyone of this ummah, then make it for him a mercy (1),” or words to that effect.

Moreover, Muʿāwiyah was regarded as one of those with a hearty appetite.

A group narrated—through Muʿāwiyah ibn Ṣāliḥ, from Yūnus ibn Sayf, from al-Ḥārith ibn Ziyād, from Abū Ruhm al-Samāʿī (2), from al-ʿIrbāḍ—that he heard the Prophet ﷺ, while the Prophet was inviting the people to the pre-dawn meal in Ramadan, saying: “Come to the blessed breakfast.” He then heard him declare: “O Allah, teach Muʿāwiyah the Book and computation, and protect him from punishment (3).”

This was reported by Ibn Mahdī, Asad al-Sunnah, Abū Ṣāliḥ, and Bishr ibn al-Sari from the same chain.

In the Juzʾ of Ibn ʿArafa it appears as a muʿḍal report (4); the links of al-ʿIrbāḍ and Abū Ruhm are missing.

The report, however, has a strong corroborating witness.

Abū Musʿhir related to us—Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz from Rabīʿah ibn Yazīd, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī ʿAmīrah al-Muzanī, who was one of the Prophet’s companions—that the Prophet ﷺ said to Muʿāwiyah: “O Allah, teach him the Book and computation, and protect him from punishment (5).”

Abū Hilāl Muḥammad ibn Salīm said: Jabalah ibn ʿAṭiyyah narrated to us, from a man, from