Persecution of the Shia by Mu’awiya

(i) Sa’d bin Ubadah

Sa’d bin Ubadah was a close companion of Imam Ali (a.s). When the Prophet (a.s.) settled the marriage of his daughter Fatima (s), Sa’d was in charge of arranging the event and he did his job excellently. According to ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Sa’d was an erudite scholar, an excellent swimmer, and noted archer of his time. Sa’d had inherited a few forts which were well-known for generosity and hospitality.

In the Prophet’s army, there used to be two standards; Sa’d was the bearer of the Ansar’s standard, while Imam Ali (a.s) was the bearer of the Muhajirin’s standard.

Sa’d was a loyal companion of the Prophet (s). He was a well-educated person and often officiated as the Prophet’s scribe in writing down the Qur’anic revelations, writing letters, drafting deeds…etc. His tribe was well known for its generosity and hospitality. Sa’d was among the people of Medina who were, by reason of their learning of ancient scriptures, aware that a Prophet would soon appear in the Arabia. When they heard about the Prophet (a.s.) and the religion he preached and the torture which he and his followers were subjected to, Sa’d along with some other learned persons from Medina came to the Prophet (s) and invited him to migrate to Medina. In every skirmish, battle, or other confrontation with the opponents of Islam, Sa’d participated and fought valiantly.

When Umar, Abu Bakr, and Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah went to the Saqifa to stake the claim for the Caliphate, Sa’d bin Ubadah challenged them saying that among the tribe of Quraish, if the people of Quraish

were to have precedence, Imam Ali (a.s) was the nominated by the Prophet (s) as his successor and that he was the most fit person to the post. On hearing this, Umar was so infuriated that he shouted, “Kill Sa’d.” However, Sa’d’s tribesmen rescued him. Sa’d never recognized Abu Bakr or Umar as the Caliphs. He never mingled with them nor did he offer prayers behind them at any time. He was steadfast in his refusal to acknowledge Abu Bakr and later Umar as the Caliph. Umar asked Khalid bin al-Walid who secretly killed Sa’d bin Ubadah. Though Sa’d was not the first in point of time to be martyred because of his love for Imam Ali (a.s), he was the first one to openly oppose at the Saqifa the men who claimed the Caliphate.

Immediately after the death of the Prophet (s), the affair at the Saqifa created a rift among Muslims. The Ansar had heard the Prophet (s) nominating Imam Ali (a.s) as his successor. They were aware of the virtue, caliber, and wisdom of Imam Ali (a.s) and hence were ready to accept him as the successor to the Prophet (s). However, during the last days of the Prophet (s), the Ansar found that every order of the Prophet (s) was disobeyed and the parchment and pen he requested to write down his will was denied. Umar was at the head of this group (who opposed and disobeyed the Prophet). The Ansar realized that there was a concerted effort to prevent Imam Ali (a.s) from succeeding the Prophet (s). They determined that if anyone other than Imam Ali (a.s) was to become the Caliph, the Ansar had in Sa’d bin Ubadah a better claim than the stranger incumbent to the post.

When Umar wanted Khalid bin al-Walid to be penalized for having killed Malik bin Nuwayra, a pious Muslim, and on the same night committing adultery with his widow, for the sake of pleasing the Caliph Abu Bakr, Khalid replied, “I killed Malik bin Nuwayra to please Abu Bakr just as I had killed Sa’d bin Ubadah to please you.” After this retort, Umar stopped accusing Khalid of murdering Malik bin Nuwayra.[1]

(ii) Malik bin Nuwayra

Umar, who was well known for his booming voice and ill temper, went around Medina brandishing his unsheathed sword and threatening dire consequences if the caliphate of Abu Bakr was not accepted. In Medina, many companions and learned Muslims preferred to express  

their disagreement by staying away from open acceptance of Abu Bakr as the Caliph. They were immediately branded as friends of Ali and therefore, by implication, enemies of the caliph. Ali himself was made a target, dragged from his house and the house itself was threatened to be set on fire for refusing to acknowledge Abu Bakr as the caliph.

The well known and true companions of the Prophet (s) such as Salman, Abu Tharr al-Ghifari, Huthaifa bin al-Yeman, Malik al-Ashtar, al-Miqdad, Maytham at-Tammar, Muhammad bin Abu Bakr (the son of the caliph), Malik bin Nuwayra, Mohammad bin Abi Huthaifa, Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, Sa’sa’a bin Souhan, Qambar, Kumail ibn Ziyad, Sulaym bin Qays, and an endless list of the Prophet’s companions and Imam Ali’s companions were not only deprived of their pensions but also banished from Medina to flimsy lands.

