History of Islam Vol 2 of 3 by Akbar Shah Najeebabadi

Caliphate ofBanu Umayyah (First Phase) 41
Zevad bln Abi Sufyan In Kufa
In handing over to Zeyad bin Abi Sufyan the governorship of Basra
and Kufa the practical benefit was that he could persuade all the
people of Iraq to take ba'it for Yazid's caliphate and nobody else could
have performed this task so well. Besides, Mughira was somewhat
hearted and forgiving. However, Zeyad bin Abi Sufyan was more
soft
familiar with
the nature of Iraqis. He knew that if they were not dealt
with sternly, they could not be expected to be on the right path. That
was why the tenure
of his rule was highly successful and he was the
first person who was made the governor of Kufa and Basra both and
later on the whole of Iran and Khorasan up to Turkistan was handed
over to him. Zeyad bin Abi Sufyan made Samura bin Jundub his
deputy in Basra and he himself, along with two thousand people, set
out for Kufa. When he started giving the Khutba (the Friday sermon)
in the Central Mosque in' Kufa, the Kufis who were accustomed to
humiliate their officers and disobey the government officials, started
mocking him, they began to shower pebbles over him. He stopped the
Khutba and ordered his men to surround the mosque and not to let
anyone out of it. Then he sat in the chair at the door of the mosque
and by calling four persons at a time, began to ask whether they had
thrown the
pebbles. Thirty people were found to have done so. He let
off the others and had the hands of the thirty guilty ones cut off.
Similar punishments were awarded to
Consequently, in a matter
the other Kufis for their faults.
of days they were humbled. Zeyad began to
live in Kufa and Basra alternatively for six months each.
Amir Muawiya
sa
^
issued a declaretion to all his officials to th<
effect that they should narrate Yazid's good traits and sene
elegations of the influential people of their respective territories tc
m M^wiya *_* & jn order that he might also talk to the
peop e regarding Yazid's ba'it. Afterwards, delegations from all the
erritories arrived in Damascus. Amir Muawiya « * ii talked tc
Sepa^ate,y and then
attend arranged a meeting and asked them V
X e t*16n stood
Allah
U P and rea d a Khutba in which after praising
\ i_
1
and ProP^et *' dwelt at length on the virtues of Islam, rights
d*?' les o r caliphs, obedience to the rulers and duties of the masses.