Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr was a noble
companion of the Prophet Muhammad, a Meccan from the Banu Abd al-Uzza ibn
Qusayy clan. His father was the companion al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam ibn Khuwaylid
ibn Asad ibn Abd al-Uzza ibn Qusayy, the son of the Prophet Muhammad's paternal
aunt, Safiyya bint Abd al-Muttalib. His mother was Asma bint Abi Bakr, the
daughter of the first Caliph of the Muslims, Abu Bakr al-Siddiq. His paternal
aunt was Khadija bint Khuwaylid, the first wife of the Prophet Muhammad (peace
and blessings be upon him). His maternal aunt was Aisha bint Abi Bakr, the
third wife of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), after
whom she was known by her kunya (patronymic).
Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr was the first child
born to the Emigrants in Medina in the first year of the Hijra (migration).
After his birth, his mother carried him in a cloth to the Prophet Muhammad
(peace and blessings be upon him), who placed a date in his mouth, blessed him,
and named him Abdullah after his grandfather, Abu Bakr. He then instructed Abu
Bakr to recite the Adhan (call to prayer) in his ears. He was the son of the
disciple of the Messenger of God, and his mother was the daughter of Abu Bakr,
and his maternal aunt was Aisha, the beloved of the Beloved of God, the wife of
the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him).
Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr was dark-skinned,
thin, and of medium height. Between his eyes was the mark of prostration. He
was devout, diligent, noble, eloquent, and a frequent faster and night-prayer
worshipper. He was courageous, proud, and possessed a noble soul and high
aspirations. He had a sparse beard, with little hair on his face, and a full
head of hair (or, as some say, hair that fell over his shoulders). He had a
yellowish beard. He was a learned, devout, dignified, and awe-inspiring man. He
fasted and prayed frequently, was deeply humble, and possessed strong political
acumen (Ibn Kathir in his book, Al-Bidayah wa'l-Nihayah). One of the most
striking examples of his severity was his imprisonment of his son Hamza after
dismissing him from his post in Iraq. When questioned about money Hamza claimed
to have distributed among his people, Ibn al-Zubayr replied, "This is
money that belongs neither to you nor your father," and then imprisoned
him.
He was known for his courage from a young
age. Some people suggested to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) that he
should accept the pledge of allegiance from the sons of some of the Muhajireen
and Ansar, saying, "If you were to pledge allegiance to them, they would
receive your blessing and gain renown." They brought them, including
Abdullah ibn Ja'far, Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr, and Amr ibn Abi Salama. They
retreated, but Ibn al-Zubayr charged forward. The Prophet smiled and said,
"He is his father's son." It is also narrated that Ibn al-Zubayr was
playing with some boys when Umar ibn al-Khattab, who was the Caliph at the
time, passed by. The boys ran away, but Ibn al-Zubayr stood his ground. Umar
asked him, "Why didn't you run away with them?" He replied, "I
have committed no crime to fear you, and the road was not too narrow for you to
pass." He was also known for his eloquence and oratory skills, to the
point that Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib considered him one of the most eloquent
orators of the Quraysh in Islam, saying: "The most eloquent orators of the
Quraysh in Islam were: Mu'awiyah and his son, Sa'id and his son, and Abdullah
ibn al-Zubayr."
Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr participated in
treating the wounded at the Battle of Yarmouk, but did not participate in the
fighting due to his young age. During the reign of Uthman ibn Affan, he
participated in the conquest of North Africa under the leadership of Abdullah
ibn Sa'd ibn Abi Sarh. He and a group of horsemen managed to break through the
Roman lines and kill their commander, Gregory, at Sbeitla (a city in
central-western Tunisia). He then participated in the complete conquest of
North Africa. He was the one whom Sa'd sent Abdullah ibn Umar and Abdullah ibn
al-Zubayr. He ordered his governor of Medina, al-Walid ibn Utbah, to take
control of the city with utmost severity, leaving no room for leniency.
Al-Walid gave them one night to pledge allegiance to Yazid, but they fled to
Mecca to avoid doing so. Al-Husayn was killed at the Battle of Karbala in 61 AH
(also known as the Battle of al-Taff), which enraged the Muslim masses against
Yazid for the killing of the grandson of the Prophet at the hands of his
armies. After al-Husayn's death, Yazid's primary concern became securing the
allegiance of Ibn al-Zubayr, especially given Ibn al-Zubayr's role in inciting
Muslims against the Umayyads. He swore to bring Ibn al-Zubayr in chains.
