and to hunting. He therefore dispatched someone to dissuade Muʿāwiyah from the idea: ʿUbayd ibn Kaʿb al-Numayrī, one of Ziyād’s most trusted associates. ʿUbayd travelled to Damascus, met first with Yazīd, spoke to him on Ziyād’s behalf, and advised him not to seek the office—nor even to accept it—1 for abandoning the matter would be better for him than striving after it. Yazīd was deterred, then conferred with his father, and the two agreed to drop the question for the moment.
When Ziyād died—during that very year—Muʿāwiyah set about arranging the succession for Yazīd, calling the people to it and securing the oath of allegiance for his son. He wrote to all the provinces, and the inhabitants everywhere complied, except for ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Bakr, ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar, al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī, ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr, and Ibn ʿAbbās. Muʿāwiyah then rode to Mecca for ʿumrah; on his return he passed through Madīnah, where he summoned each of those five individually, threatening and intimidating them. The most forceful in his reply and the boldest in speech was ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Bakr al-Ṣiddīq, while the gentlest was ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb.
Afterwards Muʿāwiyah preached while the five sat beneath the pulpit; the people pledged allegiance to Yazīd as they remained seated, neither joining the pledge nor openly opposing it because of his threats. Thus the bayʿah for Yazīd was consolidated throughout the realm. Delegations from every province arrived to greet Yazīd, among them al-Aḥnaf ibn Qays. Muʿāwiyah instructed him to converse with Yazīd; they sat together, after which al-Aḥnaf emerged. Muʿāwiyah asked, “What did you think of your nephew?” He answered, “If we lie, we fear Allah; if we tell the truth, we fear you. You know best how he spends his night and his day, his private and public conduct, his coming in and going out. You also know best what purpose you have in mind. Our duty is to hear and obey; yours is to act sincerely for the ummah.”
When Muʿāwiyah had concluded the peace treaty with al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī, he had stipulated that authority would pass to al-Ḥasan after him. Upon al-Ḥasan’s death Muʿāwiyah’s resolve for Yazīd grew stronger; he considered him qualified, driven by a father’s love for his son and by what he perceived in him of worldly aptitude—the bearing of royal offspring, familiarity with warfare, the ordering of a kingdom, and the upkeep of its pomp. He believed none of the sons of the Companions could match him in that regard. Hence he said to ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar, “I feared that I might leave the flock after me like rain-soaked sheep with no shepherd.” Ibn ʿUmar replied, “If all the people pledge to him, I will pledge—were he an Abyssinian slave with his limbs mutilated.”
Saʿīd ibn ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān reproached Muʿāwiyah for appointing Yazīd and asked to be installed in his stead. He said, “My father never ceased caring for you until you reached the summit of glory and honor, yet you have preferred your son to me, although I surpass him in father, mother, and person.” Muʿāwiyah responded, “The kindness of your father to me is undeniable; your father’s superiority over his is a fact; your mother is Qurashī while his is Kalbī, so she is superior to her. As for your being better than he—2 by Allah, were the whole Ghūṭah filled with men like you, Yazīd would still be dearer to me than all of you together.”