One of the major reasons that the scholars give for calling the first four Caliphs to be the “Four Rightly Guided Caliphs” to the exclusion of others is that they were nominated by Shura without coercion and that they did not reduce the leadership to a hereditary system. The Ahlus Sunnah looks to the Four Rightly Guided Caliphs as the model to implement and nobody else. Therefore, it is not fitting that we discuss other leaders, but rather we should confine our discussion to the group which represents our views.

In regards to Muawiyyah (رضّى الله عنه) , it is incorrect to claim that he seized the leadership by force over an unwilling population. In fact, Muawiyyah (رضّى الله عنه) commanded the unbridled support of the entire Banu Umayyah (رضّى الله عنه) , the whole of Syria, and many other Arabian tribes such as Banu Kalb. By the time of Muawiyyah’s Caliphate, the Muslim nation had already broken down into various competing localities. In the locality in which Muawiyyah (رضّى الله عنه) resided, he most definitely had overwhelming support and consent of the governed. However, due to the unfortunate situation, the Ummah was divided and in a state of civil war. In such a confusing situation, it is unfair to be un-necessarily critical of Muawiyyah (رضّى الله عنه) .

The Muslim Ummah at the time was split between Muawiyyah (رضّى الله عنه) and Hasan (رضّى الله عنه) , both of whom were ready to fight each other for it. This was in marked contrast to the previous Caliphates in which the Ummah jointly agreed on one leader. It was the first time that the Muslims could not peacably agree on one leader. Why was this? There are in fact many reasons for this, but we shall limit our discussion to two of them: Firstly, the Muslim nation-state had spread far and wide by this time, and it is much more difficult for larger groups to reach a consensus as opposed to smaller groups. During the nomination of Abu Bakr (رضّى الله عنه) and Umar (رضّى الله عنه) , the Muslim state was limited to the Arabian Peninsula, and the Arabian tribes agreed upon the leadership of the Quraish of Mecca. By Uthman’s time, the Muslim state had absorbed many Non-Muslim lands such as Persia and Syria (under the valiant command of Umar); with the rapid expansion of the state, the unity of the Ummah was becoming a problem. It is no wonder that by the time of Ali’s death, the Kufans and Syrians cannot agree on a Caliph.

The second explanation for this disunity is the emerging rivalry between Banu Umayyah and Banu Hashim. Neither Abu Bakr (رضّى الله عنه) nor Umar (رضّى الله عنه) belonged to either clan and so their Caliphates were saved from much of the in-fighting between the two clans. However, after Umar’s death, the top two candidates for the Caliphate came from these two rival clans: Uthman (رضّى الله عنه) from Banu Umayyah and Ali (رضّى الله عنه) from Banu Hashim. Banu Umayyah had always been the leaders before the advent of Islam, and now with the advent of the Prophet (صلّى الله عليه وآله وسلّم), Banu Hashim was seeking to remove Banu Umayyah from power and come in their place. This shift in power created a civil struggle, one that would manifest itself in the civil war between Banu Umayyah and Banu Hashim.

And so it was that the Western half of the Muslim empire accepted Banu Umayyah and the Eastern half accepted Banu Hashim. The Syrian Muslims nominated Muawiyyah (رضّى الله عنه) , whereas the Kufans nominated Hasan (رضّى الله عنه) . It was not that Shura was not done, but rather that the two sides did not do Shura conjointly, a problem arising from (1) the vastness of the Muslim empire and (2) the budding rivalry between Banu Umayyah and Banu Hashim.

It is incorrect to claim that Muawiyyah (رضّى الله عنه) seized power by force. The two sides came to a peace agreement: Hasan (رضّى الله عنه) agreed to the Caliphate of Muawiyyah (رضّى الله عنه) in exchange for five million dirhams (for the coffers of the Bayt ul-Mal of Kufa) as well as the revenue of the Ahwaz Province. So it was not by force that Muawiyyah (رضّى الله عنه) came to power, but rather by a peace agreement signed by Hasan (رضّى الله عنه) himself, in which five million dirhams and the revenue from a province were given to the Kufans.

