Reality of the Hakamids

It was already mentioned in a previous post, where the Hadith of Safina^RA was quoted, that the Umayyads were the worst dynasty to rule over the Muslim world in history. The Umayyads were divided into two branches, the Sufyanids, descendants of Abu Sufyan, such as Mu’awiya b. Abi Sufyan and Yazid b. Mu’awiya, and the Hakamids, meaning Marwan b. al-Hakam and his descendants. In a previous post we discussed the reality of Yazid b. Mu’awiya and the Sufyanids. In this post I will elaborate a bit about the Hakamids.

Marwan’s father, al-Hakam b. Abi al-‘Aas, was a vitriolic opponent of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). The Prophet exiled al-Hakam from Mecca to al-Ta’if. He and his son, Marwan, stayed in al-Ta’if throughout the duration of the first two successors of the Prophet, Sayyidina Abi Bakr^RA and Sayyidina ‘Umar^RA. Regrettably, the third Khalifa, Sayyidina ‘Uthman^RA recalled them from exile to Medina. According to a Hadith narrated by the eminent companion sayyidina Abd Allah b. al-Zubair^RA:

وَرَبِّ هَذَا الْبَيْتِ لَقَدْ لَعَنَ اللَّهُ الْحَكَمَ " ، وَمَا وَلَدَ عَلَى لِسَانِ نَبِيِّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم

“By the Lord of this House [Ka’bah], the curse of Allah was invoked upon al-Hakam and his progeny [Marwan] upon the tongue of the Prophet peace and blessings of Allah be upon him” (Musnad al-Bazaar)

In another Hadith reported from sayyidina Abu Hurairah^RA that the Prophet^SA saw in a dream that the Hakamids had mounted his pulpit and jumping on it like apes. This distressed the Prophet^SA to such an extent that he never laughed after that until he died.

عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ ، أَنّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ رَأَى فِي الْمَنَامِ كَأَنَّ بَنِي الْحَكَمِ يَنْزُونَ عَلَى مِنْبَرِهِ وَيَنْزِلُونَ ، فَأَصْبَحَ كَالْمُتَغَيِّظِ وَقَالَ : " مَا لِي رَأَيْتُ بَنِي الْحَكَمِ يَنْزُونَ عَلَى مِنْبَرِي نَزْوَ الْقِرَدَةِ ؟ " ، قَالَ : فَمَا رُئِيَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ مُسْتَجْمِعًا ضَاحِكًا بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ حَتَّى مَاتَ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ

(Musnad Abi Ya’la)

Imam al-Haythami has authenticated this Hadith

Reference: Majma’ al-Zawa’id; v. 5, p. 244

To be continued