and as for what has gone before—you already know it; I have placed it behind my ear. If you do not find me able to discharge all of your rights, then accept from me at least some of them, for the affair is [laysat] (1) like an egg that cracks open and hands over its chick in a single moment. When the floodwater comes wave after wave—even if each wave is slight—it still enriches.
Beware of fitnah; do not let it preoccupy you. It ruins livelihoods, clouds blessings, and ends in total destruction. I ask Allah to forgive me and you—I ask Allah to forgive me and you.’ He then stepped down.
The lexicographers say: al-qābaba is the egg, and al-qoub is the chick. Qābat al-bayḍa taqoub (“the egg qābat and qoubed”) is used when the shell splits and the chick emerges.
It appears that this sermon was delivered during the ḥajj of 44 AH—or perhaps in 50 AH—rather than in the Year of Unity.
Al-Layth said: ʿAlwān ibn Ṣāliḥ ibn Kaysān told me that Muʿāwiyah came to Madinah on the first ḥajj he performed after the people had united under him. Al-Ḥasan, al-Ḥusayn, and a number of the Quraysh met him. He headed for the house of ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān; when he drew near its door, ʿĀʾishah bint ʿUthmān cried aloud, mourning her father. Muʿāwiyah said to those with him, ‘Return to your homes, for I have business in this house.’ They withdrew. Muʿāwiyah went in, calmed ʿĀʾishah bint ʿUthmān, and told her to desist. Then he said to her:
‘My niece, the people have handed us authority, so we have shown them forbearance beneath which lies anger, and they have shown us obedience beneath which lies resentment. We traded this for that. If we now give them something other than what they bought from us, they will clutch at their own rights and belittle ours. Every one of them has his partisans, and he knows where they stand. If we break with them, they will break with us, and we do not know whether the final turn will be for us or against us. To be the daughter of ʿUthmān, Commander of the Faithful, is better than to be a bondwoman among the Muslims—and I am indeed a good successor to you after your father.’ (2)
Ibn ʿAdī transmitted—through the chain of ʿAlī ibn Zayd (who is weak)—from Abū Naḍrah, from Abū Saʿīd; and [also through the chain of Mujālid (who is likewise weak) from Abū ’l-Waddāk, from Abū Saʿīd] (3) that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, ‘When you see Muʿāwiyah on my pulpit, kill him.’ He likewise related it through the chain of al-Ḥakam ibn Ẓuhayr (who is rejected) from ʿĀṣim, from Zirr, from Ibn Masʿūd as a marfūʿ report. This ḥadīth is undoubtedly false; had it been sound, the Companions—who feared no blame for Allah’s sake—would have hastened to act upon it. ʿAmr ibn ʿUbayd also transmitted it in mursal form from al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī. Ayyūb said: ‘It is a fabrication.’