Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr
Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam (Arabic: عَبْدُ اللَّهِ ٱبْن الزُّبَيْرِ ٱبْن الْعَوَّامِ, romanized: ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām; May 624 – October/November 692) was the leader of a caliphate based in Mecca that rivaled the Umayyads from 683 until his death.
"Al-Zubayr" and "Ibn al-Zubayr" redirect here. For other uses, see Al-Zubayr (disambiguation).
Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr
عَبْدُ اللَّهِ ٱبْن الزُّبَيْرِ
683–692
May 624 CE
Medina, Hejaz, Islamic Medina
October/November 692 CE (aged 68)
Mecca, Hejaz,Zubayrid Caliphate
- Tumadir bint Manzur ibn Zabban ibn Sayyar al-Fazariyya
- Zajla bint Manzur al-Fazariyya
- Umm al-Hasan Nafisa bint al-Hasan ibn Ali
- A'isha bint Uthman ibn Affan
- Hantama bint Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Harith ibn Hisham
- Khubayb
- Al-Zubayr
- Hamza
- Thabit
- Abbad
- Amir
- Salih
- Bakr
- Ruqayya
The son of al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam and Asma bint Abi Bakr, and grandson of the first caliph Abu Bakr, Ibn al-Zubayr belonged to the Quraysh, the leading tribe of the nascent Muslim community, and was the first child born to the Muhajirun, Islam's earliest converts. As a youth, he participated in the early Muslim conquests alongside his father in Syria and Egypt, and later played a role in the Muslim conquests of North Africa and northern Iran in 647 and 650, respectively. During the First Fitna, he fought on the side of his aunt A'isha against Caliph Ali (r. 656–661). Though little is heard of Ibn al-Zubayr during the subsequent reign of the first Umayyad caliph Mu'awiya I (r. 661–680), it was known that he opposed the latter's designation of his son, Yazid I, as his successor. Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, along with many of the Quraysh and the Ansar, the leading Muslim groups of the Hejaz (western Arabia), opposed the caliphate becoming an inheritable institution of the Umayyads.
Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr established himself in Mecca where he rallied opposition to Yazid (r. 680–683), before proclaiming himself caliph in the wake of Yazid's death in 683, marking the beginning of the Second Fitna. Meanwhile, Yazid's son and successor Mu'awiya II died weeks into his reign, precipitating the collapse of Umayyad authority across the Caliphate, most of whose provinces subsequently accepted the suzerainty of Ibn al-Zubayr. Though widely recognized as caliph, his authority was largely nominal outside of the Hejaz. By 685, the Umayyad Caliphate had been reconstituted under Marwan I in Syria and Egypt, while Abd Allah's authority was being challenged in Iraq and Arabia by pro-Alid and Kharijite forces. Ibn al-Zubayr's brother Mus'ab reasserted Abd Allah Ibn al-Zubayr's suzerainty in Iraq by 687, but was defeated and killed by Marwan's successor Abd al-Malik in 691. The Umayyad commander al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf proceeded to besiege Ibn al-Zubayr in his Meccan stronghold, where he was ultimately slain in 692.
Through the prestige of his family ties and social links with the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his strong association with the holy city of Mecca,Abd Allah Ibn al-Zubayr was able to lead the influential, disaffected Muslim factions opposed to Umayyad rule. He sought to re-establish the Hejaz as the political center of the Caliphate. However, his refusal to leave Mecca precluded him from exercising power in the more populous provinces where he depended on his brother Mus'ab and other loyalists, who ruled with virtual independence. He thus played a minor active role in the struggle carried out in his name.