As for the system of hereditary rule, this too was not started by Muawiyyah (رضّى الله عنه) . Yes, Muawiyyah (رضّى الله عنه) nominated Yezid to be the Caliph, but we must look into the matter before passing a rash judgment. Initially, Muawiyyah (رضّى الله عنه) had no such intention of nominating his son; it was Mughira bin Shoba (رضّى الله عنه) who urged Muawiyyah (رضّى الله عنه) to nominate Yezid. In fact, Muawiyyah (رضّى الله عنه) was at first against this idea, but Mughira (رضّى الله عنه) insisted upon it. Mughira (رضّى الله عنه) was not the father of Yezid, and therefore, how can we say that Yezid’s appointment was done to create a dynasty based on hereditary rule? We read:

It cannot be denied that (only) at the insistence of Mughira bin Shoba, Amir Muawiyyah nominated Yezid as his successor; otherwise, he would never have thought of making his son Caliph after him. It was Mughira bin Shoba who was the first to introduce that idea…that proposal was absolutely against the tradition of the Rightly Guided Caliphate…

(Tareekh al-Islam, Vol.2, p.91)

We read:

Al-Mughira advised the Caliph to nominate his son as his successor. At first he hesitated, but (only) later he acted on his (Al-Mughira’s) advice.

(A Short History of Islam, by Mazhar ul-Haq, p.408)

We read further:

Mughira bin Shobah, a budding Meccan statesman of the tribe of Banu Thaqeef, embraced Islam in 5 A.H…he is credited with furthering the initiative of getting Yezid nominated by his father as a Caliph-designate. When the suggestion was first made, Muawiyyah could not persuade himself to take such a delication decision. Mughirah, the old, seasoned statesman over 60 years of age, was shrewd enough to arrange for a deputation of the people of Kufa (the stronghold of his opponents), of all places, headed by his own son, Musa, to convince Muawiyyah.

(Last Messenger with a Lasting Message, Ziauddin Kirmani, p.427)

In fact, it was Yezid who is blamed for institutionalizing the system of hereditary rule. We read:

Even upto Yezid’s reign, the Muslims had not accepted the principle of Caliphate by (hereditary) succession in government and politics. They knew that the act of Yezid succeeding Amir Muawiyyah as Caliph was a mistake and it needed to be rectified…however, after Yezid’s death, the idea of (hereditary) succession was strengthened…and finally this evil practise took such a deep root that until now the Muslims have not been able to get rid of it.

(Tareekh al-Islam, Vol.2, p.94)

The President of the United States today is George Bush II; do we say that George Bush I created a dynastic and hereditary system since he pushed his son into politics and the presidential race? In fact, we see that Muawiyyah (رضّى الله عنه) did not nominate Yezid with any intention of a hereditary dynasty, but rather he did it only because of the circumstances of the time. The Muslim Ummah was in a state of great disunity; Syria and Kufa were very close to an all out civil war, along with Banu Umayyah and Banu Hashim. Muawiyyah (رضّى الله عنه) feared that if he did not appoint a successor, then the Muslims would fall into civil war, and one is hard pressed to disagree.

It was based on this prevailing condition of extreme precariousness that Mughira (رضّى الله عنه) and others urged Muawiyyah (رضّى الله عنه) to simply nominate his son as Caliph to prevent any possible civil strife. We read:

Muawiyyah, on the other hand, believed that circumstances had greatly changed since the days of the Orthodox Caliphate (i.e. the Four Rightly Guided Caliphs)…there was (now) the danger of a renewed civil war, which might break out after Muawiyyah’s death, as it had after Uthman’s. This would divide Islam into warring camps…Muawiyyah rejected this wise suggestion (not to nominate his son) on the plea of the danger of dispute and bloodshed if he did not settle the question of succession in his lifetime.

(A Short History of Islam, by Mazhar ul-Haq, p.408)

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