Ammar Alshukry – The Forbearance of Muawiyyah Ibn Abi Sufyan

Khilm is a really important element of leadership.

The saying goes, لَيْسَ الْجَاهِلُ بِسَيِّدٌ فِي قَوْمِهِ

وَلَكِنْ سَيِّدُ الْقُوْمِ يَتَجَاهَلُ The ignorant person is

not a leader amongst their people, but the

leader has to feign ignorance.

You have to overlook.

You have to forget.

That is praiseworthy.

And that's what any leader must do.

And one of the most successful leaders of

the Muslim world was one of the most

forbearant, and that was Amirul Mu'mineen Mu'awiyah

ibn Abi Sufyan, رضي الله عنه.

So Ibn Abi Dunya, he narrates that Abdullah

ibn Zubayr sent a very harsh letter to

Mu'awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan.

May Allah be pleased with them both.

And Mu'awiyah, he shows the letter to

Yazid, his son.

And he says, what do you think?

And Yazid says, even if you were equals,

you shouldn't have accepted that language from him.

And you're the khalifa.

You're not even his equal.

And so that's even less reason for him

to speak to you that way.

So Mu'awiyah says to him, so what

do you think?

And Yazid says, what I think is that

you should send him 40,000 soldiers.

That's what I think.

And Mu'awiyah says to him, well how

many feedbacks would that need for the horses?

And he says, around 40,000.

Each one of them will cost a dirham.

So Mu'awiyah says, okay.

So scribe, come here.

Write to Ibn Zubayr that Amirul Mu'mineen, the

commander of the faithful, has written for you

30,000 dirhams for your needs.

Ibn Zubayr would eventually write him back, they've

reached me, oh Amirul Mu'mineen, may Allah have

mercy on you.

JazakAllah khair.

So Mu'awiyah Ibn Abi Sufyan, he calls

his son Yazid and he says, look, we

saved 10,000 feedbacks Yazid.

Yazid of course is suggesting what many people

would default to, which is to wage war

and spend enormous budgets because of ego and

anger.

It's very likely that the cost of sending

those soldiers would have ballooned, had clashes actually

happened with Abdullah Ibn Zubayr.

And even if they didn't.

But Mu'awiyah instead is suffocating his ego

and spending less than that to keep the

peace.

And that's a trait that makes somebody a

leader.

Mu'awiyah Ibn Abi Sufyan is like, okay,

you think sending 40,000 soldiers is what

gets the job done?

I'll spend less than that.

I'll give 30,000 dirhams or 30,000

dinars rather to Abdullah Ibn Zubayr as a

gift.

And that will solve the problem that you

had wanted to solve with soldiers.

But the reason why he was able to

do that is because of the incredible forbearance

of Mu'awiyah Ibn Abi Sufyan.

So how can forbearance be acquired?

How does a person have Hilm?

Number one is by exercising it.

The Prophet ﷺ said, إِنَّمَا الْعِلْمُ بِالتَّعَلُّمِ وَإِنَّمَا

الْحِلْمُ بِالتَّحَلُّمِ That knowledge comes by learning it

and forbearance comes by practicing it.

It beautifies the one who adorns themselves with

it.

And finally, the last thing that I'll mention

is that Hilm is an attribute that beautifies

a person.

Imam Al-Shafi'i, he famously said, يُخَاطِبُنِ

السَّفِيهُ بِقُلِّ قُبْحٍ فَأَقْرَهُ أَنْ أَكُونَ لَهُ مُجِيبًا

يَزِيدُ سَفَاهَةً فَأَزِيدُ حِجْمًا كَعُودٍ زَادُهُ الْإِحْرَاقُ طِيبًا

He says, fools speak to me with all

vulgarity so I hate to respond likewise in

turn.

The increase in their vulgarity, I increase in

my patience.

Like incense that becomes more fragrant when burned.