Al-Aṣamm relates: My father told us, and I heard Ibn Rāhawayh say, “Not a single report concerning Muʿāwiyah’s virtues is soundly traceable to the Prophet ﷺ.” ⦗1⦘

Ibn Fudayl narrated: Yazīd b. Abī Ziyād told us, from Sulaymān b. ʿAmr b. al-Ahwaṣ, from Abū Barzah:
“We were with the Prophet ﷺ when he heard the sound of singing. He said, ‘Go and see what that is.’ I climbed up, looked, and saw Muʿāwiyah and ʿAmr b. al-ʿĀṣ singing. I went back and informed him, and he said, ‘O Allah, plunge them headlong into turmoil, and drive them forcefully into the Fire.’” ⦗2⦘
This is one of the narrations for which Yazīd is condemned.

Ibn Lahīʿah, on the authority of Yūnus, from Ibn Shihāb, reports:
“When ʿUmar arrived at al-Jābiyah he left two governors over Syria, Abū ʿUbaydah b. al-Jarrāḥ and Yazīd b. Abī Sufyān. Yazīd then died, and ʿUmar sent the news to Abū Sufyān, who asked, ‘Whom have you appointed in his place?’ He replied, ‘Muʿāwiyah.’ Abū Sufyān said, ‘You have upheld the tie of kinship, Commander of the Believers!’” ⦗3⦘

Khalīfah adds: “After that, ʿUmar placed the whole of Syria under Muʿāwiyah, and ʿUthmān confirmed him in that office.” ⦗4⦘

I say: It is enough that a man should be appointed by ʿUmar—and then by ʿUthmān—over a province, and a frontier one at that, hold it firmly, administer it with the fullest competence, and satisfy the populace through his generosity and forbearance, even though