Walid Ibn Utba

Walid Ibn Utba, grandson of Abi Sufyan and nephew of Mu’awiya (the Umayyad caliphs); was one of the Governor Generals of Umayyads. He was the Governor General of Medina in 677 in Mu’awiya’s period and also in the period of Yazid (Mu’awiya’s son). According to Mu’awiya’s will, Walid was supposed to make Hossein Ibn Ali (the 3rd Imam of Shias) swear allegiance to Yazid and he did not accept, he would be beheaded. It was a difficult task for Walid to make Hossein Ibn Ali swear allegiance. Anyway, the Imam was summoned to the ####court at night and said to Walid: “You want me to swear allegiance to you in front of people, so let me think about it until the morning then I will let you know”.
The following was said by the Imam to Walid:
“We are the Prophet’s household; Yazid is vicious and cruel, I will not swear allegiance to such a person. We will all see who deserves the caliphate and who is more suitable to be sworn allegiance to”.
Walid Ibn Utba was deposed in 680, then Yazid appointed “Amr Ibn Saeid” instead, and Walid Ibn Utba became one of the Yazid’s advisors. Then in 682 he was the Governor General of Medina. He died as a result of plague.

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