It was also narrated by Abu Dawud (1) and al-Tirmidhi (2) through the chain of Ḥabīb ibn al-Shahīd, and al-Tirmidhi remarked: “A sound-good (ḥasan) ḥadīth.” (3)
Abu Dawud (4) further transmitted—via al-Thawri, from Thawr ibn Yazīd, from Rāshid ibn Saʿd al-Maqraʾī al-Ḥimṣī—on the authority of Muʿāwiyah, who said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ stated:
“If you set out to uncover people’s private faults, you will ruin them, or come very near to ruining them.”
[Abu al-Dardāʾ] commented: “A single word Muʿāwiyah heard, and Allah made it benefit him.” Aḥmad alone related this report (5)—meaning that Muʿāwiyah was of upright conduct: tolerant, magnanimous in pardon, and frequent in covering faults. May Allah have mercy on him.
It is likewise authentically established in the two Ṣaḥīḥs, through al-Zuhrī, from Ḥumayd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, from Muʿāwiyah, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ declare:
“When Allah intends good for someone, He grants him understanding of the religion. I am only the distributor, whereas Allah is the Giver. A faction of my community will continue to be manifest upon the truth; those who forsake them or oppose them will not harm them until Allah’s decree comes while they remain manifest.”
In another wording: “and they will remain upon that.” (6)
On one occasion Muʿāwiyah delivered a sermon citing this ḥadīth and then added: “And here is Mālik ibn Yukhamir reporting from Muʿādh that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: ‘They will be in al-Shām.’ ” (7) With this he urged the people of Syria to confront the Iraqis, asserting that the Syrians were the aided faction against their opponents. Muʿāwiyah would employ this as evidence on behalf of the Syrians in their fighting the Iraqis.
Al-Layth ibn Saʿd said: Muʿāwiyah captured Caesarea in the year 19 AH during the caliphate of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb. Others reported that he conquered Cyprus in 25 AH—some said 27 AH, others 28 AH—during the days of ʿUthmān. They also state that the year of the Battle of the Narrows—that is, the Bosporus of Constantinople—was 32 AH in his time, and he was the commander of the forces that year.
ʿUthmān consolidated the whole of al-Shām under Muʿāwiyah’s authority [while some claim that ʿUmar was the one who did so, the correct view is that it was ʿUthmān] (8). Muʿāwiyah then appointed Faḍālah ibn ʿUbayd as judge after Abu al-Dardāʾ. Thereafter—following the murder of ʿUthmān—what transpired between him and ʿAlī was the result of personal ijtihād and judgement; a great battle ensued between them, as we have mentioned earlier. The truth and correctness were with ʿAlī, while Muʿāwiyah was excused.