Nasb-and-the-Nawasib

From all the aforementioned, it is worth noting that Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam and
Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf reviled him the most and exaggerated in doing so.
Considering their locations it is not difficult to understand why they were so
aggressive, for they both ruled over places which were in general dissatisfied
with the Umayyads.
The first was the governor of Madīnah which was the locus of Nubuwwah. Its
people were thus never going to be ignorant of the merits of ʿAlī I, especially
due to the presence of many of the Ṣaḥābah M amongst them. This had,
therefore, served as a propellant for Marwān to not only revile ʿAlī I but to
exaggerate in doing so, 1 as stated by Ibn Kathīr:
لما كان متوليا على المدينة لمعاوية كان يسب عليا كل جمعة على المنبر
When he was the governor of Madīnah for Muʿāwiyah I he would revile
ʿAlī I every Friday upon the pulpit. 2
As for Ḥajjāj, he was the governor of Iraq which was the stronghold of the Shīʿah
of ʿAlī I.
Although both men reviled him and denigrated him, their revilements differed
drastically. Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam would only disrespect ʿAlī I in public,
thereby wanting to disenchant the people from him. But he would acknowledge
his knowledge and merits.
Hence, despite the fact that disputes would occur between him and Ḥasan ibn
ʿAlī, 3 which would prompt his brother Ḥusayn I to refute him and revile him
upon the pulpit, 4 and despite him acknowledging that he did not love the two of
them, no source states that he would curse ʿAlī I like the others would do.
1 Al-ʿIlal wa Maʿrifah al-Rijāl 3/176.
2 Al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah 8/259.
3 Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ 3/266.
4 Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid 9/180.
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