different reports given by the writers who immediately Ibn Ishaq first introduces the event in only a few lines and |
and scholarship, which devoted itself mainly to religious The second author of note who deals with the Saqifa is |
doctrine. This doctrine, in its more refined and developed Ibn Sa'd begins by writing two pages on the clan, family |
(Khalil) for himself he could name no one other than Abu The fourth section, entitled "Description of the Prayer Anyone who reads this section of Ibn Sa'd will immediately |
the leader of the prayer. The tradition reads: "When the Immediately after this section, Ibn Sa'd comes to the event The third tradition is a peculiar example of Ibn Sa'd's |
first to pray with the Prophet?' Then he mentioned those There is hardly any need for further comments on Ibn We now must turn to Ibn Sa'd's younger contemporary |
least two cases, even from the Shi'i Abu Mikhnaf.(25) He In Baladhuri's scheme, the Saqifa is treated in a manner |
The long speech of 'Umar which describes the Saqifa in The picture of the Saqifa still remains rather incomplete Unlike Ibn Sa'd and Baladhuri, Ya'qubi does not give |
transformation. This is evident from comparisons with other As regards his sources, we know that, as a general rule and By the time Ibn Sa'd, Baladhuri, and other Sunni writers |
fabricated. This was exactly what happened to Ya'qubi There |
was a strong body of support for 'Ali, but on the other hand, There is little need to examine in detail the works of those In an attempt to reconstruct the events at the Saqifa, the Before narrating 'Umar's speech, Ibn Ishaq opens with an |
b. Ayyub(51) from Ibrahim b. Sa'd(52) from Ibn Ishaq from "When the Apostle died, this clan of the Ansar gathered round After this Ibn Ishaq records 'Umar's famous speech, for "In connection with these events [selection of Abu Bakr] 'Abd Here we must point out that this speech, though recorded |
a sermon in which he said that 'so-and-so says if 'Umar dies "'Umar was angry [when he heard this) and said, 'God willing, "We came to Medina at the end of Dhu'l-Hijja and on the "... I have heard that someone [Zubayr as in Baladhuri said, "What happened was that when God took away His Prophet |
and their companions [and those who were their supporters] From 'Umar's own statement, it is clear that there was At this point we have three different versions. The first |
separated themselves from the others and locked the door of "I told Abu Bakr that we should go to our brothers the Ansar, |
merits, but you do not have [any one among you] like Abu It was at this stage of suggestions and counter suggestions "One of the Ansar said, 'I am the rubbing post and the fruitful Here ends 'Umar's historic speech, accepted by almost all It is also Tabari (I, p. 1818) who records for us from one of Before we describe the events which followed the assembly |
selection possible. Firstly, clan rivalries among the Quraysh, As for the Banu Khazraj, they realized that their position |
as was a common feature of the Arab clans; and according to Keeping in view the arguments and counter-arguments |
supporters and the opponents of Abu Bakr centred on The task of consolidation of Abu Bakr's authority as the |
"You have left the body of the Apostle of God with us and you This made the situation most critical, and Abu Bakr's band Insisting that 'Ali should have been chosen, a number of 1 Hudhayfa b. al-Yaman,(70) a Medinese halif of the Aws and a 2 Khuzayma b. Thabit,(71) from the tribe of Aws, whom the |
the battles of Al-Jamal and Siffin and was killed in the latter 3 Abu Ayyub al-Ansari,(72) whose father, Khalid b. Kulayb, 4 Sahl b. Hunayf,(73) from the tribe of Aws, who fought for the 5 'Uthman b. Hunayf,(74) brother of Sahl and a great favourite 6 Al-Bara'a b. 'Azib al-Ansari ,(75) from the tribe of Khazraj and 7 Ubayy b. Ka'b, (76) from a branch of the Banu Khazraj and one 8 Abu Dharr b. Jundab al-Ghifari, (77) one of the earliest followers
of Muhammad, an ascetic, and extremely devoted to piety. 9 'Ammar b. Yasir,(79) a south Arabian affiliated with the clan of
Makhzum of the Quraysh, an early convert to Islam, and one 10 Al-Miqdad b. 'Amr, 79 a south Arabian either from Kinda or 11 Salman al-Farisi,(80) a Persian by origin and an ardent follower
and companion of the Prophet, who ransomed him from 12 Az-Zubayr b. al-'Awwam,(81) one of the most distinguished |
most energetic supporter of 'Ali and no doubt sincere in his The seriousness of their opposition to or resentment of |
Notes to Chapter 2
(1) Ibn Hisham, IV, pp. 306 f.
