and Ziyad then ascended the pulpit, boasting of what he was achieving in Iraq by consolidating dominion for Muʿawiyah. Yazid thereupon stood and said, “If you are doing that, O Ziyad, remember that we transferred you from the client-status of Thaqif to that of Quraysh, from the scribe’s pen to the public pulpit, and from ‘Ziyad son of ʿUbayd’ to the lineage of Harb ibn Umayyah.”

Muʿawiyah said to him, “Sit down—may my father and mother be sacrificed for you.”

ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib reported: Muʿawiyah once grew angry with his son Yazid and cut off contact with him. Al-Ahnaf ibn Qays said to him, “Commander of the Believers, they are but our children—the fruit of our hearts and the props of our backs. To them we are a sheltering sky and a yielding earth. If they grow angry, placate them; if they ask, give to them. Do not weigh heavily upon them, lest they tire of your life and long for your death.”

Muʿawiyah replied, “Well said, Abū Baḥr! Boy, go to Yazid, convey my greetings, and tell him that the Commander of the Believers has ordered one hundred thousand dirhams and one hundred garments for him.”

Yazid asked, “From the Commander of the Believers?” The messenger answered, “From al-Ahnaf.” Yazid said, “In that case, I shall share it with him,” and he sent al-Ahnaf fifty thousand dirhams and fifty garments (1).

Al-Ṭabarani said: Muḥammad ibn Zakariyya al-Ghallabi narrated to us; Ibn ʿĀʾisha narrated to us, from his father, who said: “In his youth Yazid was fond of drink and behaved like other heedless young men. When Muʿawiyah became aware of this, he resolved to advise him gently. He said:

‘My son, you have it in your power to obtain what you want without any scandal that would undermine your dignity and worth, give joy to your enemy, and distress your friend.

My son, I shall recite to you some verses; learn from them and commit them to memory.’ He then declaimed:

Labour by day for loftier rank,
and bear the pain of leaving those you love;
when night descends with its deepest gloom
and the watchman’s eyelids are heavy with sleep,
then taste the night as you desire—
for night is the daylight of the shrewd.
How many a libertine, thought a saint,
has passed the siesta on wondrous pursuits;
night draped its curtains over him,
and he lay secure in a life of ease,
while the fool’s pleasure lies naked to view,
trumpeted by every suspicious foe. (2)

I say: This is in line with the hadith, “Whoever is tested with any of these vile acts, let him conceal himself with the concealment of Allah—Exalted is He—” (3).