depose Yazid; but he refused.
Ibn Muṭīʿ said, “Yazid drinks wine, abandons the prayer, and violates the rulings of the Book.”
Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah replied, “I have seen nothing of what you mention. I have sat in his company and stayed with him; I found him constant in prayer, keen on doing good, eager to ask about jurisprudence, and devoted to the sunnah.”
They said, “He only behaved like that in front of you.”
He answered, “What could he either fear from me or hope to gain that he would feign humility before me? And did he make you privy to this wine-drinking you allege? If he did, then you are his partners; if he did not, it is not lawful for you to testify to what you do not know.”
They retorted, “It is true in our eyes, even if we have not seen it.”
He said to them, “Allah has forbidden that to the people of testimony, for He said: ‘…except those who bear witness to the truth while they know’ (Q 43:86). I want no part in your affair.”
They said, “Perhaps you dislike that someone other than you should hold authority; we will give you our allegiance.”
He replied, “I do not deem it permissible to fight for what you are asking of me, whether as a follower or as a leader.”
They said, “But you fought alongside your father!” He said, “Bring me a man like my father and I will fight for what he fought for.”
They said, “Then order your two sons, Abū Hāshim (1) and al-Qāsim, to fight with us.”
He replied, “If I were to order them, I myself would fight.”
They said, “At least stand with us before the people and urge them to fight.”
He said, “Glory be to Allah! Shall I command the people to do what I neither do nor approve of? If I did, I would not be sincere to Allah concerning His servants.”
They said, “Then we shall despise you.”
He said, “Then I will command the people to fear Allah and not to please the creature at the cost of the Creator’s wrath.” He thereupon departed for Makkah.
Abū al-Qāsim al-Baghawī said: Muṣʿab al-Zubayrī narrated to us; Ibn Abī Ḥāzim narrated to us, from Hishām, from Zayd ibn Aslam, from his father, that Ibn ʿUmar entered—while I was with him—upon Ibn Muṭīʿ. When he entered, Ibn Muṭīʿ said, “Welcome, Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān; bring him a cushion.”
Ibn ʿUmar said, “I have only come to relate to you a ḥadith I heard from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who said: ‘Whoever withdraws his hand from obedience will meet Allah on the Day of Resurrection without any proof for himself; and whoever dies having split from the community dies a death of the pre-Islamic era of ignorance.’”
Muslim (2) likewise narrated it from Hishām ibn Saʿd, from Zayd, from his father, from Ibn ʿUmar, and it was also reported by Isḥāq ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Ṭalḥah, from Zayd ibn Aslam, from his father. Al-Layth likewise transmitted it from Muḥammad ibn ʿAjlān, from Zayd ibn Aslam, from Ibn ʿUmar, and mentioned it in full.
Abū Jaʿfar al-Bāqir said, “None of the family of Abū Ṭālib or of Banū ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib took part in the uprising of al-Ḥarrah. When Muslim ibn ʿUqbah entered Madinah he honored my father, seated him close, and issued him a written guarantee of safety.”
Al-Madāʾinī reported that Muslim ibn ʿUqbah sent Rūḥ ibn Zunbāʿ to Yazid with the news of al-Ḥarrah. When Yazid was informed of what had happened he exclaimed, “Alas for my people!” He then summoned al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Qays al-Fihrī and said, “You have seen what the people of Madinah have suffered—what will set matters right for them?” He replied, “Food and stipends.” So Yazid ordered provisions to be sent to them and lavished stipends upon them.