His bio- graphy of the Prophet is still the accredited...

His bio- graphy of the Prophet is still the accredited authority on the subject in the shape that was given to it by Ibn Hisham, and is known as the as-Sirah of Ibn Hisham. az-Zuhri is the first to compile hadith also. Their works on history and hadith are the authorities on the basis of which works on these two subjects were written afterwards.

This evidence proves the following facts:- hadith and History were first compiled under the orders of the Umayyad kings; The first authors were az-Zuhri and his twc pupils, Musa and Muhammad; These authors were attached to the royal court of the Umayyad kings. The inveterate enmity and un-dying hatred of the house of Umayyad against Banu Hashim, chiefly the Prophet and `Ali, is much too well known to need any comment on our part.

The wars of Abu Sufyan and his son Mu'awiyah against the Prophet and `Ali respectively, the machinations of Marwan against the Prophet and Islam, his avowed enmity against `Ali, the horrible massacres at Karbala' perpetrated by the armies of Yazid in compliance with his orders are only some of the top items of a long list of such crimes.

Mu'awiyah instituted the custom of anathematising from the pulpits the memory of `Ali and his descendants which continued for full forty years until discontinued by `Umar ibn `Abd al-`Aziz who proved himself too good to live under Umayyad atmosphere, and was, therefore, poisoned by the descendants of Umayyad. 29 These were the persons under whose orders and influence the history of Islam was written.

What justice they would do to `Ali and his rights and title can be left to the best imagination to picture. Previous…