Ahnaf: After mounting the pulpit I shall praise the Almighty...

Ahnaf: After mounting the pulpit I shall praise the Almighty God and shall then say this: “O People! Mu`awiya has ordered me to curse Ali. No doubt Ali and Mu`awiya fought with each other. Each one of them claimed that he and his party had been wronged. Hence, when I pray to God all of you should say `Amen'. Then I shall say: O God! Curse him who, out of these two is a rebel and let Your angels and Prophets and all other creatures curse him. O God! Shower Your curses on the rebellious group.

O people! Say `Amen'. O Mu`awiya I shall not say anything more or less than this even if I have to lose my life. Mu`awiya: In that case I excuse you (from mounting the pulpit and cursing). (`Iqd-al-Farid, vol.2 p.144 and Mustatraf, vol.1, p.54). At times it so happened that Mu`awiya, in order to express his hatred against Ali, persecuted his supporters. Those persons could not tolerate this (i.e. cursing of Ali) and abused Mu`awiya and his descendants.

They did so in spite of the fact that at that time Ali was in his grave, and no benefit could be expected from him, and the cruel and despotic Mu`awiya was the ruler of the time. History has recorded many incidents which go to show that the people hated very much this attitude of Mu`awiya. He executed Hujr ibn Adi, a distinguished companion of the Prophet and his friends for the only reason that they refused to curse Ali and his descendants from the pulpit.

We shall give details of this incident later. The followers of Ali zealously kept on looking after the high morality and good qualities which were planted by him in their hearts till they bore fruit. All of them, whether men or women, big or small, were alike. During his rule Mu`awiya once came to Mecca to perform Hajj. He enquired about a woman named Darmiyah Hajuniyah who belonged to the tribe of Kananah and was informed that she was alive. Darmiyah was a black-coloured well-built woman.

He called her and on her arrival the following conversation took place between them: Mu`awiya: O daughter of Ham! [^1] How have you come here? Darmiyah: If you are calling me `daughter of Ham' by way of ridicule I may tell you that I am not a descendant of Ham. I belong to the tribe of Kananah. Mu`awiya: You are right, however, do you know why I have summoned you? Darmiyah: Only God knows the hidden things.

Mu`awiya: I have called you so that you may tell me why you loved Ali so much and were inimical towards me.