However, Mu'awiya ibn Yazid and Abdullah ibn Ja'far believed that Ibn al-Zubayr
would not accept such a thing. They advised Yazid to send men of high rank to
him, along with a silver chain, a gold rope, and a silk robe to conceal the
shackles, hoping that he would submit and fulfill Yazid's oath. Ibn al-Zubayr,
however, became enraged and remained defiant, seeking refuge in the Kaaba,
whereupon he became known as the "Seeker of Refuge in the House."
This angered Yazid, especially since some
people from Mecca had gathered around Ibn al-Zubayr and supported him. In fact,
during the Hajj season of 61 AH, Ibn al-Zubayr refused to pray behind Amr ibn
Sa'id ibn al-As, Yazid's governor of Medina, nor did he follow his lead in the
rituals. He even prevented Yazid's deputy in Mecca from leading the people of
Mecca in prayer. Yazid wrote to Amr al-Ashdaq ordering him to send troops
against him. Al-Ashdaq dispatched his police chief, Amr ibn al-Zubayr, with a
thousand men to fight his brother. However, he was defeated by an army
assembled for ibn al-Zubayr, and Amr ibn al-Zubayr was captured. Abdullah ibn
al-Zubayr brought him before the people so they could exact retribution for
injustices he had committed against some people while he was the city's police
chief. The people took their revenge, each inflicting upon him the same
injustice they had suffered. Amr died from the beating, and Abdullah ordered
him to be crucified.
In the year 63 AH, the people of Medina
revolted against Yazid and expelled his governor. He sent an army against them
under the command of Muslim ibn Uqba al-Murri, who defeated the people of
Medina and violated its sanctity for three days after the Battle of al-Harra.
Then Yazid ordered him to march against Ibn al-Zubayr in Mecca. Muslim died
before reaching Mecca, and al-Husayn ibn Numayr al-Sakuni took command of the
army. The army reached Mecca on the 26th of Muharram, 64 AH, and besieged Ibn
al-Zubayr for 64 days. They set up catapults, and the Kaaba was set ablaze. Ibn
al-Zubayr's army suffered heavy losses and lost many of his supporters.
With the death of Yazid ibn Mu'awiya in 64
AH, and the withdrawal of al-Husayn's army from its siege of Ibn al-Zubayr in
Mecca, Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr declared himself Caliph. Most of the major cities
pledged allegiance to him, except for parts of Syria. Therefore, Malik, Ibn Abd
al-Barr, Ibn Hazm, Ibn Kathir, and al-Dhahabi considered him the legitimate
Caliph of the Muslims after Yazid's death. Although the Kharijites had
participated with Ibn al-Zubayr in the defense of Mecca during the siege, they
opposed him when he was given the oath of allegiance because of his praise for
Uthman ibn Affan, which contradicted their beliefs. They then headed to Iraq
and Khurasan. Ibn al-Zubayr delegated al-Muhallab ibn Abi Sufra to fight them.
Al-Muhallab defeated them and killed their leader, Nafi' ibn al-Azraq.
When Yazid died in one of the villages of
Homs, the people of Damascus pledged allegiance to his son, Mu'awiya ibn Yazid,
who was then a young man of twenty. However, Mu'awiya was not interested in the
caliphate, so he abdicated after twenty days, or some say three months, of his
pledge of allegiance, without appointing a successor. He died a few days later.
With the death of Ibn Yazid, matters in Syria became turbulent, and its people
were divided. One group, led by al-Dahhak ibn Qays and the Qaysi tribes,
pledged allegiance to Ibn al-Zubayr, while another group, headed by Hassan ibn
Malik ibn Bahdal al-Kalbi, the leader of the Yemeni tribes, supported the
Umayyads. The dispute between these two groups lasted for months. Some favored
Khalid ibn Yazid ibn Mu'awiya, despite his youth at the time, while others
leaned towards Marwan ibn al-Hakam. However, the meeting held at al-Jabiyah
tipped the scales in favor of Marwan due to his advanced age, followed by
Khalid ibn Yazid, and then Amr ibn Sa'id al-Ashdaq.
On the other side, al-Dahhak ibn Qays and
the Qaysi tribes had already pledged allegiance to Ibn al-Zubayr in Damascus,
along with al-Nu'man ibn Bashir al-Ansari and the people of Homs, and Zufar ibn
al-Harith al-Kalabi and the people of Qinnasrin. They marched to forcibly seize
the allegiance of the Umayyads. The two sides met at the end of 64 AH at Marj
Rahit, and that conflict ended. The battle resulted in the death of al-Dahhak
and the defeat of the Qays, thus consolidating the Umayyads' power in Syria.
They quickly regained control of Qinnasrin, Palestine, and Homs. Then Marwan
called for... to deliver the good news of the conquest to Uthman.
