How do you know what is for me and what is against me? ! Curse of Allah and others be on you. You are a weaver and son of a weaver. You are the son of an unbeliever and yourself a hypocrite. You were arrested once by the Unbelievers and once by the Muslims, but your wealth and birth could not save you from either. The man who contrives for his own people to be put to sword and invites death and destruction for them does deserve that the near ones should hate him and the remote ones should not trust him.
as-Sayyid ar-Radi says: This man was arrested once when
an unbeliever and once in days of Islam. As for Amir al-mu'minin's
words that the man contrived for his own people to be put to sword,
the reference herein is to the incident which occurred to al-Ash`ath
ibn Qays in confrontation with Khalid ibn Walid at Yamamah, where
he deceived his people and contrived a trick till Khalid attacked
them. After this incident his people nicknamed him "`Urf
an-Nar" which in the parlance stood for traitor.
(1). His original name was Ma`di Karib and
surname
Abu Muhammad but because of his dishevelled hair he is better
known as al-Ash`ath (one having dishevelled hair). When after
Proclamation (of Prophethood) he came to Mecca along with his
tribe, the Prophet invited him and his tribe to accept Islam.
But all of them turned back without anyone accepting Islam. When
after hijrah (immigration of the Holy Prophet) Islam became
established and in full swing and deputations began to come to
Medina in large numbers he also came to the Prophet's audience
with Banu Kindah and accepted Islam. The author of al-`Isti`ab
writes that after the Prophet this man again turned unbeliever
but when during the Caliphate of Abu Bakr he was brought to Medina
as prisoner he again accepted Islam, though this time too his
Islam was a show. Thus, ash-Shaykh Muhammad `Abduh writes in his
annotations on Nahj al-balaghah:
Just as `Abdullah ibn Ubay ibn Salul was a companion of the Prophet, al-Ash`ath was a companion of `Ali and both were high ranking hypocrites.
He lost one of his eyes in the battle of Yarmuk. Ibn Qutaybah
has included him in the list of the one-eyed. Abu Bakr's sister
Umm Farwah bint Abi Quhafah, who was once the wife of an al-Azdi
and then of Tamim ad-Darimi, was on the third occasion married
to this al-Ash`ath. Three sons were born of her viz. Muhammad,
Isma`il and Is'haq. Books on biography show that she was blind.
Ibn Abi'l-Hadid has quoted the following statement of Abu'l-Faraj
wherefrom it appears that this man was equally involved in the
assassination of `Ali (p.b.u.h.):
On the night of the assassination Ibn Muljam came to al-Ash`ath ibn Qays and both retired to a corner of the mosque and sat there when Hujr ibn `Adi passed by that side and he heard al-Ash`ath saying to Ibn Muljam, "Be quick now or else dawn's light would disgrace you." On hearing this Hujr said to al-Ash`ath, "O' one-eyed man, you are preparing to kill 'Ali" and hastened towards `Ali ibn Abi Talib, but Ibn Muljam had preceded him and struck 'Ali with sword when Hujr turned back people were crying, "Ali has been killed."
It was his daughter who killed Imam Hasan (p.b.u.h.) by poisoning
him. Mas`udi has written that:
His (Hasan's) wife Ja`dah bint al-Ash`ath poisoned him while Mu`awiyah had conspired with her that if she could contrive to poison Hasan he would pay her one hundred thousand Dirhams and marry her to Yazid. (Muruj adh-dhahab, vol. 2, p. 650)
His son Muhammad ibn al-Ash`ath was active in playing fraud with
Hadrat Muslim ibn `Aqil in Kufah and in shedding Imam Husayn's
blood in Karbala. But despite all these points he is among
those from whom al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, at-Tirmidhi, an-Nasa'i
and Ibn Majah have related traditions.
(2). After the battle of Nahrawan, Amir
al-mu'minin was
delivering a sermon in the mosque of Kufah about ill effects of
"Arbitration" when a man stood up and said "O' Amir al-mu'minin, first you
desisted us from this Arbitration but thereafter you allowed it. We cannot
understand which of these two was more correct and proper." On hearing
this Amir al-mu'minin clapped his one hand over the other and said, "This
is the reward of one who gives up firm view" that is, this is the
outcome of your actions as you had abandoned firmness and caution and
insisted on "Arbitration" but al-Ash`ath mistook it to mean
as though Amir al mu'minin implied that "my worry was due to having
accepted Arbitration," so he spoke out, "O' Amir al-mu'minin
this brings blame on your own self" whereupon Amir al-mu'minin said
harshly:
What do you know what I am saying, and what do you understand what is for me or against me. You are a weaver and the son of a weaver brought up by unbelievers and a hypocrite. Curse of Allah and all the world be upon you.
Commentators have written several reasons for Amir al-mu'minin
calling Ash`ath a weaver. First reason is, because he and his
father like most of the people of his native place pursued the
industry of weaving cloth. So, in order to refer to the lowliness
of his occupation he has been called 'weaver'. Yamanese had
other occupations also but mostly this profession was followed
among them. Describing their occupations Khalid ibn Safwan has
mentioned this one first of all.
What can I say about a people among whom there are only weavers, leather dyers, monkey keepers and donkey riders. The hoopoe found them out, the mouse flooded them and a woman ruled over them. (al-Bayan wa't-tabyin, vol. 1, p. 130)
The second reason is that "hiyakah" means
walking by bending on either side, and since out of pride and
conceit this man used to walk shrugging his shoulders and making
bends in his body, he has been called "hayik".