In remoter parts of the Islamic state, people were only aware that during his last pilgrimage, the Prophet (s) had nominated Imam Ali (a.s) as his successor and demanded that the Muslim Umma should obey him alone. At any rate, they were not aware of any parallel nomination of anyone else by the Prophet (s). This was all the more evident from the fact that Abu Bakr, Umar, and their group claimed that the Prophet (s) had not nominated any successor and that Abu Bakr was unanimously elected at the Saqifa. This was contrary to what the Muslims had witnessed during the lifetime of the Prophet (s) who had repeatedly, from the first day of Youm ad-Dar till the incident of his demanding ‘ink and parchment’ to write down his will, nominated Imam Ali (a.s) as his successor. Malik bin Nuwayra, a respected companion of the Prophet (s), went to Medina and found Abu Bakr sitting on the Prophet’s pulpit. Malik asked Abu Bakr who made him sit there when Imam Ali (a.s) who was nominated by the Prophet (s) was the rightful person to occupy the seat. Abu Bakr replied that he was elected at the Saqifa. Malik returned back refusing to pay allegiance to Abu Bakr. Therefore, when Muslims found that instead of Imam Ali (a.s) Abu Bakr had become the Caliph, they refused to acknowledge the new incumbent or to submit to his authority. Above all, Malik bin Nuwayra told his tribesmen to keep the Zakat and Khums and to refuse paying them to the agents of Abu Bakr.

Abu Bakr became angry and ordered Khalid bin al-Walid to kill Malik bin Nuwayra for disobeying the Caliph’s authority. When Malik heard this, he said, “I do not dare disobey the Caliph, but I will not bow down to Abu Bakr who is a usurper of the Caliphate. The rightful Caliph is Ali who

about his competency to become the Caliph. He was deprived of the state pension and was subjected to financial difficulties. He was subjected to immense mental torture for his love of the Ahlul Bayt. He died in the year 33 AH.

(x) Salman al-Farisi

Nobody knew the exact age of Salman. Some said that he was over a century and a half of old. He had been a disciple under several Christian saints, who told him about the awaited Paraclete. When the Prophet (s) proclaimed Islam, Salman was one of the first to become Muslim. The Prophet (a.s.) treated him as a member of his family (Ahlul Bayt). Ibnul Arabi has discussed this tradition in detail in his book ‘al-Futuhat’ and established that Salman was also immaculate and therefore was counted among the Ahlul Bayt.[1]According to Allama Noori, Salman was in fact the last of the vicegerents of Jesus (a.s.).[2]Salman was one of those persons who openly opposed Abu Bakr as the Caliph. The others who joined Salman were Miqdad, Abu Tharr, Buraida al-Aslami, Khalid bin Sa’eed, Ammar bin Yasir from the Muhajirin, and al-Haitham, Uthman bin Hunaif, Sahl bin Hunaif, Khuzaima bin Thabit, Ubay bin Ka’b and Abu Ayyub al-Ansari from the Ansar. For not paying allegiance to Abu Bakr, Salman was so much beaten that his neck became crooked. Salman died in the year 36 AH.

(xi) The Martyrs in the Battle of al-Jamal

The cunning Mu’awiya made use of the murder of Uthman into a political weapon to oppose Imam Ali (a.s). He enlisted the help of Talha and az-Zobair and convinced Aa’isha to join him in the battle of al-Jamal against Imam Ali (a.s). The circumstances that led to Uthman’s murder were as the following:Muslims, particularly of Syria, Egypt, and Iraq were vexed with the tyranny and misrule of Mu’awiya. In Medina, Muslims found that Uthman had filled the entire government with his kin and clansmen who were inefficient, impious, and avaricious. The well known case of al-Walid bin Uqba, who fully drunk led the Morning Prayer and instead of the mandatory two rak’as, he performed four rak’as, and turning to the congregation, he said, “If you like, I would add more.” Muslims gave a memorandum to Uthman complaining that he had deviated from the Prophet’s Sunna  

and the precedents set up by his predecessor Caliphs, listing out the following complaints:

[i] Uthman had gifted the Khums of Africa to his uncle Marwan. Khums was the exclusive right of the Ahlul Bayt and could not be gifted to anyone else.

[ii] From the Khums gifted by Uthman, Marwan illegally purchased prime properties and constructed several mansions in Thee Khashab.

[iii] Uthman himself constructed seven huge mansions in Medina, out of which one was given to his wife Na’ila and another to Aa’isha bint Abu Bakr and the rest were given to his daughters.

[iii] He appointed inefficient and impious men from his kin and clansmen in important government posts.

[iv] When al-Walid bin Uqba led the prayers while he was drunken, and the matter was brought to his notice, Uthman refused to take action against him.

[v] He neither appointed nor consulted many prominent companions of the Prophet (s).

[vi] He had forcibly acquired several prime properties in and around Medina.

[vii] He issued grants of cash and property to persons who had not even seen the Prophet (s) nor had they possesses any special qualification to deserve the grants.

[viii] He introduced whipping instead of expelling.

