“… And We did not make the vision which We showed you but a trial for men and the cursed tree in Quran as well?”
(Surah Bani Israel (17): 60)
Tabari, explaining the revelation of this verse, has documented a dream that the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) had wherein the children of Hakam b. Abi Aas (from the family of Umayya) were jumping up and down upon his pulpit like monkeys. This dream upset the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) so much that he never laughed again.
Tafsir-e-Tabari, vol 15, pg 177; Al-Durr al-Mansur, vol 4, pg 191
Aaesha told Marwaan b. Hakam that Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) told her:
‘The ‘cursed tree’ in the Quran implies you (i.e. Marwan b. Hakam and his family).’
Al-Durr al-Mansur, vol 4, pg 191
It is a different story altogether that Aaesha still chose to align herself with Marwaan b. Hakam, fully aware of his antecedents, in the battle of Jamal.
Marwaan b. Hakam is the father of ‘Bani Marwan’ (the progeny of Marwan). His acronym (Kuniyyat) was Abu Abdil Malik. His genealogy is Marwaan b. Hakam b. Abil Aas b. Umayya.
Thus, the bottom line is that history has proved that ‘the cursed tree’ is none other than the family of Umayya – Banu Umayya. Yazid, the accursed son of Muawiyah is from this very family.
Yazid’s genealogy
His father’s name was Muawiyah and that of his grandfather – Abu Sufyan. His grandmother was Hinda – the one who ate the liver of Hazrat Hamzah (a.s.), the Prophet’s (s.a.w.a.) uncle, after the battle of Ohad. She was notorious throughout Mecca as being a woman of loose character. She had a string of lovers and paramours. Abu Sufyan’s cousin Musaafir b. Amr who was famous among the Quraish for his good looks, generosity and skill as a poet, became Hinda’s lover. Even after marrying Abu Sufyan, Hinda did not severe her amorous and illicit relationship with Musaafir. And so Musaafir is one of the four people considered to have possibly fathered Muawiyah.
Sharho Nahjil Balaghah by Ibne Abil Hadid, vol. 1, pg. 30
Yazid’s mother’s was Maisoon b. Bakhdal Kalbi, a Christian. She was extremely beautiful due to which Muawiyah became inclined towards her. However when she conceived Yazid, Muawiyah abandoned her. Hence, Yazid was born in her house where she and many other women of immoral character breast-fed him.
Yazid’s genealogy and the immoral deeds of his parents and grandparents have been widely chronicled. Abu Sufyan, Hinda the liver eater, Marwaan and their cronies were in the forefront in opposing the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) and the Ahle Bait (a.s.).