Maytham al-Tammar al-Asadi al-Kufi

Maytham al-Tammar al-Asadi al-Kufi
Full Name	Maytham al-Tammar al-Asadi al-Kufī
Companion of	Imam Ali, Imam al-Hasan, and Imam al-Hussain
Teknonym	Abu Salim, Abu Salih
Place(s) of Residence	Kufa
Death/Martyrdom	60/692
Cause of Death/Martyrdom	He was sentenced to death by Ibn Ziyad, his body was left hanging for a few days
Burial Place	Kufa
Works	A book in exegesis of Qur'an, and a book of Hadith

Maytham al-Tammar al-Asadi al-Kufi (Arabic: میثم التمار الأسدی الکوفی) was a loyal companion of Imam Ali and devout lover of Ahl al-Bayt. Imam Ali had informed Maytham that he would be executed on account of the love for the Imam of his time. Imam even showed him the exact tree on which he was going to be hung. Maytham was executed by Ubaydullah b. Ziad before the Battle of Karbala.

Confrontation with Ibn Ziad

After Ubayd-Allah ibn Ziyad was appointed as the Governor of Kufa, Maytham went to perform Haj. When Maytham returned, ibn Ziad summoned him to his court and asked him what your Master (Imam Ali) predicted to you as to what I shall do to you”? Meytham replied, “Yes, he did tell us that I will be the tenth one whom you shall put to the gallows, and that the timber of my gallow would be the shortest, and also that I shall be closer to the ground than them.” Ubaydullah said, “By Allah! I shall do the opposite of what he said.” Meytham replied, “How can you do the opposite, when by Allah, Imam Ali had heard it from the Prophet (S), while he had heard it from Jibra’eel, who in turn heard it from the Al­mighty. How can you oppose them? And I even know the place in Kufa where I shall be hanged, and I shall be the first in Islam to be bridled.”

Imprisonment

Meytham was imprisoned along with Mukhtar bin Abu Ubaydah Saqafi. Meytham told Mukhtar, “You shall be freed from here and will rise to avenge the blood of Imam Hussain, and you shall kill him who will kill us.” When Ubaydullah called for Mukhtar to be killed, a message arrived from Yazid ordering him to free Mukhtar. He released him and ordered Meytham to be crucified.

Martyrdom

He came out of the prison and confronted a man who told him that, “Do you not have the ability to free yourself from this”? Meytham smiled and point­ing to the Palm-tree said, “I have been created for it and it has been brought up for me.”

When Meytham was hanged on the gallows, people gathered around him at the door of the house of ‘Amr bin Hurays who said, “By Allah! He often said that he would be my neighbor.” When Meytham was crucified, ‘Amr ordered his maid to sweep the ground beneath and sprinkle water and fumigate it.” Meytham then started relating the virtues of Bani Hashim on the gallows.

News reached Ubaydullah that the slave had insulted him to which he ordered that a bridle should be put in his mouth; hence Meytham was the first man in Islam to be bridled. Meytham was martyred ten days before Imam Hussain came to Iraq. On the third day a weapon (probably a spear) was pierced into his stomach and he exclaimed “Allaho Akbar”, and at the end of the day blood oozed from his nose and mouth. (May Allah's Mercy and Blessing be Upon him)

It is related that seven date-sellers pledged that they would take the corpse of Meytham from there and bury him. During night they came there when the guards had lightened a fire and could not see them. They took him down from the gallows and buried him near the stream in the street of Bani Murad, and threw away the gallow into the garbage. When morning dawned the horsemen went in pursuit of them but failed to find them.

Source

• Shaykh Abbas Qummi, Nafasul Mahmum; Relating to the heart rending tragedy of Karbala