The Men of Madina (Volume One) Muhammad Ibn Sa'd translated by Aisha Bewley Ta-Ha Publishers 1 Wynne Road London SW9 OBB © 1418 I 1997 Aisha Bewley Published by Ta-Ha Publishers Ltd. I Wynne Road London SW9 OBB website:http://www.!aha.co. uk/ email :[email protected] Editing and typesetting by Bookwork, Norwich Translated by Aisha Bewley All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written per mission of the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Ibn Sa'd, Muhammad The Men of Madina - Volume One I. Islam I. Title ISBN l 897940 62 9 Paperback ISBN I 897940 68 8 Hardback Printer: De-Luxe Printers 245-A Acton Lane, Park Royal, London NWIO 7NR Tel: 020 8965 1771 Contents Introduction v Map XXVll Chapter One: The Companions of the Prophet Muhammad in Basra The First Generation (Tabi'un) 55 The Second Generation 91 The Third Generation 143 The Fourth Generation 153 The Fifth Generation 170 The Sixth Generation 177 The Seventh Generation 184 The Eighth Generation 189 The Fuqaha' and Hadith Scholars in Wasit 191 The Companions in Mada'in 195 The Fuqaha' and Hadith Scholars in Mada'in 196 The Fuqaha' and Hadith Scholars in Baghdad 198 The Companions in Khurasan 227 Those in Khurasan after them 228 The Fuqaha' and Hadith .Scholars in Rayy 235 The Fuqaha' in Hamadan 236 The Hadith Scholars ~n Anbar 236 Ill Men of Madina Chapter Two: The Companions of the Messenger of Allah in Syria 237 The First Generation (Tabi'un) 273 The Second Generation 278 The Third Generation 281 The Fourth Generation 285 The Fifth Generation 288 The Sixth Generation 290 The Seventh Generation 292 The Eighth Generation 294 The Companions in Mesopotamia 295 The Fuqaha' and Hadith Scholars in Mesopotamia 296 Those at the Frontiers 302 Chapter Three: The Companions of the Messenger of Allah in Egypt 305 The First Generation (Tabi'un) 316 The Second Generation 316 The Third Generation 318 The Fourth Generation 3 19 The Fifth Generation 320 The Sixth Generation 321 Other Locations 322 Glossary 325 Index 332 IV Introduction The Kitab at-Tabaqat by Abu 'Abdullah Muhammad ibn Sa'd is one of the earliest collections of biographical details of the early Muslims, extending from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, to lbn Sa'd's own time (he lived from 1481764 to 230/845 or 2361770). Volume 8, which deals exclusively with women, was published as The Women of Madina. This present translation covers Volume 7, which deals with the Companions, Tabi'un and subsequent generations of the people of knowledge in Basra, Baghdad, Khurasan, Syria and Egypt. The people of Kufa are found in Volume 6 and the people of Madina in Volume 5, as yet untranslated. The Companions are mentioned first in each locality, and then the next generation, the Tabi 'un, and then the following generations. The scope of Ibn Sa'd covers the time of the Rashidun khalifs, the U mayyads and the 'Abbas ids, and so some brief comments about Islamic history are necessary in order to put the events and individu als mentioned into perspective, and to make the events and com ments described more comprehensible, particularly in view of the fact that not much material is available on the Umayyad period! Books on Islam tend to concentrate on either the Prophet, peace be upon him, and the major Companions, or to deal with the prob lems of modern times. Why, it might be asked, is it so important to learn about the lives of the Muslims during the first two centuries after the Prophet's death, a period of history which is so often ignored? Perhaps the most important lesson we can take from this early period is the attitude and action of the Companions and the Tabi'un when confronted by that most dangerous of trials -fitna or civil war. In Arabic, fitna means 'civil strife, discord, sedition, temptation, trial'. It is used to refer to those disagreements in the community which develop into factions and then into outright armed conflict. This is extremely important because we continue to be constantly confronted by fitna wherever we turn. We can learn a great deal from how the early Muslims dealt with it. v Introduction In this period of history, various fitnas, both major and minor, reared their heads: • the Great Fitna, stemming from the murder of 'Uthman ibn 'A ff an in 35/656, leading to the Battle of the Camel (36/656) between 'Ali and 'A'isha, Talha and az-Zubayr, and to the Battle of Siffin between Mu'awiya and 'Ali (37/657), and finally to the assassination of ·Ali in 40/661. This Fitna, the first inter-Muslim fight, resulted in the deaths of all the Companions who had been at the Battle of Sadr and moved the capital of the Muslims away from Madina. It also resulted in the emergence of the Kharijites, which means 'those who revolt, or go out from the communi ty'. They will be discussed in more detail later. • the Second Fitna War between the Umayyads (Marwan and 'Abdu'l-Majid) and 'Abdullah ibn az-Zubayr which began after the death of Yazid L preceded by the tragedy of the killing of the grandson of the Prophet, Husayn, at Karbala' in 61/680, and ending in the defeat and death of 'Abdullah ibn az-Zubayr in 73/692. The Ka 'ba was destroyed in the course of it. This consolidated various