—hadith that are numerous in the two Ṣaḥīḥs and in other Sunan- and Musnad-type collections—and a number of Companions and Successors reported from him.

Abū Bakr ibn Abī al-Dunyā said:
Muʿāwiyah was tall, fair-skinned, and handsome; when he laughed his upper lip would curl back, and he used to apply dye. Muḥammad ibn Yazīd al-Azdī told me, saying: Abū Mushir narrated to us, from Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, from Abū ʿAbd Rabb, who said: “I saw Muʿāwiyah tinting his beard yellow until it looked like gold.”

Another narrator said: “He was fair, tall, and ajlaḥ (1)—his hairline receded. The hair of his head and beard was white, and he would dye them with henna and katam (a dark dye).”

Late in life he was struck by laqwa (2)—facial paralysis—so he would cover his face and say, “May Allah have mercy on the servant who prays for my recovery, for I have been struck in the best and most visible part of me; and were it not for my fondness for Yazīd, I would have chosen the path of right guidance.”

He was forbearing and dignified, a leader and chief among the people—generous, just, and high-minded.

Al-Madāʾinī related, through Ṣāliḥ ibn Kaysān: One of the insightful Arabs once saw Muʿāwiyah while he was still a child and said, “I think this boy will one day rule his people.” Hind replied, “May I lose him if he rules no one but his own people!”

Al-Shāfiʿī said that Abū Hurayrah reported: “I saw Hind in Mecca; her face was like a piece of the moon, and behind her her buttocks (3) were like a seated man. A child was playing beside her. A man passed by, looked at him, and said, ‘I see a boy who, if he lives, will surely rule his people.’ Hind answered, ‘If he rules only his own people, may Allah cause him to die.’ That child was Muʿāwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān.”

Muḥammad ibn Saʿd said: ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Sayf informed us: One day Abū Sufyān looked at Muʿāwiyah while the latter was still a boy and said to Hind, “This son of mine has a large head; he is certainly fit to lead his people.” Hind replied, “His people only?! May I lose him if he does not rule all the Arabs!”

Hind used to carry him when he was small and recite:
“My little son is nobly born and kind,
Beloved among his kin, gentle of mind;
Neither foul-tongued nor base you’ll find,
Not boastful (4) nor importunate, of steadfast kind.
A scion of Ṣakhr, of Fihr’s line—
He never breaks a pledge nor falls behind.” (5)

[The narrator] said: When ʿUmar appointed Yazīd ibn Abī Sufyān to the post he held in Syria, Muʿāwiyah went out to join him. Abū Sufyān said to Hind, “What do you say now that your son has become subordinate to my son?” She replied, “When the horses of the Arabs are thrown into turmoil, you will see where your son stands beside what my son will achieve.”