(2) 'Abd al-'Aziz ad-Duri, "Al-Zuhri, A Study on the Beginnings of History Writing in Islam", BSOAS, XIX (1957), p.8 (3) Ibn Hisham, IV, pp 307-10 (4) Tahdhib, V, p.164 (5) Wafayat, IV, pp.177 f.; Tahdhib, IX, p.445 (6) Studies in Arabic Literary Papyri (Chicago, 1957-72), I, pp. 5-31; II, pp. 5-64 (7) Tahdhib, I, p.97 (8) Wafayat, III, pp.255 ff. (9) ibid., VI, pp. 35 f. (10) Tahdhib, VII, p. 382; Aghani IX, pp. 135 ff. (11) Ibn Sa'd, II, pp.379 ff. (12) Ibn Sa'd, II, p. 382; Aghani; IX, p.137 (13) Ibn Sa'd, II, pp.365 ff. (14) See W. Montgomery Watt, "'Abd Allah b. al-'Abbas", El2 (15) Ibn Sa'd, III, pp. 169-213 (16) ibid., pp. 169-71 (17) ibid., pp.171-2 (18) See Ch. 1, footnote 51 (19) Ibn Sa'd, III, pp. 172-8 (20) ibid., pp.178-81 (21) ibid., p.179 (22) ibid., pp. 181-5 (23) Ibn Sa'd, V, p.187; Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib, VIII, p.333; Wafayat, IV, pp.59 f. (24) For the life and work of Baladhuri, see Goitein's introduction to Volume V of the Ansab, pp. 9-32 (25) On these early writers, see, respectively, Ibn Nadim, Fihrist, pp.100 if., 95, 277, 91, 93 (26) Ansab al-Ashraf ed. Muhammad Hamidullah (Cairo, 1960), I, pp. 579-91 (27) Goitein, op. cit., p. 18 (28) See footnote 12 (29) Dhahabi, Mizan, II, p.299 (30) ibid., IV, p.154 (31) ibid., p. 436 (32) Ta'rikh (Beirut, 1960), II, pp. I23-6 (33) E. L. Petersen, 'Ali And Mu'awiya In Early Arabic Tradition (Copenhagen 1964), pp.169 ff. |
(34) Najashi, Rijal, p.245
(35) Ibn Nadim, Fihrist, p.101
(36) Sharh Nahj al-Balagha, ed. Muhammad Abu'l-Fadl Ibrahim, 2nd ed. (Beirut, 1965), II, pp. 21-6o (37) ibid., pp. 44-6o. For Al-Jawhari see Adh-Dhari'a, XII, p.206 (38) Adh-Dhari'a ila Tasanif ash-Shi'a, 24 volumes, Najaf, passim (39) Dhahabi; Mizan, II, p.367 (40) ibid., p.365 (41) Tabari, I, pp.1837-45 (42) Muruj adh-Dhahab, ed. Daghir (Beirut 1965), II, p.301, and at- Tanbih wa'l-Ishraf (Beirut 1965), p. 284, in both of which he mentions Saqifa only in passing, referring his reader to his exclusive work on the subject, which unfortunately is lost. (43) Al-Kamil fi't-Ta'rikh, II, pp.221 ff in which his account of Saqifa is almost the same as that of Tabari (44) A1-'Iqd al-Farid, IV, pp.257 ff. (45) Ta'rikh al-Khulafa', ed. 'Abd al-Hamid, (Cairo, 1964), pp.61-72 (46) Al-Ihtijaj, ed. Muhammad Baqir al-Khursan (Najaf 1966), I, pp. 89-118 (47) Bihar al-Anwar (48) A. Guillaume, translating the Sira, collected all the assertions and comments of Ibn Hisham and arranged them separately at the end of the book under the heading, "Ibn Hisham's Notes". There are 922 notes of various length, some of them are as long as a page or more. See A. Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad (Oxford, 1955), pp. 690-798 (49) This is a common accusation levelled against Ibn Ishaq. See, however, Nabia Abbott's comments on this subject in Studies in Arabic Literary Papyri (Chicago, 1957-72), I, p. 97. The remarkable lack of any partiality in a fragment of the Ta'rikh al-Khulafa' leads Abbott to question the accuracy of such accusations. (50) For the translation of Ibn Ishaq's account, I have largely drawn on Guillaume's translation of the Sira. (51) Dhahabi; Mizan, I, p.133 (52) ibid., p.33 (53) Ibn Hisham, IV, pp.306 f. (54) Hadid, Sharh, II, p.25 (55) Later he explained to Ibn 'Abbas that he wrongly understood the Qur'anic verse (11, 143) which says, "Thus we have made you a middle people that you may be a witness against men, and that the Apostle may be a witness against you." Ibn Hisham, IV, pp.311 f. (56) e.g. Tabari, I, p.1683 (57) Isti'ab, III, p.1248 (58) ibid., IV, p.1441 |
(59) ibid., p.1449. His father's name must be 'Arfaja.
