Al-Bidayah wa an-Nihayah - Ibn Kathir - (7/455)

Al-Bidayah wa an-NihayahIbn Kathir

The swords of Banū Wāʾil have parted him from Asmāʾ, and he was a youth whom, had the destroyers but missed him,
They left ʿUbayd Allah lying motionless on the plain, his blood streaming, his veins still spurting. (1)
He swayed as showers of blood poured over him, like crimson stains that appear at a shirt’s collar.
Round the cousin of Muhammad, men of lofty merit stood firm in the very face of death;
They did not desist until Allah beheld their steadfastness, and until the muṣḥafs were lifted aloft upon hands.

Another poet added:
O Muʿāwi, do not rise without a sure pledge, for after today you will come to know humiliation.

Abū Juham al-Asadī replied with a poem full of satire, which we have deliberately omitted.

[The Martyrdom of ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir, may Allah be pleased with him]

This is the account of the slaying of ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir, may Allah be pleased with him, who was with the Commander of the Faithful ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib; he was killed by the Syrians. Thus was made manifest the secret of what the Messenger ﷺ had foretold—that the rebellious faction would kill him—showing thereby that ʿAlī was in the right and that Muʿāwiyah was the rebel, and in this are proofs (2) of Prophethood.

Ibn Jarīr (3) relates—through Abū Mikhnaf, who said: Mālik ibn Aʿyan al-Juhanī narrated to me from Zayd ibn Wahb al-Juhanī—that on that day ʿAmmār said:

“Where is the one who seeks Allah’s good pleasure and does not turn aside (4) for wealth or for child?”

A band of people came to him, and he said, “People, set out with us toward those who are pursuing the blood of ʿUthmān and claim he was killed wrongfully. By Allah, their aim is neither to avenge his blood nor to seek retaliation for him; rather, these people have tasted the world, found it sweet, and have come to loathe the Hereafter. They know that if the truth were to bind them it would bar them from wallowing in the worldly pleasures and lusts in which they wallow. They have no prior distinction in Islam that would entitle them to be obeyed or to hold authority over others, nor has the fear of Allah taken root in their hearts—the fear that, once it inhabits a heart, restrains its owner from indulging desires, deters him from seeking the world and vying for supremacy in it, and impels him to follow the truth and incline toward its people. So they duped their followers by saying, ‘Our leader was killed unjustly,’ in order to become tyrannical kings thereby. This is the stratagem by which they have reached the standing you now see. Had it not been for that claim, not two men would have followed them; they would have been the most abased, the most ignoble, and the fewest. Yet falsehood has a sweetness in the ears of the heedless. Therefore, travel to Allah with a fair journey and remember Him abundantly.”

(1) In manuscript A: “min ‘urūq dhawārif” (“from the veins of the dregs”). In this version it appears as “iqwā,” whereas al-Ṭabarī’s recension reads tamajja dumu al-kharq; al-‘urūqu adh-dhawārif (“the veins of the dregs congeal the blood of the lees”). (2) In manuscript A: “wa-ẓahara bi-dhālika dalāʾilu an-nubuwwah” (“and thereby the evidences of prophethood became manifest”). (3) al-Ṭabarī’s History (5/38). (4) In edition T: “min yabtaghī riḍwān rabbihi wa-lā yalwī” (“whoever seeks his Lord’s pleasure and does not bend”), and in al-Ṭabarī’s History (5/39): “wa-lā yaʾūb ilā māl” (“and does not revert to wealth”).

تبدّل من أسماءَ أسْيافُ وائلٍ … وكانَ فتىً لو أخَطَأتْهُ المَتالِفُ تركنَ عُبَيْدَ الله بالقاعِ ثاويًا … تسيلُ دماهُ والعروق نوازفُ (١) يَنوءُ ويَغْشاهُ شَآبيبُ من دمٍ … كمَا لاحَ من جَيْبِ القَميصِ الكَفائفُ وقدْ صَبَرَتْ حولَ ابن عمِّ محمدٍ … لَدى الموت أربابُ المَناقبِ شارفُ فما برحوا حتى رأى اللهُ صَبْرهمْ … وحتى رقتْ فَوْقَ الأكُفِّ المَصاحِفُ وزاد غيره فيها: مَعاوي لا تَنْهَضْ بغيرِ وثيقةٍ … فإنكَ بَعْدَ اليَومِ بالذُّلِّ عارِفُ وقد أجابه أبو جهم الأسدي بقصيدة فيها أنواع من الهجاء تركناها قصدًا. [مقتل عمار بن ياسر (رضي الله عنه) ] وهذا مقتل عمار بن ياسر (رضي الله عنه) مع أمير المؤمنين علي بن أبي طالب قتله أهل الشام. وبان وظهر بذلك سرُّ ما أخبر به الرسول ﷺ من أنه تقتله الفئة الباغية، وبان بذلك أن عليًا محق وأن معاوية باغ، وما في ذلك من دلائل (٢) النبوة. ذكر ابن جرير (٣) من طريق أبي مخنف، حدَّثني مالك بن أعين الجُهني، عن زيد بن وهب الجُهني، أن عمارًا قال يومئذ: [أين] من يبتغي رضوان الله ولا يلوي (٤) إلى مال ولا ولد، قال: فأتته عصابةٌ من الناس فقال: أيها الناس اقصدوا بنا نحو هؤلاء القوم الذين يبتغون دم عثمان ويزعمون أنه قُتل مظلومًا، والله ما قصدُهم الأخذُ بدمه ولا الأخذ بثأره، ولكن القوم ذاقوا الدنيا واستحلوها واستمرؤوا الآخرة فَقَلوْها، وعلموا أن الحق إذا لزمهم حال بينهم وبين ما يتمرّغون فيه من دنياهم وشهواتهم، ولم يكن للقوم سابقةٌ في الإسلام يستحقُّون بها طاعةَ الناس لهم ولا الولاية عليهم، ولا تمكَّنتْ من قلوبهم خشيةُ الله التي تمنعُ منْ تمكنتْ من قلبه عن نيل الشهوات، وتعقله عن إرادة الدنيا وطلب العلو فيها، وتحمله على اتّباع الحقّ والميل إلى أهله، فخدعوا أتباعَهم بقولهم إمامُنا قُتل مظلومًا، ليكونوا بذلك جبابرةً ملوكًا، وتلك مكيدةٌ بلغوا بها ما تَرَون، ولولا ذلك ما تبعهم من الناس رجلان ولكانوا أذلَّ وأخسَّ وأقلَّ، ولكنَّ قولَ الباطل له حلاوةٌ في أسماعِ الغافلين، فسيروا إلى الله سيرًا جميلًا، واذكروه ذكرًا كثيرًا.

(١) في أ: من عروق ذوارفِ، وفي هذه الرواية إقواء، ورواية الطبري: تمجّ دم الخرق العروقُ الذوارف. (٢) في أ: وظهر بذلك دلائل النبوة. (٣) تاريخ الطبري (٥/ ٣٨). (٤) في ط: من يبتغي رضوان ربه ولا يلوي. وفي تاريخ الطبري (٥/ ٣٩). ولا يئوب إلى مال.