and the people welcomed him as their new ruler and offered him condolences for his father, while he answered them in a subdued voice. The whole crowd was silent; no one spoke with him except al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Qays. When they reached Bāb Tūmā⦗1⦘, the people thought he would enter the city through it, but he skirted the wall until he came to the Eastern Gate. It was then said, “He will use this gate, for it is the Gate of Khālid,” yet he passed it as well and proceeded to Bāb al-Ṣaghīr. The people now realised that he was heading for his father’s grave. On reaching Bāb al-Ṣaghīr he dismounted by the tomb, entered, and performed the funeral prayer for his father after the burial had already taken place; then he withdrew. When he left the cemetery, the caliphal mounts were brought to him and he rode.
He then entered the city and ordered a proclamation: “The prayer is to be held in congregation.” He went into the Green Palace, bathed, put on fine garments, and came out to address the people—this was the first sermon he delivered as Commander of the Faithful⦗2⦘. After praising and extolling Allah he said:
“O people! Muʿāwiyah was but a servant among the servants of Allah. Allah bestowed favour upon him and then took him back to Himself. He is better than those who will succeed him, yet less than those who preceded him. I do not declare him pure before Allah—Mighty and Majestic is He—for He knows him best. If He pardons him, it is by His mercy; if He punishes him, it is for his sin. I have now assumed authority after him. I do not sorrow over what I sought, nor do I excuse myself for any shortcoming; when Allah wills a thing, it comes to pass.
“Muʿāwiyah used to send you on campaigns by land and by sea, but I shall never put any Muslim aboard a ship. Muʿāwiyah used to post you for winter quarters in the land of the Byzantines, but I shall not winter anyone there. Muʿāwiyah used to distribute your stipends in three instalments; I shall gather them for you and pay them all at once.”
The people then dispersed, holding no one to be superior to him.
Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam said: I heard al-Shāfiʿī say: When Muʿāwiyah fell ill he summoned his son Yazīd. When the courier arrived, Yazīd mounted and recited:
A courier has come, spurring his mount, with a parchment;
my heart took fright at the sight of that parchment.
We said, “Woe to you—what news is in your letter?”
He replied, “The Caliph has spent the evening burdened, in pain.”
The earth reeled beneath us, or nearly reeled;
it was as though its dusty pillars were being torn away.
Then we sprang to lean, well-girt camels,
cleaving the open tracts without the least delay.
We cared not, once they had borne us to our saddles,
which of them died on the way or was left lame.
[When we arrived and the door of the house stood ajar,
the voice of Ramlah made the heart quiver and crack.
He whose soul is ever raised upon honour
will soon see the keys of that soul fall.]⦗3⦘
The son of Hind has perished, and with him glory too is gone—
together they had always been an unblemished pair.
A radiant, pure-cheeked man for whose sake the clouds were asked for rain;
had he matched the people in forbearance, he would have bested them all.