Nasb-and-the-Nawasib

أحيا الضغائن آباء لنا سلفوا
ولن تموت ولآلباء أبناء
Our fathers who have passed gave life to grudges which will not die as long
as fathers will have sons. 1
Al-Dhahabī says:
خلف معاوية خلق كثير يحبونه ويتغالون فيه ويفضلونه،‏ إما ملكهم بالكرم والحلم والعطاء،‏ وإما قد ولدوا
في الشام على حبه وتربي أولدهم على ذلك،‏ وفيهم جماعة يسيرة من الصحابة وعدد كثير من التابعين
والفضالء وحاربوا معه أهل العراق ونشأوا على النصب،‏ نعوذ بالله من الهوى
Behind Muʿāwiyah I there were many people who love him, exaggerate
regarding him, and give him preference over all else; this is either because
he won their hearts with his generosity, his forbearance, and his bonuses;
or because they were born in Syria and grew up loving him and as did their
children. Amongst them was a small group of the Ṣaḥābah M, a large
group of Tābiʿīn, and virtuous people who fought by his side against the
people of Iraq and grew up with tendencies of Naṣb. We seek the refuge of
Allah from following the ego. 2
He likewise says the following regarding one of the Tābiʿīn of Syria who did not
see ʿAlī I or meet him:
غالب الشاميين فيهم توقف عن أمير المؤمنين علي رضي الله عنه من يوم صفين،‏ ويرون أنهم وسلفهم
أولى الطائفتين بالحق
Most of the Syrians are hesitant regarding Amīr al-Muʾminīn ʿAlī I since
the day of Ṣiffīn. They assume that they and their forefathers were the
closer of the two groups to the truth in the conflict. 3
1 Al-Wāfī bi al-Wafayāt 17/232. The poem was said by Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Saffāḥ, the first Khalīfah of the
Abbasids.
2 Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ 3/128.
3 Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl 6/153.
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