Hadith No: 1
Al-Safarini - Ghida' al-Albab fi Sharh Manzumat al-Adab
A Chapter on the Prohibition of Cursing a Specific Individual and What Has Been Reported About It
Volume: (1) - Page Number: (122)
[The text is lengthy, so only the relevant excerpt is provided here]
- And he said in another place:
"It was said to Ahmad ibn Hanbal (r), 'Should hadith be taken from Yazid?' He replied, 'No, not even as a mark of respect. Is he not the one who did to the people of Medina what he did?'" And he was told,
"There are some who say, 'We love Yazid.'" He said, "Can one who believes in Allah and the Last Day love Yazid?" When asked, "Will you not curse him?" he replied, "I did not see your father curse anyone," and in another narration, "When did you see your father curse anyone?"- Imam al-Hafiz Ibn al-Jawzi said regarding the curse on Yazid:
"The scholarly and devout among them, including Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (r), deemed it permissible." Sheikh Abd al-Mughith al-Harbi reproached him for this, and most of our companions mentioned it in al-Adab al-Kubra, stating: "However, some of them based their stance on the notion that his wrongdoing was not conclusively established, and Abd al-Mughith's words imply this, indicating a type of weak vindication. Others based their stance on the belief that a specific transgressor should not be cursed."
Imam al-Hafiz Ibn al-Jawzi criticized those who denied the permissibility of condemning the reprehensible and cursing the accursed, such as Yazid.- He said:
"Imam Ahmad mentioned regarding Yazid something more than just a curse," and he referred to what the judge mentioned in al-Mu'tamad, citing the narration of Salih:
"And what is wrong with me cursing one whom Allah Almighty cursed in His Book if the narration is correct?" He added, "Judge Abu al-Husayn authored a book clarifying who deserves to be cursed, and he mentioned Yazid among them. It has been reported in hadith that Allah will curse those who do what is not even a tenth of what Yazid did." He mentioned public actions like taunting and similar deeds
and referred to the narration of Abu Talib, who said, "I asked Ahmad ibn Hanbal about someone who said, 'May Allah curse Yazid ibn Muawiyah,' and he replied, 'I will not speak on this. It is preferable to remain silent.'"- In al-Adab al-Kubra by Ibn Muflih, the judge mentioned what he had نقل from the handwriting of Abu Hafs al-Ukbayri, attributing it to Salih ibn Ahmad.
I said to my father, "Some people are attributing us to the partisans of Yazid." He replied, "O my son, can anyone who believes in Allah be a partisan of Yazid?" I asked, "Why do you not curse him?" He said, "When did you see me curse something? Why not curse one whom Allah Almighty cursed in His Book?" I asked, "And where did Allah curse Yazid in His Book?" He recited: { "So perhaps you will be asked, if you turn away, to cause corruption on earth and sever your ties of kinship? Those are the ones whom Allah has cursed, and He has made them deaf and blinded their vision" } (Muhammad: 22-23).
"Is there anything greater in severing family ties than killing?"- The judge said:
"This narration, if authentic, is explicit in indicating the reason for the curse on Yazid." Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (r) remarked, "The evidence is based on the implication that the general includes the specific."
- I said:
Most of the later scholars and theologians permit cursing the accursed Yazid. How could they not? He is the one who committed grievous sins, tore the veil of the protected ones, violated the sanctity of the Prophet's family, harmed the Prophet's grandson (s) while he was alive and after his death, all while openly drinking alcohol and engaging in sinful and immoral behavior. They mentioned in his biography that he was openly indulging in drink and behaving shamelessly.- His father admonished him, but he did not heed, so he became angry with him.
Yazid then composed verses addressing him, which Al-Asma'i attributed to someone else:
"Are you angry with me now, for a sip of wine from a vine's water?"
"I will drink, so be angry or not, both are dear to my heart, your disobedience and wine."
And he was the one who said in a poem:
"And the sun of the vine, her tower the bottom of her jug, has her rising in the cup and her setting in my mouth.
As long as she is like gold in a vessel of silver, and her flow like the moon among companions like stars.
When she descends from her jug into a bottle, she mimics a group between al-Hatim and Zamzam,
We point to her with our fingers as if we are pointing to the ancient, sacred House."
Until he says:
"So if you are ever forbidden on the religion of Ahmad, take her on the religion of Christ, son of Mary."
- And he had many such instances of misguidance: In volume sixteen of al-Wafi bil-Wafayat, it is reported that al-Kiya al-Harras
was asked about cursing Yazid and said, "Ahmad has two opinions on this: a hint and a clear statement. Malik has two opinions as well, a hint and a clear statement, while we have one opinion, a clear statement without a hint." How could it be otherwise, he is the one playing with the lute, hunting with the leopard, and a habitual drinker. He mentioned some of his poetry, then noted that he captured the Prophet's family when they came from Iraq to Yazid, encountering children and women from the descendants of Ali and Husayn, their heads on the tips of spears, and they were overlooking the pass of al-‘Aqabah. When the vile one saw them, he began to say
:
"When those were seen, and those heads were perched on the edge of Jiron,
The raven croaked, and I said, 'Whether you say it or not, it is of no matter, for I have claimed my due from the Messenger.'"
Meaning thereby that he killed those whom the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) killed on the Day of Badr: his grandfather, his grandmother, his uncle, and others.
- I say: I have no doubt that the speaker of these words has exited the bounds of Islam, and Allah and His Messenger are innocent of him. Moreover, when the vile one was presented with the head of our master Husayn (r), he took it with a rod and uncovered its teeth, which were whiter than snow, and he said, upon it, in the wrath of the Almighty
:
"We shall split the heads of mighty men who were dear to us, yet they were more defiant and unjust."
- He also said: "When he did to the people of Medina what he did, and his messenger came to him with news that only disbelievers would carry out," he recited the words of Ibn al-Zub'ari:
"Would that my elders at Badr knew * the fear of the Khazraj at the sight of arrows!"