The third reason is --- and it is more conspicuous and clear ---
that he has been called a weaver to denote his foolishness and
lowliness because every low person is proverbially known as a
weaver. Their wisdom and sagacity can be well gauged by the fact
that their follies had become proverbial, while nothing attains
proverbial status without peculiar characteristics. Now, that
Amir al-mu'minin has also confirmed it no further argument or
reasoning is needed.
The fourth reason is that by this is meant the person who conspires
against Allah and the Holy Prophet and prepares webs of which
is the peculiarity of hypocrites. Thus, in Wasa'il ash-Shi`ah
(vol. 12, p. 101) it is stated:
It was mentioned before Imam Ja`far as-Sadiq (p.b.u.h.) that the weaver is accursed when he explained that the weaver implies the person who concocts against Allah and the Prophet.
After the word weaver Amir al-mu'minin has used the word hypocrite,
and there is no conjunction in between them in order to emphasise
the nearness of meaning thereof. Then, on the basis of this hypocrisy
and concealment of truth he declared him deserving of the curse
of Allah and all others, as Allah the Glorified says:
Verily, those that conceal what we have sent of (Our) manifest evidences and guidance, after what we have (so) clearly shown for mankind in the Book (they are), those that Allah doth curse them and (also) curse them all those who curse (such ones). (Qur'an, 2:159)
After this Amir al-mu'minin says that "You could not avoid the degradation of being prisoner when you were unbeliever, nor did these ignominies spare you after acceptance of Islam, and you were taken prisoner." When an unbeliever the event of his being taken prisoner occurred in this way that when the tribe of Banu Murad killed his father Qays, he (al-Ash`ath) collected the warriors of Banu Kindah and divided them in three groups. Over one group he himself took the command, and on the others he placed Kabs ibn Hani' and al-Qash`am ibn Yazid al-Arqam as chiefs, and set off to deal with Banu Murad. But as misfortune would have it instead of Banu Murad he attacked Banu al-Harith ibn Ka`b. The result was that Kabs ibn Hani' and al-Qash`am ibn Yazid al-Arqam were killed and this man was taken prisoner alive. Eventually he got a release by paying three thousand camels as ransom. In Amir al-mu'minin's words, "Your wealth or birth could not save you from either," the reference is not to real 'fidyah' (release money) because he was actually released on payment of release money but the intention is that neither plenty of wealth nor his high position and prestige in his tribe could save him from this ignominy, and he could not protect himself from being a prisoner .
The event of his second imprisonment is that when the Holy Prophet
of Islam passed away from this world a rebellion occurred in the
region of Hadramawt for repelling which Caliph Abu Bakr wrote
to the governor of the place Ziyad ibn Labid al-Bayadi. al-Ansari
that he should secure allegiance and collect zakat and
charities from those people. When Ziyad ibn Labid went to the
tribe of Banu `Amr ibn Mu`awiyah for collection of zakat
he took keen fancy for a she-camel of Shaytan ibn Hujr which was
very handsome and of huge body. He jumped over it and took possession
of it. Shaytan ibn Hujr did not agree to spare it and said to
him to take over some other she-camel in its place but Ziyad would
not agree. Shaytan sent for his brother al-`Adda' ibn Hujr for
his support. On coming he too had a talk but Ziyad insisted on
his point and did not, by any means, consent to keep off his hand
from that she-camel. At last both these brothers appealed to Masruq
ibn Ma`di Karib for help. Consequently, Masruq also used his influence
so that Ziyad might leave the she-camel but he refused categorically,
whereupon Masruq became enthusiastic and untying the she-camel
handed it over to Shaytan. On this Ziyad was infuriated and collecting
his men became ready to fight. On the other side Banu Wali`ah
also assembled to face them, but could not defeat Ziyad and were
badly beaten at his hands. Their women were taken away and property
was looted. Eventually those who had survived were obliged to
take refuge under the protection of al-Ash`ath. Al-Ash`ath promised
assistance on the condition that he should be acknowledged ruler
of the area. Those people agreed to this condition and his coronation
was also formally solemnised. After having his authority acknowledged
he arranged an army and set out to fight Ziyad. On the other side
Abu Bakr had written to the chief of Yemen, al-Muhajir ibn Abi
Umayyah to go for the help of Ziyad with a contingent. Al-Muhajir
was coming with his contingent when they came face to face. Seeing
each other they drew swords and commenced fighting at ad-Zurqan.
In the end al-Ash`ath fled from the battle-field and taking his
remaining men closed himself in the fort of an-Nujayr. The enemy
was such as to let them alone. They laid siege around the fort.
Al-Ash`ath thought how long could he remain shut up in the fort
with this lack of equipment and men, and that he should think
out some way of escape. So one night he stealthily came out of
the fort and met Ziyad and al-Muhajir and conspired with them
that if they gave asylum to nine members of his family he would
get the fort gate opened. They accepted this term and asked him
to write for them the names of those nine persons. He wrote down
the nine names and made them over to them, but acting on his traditional
wisdom forgot to write his own name in that list. After settling
this he told his people that he has secured protection for them
and the gate of the fort should be opened. When the gate was opened
Ziyad forces pounced upon them. They said they had been promised
protection whereupon Ziyad's army said that this was wrong and
that al-Ash`ath had asked protection only for nine members of
his house, whose names preserved with them. In short eight hundred
persons were put to sword and hands of several women were chopped
off, while according to the settlement nine men were left off,
but the case of al-Ash`ath became complicated. Eventually it was
decided he should be sent to Abu Bakr and he should decided about
him. At last he was sent to Medina in chains along with a thousand
women prisoners. On the way relations and others, men and women,
all hurled curses at him and the women were calling him traitor
and one who got his own people put to sword. Who else can be a
greater traitor? However, when he reached Medina Abu Bakr released
him and on that occasion he was married to Umm Farwah.