On the day Uthman ibn Affan was besieged
in his house by those who had rebelled against him, Ibn al-Zubayr was among
those who defended Uthman and repelled the rebels from his house. He sustained
severe injuries and was carried out that day due to the extent of his wounds.
He participated in the Battle of the Camel as a commander of the infantry. He
sustained nineteen wounds in this battle and was nearly killed. Aisha gave ten
thousand dirhams to the man who brought her the good news that he had not been
killed and prostrated in gratitude to God, such was his place in her heart.
After Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan assumed the
caliphate in 41 AH, he participated in the conquests of North Africa under the
command of its governor, Muawiyah ibn Hudayj. He was one of his commanders and
participated in the conquest of Bizerte in 41 AH (a coastal city in the far
north of the African continent and the capital of the Bizerte Governorate in
the Republic of Tunisia, located 65 kilometers north of Tunis). Ibn Hudayj then
sent him to Sousse (a coastal city in central-eastern Tunisia on the Gulf of
Hammamet in the Mediterranean Sea), which he conquered. This occurred in 49 AH.
After the death of Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan
in 60 AH, Yazid focused on securing the allegiance of al-Husayn and Abd
al-Rahman. The
Umayyad Shiites secretly supported the Umayyads in Egypt, and he marched there
with his army, defeating Ibn Jahdam al-Fihri, Ibn al-Zubayr's governor of
Egypt. He succeeded in annexing Egypt in Jumada al-Akhirah 65 AH and appointed
his son, Abd al-Aziz, as its governor.
After the Umayyads gained control of
Syria, the conflict between Ibn al-Zubayr and the Umayyads was confined to two
fronts: Iraq and the Hijaz. On the Iraqi front, after the situation in Syria
had stabilized in the Umayyads' favor, Abd al-Malik marched to Iraq to fight
Mus'ab ibn al-Zubayr. While en route to fight Mus'ab, Abd al-Malik wrote to the
leaders of Iraq, inviting them to join him and making promises. Similarly, some
Iraqis wrote to him, inviting him to join them and offering their support. Abd
al-Malik even called upon Mus'ab himself to withdraw from the conflict and
leave it to his brother, Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr, due to the long-standing
friendship between Abd al-Malik and Mus'ab. However, Mus'ab refused. The two
sides clashed in Jumada al-Thani of 72 AH at the Monastery of the Catholicos (a
Nestorian monastery located near the Iraqi city of Maskin, south of Samarra in
Iraq, now called Tell al-Deir). A portion of the Iraqi population quickly
deserted Mus'ab's army, giving victory to Abd al-Malik's forces. The battle
ended with Mus'ab's death and Abd al-Malik's control over Iraq. With the fall
of Syria, Egypt, and Iraq, Ibn al-Zubayr's rule was confined to the Hijaz.
After Iraq fell to the Umayyads, Abd
al-Malik dispatched a campaign led by Tariq ibn Amr, a freedman of Uthman ibn
Affan. This campaign succeeded in capturing Medina after Talha ibn Abd Allah
ibn Awf, Ibn al-Zubayr's governor, fled the city and remained there awaiting
Abd al-Malik's orders.
After the Umayyads seized Medina, Ibn
Marwan saw an opportunity to eliminate Ibn al-Zubayr. He sent a large army
under the command of al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf al-Thaqafi, who encamped at Ta'if and
began sending detachments to Arafat. These detachments clashed with Ibn
al-Zubayr's forces and defeated them. Then al-Hajjaj sent a request for
reinforcements and asked Abd al-Malik for permission to enter Mecca to besiege
Ibn al-Zubayr. Abd al-Malik wrote to Tariq ibn Amr in Medina to join al-Hajjaj,
and Tariq joined al-Hajjaj in Dhu al-Hijjah of the year 72 AH. Al-Hajjaj set up
a catapult on Mount Abu Qubays and tightened the siege on Mecca, causing a
severe famine. Ibn al-Zubayr was forced to slaughter his horse to feed his
companions, and most of his followers deserted him, even his two sons, Hamza
and his brother Hamza.
As the siege intensified, Abdullah went to
his mother, Asma, to complain about the people's abandonment of him. She said,
"By God, my son, you know yourself best. If you know you are in the right
and are calling to it, then go forth and fight for it, for your companions have
already been killed for it. Do not let your neck be played with by the Umayyad
boys. But if you only wanted worldly gain, then what a wretched servant you
are! You have destroyed yourself and those who were killed with you. And if you
say, 'I was in the right, but when my companions weakened, I weakened too,'
then this is not the action of free men or people of faith. How long will you
live in this world? Death is better." He kissed her head, asked her to
pray for him, and left, determined to continue fighting. Only a few days passed
before the army attacked Mecca, killing many of its inhabitants and Ibn
al-Zubayr's followers. He fought fiercely until he was killed. This occurred on
Tuesday, the 17th of Jumada al-Thani, 73 AH, after he had been besieged in
Mecca for more than eight months.
