so Muʿāwiyah appointed (1) Tufayl ibn ʿAwf al-Yashkurī as governor of Khurasan; Tufayl was in fact an open enemy of Ibn al-Kawwāʾ. When the news reached Ibn al-Kawwāʾ he said, “That Ibn Dajāja knows little about me (2). Does he imagine that Tufayl’s governorship of Khurasan will distress me? By Allah, I would love it if not a single Yashkurī remained on earth except that he opposed me, and still he has put them in charge!” (3)
Accordingly, Muʿāwiyah removed Ibn ʿĀmir from the governorship of Basra and sent al-Ḥārith ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Azdi to replace him. It is also related that Muʿāwiyah summoned Ibn ʿĀmir for a visit; Ibn ʿĀmir travelled to Damascus, where Muʿāwiyah honoured him and reinstated him in his office.
When Ibn ʿĀmir was about to depart, Muʿāwiyah said, “I will ask you for three things; say: ‘They are yours.’” Ibn ʿĀmir answered, “They are yours, and I am the son of Umm Ḥakīm.” (4)
- Muʿāwiyah said, “Return the governorship to me without taking offence.”
– “It is done,” replied Ibn ʿĀmir. - “Make a gift to me of your property at ʿArafah.”
– “It is done.” - “And grant me your houses in Mecca.”
– “It is done.”
Muʿāwiyah remarked, “You have upheld kinship.” Ibn ʿĀmir then said, “Commander of the Believers, I too shall ask you for three things; say: ‘They are yours.’” “They are yours,” Muʿāwiyah replied, “and I am the son of Hind.” (5)
- “Return to me my property at ʿArafah.”
– “It is done.” - “Do not call any of my officials or governors to account.”
– “It is done.” - “And marry me to your daughter Hind.”
– “It is done.”
Some report that Muʿāwiyah offered him the choice between these three concessions and retaining the governorship of Basra; he chose the three and resigned from Basra.
Ibn Jarīr (6) also records that in this same year Muʿāwiyah acknowledged Ziyād ibn Abīhi ibn Sumayya as the son of his father, Abū Sufyān. This came about because a man from ʿAbd al-Qays (7) testified that Abū Sufyān had admitted to having committed fornication with Sumayya—Ziyād’s mother—during the pre-Islamic period, and that she had conceived Ziyād from him. Once Muʿāwiyah attached him in this way, he was referred to as Ziyād ibn Abū Sufyān.
Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī used to denounce this attribution, citing the saying of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: “The child is attributed to the marriage bed, while the fornicator receives only the stone.” (8)