Early life and career[edit]
Family[edit]
Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr was born in Medina in the Hejaz (western Arabia) in May 624.[1] He was the eldest son of al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, a companion of Muhammad and a leading Muslim figure.[1][2] He belonged to the Banu Asad clan of the Quraysh,[1][2] the dominant tribe of Mecca, a trade center in the Hejaz and location of the Kaaba, the holiest sanctuary in Islam. Ibn al-Zubayr's paternal grandmother was Safiyya bint Abd al-Muttalib, the paternal aunt of Muhammad,[2] and his mother was Asma bint Abi Bakr, a daughter of the first caliph, Abu Bakr (r. 632–634), and sister of A'isha, a wife of Muhammad.[1] According to the ninth-century historians Ibn Habib and Ibn Qutayba, Ibn al-Zubayr was the first child born to the Muhajirun, the earliest converts to Islam who had been exiled from Mecca to Medina.[1] These early social, kinship and religious links to Muhammad, his family and the first Muslims all boosted Ibn al-Zubayr's reputation in adulthood.[1]
Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr had a number of wives and children. His first wife was Tumadir bint Manzur ibn Zabban ibn Sayyar ibn Amr of the Banu Fazara.[3][4] She gave birth to his eldest son Khubayb, hence Abd Allah's kunya (epithet) "Abu Khubayb", and other sons Hamza, Abbad, al-Zubayr and Thabit.[3][4] She or another of Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr's wives, Umm al-Hasan Nafisa, a daughter of Hasan, son of the fourth caliph Ali (r. 656–661) and grandson of Muhammad, bore his daughter Ruqayya.[3][5] Tumadir's sister Zajla was at one point married to Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr.[6] He was also married to A'isha, a daughter of the third caliph Uthman (r. 644–656).[3] A'isha or Nafisa mothered Abd Allah Ibn al-Zubayr's son Bakr,[3] of whom little is reported in the traditional sources.[7] Abd Allah Ibn al-Zubayr divorced A'isha following the birth of their son.[7] From another wife, Hantama bint Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Harith ibn Hisham, Abd Allah Ibn al-Zubayr had his son Amir.[8]
Military career[edit]
As a child, during the reign of Caliph Umar (r. 634–644) in 636, Abd Allah Ibn al-Zubayr may have been present with his father at the Battle of the Yarmuk against the Byzantines in Syria.[1] He was also present with his father in Amr ibn al-As's campaign against Byzantine Egypt in 640.[1] In 647,Abd Allah Ibn al-Zubayr distinguished himself in the Muslim conquest of Ifriqiya (North Africa) under the commander Abd Allah ibn Sa'd.[1] During that campaign,Abd Allah Ibn al-Zubayr discovered a vulnerable point in the battle lines of the Byzantine defenders and slew their patrician, Gregory.[1][9] He was lauded by Caliph Uthman and issued a victory speech, well known for its eloquence, upon his return to Medina.[10][9] Later, he joined Sa'id ibn al-As in the latter's offensive in northern Iran in 650.[10]
Uthman appointed Abd Allah Ibn al-Zubayr to the commission charged with the recension of the Qur'an.[10] During the rebel siege of Uthman's house in June 656, the caliph put Abd Allah Ibn al-Zubayr in charge of his defense and he was reportedly wounded in the fighting.[11] In the aftermath of Uthman's assassination, Abd Allah fought alongside his father and his aunt A'isha against the partisans of Uthman's successor, Caliph Ali, at the Battle of the Camel in Basra in December.[10] Abd Allah ibn Al-Zubayr was killed, while he was wounded sparring with one of Ali's commanders, Malik ibn al-Harith.[12] Ali was victorious and Abd Allah Ibn al-Zubayr returned with A'isha to Medina, later taking part in the arbitration to end the First Fitna (Muslim civil war) in Adhruh or Dumat al-Jandal.[10] During the talks, he counseled Abd Allah ibn Umar to pay for the support of Amr ibn al-As.[10]Abd Allah Ibn al-Zubayr inherited a significant fortune from his father.[10]
Descendants[edit]
