He praised and glorified the Almighty and said...

He praised and glorified the Almighty and said, “Verily Mu’awiyah was a support, brave and a fortunate Arab by whose hands Allah turned away conspiracies and mis­chief. And Allah bestowed him the sovereignty upon His slaves, and the cities and towns were under his control. But now he has died and this is his shroud. And we will cover him with this shroud and enter him in his grave, and we shall leave him in the intermediate period (barzakh) until the day of Judgment.

Then whoever desires to pray the Prayer over him should gather at the time of Zuhr to do so.” Zahhak himself lead the Prayer over his dead body. It is said that when Mu’awiyah became severely ill, his son Yazid was at Hawareen (a town in Halab, Syria). A letter was sent to him to hasten to meet his father.

When the letter reached Yazid, he recited the following couplet: “The messenger arrived with a closed letter by which the heart became tense, we said, woe be to you, what do you have in the document, he replied that the caliph is motionless, in pain.” When Yazid reached Syria, Mu’awiyah had already been buried, hence he recited the Prayer over his grave.[^2] [^1]: In this narration the name of Abdul Rahman bin Abu Bakr is quoted which is an error, for he had already died before Mu’awiyah.

[^2]: Some of the crimes committed by Mu’awiyah depicting his villainous character: (1) The gravest sin being his poisoning Imam Hasan (a.s.), the grandson of the Holy (S), by alluring his wife Ja’dah bint Ash’as (Murujuz Zahab and Isbatul Wasiyyah - Mas’oodi Vol 2: Page 47, Tareekh - Abul Fida Vol 1: Page 182, Iqdul Fareed - Ibn Abd Rabbah Vol 2: Page 11, Rawzatul Manazir - Ibn Shahnah Vol 2: Page 133, Tareekhul Khamees - Husayn Dayarbakri Vol 2: Page 238, Akbarut Tiwal - Dinawari Page 400, Maqatilat Talibeyeen - Abul Faraj Isfahani, Isti’ab - Ibn Abdul Birr etc.