Did Marwan Kill Aisha While Serving Muawiya’s Political Agenda?

Response to TwelverShia(dot)net: “Misquoting al-Najībābādī to Defame Mu‘āwiya (ra)”

Article being refuted:
https://www.twelvershia.net/2025/01/31/12-misquoting-al-najibabadi-to-defame-muawiya-ra/

TwelverShia’s article is not an honest refutation. It only proves one narrow point: Akbar Shah Najibabadi did not write in that exact line that “Mu‘awiya personally killed Aisha.” But the same article is forced to admit the bigger point: the report is preserved in a Sunni Urdu history book, Tārīkh-e-Islām of Akbar Shah Najibabadi.

Najibabadi writes:

سنہ ٥٨ھ میں حضرت ام المومنین حضرت عائشہ صدیقہ رضی ﷲ عنہا فوت ہو کر البقیع میں مدفون ہوئیں۔ آپ مروان کی مخالفت کیا کرتی تہیں کیونکہ اس کے اعمال اچھے نہ تھے۔ مروان نے ایک روز دھوکے سے دعوت کے بہانے سے بلا کر ایک گڑھے میں جس میں ننگی تلواریں اور خنجر وغیرہ رکھ دیۓ تھے آپ کو گرا دیا تھا۔ آپ بہت ضعیف اور بوڑہی تھیں، زخمی ہوئیں اور انہیں زخموں کے صدمہ سے فوت ہو گئیں۔

Translation:

“In 58 AH, the Mother of the Believers Aisha Siddiqah passed away and was buried in al-Baqi‘. She used to oppose Marwan because his actions were not good. One day Marwan deceitfully invited her under the pretext of a meal and caused her to fall into a pit in which naked swords and daggers had been placed. She was very weak and elderly, became wounded, and died due to the shock of those wounds.”

Reference:
Akbar Shah Najibabadi, Tārīkh-e-Islām, vol. 2, p. 42/44 depending on edition.

So do not play games. The point is not that this is a Shia book. It is not. It is a Sunni Urdu historical source, and TwelverShia itself quotes the same text.

Now the second point: Marwan was not some random independent person. Sahih al-Bukhari itself records the political background:

كان مروان على الحجاز استعمله معاوية، فخطب، فجعل يذكر يزيد بن معاوية لكي يبايع له بعد أبيه، فقال له عبد الرحمن بن أبي بكر شيئًا، فقال: خذوه، فدخل بيت عائشة فلم يقدروا، فقال مروان: إن هذا الذي أنزل الله فيه: والذي قال لوالديه أف لكما... فقالت عائشة من وراء الحجاب: ما أنزل الله فينا شيئًا من القرآن إلا أن الله أنزل عذري.

Translation:

“Marwan was over the Hijaz, appointed by Mu‘awiya. He gave a sermon and began mentioning Yazid ibn Mu‘awiya so that allegiance would be given to him after his father. Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr said something to him, so Marwan said: ‘Seize him.’ Abd al-Rahman entered the house of Aisha, and they could not reach him. Marwan then said: ‘This is the one about whom Allah revealed: ‘And the one who says to his parents, uff to you…’ So Aisha said from behind the curtain: ‘Allah did not reveal anything in the Qur’an about us except my innocence.’”

Reference:
Sahih al-Bukhari, Kitab al-Tafsir, Surah al-Ahqaf, verse 46:17.

Ibn Hajar explains in Fath al-Bari that Abd al-Rahman objected to Yazid’s hereditary succession and called it “Heraclius/Caesar style monarchy.” He also records that Aisha said: “كذب مروان” — “Marwan lied.”

So the full picture is this:

1. Najibabadi preserves the report that Aisha died because of Marwan’s plot.
2. Sahih al-Bukhari proves Marwan was Mu‘awiya’s appointed governor and was pushing Yazid’s bay‘ah.
3. Sahih al-Bukhari proves Marwan tried to arrest Abd al-Rahman bin Abi Bakr when he opposed Yazid.
4. Sahih al-Bukhari proves Aisha publicly refuted Marwan’s misuse of Qur’an.
5. Therefore TwelverShia cannot dismiss the whole issue as a “Shia fabrication.”

The honest wording is:

Najibabadi directly names Marwan, not Mu‘awiya, in that specific quote. But Marwan was Mu‘awiya’s governor and political agent in the Yazid succession crisis. Therefore the report, if used, proves at minimum that a Sunni historical source preserved the accusation against Marwan, and Bukhari gives the political background connecting Marwan’s action to Mu‘awiya’s Yazid project.

So TwelverShia’s refutation is a half-truth. They corrected one wording, but they did not erase the report from the Sunni book, nor did they erase the Bukhari background showing Marwan acting as Mu‘awiya’s appointed man.