Haniʾ b. ʿUrwa al-Muradi
Haniʾ b. ʿUrwa al-Muradi was a Yemeni chief of Kufa who lost his life during the attempt made by al-Hussain b. ʿAli Talib to seize power, at the end of 60/680. He hosted Muslim ibn Aqil during latter's revolt against Umayyads, and was killed by the governor of Kufa Obayd-Allah ibn Ziyad. Hani’ was buried near Dar al-Imara of Kufa. Today his shrine is connected to the Mosque of Kufa and is to the north of the grave of Muslim b. 'Aqil.
Social Status
Haniʾ possessed great influence among the Yemenis of Kufa who, represented by the Madhhij. Kinda and Hamdan, formed a numerous element in the town; an anecdote related in the Kamil of al-Mubarrad and in the ʿIqd gives further proof that it was an advantage to enjoy his favor. He had a thorough knowledge of the Quran, and his name is mentioned in a list of readers belonging to the nobility (al-ashraf al-qurraʾ).
Role in the Uprising
The fact to which Haniʾ owes his renown is his participation in the preparations for al-Hussain’s revolt. We know that the ʿAlid, urged by the Shiʿis of Kufa to come there and place himself at the head of his supporters, at first sent his cousin Muslim b. ʿAqil to take stock of the situation and to rally the support of those who sympathized with the movement. These steps not having passed unnoticed, the caliph Yazid appointed Obayd-Allah b. Ziad [q.v.] governor of Kufa, with instructions to bring this dangerous situation under control. The house of Haniʾ, used as a meeting-place by the conspirators, was almost the scene of an attempt against the life of Ibn Ziad himself.[1]; Muslim came there to take refuge, on learning that the net was closing round him.
Arrest
Finally, Ibn Ziad invited Haniʾ, who on the pretence of illness had for some time absented himself from his meetings, to come and see him. Haniʾ hesitated, but in the end allowed himself to be persuaded, relying on the powerful influence he possessed, and unaware that a spy had discovered the part that he had taken in hatching the plot. When he had come into Ibn Ziad’s presence, the latter overwhelmed him with reproaches and accused him of giving asylum to Muslim. Haniʾ denied the charge, but the spy was summoned and Haniʾ was compelled to admit that Muslim had been given protection by him; nevertheless he tried to excuse himself and, possibly feeling convinced that the revolt would be successful, ventured to promise Ibn Ziad that no harm would befall him (according to al-Masʿudi, he advised him to flee with his family to Syria). Instead the governor, who had been instructed to arrest Muslim, demanded that he should be handed over to him, but this Haniʾ obstinately refused, even under the threat of execution; in a fury, Ibn Ziad struck his face with the stick he was holding; streaming with blood, Haniʾ made a vain attempt to wrest the spear from one of the guards, and was locked up in a wing of the castle. When the news that he had been killed spread about, an angry crowd of Madhhijis gathered, but dispersed when Ibn Ziad sent the Qazi Shurayh with assurances that Haniʾ was still alive.
Martyrdom
Finally, Muslim was discovered in his latest hiding-place, taken to the castle and beheaded; Haniʾ was taken to the sheep-market and also put to death [2], being perhaps later crucified in the place known as al-Kunasa.[3] The news of this double execution reached al-Hussain after he had arrived in Iraq. Elegiac verses on Muslim and Haniʾ, attributed to Ibn al-Zabir al-Asadi or other poets, are repeated in several sources. Together with Muslim b. ʿAqil, Haniʾ became a character in the taʿziya.[4]
References
Bibliography
- Tabari, ii, 229-32, 244, 246-9, 250-4, 268-70, 284, 292
- ʿArīb, Tabari continuatus, 62
- Abu Hanifa al-Dīnawarī, al-Ak̲h̲bār al-ṭiwāl, 247 ff., 250-2, 255, 259, 260
- Yaʿḳūbī, Historiae, ii, 287-9
- Mubarrad, Kāmil, ed. Wright, 71 ff. (Cairo 1376/1956, i, 123 f.)
- ʿIḳd ed. A. Amīn etc., Cairo, i, 160 f., ii, 378 f.
- Masʿudi, Murūd̲j̲, v, 135 f., 140 f.
- Abu ’l-Farad̲j̲ al-Iṣfahānī, Maḳātil al-Ṭālibiyyīn, ed. Ṣaḳr, Cairo 1368/1949, 97-100, 108
- idem, Ag̲h̲ānī 1, xiii, 37, xiv, 98
- Ibn ʿAsākir, al-Taʾrīk̲h̲ al-kabīr, Damascus 1329-32, iv, 336 f.
- Ibn Badrūn, S̲h̲arḥ Kaṣīdat Ibn ʿAbdūn, ed. Dozy, Leiden 1846, 162 f.
- Ibn al-At̲h̲īr, iv, 19-24, 29 f., 54, 188
- Bayyāsī, K. al-Iʿlām bi-’l-ḥurūb fī ṣadr al-Islām, ms. Cairo, ii, 31, 32, 33
- Fak̲h̲rī, ed. Derenbourg, 159 f.
- D̲h̲ahabī, Taʾrīk̲h̲, ms. Bodl., fol. 20 v
- Ibn Kat̲h̲īr, Bidāya, Cairo 1348-55, viii, 153, 154, 168
- Muḥsin al-Amīn al-Hussainī al-ʿĀmilī, Aʿyān al-s̲h̲ī ʿa, viii, Beirut 1367/1948, 199-202, 208 f.
- ʿAbd al-Razzāḳ al-Mūsawī al-Muḳram, al-S̲h̲ahīd Muslim b. ʿAqil, Nad̲j̲af 1369/1950, 129-34, 138 f., 147-53
- F. Wüstenfeld, Der Tod des Husein ben ʾAlí und die Rache, Ein historischer Roman..., Göttingen 1883 (Abh. der K. Ges. der Wiss. zu Göttingen, xxx), 31-7, 43 f., 46
- J. Wellhausen, Die religiös-politischen Oppositionsparteien, Berlin 1901, 61, 62-4
- H. Lammens, Le califat de Yazîd I er , 144, in the reprint (= MFOB, v, 142). The poems are also in The Naqāʾiḍ of Jarīr and al-Farazdaq, ed. Bevan, 246
- Ṭād̲j̲ al-ʿarūs, iii, 359.