Muslim b. Aqil b. Abi Talib: Difference between revisions

'''Muslim b. ʿAqil b. Abi Talib''' (d. 60/680) was a leading supporter of [[Hussain ibn Ali|Imam Hussain]]. He was sent to [[Kufa]] as a representative of Imam Hussain in order to measure the extent of Kufan support for the Prophet’s grandson and to make sure that people of Kufa are truthful in their invitation of the Imam. In a report to the Imam, he confirmed that Kufans were prepared for the Imam's arrival.   

There are unusually large discrepancies in the sources as regards his date of birth: the difference between the extreme figures is more than 30 years. According to one report, he fought in Safar 37/July 657 in the right wing (maymana) of [[ʿAli ibn Abi Talib|Ali]]’s army at the battle of [https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Siffin Siffin], together with his cousins [[Hasan]], [[Hussain ibn Ali|Hussain]] and ʿAbd Allah b. Jaʿfar.<ref>Ibn Aʿtham al-Kufi, K. al-Futuh, Haydarabad 1388-95/1968-75, iii, 32; Ibn Shahrashub, Manaqib, ii, 352.</ref> The report implies that Muslim was born no later than the early 20s/640s. An even earlier date is suggested by an account that during ʿOmar’s reign Muslim, took part in the conquest of al-Bahnasa [q.v.]<ref>Ps.-Waqidi, Futuh al-Sham , Cairo 1354, ii, 136, 146, 153, 159, 160, 169, 181, 184, 185, 190.</ref>, in the course of which two of his brothers, Jaʿfar and Ali, were killed.<ref>ibid., ii, 177.</ref> He is said to have been appointed as the first Muslim governor of the town, and to have retained this position until ʿUthman’s caliphate, when he returned to Medina, leaving his brothers and sons behind.<ref>ibid., ii, 193.</ref> Other accounts, in contrast, point to a date of birth in the late 30s/650s: according to these accounts, Muslim’s mother, an umm walad of Nabataean origin<ref>cf. Muhammad b. Habib, al-Munammaq , 505.</ref> whose name is variously given as ʿUlayya, Khalila and Hilya, was bought by ʿAqil in Syria, with the help of [[Muʿawiya]]. This purchase probably took place after Ali’s assumption of the caliphate (in Dhu ’l-Hijja 35/June 656), which is the time usually given as the beginning of Aqil’s friendship with the Umayyad ruler.  

On 5 Shawwal 60/9 July 680 Muslim reached Kufa. According to most sources, he went first to the house of [[al-Mukhtar b. Abi ʿUbayd al-Thaqafi]] [q.v.], later known as Dar Salim (or Salm or Muslim) b. al-Musayyab.<ref>cf. Muhsin al-Amin, Aʿyan al-Shiʿa , xxxiii, Beirut 1369/1950, 402.</ref> Other accounts<ref>e.g. Muhammad al-Baqir, as reported in al-Tabari, ii, 228.</ref> maintain that Muslim proceeded first to the house of Muslim b. ʿAwsaja al-Asadi.  

When Muslim heard of Obayd Allah’s arrival, he left the house in which he was staying and, under cover of darkness, went to the home of [[Haniʾ b. ʿUrwa al-Muradi]] [q.v.] Haniʾ, aware that Muslim was a wanted man, was at first reluctant to admit him yet subsequently treated him with all due hospitality. During his stay there, Muslim missed an opportunity to kill Obayd Allah. According to one version, Haniʾ was behind the plot; he feigned sickness, knowing that Obayd Allah would come to visit him, thus providing Muslim with a chance to strike. But at the crucial moment Muslim’s nerves failed him, and Obayd Allah left unscathed.<ref>Ibn ʿAbd Rabbihi, ʿIqd , iv, 378; al-Bayhaqi, Mahasin , 60.</ref> A second version, more complimentary to Muslim, attributes the plot to Sharik b. al-Aʿwar al-Harithi, an ardent supporter of Ali who none the less enjoyed Obayd Allah’s confidence and had arrived with him from Basra. Sharik, who had been taken ill, also stayed at Haniʾ’s home, and his plan similarly called for Muslim to kill Obayd Allah when the governor came to pay him a sick call. ʿUbayd Allah came, but Muslim remained in the closet in which he was hiding. The reasons given by Muslim for his inaction are said to have been opposition by Haniʾ (or by one of his wives), as well as a Prophetic tradition forbidding the slaying without prior warning of someone who has been given an assurance of safety.<ref>cf. Lane, Lexicon , s.v. f-t-k.</ref> Sharik, who had hoped to deliver Basra to Muslim, died of his illness three days later.

By nightfall Muslim was left with only 30 men, and these too soon disappeared. He wandered despondently in the alleys of Kufa, until he finally found refuge with a woman from Kinda called Tawʿa, whose son Bilal was a mawla of Muhammad b. al-Ashʿath [q.v.]. When Bilal discovered the identity of his mother’s guest, he waited until morning and then notified Ibn al-Ashʿath, who in turn informed ʿUbayd Allah. Another version has it that the person whom Bilal informed (and who passed on the information) was Ibn al-Ashʿath’s son ʿAbd al-Rahman.<ref>This is one of several deeds for which ʿAbd al-Raḥman earned the title of “the most perfidious of the Arabs”; see Ibn Habib, al- Muhabbar , 244-6.</ref>