sec tarian positions, particularly those of the Shi 'a and the Kharijites, which in turn resulted in greater centralisation of the government and made it more autocratic. It also marked the end of the influence of the Ansar and opened the way to various non-Islamic influences. • Various other smaller fttnas - like the rebellion of Ibn al Ash'ath in Iraq which ended in the Battle of Dayr al-Jamajim in 82/701, and that of Yazid ibn al-Muhallab which really marks an intensification of tribal factional ism in I 01 /720. An analogy could be made with the effects of nationalism today. • The third Civil war, beginning with the rebellion against al-Walid II in 1261744 which ended with control being re established by Marwan II in 1291747, but almost immediate ly followed by Abbasid revolt, culminating in the Battle of the Greater Zab in 1321750. This put an end to the Umayyad dynasty, quite literally as the Abbasids massacred every VI Introduction Umayyad they could lay their hands on, and moved the khal ifate to Iraq. The only surviving member of the family, 'Abdu'r-Rahman ad-Dakhil, escaped to Andalusia. In Sahih al-Bukhari, Sa'id ibn Al-Musayyab is reported as saying. "When the first civil strife (in Islam) took place because of the mur der of 'Uthman, it left none of the Badr warriors alive. When the sec ond civil strife, that is the battle of al-Harra,1 took place, it left none of the Hudaybiyya treaty Companions alive. Then the third civil strife took place and it did not subside till it had exhausted all the strength of the people." We can grasp the gravity of fitna from the comments made by the men mentioned in the Tabaqat. Mutarrif said, "When fitna comes. it does not come to guide, but to contend with the believer for his own self." The real insidious and seductive nature of fitna is that everyone is convinced that they are in the right and, indeed, the group which initiates the strife often has a legitimate grievance and are convinced that they are putting things right. Abu Hurayra reported that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said. "You people will be keen to have the authority of government, which will be a thing of regret for you on the Day of Resurrection. What an excellent wet nurse it is, yet what a bad means of weaning it is!" It is very easy to think that you will be able to change things once you are in charge. and usually very difficult to do so! After the event, when the damage is done and the bodies of Muslims slain by one another litter the battlefield. it is easy to see the mistake: Al-Hasan al-Basri said, "When this fitna first came, every man of knowledge recognised it: and when it retreated. every ignorant man recognised it." One of the men mentioned in this book. Abu'l-'Aliyya ar-Riyahi, was very eager at first to go out and fight alongside 'Ali at Siffin. but when he got there, he realised the ramifications of what was happen ing: I. Al-Harra is a stony tract of hlack volcanic rock east of Madina where a terri hlc hattle took place in 63 AH (26 August 683) hetween the forces of Yazid I and 'Ahdullah ihn az-Zuhayr which ended in Madina heing sacked and plundered. Vtl Introduction "In the time of the conflict between 'Ali and Mu'awiya, I was young and eager and preferred fighting to good food. So I made excellent provisions in order to join the army. At Siffin, the ends of the two armies could not be seen because each side was so large. If one side were destroyed, the other side would be destroyed as well. I thought to myself, 'Which of the two groups will I consider to be unbelievers? Which will I consider to be believers? Who can force me to take part in this?' I continued to reflect on it until I went back and left them." May Allah give us such insight in times of unrest and dispute! Ibn al-Ash'ath One of the major fitnas mentioned in this period is that of Ibn al Ash 'ath who revolted in 80/699. This uprising was partially a reac tion against the authoritarian and arbitrary actions of al-Hajjaj, the Umayyad governor in Iraq, and also an assertion of tribal pride of the ashraf, the local nobles, and their feeling of having been slighted and bypassed. Al-Hajjaj, in turn, believed that he was doing what was necessary to quell the constant unrest in Iraq caused by the Kharijites, even though his actions clearly exceeded the proper bounds laid down by the Shari 'a - a manifestation of the conviction that the ends justify the means. 'Abdal-Malik ibn Marwan had come to power in 65/685 after the death of Marwan ibn al-Hakam in the middle of the civil war with 'Abdullah ibn az-Zubayr. It took him ten years of war - which involved the sack of Madina and the destruction of the Ka'ba - before he defeated Ibn az-Zubayr. Then he had to put down the Berbers of North Africa who taken advantage of the Civil War in Arabia, Syria, and Iraq to revolt. At this point, Iraq was largely ungovernable, thanks mainly to the Kharijites. Things were further muddled by the Shi'ite rebellion led by al-Mukhtar in the name of Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya, the son of 'Ali ibn Abi Talib, which began in 66 /683. Thus in Iraq, the civil war was a three-sided affair (or four-sided if you include the VIII