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SA`ID IBN AL-`AS

Sa`id was the son of al-`As ibn Sa`id who was killed by `Ali (a.s) in the Battle of Badr. Sa`id spent his childhood, after being orphaned, under the care of `Uthman. After the conquest of Syria he moved there to live with Mu`awiyah. Later on he moved from Syria to al-Madinah. In 30 H when al-Walid was dismissed from the governorate of al-Kūfah, he was appointed in his place. Sa`id was a self-centered, conceited and aggressive person. Ibn `Abd al-Barr writes:

“Sa`id was cruel, vitriolic and aggressive.”[1]

His conceit and cruelty is evident from one incident. Once he gathered some persons for the sighting of the `Id Crescent. He asked if some of them had sighted the moon. Hashim ibn `Utbah said that he had seen the moon and others said that they had not. Then Sa`id said that the one eyed person has sighted the moon and you have not been able to see it.! Hashim had lost one of his eyes in the Battle of Yarmūk. He was angry at this style of speaking and asked why he was making a remark about his eye that he lost fighting in the Way of Allah! Saying this Hashim went home and people kept coming to him to confirm about the sighting of the Crescent. On the other hand Sa`id was angry and upset the way Hashim retorted. He sent some men to his house and got him beaten up and burned down his house. When this information reached al-Madinah, Sa`d ibn Abi-Waqqas told `Uthman that this tyranny must be stopped forthwith. When no satisfactory reply was forthcoming, he wanted to burn down Sa`id’s house that was in al-Madinah. But on the intervention of `A’ishah he desisted from doing it.

The period during which Sa`id was the governor, he used harsh, tyrannical methods with the people. He treated the bayt al-mal as his personal treasury and gave whatever he wanted to anyone. He neither had Allah’s fear nor was there any accountability required by the center. If anyone raised a voice against him, he crushed it. His impunity became so much that, once, when al-Kūfah was full of important visitors, he said:


[1] Al-Istī`āb, Vol 2, Page 9

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“The land in Iraq is only for Quraysh (Banū-Umayyah)”[1]

Malik Ibn al-Harith al-Ashtar could not keep quiet listening to this. He said that the lands that were conquered with their swords could not become the fiefs of your tribe. On this one senior officer of the police, `Abd al-Rahman ibn Jahsh al-`Asadi got entangled with Malik al-Ashtar saying that what the emir said was right. When the dispute increased, at the instance of Malik al-Ashtar, the important persons of al-Kūfah, roughed him up and rendered him incapable of walking back home. After this event the suppressed flames of hatred rose. Wherever some people gathered they started talking ill of Sa`id and blamed `Uthman who had appointed him. Sa`id could not do anything more than stopping those people from visiting him and wrote to `Uthman that certain persons were trying to create mischief against the state. `Uthman wrote in his reply that those persons must be exiled to Syria and wrote to Mu`awiyah that some mischief mongers were being sent to Syria who have to be kept in check that they do not conspire against the State. As a result, some persons were forcibly sent to Syria.

The persons who were termed mischievous were the important persons of al-Kūfah, amongst whom were the memorizers of Qur’an, Companions of the Prophet (a.s) and some others who were known for their piety. Main persons amongst them were Malik ibn al-Harith al-Ashtar, Malik ibn Ka`b al-Arhabi, al-Aswad ibn Yazid al-Nakha`i, `Alqamah ibn Sawhan al-`Abdi, Zayd ibn Sawhan, al-Harith ibn `Abdullah al-A`war, Thabit ibn Qays al-Hamdani, Kumayl ibn Ziyad al-Nakha`i, Jundub ibn Zuhayr al-Ghamidi, Jundub ibn Ka`b al-Azdi, `Urwah ibn al-Ja`d and `Amr ibn al-Hamq al-Khuza`i. The crime for which they were being exiled from their homes was that they had asserted their rights and had raised their voices against the tyranny of the ruling class. If, in a state that had claims of democracy, they protested against the tyranny and encroachment of a particular tribe on the lands jointly owned by the people, what wrong did they commit? If the same persons had adopted the policy of nodding their heads in assent to the deeds of the governor, they would have remained in his good books. But these were the true practitioners of enjoining the good and forbidding the evil. If they had adopted an aggressive attitude, it was because of their moral duty to express the truth.