Following his victory, Abd al-Malik confiscated the estates of Ibn al-Zubayr in Medina and elsewhere in the Hejaz.[35] The caliph later restored some of the properties to Ibn al-Zubayr's sons after a request by Thabit.[35] His eldest son, Khubayb, was flogged to death in Medina by its governor Umar II during the reign of Caliph al-Walid I (r. 705–715).[36] Thabit, meanwhile, had gained particular favor from al-Walid's successor, Caliph Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik (r. 715–717), who agreed to return the remainder of the confiscated estates to Ibn al-Zubayr's sons.[37] Under the Abbasid caliphs al-Mahdi (r. 775–785) and Harun al-Rashid (r. 786–809), several descendants of Ibn al-Zubayr attained senior administrative posts, including his great-grandson Abd Allah ibn Mus'ab and the latter's son Bakkar ibn Abd Allah, who successively served as governors of Medina.[38]
Assessment[edit]
Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr adamantly opposed the caliphate becoming an Umayyad inheritance.[39] Instead, he advocated that the caliph should be chosen by shura (consultation) among the Quraysh as a whole.[39] The Quraysh opposed the monopolization of power by the Banu Umayya and insisted power be distributed among all the Qurayshi clans.[10][27] However, other than this conviction,Abd Allah Ibn al-Zubayr did not sponsor any religious doctrine or political program, unlike the contemporary Alid and Kharijite movements.[22] By the time he made his claim to the caliphate, he had emerged as the leader of the disaffected Quraysh.[10] According to historian H. A. R. Gibb, Qurayshi resentment towards the Banu Umayya is evident as an underlying theme in the Islamic traditions about Abd Allah Ibn al-Zubayr's conflict with the Umayyads and Abd Allah Ibn al-Zubayr was the "principal representative" of the second generation of the Hejaz's elite Muslim families who chafed at the "gulf of power" between them and the ruling Umayyad house.[10] Though Gibb describes Abd Allah Ibn al-Zubayr as "brave, but fundamentally self-seeking and self-indulgent", the hostility to the Umayyads in traditional Muslim sources led to a general description of him as a "model of piety".[10] Nonetheless, a number of Muslim sources condemned him as jealous and harsh and particularly criticized the fatal abuse of his brother Amr and his imprisonment of Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya.[10]
Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr rallied opposition to the Umayyads in the Hejaz through his base in Mecca, Islam's holiest city, and his prestige as a first-generation Muslim with family ties to Muhammad.[22] He aimed to restore the Hejaz to its former political prominence;[40] after the assassination of Uthman, the region's position as the political center of the Caliphate had been lost first to Kufa under Ali and then to Damascus under Mu'awiya I.[41] To that end, Ibn al-Zubayr developed a strong association with Mecca and its Ka'aba,[22] which, combined with his control of Islam's second holiest city of Medina, furthered his prestige and gave his caliphate a holy character.[40][32]
Abd Allah Ibn al-Zubayr rejected the offer of support from the caliphate's Syria-based army partly because it would have obliged him to relocate to Damascus.[22] Other cities were available to him, but Ibn al-Zubayr opted to remain in Mecca,[40] from which he issued directives to his supporters elsewhere in the Caliphate.[32] This restricted him from exercising direct influence in the larger, more populated provinces, particularly Iraq, where his more worldly brother ruled with practical independence.[10][32] In Arabia, Ibn al-Zubayr's power had been largely confined to the Hejaz with the Kharijite leader Najda holding more influence in the greater part of the peninsula.[40] Thus, Ibn al-Zubayr had virtually rendered himself a background figure in the movement that was launched in his name; in the words of historian Julius Wellhausen, "the struggle turned round him nominally, but he took no part in it and it was decided without him".[40]
During his rule,Abd Allah Ibn al-Zubayr made significant alterations to the Ka'aba's structure, claiming that the changes were in line with the authority of Muhammad.[22] He called himself the "fugitive at the sanctuary [Ka'aba]" while his Umayyad detractors referred to him as "the evil-doer at Mecca".[22]