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

'''Muslim b. ʿAqil b. Abi Talib''' (d. 60/680) was a leading supporter of [[Imam Husayn]]. He was sent to [[Kufa]] as a representative of Imam Husayn 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 [[Ali]]’s army at the battle of [https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Siffin Siffin], together with his cousins [[Hasan]], [[Husayn]] 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.<br /></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 them.<ref>One fanciful report has him kill 41 of them; cf. Ibn Shahrashub, Manaqib, iii, 244.<br /></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 [[ʿUmar b. Saʿd b. Abi Waqqaṣ|Omar Ibn Saʿd]] as the only member of his tribe (Quraysh) present. Muslim asked him to send a messenger to al-Husayn 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-Husayn. 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- Husayn’s departure for ʿIraq.  

Al-Husayn was at Zubala (or Thaʿlabiyya, or Zarud, or Sharaf) when he received news of the tragedy. Shi’i authors maintain that al-Husayn 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.<br /></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.<br /></ref>

Although Muslim did not die at Karbala, he is counted among its martyrs<ref>cf. al-Tabari, ii, 387.</ref>, and is even referred to as the first shahid.<ref>al-Majlisi, Biḥar al-anwar , c, 428.<br /></ref> The Shiʿis recommend visiting his grave in Kufa, and the text is preserved of a number of prayers to be recited there.<ref>ibid., 426-9.</ref>