Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr

`Abd Allah al-Zubayr or ibn Zubayr (Arabic: عبد الله بن الزبير‎ ‘Abdallāh ibn az-Zubayr; 624 - 692) was an Arab sahabi whose father was Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, and whose mother was Asma bint Abi Bakr, daughter of the first Caliph Abu Bakr. He was the nephew of Aisha, Prophet Muhammad's third wife.

Biography

He was a member of the Bani Assad tribe. As a young man, Abd Allah was an active participant in numerous Muslim campaigns against both the Byzantine and Sassanid empires. He marched to Sbeitla, Tunisia, the capital of self-proclaimed local emperor Gregory the Patrician. Gregory was defeated and killed in the Battle of Sufetula in 647 CE.

Ibn al-Zubayr's revolt

Main article: Ibn al-Zubair's revolt

Ibn al-Zubayr was not active in politics during the reign of Muawiyah I, but upon the ascension of Yazid I, he refused to swear allegiance to the new caliph. He advised Husayn to accept the invitation of the men of Kufa and leave at once; this would have cleared Hejaz of his only rival in eminence.^[1] One of his supporters, Muslim ibn Shihab, was the father of Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri who became a famous scholar.

Yazid

After the death of Husayn bin Ali at the Battle of Karbela, Ibn Zubayr returned to the Hejaz where he declared himself the righteous caliph, and he began building support. Eventually he consolidated his power by sending a governor to Kufa. Soon, Ibn Zubayr established his power in Iraq, southern Arabia and in the greater part of Syria, and parts of Egypt. Ibn Zubayr benefitted greatly from widespread dissatisfaction among the populace with Umayyad rule. Yazid tried to end Ibn Zubayr's rebellion by invading the Hejaz, and took Medina after the bloody Battle of al-Harrah followed by the siege of Makkah but his sudden death ended the campaign and threw the Umayyads into disarray with civil war eventually breaking out.

Marwan

This essentially split the Islamic empire into two spheres with two different caliphs, but soon the Umayyad civil war was ended, and Zubayr lost Egypt and whatever he had of Syria to Marwan I. This coupled with the Kharijite rebellions in Iraq reduced his domain to only the Hejaz.

Abd al-Malik

Ibn Zubayr was finally defeated by Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, who sent Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf to reunite the Islamic empire. Hajjaj defeated and killed Ibn Zubayr on the battlefield in 692, beheading him and crucifying his body, reestablishing Umayyad control over the Islamic Empire.

See also

islam portal

• Islam
• Sahaba
• Sunni view of the Sahaba

References

1. ^ Balyuzi, H. M.: Muhammad and the course of Islam. George Ronald, Oxford (U.K.), 1976, p.193

External links

• Reference from Islamic history website

Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr Banu Asad
Sunni Islam titles
Preceded by Muawiyah I	Islam Caliph 684–692	Succeeded by Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan

Persondata
Name	Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	624
Place of birth
Date of death	692
Place of death