When the people of Madinah broke with Yazīd, renounced his authority, and put Ibn Muṭīʿ and Ibn Ḥanẓalah in charge of them, they—despite being his bitterest enemies—recorded nothing against him except the claim that he drank wine and committed certain shameful acts. They did not accuse him of zandaqah, as some of the Rāfiḍah do; rather, he was simply a fāsiq, and it is impermissible to depose a ruler for mere sinfulness, for that only fans the flames of fitnah
[and unleashes harj (wanton bloodshed), exactly as happened during the Incident of al-Ḥarrah: he dispatched envoys to summon them back to obedience, granted them three days’ respite, and when they refused he fought them] (1).
The fighting at al-Ḥarrah would have sufficed, yet he transgressed by allowing Madinah to be pillaged for three days, and that produced enormous evil, as we have already discussed.

ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb—and a number of the Prophet’s family—were among those who did not break their pledge, nor give the oath to anyone after having pledged it to Yazīd. Imām Aḥmad (2) said: “Ismāʿīl ibn ʿUlayyah related to us; Ṣakhr ibn Juwayriyah related to me, from Nāfiʿ, who said:
‘When the people deposed Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiyah, Ibn ʿUmar gathered his sons and household, praised Allah, then said:
To proceed: We have pledged allegiance to this man by the covenant of Allah and His Messenger. I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say,
“A banner will be raised for the treacherous person on the Day of Resurrection, and it will be announced: This is the treachery of so-and-so.”
Among the gravest forms of treachery—second only to associating partners with Allah—is for a man to give another man his oath upon Allah’s covenant and that of His Messenger, and then break his pledge. Therefore, let none of you depose Yazīd, and let none of you exceed proper bounds in this matter, lest the ṣaylam (3) fall between me and him.’ ”

This report has also been transmitted (4) by Muslim (5) and al-Tirmidhī (6) through the chain of Ṣakhr ibn Juwayriyah. Al-Tirmidhī said, “Sound and authentic.”
It was likewise narrated by Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Sayf al-Madāʾinī, from Ṣakhr ibn Juwayriyah, from Nāfiʿ, from Ibn ʿUmar, to the same effect (7).

When the people of Madinah returned from Yazīd, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muṭīʿ and his companions went to Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah, seeking to