Every time we hear from him something which does us harm.

Every time we hear from him something which does us harm...”[^1]39 This report, though brief, was the most dangerous report submitted by the chiefs of the Umayyad house and its leaders, to their chief, Mu'awiyah, about the activities of Imam Hasan (as). The movement of Imam Hasan (as) gained strength, so much so that he left for Damascus, the capital of the Umayyads.

There he sat down with Mu'awiyah, explained to him the mistakes and schemes of the Umayyad rule, the superficiality of those in charge, and their diversion from the original Islamic line. His discussions there won him a lot of supporters and advocates.

[^2]40 The fresh activities of Imam Hasan (as), and the new, historical mission which he shouldered to preserve the sound Islamic line among the people, made the Umayyad rule lose its head, and forge a hostile policy to get rid of the Imam (as) and his Islamic leadership. The main ingredients of that policy were: Hunting down the faithful leadership in every Islamic region, and putting them to the sword.

Men like Hijr bin Uday and his companions, Rasheed al-Hajari, Amru bin al-Hamq al-Khauza'i and others, were murdered, and persecuted. Cracking down on all of the Shi'ites of Imam ‘Ali (as) by resorting to terror, suppression, making people homeless, cutting off their income, tearing down their houses, and so on. Employing some of the preachers and those loyal to the Umayyads, to tarnish the image of Ahlul Bayt and particularly Imam ‘Ali (as) who was cursed, as a ritual, on the pulpits.

Traditions were invented and attributed to the Holy Prophet (S). They were of great benefit to Mu'awiyah and his party. False beliefs were also made up and unfairly ascribed to Ahlul Bayt (as). This is one of the most sad and enduring results of the Umayyad rule. So many false ahadith were introduced, first by the Umayyads and later by the Abbasids, that today, we Muslims of the 20th century have become so misguided by the lies which have remained in our ahadith and sunnah of our Prophet (S).

Surprisingly enough, the historians and narrators of hadith have not tried to eliminate and filter through these obvious lies. They continue to propagate them, confuse the ummah and misguide them to their own detriment. This is one of the main reasons that the Muslims of today remain weak and disunited. Handing out money, boundlessly, to the tribal leaderships which posed a threat to the Umayyads in order to bring them under control.