NAHJUL BALAGHA
SERMON 72
Did he not swear me allegiance after the killing of `Uthmán? Now I do not need his allegiance, because his is the hand of a Jew. If he swears me allegiance with his hand he would violate it after a short while. Well, he is to get power for so long as a dog licks his nose. He is the father of four rams (who will also rule). The people will face days through him and his sons.(1)
(1).Marwán ibn al-Hakam was the nephew (brother’s son) and son-in-law of `Uthmán. Due to thin body and tall stature he was known with the nickname "Khayt Bátil" (the thread of wrong). When `Abd al-Malik ibn Marwán killed `Amr ibn Sa`íd al-Ashdaq, his brother Yahyá ibn Sa`íd said:
O’ sons of Khayt Bátil (the thread of the wrong) you have played deceit on `Amr and people like you build their houses (of authority) on deceit and treachery.
Although his father al-Hakam ibn Abí al-`Ás had accepted Islam at the time of the fall of Mecca but his behavior and activities were very painful to the Prophet. Consequently, the Prophet cursed him and his descendants and said, "Woe will befall my people from the progeny of this man." At last in view of his increasing intrigues the Prophet extended him from Medina towards the valley of Wajj (in Ta’if) and Marwán also went with him. Prophet did not thereafter allow them entry in Medina all his life. Abú Bakr and `Umar did likewise, but `Uthmán sent for both of them during his reign, and raised Marwán to such height as though the reins of caliphate rested in his hands. Thereafter his circumstances became so favorable that on the death of Mu`áwiyah ibn Yazíd he became the Caliph of the Muslims. But he had just ruled only for nine months and eighteen days that death overtook him in such a way that his wife sat with the pillow on his face and did not get away till he breathed his last.
The four sons to whom Amír al-mu’minín has referred were the four sons of `Abd al-Malik ibn Marwán namely al-Walíd, Sulaymán, Yazíd and Hishám, who ascended the Caliphate one after the other and colored the pages of history with their stories. Some commentators have regarded this reference to Marwán’s own sons whose names are `Abd al-Malik, `Abd al-`Azíz, Bishr and Muhammad. Out of these `Abd al-Malik did become Caliph of Islam but `Abd al-`Azíz became governor of Egypt, Bishr of Iraq and Muhammad of al-Jazírah.