Ibn al-Zubayr's head was severed and sent
to Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan. Al-Hajjaj crucified his body upside down at
al-Hajun in Mecca. He remained crucified until Abdullah ibn Umar passed by and
said, "May God have mercy on you, Abu Khubayb. By God, you were a man of
much fasting and prayer." Then he sent word to al-Hajjaj, saying,
"Isn't it time for this rider to dismount?" So he was taken down and
buried there after his brother Urwah led the funeral prayer. His mother was
still alive at the time, but she died a few months later in Medina.
Perhaps the most significant act
attributed to Ibn al-Zubayr in history was his destruction of the Kaaba in 64
AH after it had been damaged by fire. The damage resulted from its bombardment
by the catapult of al-Husayn ibn Numayr al-Sakuni when Ibn al-Zubayr sought
refuge there at the end of Yazid ibn Mu'awiya's caliphate. After consulting and
seeking divine guidance for three days, he resolved on the fourth to demolish
it, starting with the corner until he reached its foundation. Then he rebuilt
the Kaaba and incorporated the Black Stone into it, based on the hadith of
Aisha: "The Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, said to me,
'Were it not for your people's recent conversion from disbelief...'"He
would have demolished the Kaaba and rebuilt it on the foundations laid by
Abraham, for when the Quraysh built it, they shortened it and then added a
back. He made two doors for the Kaaba, one for entering and one for exiting. He
placed the Black Stone with his own hand and secured it with silver because it
had cracked. He increased the Kaaba's height to 27 cubits from its previous 17,
and widened it by 10 cubits. He perfumed its walls with musk and covered it
with brocade. However, his construction did not last long, as in 73 AH, al-Hajjaj
ibn Yusuf rebuilt the Kaaba to its original state on the orders of Abd al-Malik
ibn Marwan. He had not yet heard the hadith of Aisha. When he learned of it
later, he said, "We wish we had left it as it was and not taken care of
it."
Ibn al-Zubayr was known for his vast
knowledge of the Quran and Sunnah. He was very devout; when he stood for
prayer, he would detach himself from worldly affairs and forget its concerns.
Ibn Kathir mentioned in his biography of Ibn al-Zubayr that one day, while Ibn
al-Zubayr was praying, a snake fell from his... The roof of the house became
encircled by a snake that had coiled around the stomach of his son, Hashim. The
women screamed, and the household was alarmed. They gathered to kill the snake,
and they did so, thus saving his son. All this happened while Ibn al-Zubayr was
praying, unaware of what had transpired until he finished his prayer. Amr ibn
Dinar said, "I have never seen anyone pray better than Abdullah ibn
al-Zubayr." Ibn Abi Mulayka said, "I have never seen anyone praying
or supplicating like him." Thabit al-Banani said, "I used to pass by
Ibn al-Zubayr while he was praying behind the Maqam Ibrahim, as if he were a
fixed, unmoving wooden post." Uthman ibn Talha said, "Ibn al-Zubayr
was unrivaled in three things: courage, devotion, and eloquence." Mujahid
said, "There was no form of worship that Ibn al-Zubayr did not undertake.
Once, a flood came upon the Kaaba, and I saw Ibn al-Zubayr swimming around
it." No one in his time was more knowledgeable about the rituals of Hajj
than Ibn al-Zubayr. Ibn Abbas said of him, "He was a reciter of the Book
of God and a follower of the Sunnah." The Messenger of God (peace and
blessings be upon him) was devoutly obedient to God, fasting during the hottest
days out of fear of God.
Ibn al-Zubayr was among those whom Uthman
ibn Affan ordered to copy the Qur'an. He narrated 33 hadiths, one of which is
agreed upon (by Bukhari and Muslim), while Bukhari alone narrated six, and
Muslim two.
The lineage of several of his sons died
out, including Hashim, Qays, Urwah, and al-Zubayr. The latter two were killed
with their father when he was besieged in Mecca. Khubayb was ordered by
al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik to be flogged one hundred times and imprisoned by his
governor in Medina, Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz. He died from the effects of the
flogging without leaving any descendants. The responsibility of providing water
to the Zamzam well passed to his descendants on behalf of the Abbasids during
their time, and it continues with them to this day.
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