ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books The Uprising of Ashura and Responses to Doubts Abu Sufiyan, Yazid’s Grandfather Before giving an account of the life of Yazid ibn Mu‘awiyah, and before demonstrating his unscrupulousness and viciousness, especially through the brutal martyrdom of Imam al-Husayn (as) and the incident of Harrah, it is appropriate here to give a brief historical account of Yazid’s background.

Through awareness of Yazid’s family standing, his actions can better be comprehended. First, we will give a brief life account of his grandfather, Abu Sufiyan. Abu Sufiyan’s beliefs During the ‘Age of Ignorance’, the majority of Arabs used to worship idols with the aim of gaining nearness to Allah through the intercession of their idols.

The Holy Qur’an quotes them saying, ﴿ ما نَعبُدُهُم إِلاّ لِيقَرِّبُونا إِلَى اللهِ زُلفی ﴾ “We do not worship them save that they may make us nearer to Allah.” [^1] In spite of worshiping idols, they still believed in the creatorship of Allah.

Allah says in the Holy Qur’an, ﴿ وَلَئِن سَأَلتَهُم مَن خَلَقَ السَّمَواتِ وَالأَرضَ وَسَخَّر الشَّمسَ وَالقَمَرَ لَيقُولَنَّ اللهُ ﴾ “And if you ask them, ‘Who created the heavens and the earth and made the sun and the moon subservient’, they will certainly say, ‘Allah’.” [^2] Abu Sufiyan, however, was a worldly apostate during the Age of Ignorance who did not believe in anything at all, not even idols. Maqrizi says, “Abu Sufiyan was a bastion of hypocrisy.

During the Age of Ignorance, he was considered to be an atheist.”[^3] Abu Sufiyan’s enmity towards the Holy Prophet (S) Abu Sufiyan was the leader of the enemies of the Holy Prophet (S) and Islam. One day, he came with a group of men to Abu Talib and said, “Your nephew denounces our gods and finds fault with our religion. He regards our thoughts to be foolish and says our fathers and forefathers were unguided and lost.

Either stop him from saying these things or step aside and let us deal with him ourselves.”[^4] Abu Sufiyan was also the mastermind behind a plot to kill the Holy Prophet (S). He planned to execute his plan at Dar al-Nadwah. He selected a youth from every tribe and gave each one of them a sword with orders to attack the Holy Prophet’s (S) house and kill him.[^5] For the Battle of Uhud, Abu Sufiyan alone spent forty measures of gold. Each measure contained forty-two pieces [ mithqal ] of gold.

As well, he personally took part in the battle.

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