When they reached Damascus, they were accommodated at Kunyah-Maryam, and instead of being harsh with them, Mu`awiyah adopted a soft political attitude with them. He told them that Islam had elevated their status that they


[1] Al-Kāmil fit-Tārīkh, Vol 3, Page 70

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had ascendance over other people. If Quraysh were not there, they would have remained in the darkness and backwardness. He said that he was told they were critical of the Quraysh functionaries of al-Kūfah and publicly criticized them. The state was tolerating their activities so far. If they did not mend their ways, they might come to great hardship. Sa`sa`ah told Mu`awiyah that he talked of the superiority of the Quraysh, but at no time they were ever more than us in numbers nor in strength. And his saying that the rulers are like shield for them, let the shield break and they would make their own shield.

The talks proceeded in this manner. Once Mu`awiyah said that everyone knew that his father, Abū-Sufyan, was the most respected person of the Quraysh but Muhammad (a.s) had the Prophethood. If they were the progeny of Abū-Sufyan they would all be clever and intelligent. Sa`sa`ah said that he was wrong. Adam (a.s) who was certainly better than Abū-Sufyan was made by Allah and put His spirit in him and ordered the angels to prostrate to him. In his progeny, there are clever ones, and there are foolish persons as well. There are good persons as well as bad. Mu`awiyah could not reply to this and kept quiet. In another meeting, he said that they should keep their own welfare in view and they should adopt an attitude that should be beneficial for their tribe and their people. Sa`sa`ah asked him since when he had started giving sermons about good behavior? Was there any welfare for them that they disobey Allah and follow his advice? Mu`awiyah replied that he was asking them to fear Allah and follow the Prophet (a.s) and hold the rope of Allah fast and do not create dissent. Sa`sa`ah asked why, Mu`awiyah, had acted against the commands of the Prophet (a.s)? Mu`awiyah said that if such a thing has happened, he would express his repentance over what happened in the past. And now he ordered them to adopt piety, obedience and cooperation with the rulers of the day. He asked them to respect the rulers and give them advice in an atmosphere of friendship. Sa`sa`ah said that, in that event, they advise him to forsake the emirate of Syria and clear the way for those who truly deserve the position. Could he deny that in Arabia there were persons whose services to Islam have been far superior than his? He agreed, but said that, at the moment, none was more capable than him to carry the burden of the state on his shoulder. If he had any shortcomings, `Umar would not have supported him and allowed him to hold the position. Thus, there was no question of his forsaking the position. He added that their suggestion was a satanic suggestion and following Satan would bring shame and dishonor! At this Sa`sa`ah and others were upset and advanced angrily towards Mu`awiyah. He warned them that they were in Syria and not in al-Kūfah and that they must behave! If people there learned of their behavior with the emir, they would


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lynch them. He stood up at this, went home and wrote to `Uthman that the people who were visiting him have no wisdom and intelligence nor any attachment with the Faith. Their purpose was only to create mischief. He feared that if they remained there, they might create mischief and encourage the Syrians to rebel. Therefore, it would be better to send them away somewhere else. `Uthman replied to him that they may be sent back to Sa`id ibn al-`As. Therefore, they were sent to al-Kūfah. They already had a rift with Sa`id. On returning there, the matters worsened. When `Uthman was informed of the situation, he wrote to Malik al-Ashtar to leave al-Kūfah and go to Hims. On reading the edict, Malik said:

“O Allah! Amongst us the one who is the enemy of the people, send fast Your Retribution to him!”[1]

Those people went to Hims from al-Kūfah. The emir of Hims, `Abd al-Rahman ibn Khalid ibn al-Walid, exceeded all limits of decency in heaping insults on them. When one month passed bearing the torture and hardships, they were again sent back to al-Kūfah. Now the people were running out of patience. They were angry on the functionaries of `Uthman and his own attitude toward those respected persons. `Uthman could not have closed his eyes to the unsavory circumstances. To crush the rebellion he called a meeting of all the functionaries in al-Madinah. Sa`id ibn al-`As too went to al-Madinah. While returning from the meetings, he was stopped at a place called Jara near Al-Qadisiyyah. Malik al-Ashtar and his companions told him that they would not allow him to enter al-Kūfah. They asked him to return from where he had come. Sa`id made some excuses, but they did not relent. They asked him to return back because it would be beyond him to stop the onslaught of the people. Therefore, he returned to al-Madinah from there. `Uthman appointed Abū-Mūsa al-Ash`ari as the governor of al-Kūfah in his place. About this person more when we discuss about the Battle of the Camel and the arbitration later on.


[1] Tārīkh al-Tabarī, Vol 3, Page 367