Al-Bukhārī also recorded the report in his History, and Abū Yaʿlā transmitted it through Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā from ʿAbd al-Wahhāb. Al-Bukhārī then remarked, “The ḥadīth is defective, for it is unknown that Abū Dharr ever went to Syria during the caliphate of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb.” He added, “Yazīd ibn Abī Sufyān died in ʿUmar’s time, whereupon ʿUmar appointed his brother Muʿāwiyah in his place.”

ʿAbbās al-Dūrī said, “I asked Ibn Maʿīn, ‘Did Abū al-ʿĀliyah hear from Abū Dharr?’ He replied, ‘No; he only relates from Abū Muslim on Abū Dharr’s authority.’ I asked, ‘Who is this Abū Muslim?’ He said, ‘I do not know.’ ”

Ibn ʿAsākir cited several narrations condemning Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiyah, yet all of them are fabricated; none is authentic. The best material available is what we have already quoted, though its isnāds are weak and some are broken. Allah knows best.

Al-Ḥārith ibn Miskīn narrated—from Sufyān, from Shabīb ibn Gharqadah, from al-Mustaẓill ⦗1⦘—that he said, “I heard ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb say, ‘By the Lord of the Kaʿbah, I know when the Arabs will be destroyed: when they are ruled by someone who never experienced the Age of Ignorance and has no solid footing in Islam.’ ”

I say: The chief grievances raised against Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiyah in his administration were his drinking of wine and his perpetration of certain immoralities. As for the killing of al-Ḥusayn, then—just as his grandfather Abū Sufyān said on the day of Uḥud—he neither ordered it nor was aggrieved by it.

We have already noted his words: “Had it been up to me, I would not have done with him what Ibn Marjānah did”—meaning ʿUbayd Allah ibn Ziyād. He said to the envoys who brought al-Ḥusayn’s head, “Your obedience to me would have sufficed without doing this.” He gave them nothing, honoured al-Ḥusayn’s household, restored to them everything they had lost—indeed, many times over—and sent them back to Madinah in grand litters and pomp. His own womenfolk mourned al-Ḥusayn for three days in his house while al-Ḥusayn’s family stayed with them.

It is also said that Yazīd rejoiced when the news of al-Ḥusayn’s death first reached him, but later felt regret. Abū ʿUbaydah Maʿmar ibn al-Muthannā reported that Yūnus ibn Ḥabīb al-Jarmī told him: when Ibn Ziyād killed al-Ḥusayn and those with him, he sent their heads to Yazīd. Yazīd was initially pleased, and Ibn Ziyād’s standing with him improved, yet not long thereafter he repented and would say:

“What harm would it have done me had I borne the offence, housed him in my own dwelling, and allowed him to decide what he wished—even if that had entailed some expense ⦗2⦘ and a weakening of my authority—in honor of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and out of regard for his right and his kinship?”

He would then continue,

“May Allah curse Ibn Marjānah! He thrust me into this predicament and forced my hand. Al-Ḥusayn had asked him either to release him, or to send him to me, or to post him at one of the Muslim frontiers until Allah took his soul, but he refused; instead, he opposed him and killed him. By doing so he has made the Muslims hate me, filled their hearts with enmity toward me, so that both the righteous and the wicked detest me for what they deem an outrageous crime—the killing of al-Ḥusayn. What business did I have with Ibn Marjānah? May Allah curse him and unleash His wrath upon him!”