Obayd Allah sent Ibn al-Ashʿath (or his son ʿAbd al-Rahman) at the head of 60 (or 70) men to Tawʿa’s house. Muslim, realizing that he was surrounded, came out with his sword in hand and, true to his reputation as a fierce warrior, chased off his attackers, inflicting serious losses on them.<ref>One fanciful report has him kill 41 of them; cf. Ibn Shahrashub, Manaqib, iii, 244.</ref> His attackers responded by pelting him from the roof-top of Tawʿa’s house with stones and burning missiles. At this point Ibn al-Ashʿath gave him a guarantee of safety ([[aman]]) and Muslim, wounded and exhausted, gave himself up. Another version has it that Muslim did not trust Ibn al-Ashʿath’s aman and continued fighting until he was finally overcome. According to some accounts, Ibn al-Ashʿath was sincere in his offer but was overruled by ʿUbayd Allah. Other reports maintain that Ibn al-Ashʿath acted in concert with the governor, and never meant to honor his pledge.

Muslim was brought before Obayd Allah, and the two had a heated exchange. Muslim then received permission to give his final instructions (wasiyya). In most accounts he is said to have chosen for this purpose [[Omar Ibn Sa’d|Omar Ibn Saʿd]] as the only member of his tribe (Quraysh) present. Muslim asked him to send a messenger to al-Hussain to inform him of the treachery of the Kufans and to urge him not to come; he also asked him to pay a debt of his and take his corpse for burial to prevent its being mutilated. In other reports, Muslim is depicted as receiving a promise from Ibn al-Ashʿath (rather than ʿUmar) to inform al-Hussain. Obayd Allah entrusted Muslim’s execution to Bakr b. Humran al-Ahmari, whom Muslim had wounded before being taken prisoner. Bakr led Muslim to the top of the fortress, decapitated him in sight of the populace, and threw down first the head and then the rest of the body. Haniʾ was also executed, and the two bodies were dragged through the market-streets of Kufa. Muslim is said to have been posthumously crucified, and his head was sent to Yazid in Damascus and hoisted on a pole; he was the first [[Hashimite]] to be treated in this fashion.<ref>cf. al- Masʿudi, Muruj , § 1899.</ref> An elegy on the fate of Muslim and Haniʾ which is cited in the sources is variously attributed to al-Farazdaq, to ʿAbd Allah b. al-Zabir al-Asadi and to Sulayman (or Sulaym) b. Salam al-Hanafi. Muslim’s death, which followed his uprising by one day, is said to have coincided with al- Hussain’s departure for ʿIraq.  

Al-Hussain was at Zubala (or Thaʿlabiyya, or Zarud, or Sharaf) when he received news of the tragedy. Shi’i authors maintain that al-Hussain gave his entourage the option of withdrawing and that members of Muslim’s family were among those who chose to stay with him to the end. The lists of those killed at Karbala do indeed include Muslim’s brothers ʿAbd Allah, ʿAbd al-Rahman and Jaʿfar; some say that in all five brothers died on the battlefield.<ref>Ibn Maʿsum al-Shirazi, al-Darajat al-rafiʿa , Najaf 1382/1962, 165.</ref> ʿAbd Allah, a son of Muslim from his marriage to ʿAli’s daughter [[Ruqayya]], was also reportedly killed in the battle; some sources refer to two sons who perished there.<ref>e.g. al-Safadi, al-Wafi , xii, ed. Ramadan ʿAbd al-Tawwab, Wiesbaden 1399/1979, 426.</ref> Two other sons (sometimes identified as Muhammad and Ibrahim) are said to have escaped from ʿUbayd Allah’s camp a year after Karbala only to be brutally murdered by a Kufan who expected to be rewarded by Obayd Allah (but who was beheaded instead).<ref>Ibn Babawayh, Amali , Najaf 1389/1970, 73-9.</ref> Their story, like that of their father, is re-enacted in the annual [[taʿziya]] plays.<ref>Pelly, The Miracle play, i, 190-206.</ref> In some versions of these plays, the two sons are said to have been decapitated at the same time as their father<ref>e.g. Metin And, The Muharram observances in Anatolian Turkey , in P.J. Chelkowski (ed.), Taʿziyeh : ritual and drama in Iran , New York 1979, 251.</ref>; and the text accompanying several pictorial renderings of this event identifies their executioner as al- Harith b. Badr.<ref>R. Milstein, Miniature painting, 101, 102, 104.</ref>

*Muṣʿab b. ʿAbd Allah al-Zubayrī, K. Nasab Ḳurays̲h̲, ed. E. Lévi-Provençal, Cairo 1953, 84

*Saʿd b. ʿAbd Allah al-Ḳummī, al-Maḳālāt wa ’l-firaḳ, ed. Muḥammad D̲j̲awād Mas̲h̲kūr, Tehran 1963, 24

*Ibn ʿAbd Rabbihi, al-ʿIḳd al-farīd, Cairo 1359-72/1940-53, iv, 377-9

*Ibn Ḥazm, D̲j̲amharat ansāb al-ʿarab, ed. ʿAbd al-Salām Muḥammad Hārūn, Cairo 1382/1962, 69, 406

*Ibn al-ʿArabī, al-ʿAwāṣim min al-ḳawāṣim, D̲j̲udda 1378, 229-31

*F. Wüstenfeld, Der Tod des Ḥusein ben ʿAlī, Göttingen 1883, 24-6, 30-46

*Muḥammad ʿAlī ʿĀbidīn, Mabʿūt̲h̲ al-Ḥusayn, Ḳumm n.d.