(60) ibid., I., p. 316
(61) On these rivalries, see Montgomery Watt, Muhammad at Mecca, pp. 4-8, 16-20, 141-4; idem, Muhammad at Medina (Oxford, 1956), pp.151-91 (62) Isti'ab, II, p. 594 (63) ibid., I., pp.92 if. Ya'qubi's description of him (II, p.124) as a Khazraji leader must be a scribal error. (64) Isti'ab, I., pp.172 if. Our sources are not clear on who paid homage first. Ya'qubi, loc. cit., says it was Bashir b. Sa'd, while according to Baladhuri, I, p. 582, it was Usayd b. Hudayr. (65) See Henri Lammens, "Le 'triumvirat' Abou Bakr, 'Omar, et Abo 'Obaida", Melanges de la Faculte Orientale de l'Universite St Joseph de Beyrouth, IV (1910), pp.113-44 (66) From here on, our sources are utterly confused about the timing of the sequence of events, since each tradition is recorded separately. We are not, therefore, sure whether the demand of homage from 'Ali and his supporters was made immediately after they came to the mosque from the Saqifa, or after the burial of the Prophet on the following day when general homage was being paid to Abu Bakr. A careful reading of the sources (e.g. Baladhuri, I, p. 582) strongly suggests, however, that it was demanded as soon as they came to the mosque from the Saqifa. (67) Many versions of this tradition may be found in Baladhuri, I, pp. 585 f.; Ya'qubi, II, p. iz6; Tabari, I, p. 1818; Abu Bakr al- Jawhari in Hadid, Sharh Nahj al-Balagha, II, pp.47, 50, 56 f.; 'Iqd, IV, pp.259 f. Al-Imama Wa's-Siyasa, I, pp.12-13, (though its attribution to Ibn Qutayba is incorrect, it is certainly a very early work extremely rich in sources) gives a very detailed account of the episode of 'Umar and Abu Bakr's attack on the house of Fatima and the force used to secure 'Ali's homage. Also L. V. Vaglieri, EP article "Fatima", who, commenting on these events, says "Even if they have been expanded by invented details, they are based on facts." (68) Ya'qubi, II, p. 126; Baladhuri, I, p. 586; Tabari, I, p. 1825; 'Iqd, IV, p.260; Hadid, II, p.22 (69) For the details and certain differences in names see Ya'qubi, loc. cit.; Baladhuri, I, p. 588; 'Iqd, IV, p.259; Hadid, II, pp. 50 ff. (70) Ibn Sa'd, VI, p.15; Isti'ab, I, p.334 (71) Ibn Sa'd, IV, pp. 378 ff.; Isti'ab, II, p.448 (72) Ibn Sa'd, III, pp 484 ff.; Isti'ab, II, p.424; IV, p. 1606 (73) Ibn Sa'd, III, pp.471 f.; Isti'ab, II, p.662 (73) Isti'ab, III, p.1033 (75) Ibn Sa'd, IV, p.364; Isti'ab, I, pp.155 f (76) Ibn Sa'd, III, p. 498; Isti'ab, I, pp. 65 f. |
(77) Ibn Sa'd, IV, p.219; Isti'ab, IV, pp.1652 f.
(78) Ibn Sa'd, III, p. 246; Isti'ab, III, pp.1135 ff
(79) Isti'ab, IV, pp.1480 ff
(80) Ibn Sa'd, IV, p.75; Isti'ab, II, p.634
(81) Isti'ab, II, p.510
(82) Ibn Sa'd, IV, p.97 Isti'ab, II, pp.420 ff For his support to 'A1i, see Baladhuri, I, p.588; Ya'qubi, p. 126; Hadid, II, p.58 (83) e.g. see Tabarsi, Ihtijaj, I, pp.118-89 (84) e.g. see Ibn Sa'd, III, pp. 181-5 |