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Deposal of Mu’awiyah

Neglecting the other troubles, the ruling of Mu’awiyah in Syria was the most complicated matter that Imam Ali (s) confronted at the beginning of his caliphate.

When Syria was conquered by the Muslims, Yazid, the elder brother of Mu’awiyah, was appointed as the wali by Abu-Bakr and then Mu’awiyah took it over at the reign of Umar. Therefore the Umayyads (Mu’awiyah's family) had ruled over Syria for twenty-four years before the caliphate of Imam Ali (s). This long time was quite enough for a clever and sagacious man like Mu’awiyah to prepare the first steps for ruling as a caliph over the Muslims and he succeeded to do it at last.

Mu’awiyah, by nature, had a great skill to put down his opponents’ claims and he knew their hopes and wishes well.

On the other hand, Syria was the richest country among the other Islamic territories and Mu’awiyah, who was careless about how to spend the public monies, could weather every difficulty easily. Those, who wanted to impose themselves upon people, gathered in Syria and did their best to firm the foundation of his rule.

Some critics criticized Imam Ali (s) and thought that he was unable to handle the state affairs and did not know how to manage the task. But they did not know that there was a great difference between the religious government and the other kinds of governments. The difference was that according to the religious laws, dishonesty, deception and even white lies were not acceptable. In this respect Imam Ali (s) could not agree with Mu’awiyah, who was indifferent to the religious matters. Furthermore he had refused to pay homage to Imam Ali (s) in spite of the fact that all the Muslims and the great companions of the Prophet had submitted to him willingly.

At any rate a few letters were exchanged between Imam Ali and Mu’awiyah but regretfully Mu’awiyah was impervious to Imam Ali’s advices. Finally the battle of Siffeen took place.

Adopted from the book : "Imam Ali (a.s.); Sunshine of Civilized Islam" by : "Muhammad Huseyn Tahmasebi"

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