[ix] Ammar, who presented the memorandum, was severely beaten by Uthman, Marwan, and their men that he was about to die. The rest of the incidents leading to Uthman’s murder have already been set out in an earlier chapter.

[x] At-Tabari reports that around Aa’isha’s camel, ten thousand men were killed, a half of the number were companions of Imam Ali (a.s) and the other half were partisans of Aa’isha.[1]

[xi]According to Shahr Ashub, there were twenty thousand men in Imam Ali’s army, out of whom eighty were companions who had  

fought in the battle of Badr, fifteen hundred companions of the Prophet (s), and two hundred and fifty were participants in the Homage of the Tree (Bay’at ash-Shajara) [1].[2]The total number of martyrs on Imam Ali’s side was one thousand and seventy. Notable martyrs among the companions of Imam Ali (a.s) were Zaid bin Souhan, Hind al-Jamali, Abu Abdullah al-Abdi, Abdullah bin Ruqayya, Thumama, Hind ibn Amr, Ghaniyya bin Haytham, and Makhdooj.[3]

It is related through al-Hasan al-Basri that Aa’isha wrote to Zaid bin Souhan asking him to stay at home and not to join Imam Ali’s army. Zaid replied, “You are doing what is forbidden for you by leaving your home and entering the battlefield. Curiously, you are forbidding me to do what my religion commands me to do, that is to take arms against traitors.”[4]

(xii) Uthman bin Hunaif al-Ansari

He was a companion of the Prophet (s). He was one among those who had at first accepted Abu Bakr as the Caliph, but later he was convinced that Imam Ali (a.s) was the designated successor of the Prophet (s). He fought in the battle of al-Jamal as Imam Ali’s agent. When he was able to subdue the enemy, compromise was suggested by Aa’isha. Uthman bin Hunaif said that there could be no compromise as long as Aa’isha associated herself with Talha and az-Zobair. The talks were inconclusive and the parties retired for the night. During the night, Talha and az-Zobair killed the guard of the mosque and several companions of Uthman bin Hunaif who was captured and brought before Aa’isha by Labban. She ordered the man to kill Uthman, but an old woman said that it was unjust to kill Uthman bin Hunaif as he was a companion of the Prophet (s). On hearing this, Aa’isha sent for the man and told him that Uthman should be imprisoned instead of being killed. Labban was anxious to kill Uthman bin Hunaif. He said that had he known the purpose of his being recalled, he would not have returned. Mujashe’ bin Mas’ud suggested that Uthman bin Hunaif should be severely beaten and his beard, mustache, and eyebrows be plucked. The suggestion was carried out. Seventy of Uthman bin Hunaif’s kin fought and were martyred in the battle of al-Jamal.  

(xiii) The Martyrs in the Battle of an-Nahrawan

In the battle of an-Nahrawani, Imam Ali (a.s.) fought against the Kharijites. Only nine men from the Kharijites remained alive and from Imam Ali’s army only nine were killed, among whom were Ru’bah al-Bajali, Rifa’a ibn Wa’il, al-Fayyadh ibn Khaleeli al-Azdi, Kaysum ibn Salama, Habib ibn Aasim al-Azdi.

(xiv) The Martyrs in the Battle of Siffin

Among the notable companions martyred at the battle of Siffin, which was between the army of Mo’awiyai and the army of Imam Ali (a.s.), were Owais al-Qarani, Huthaifa ibn al-Yaman al-Ansari, Abul Haytham, Malik ibn at-Tayyihan al-Ansari, Khuzaima ibn Thabit Thush Shahdatain, Abdullah bin Badeel al-Khuza’iy, Aqeel bin Malik, Abdullah bin Khabbab bin al-Aratt, al-Harith bin Murra, Buraid al-Aslami and his two sons.

(xv) Ammar bin Yasir

Ammar was from the first Muslims and was a very close companion to the Prophet (s). The Prophet (s) foretold that Ammar would be killed by the Aggressive Party. This tradition was widely known throughout the Muslim world. After the Prophet (s), Ammar never acknowledged Abu Bakr, Umar or Uthman as Caliphs. Ammar was one among the twelve persons who protested against Abu Bakr on his becoming the Caliph. In fact, he presented the memorandum complaining against the bad rule of Mu’awiya, Marwan, and Uthman himself. Uthman not only whipped Ammar but also wanted to banish him out of Median. When the clan of the Bani Makhzoom collectively opposed the proposal to banish Ammar out of Medina, Uthman relented and withdrew his order.

When Imam Ali (a.s) was elected as the Caliph by public demand, Ammar joined Imam Ali’s army. He fought valiantly in the Battle of al-Jamal.

In the battle of Siffin when Amr bin al-Aas learnt that Ammar was in Imam Ali’s army, he remembered the tradition that the Aggressive Party would kill Ammar. Amr bin al-Aas started having doubts about the righteousness of his cause. He sent Thul Kila’ al-Himyari to find out if Ammar was among Imam Ali’s warriors. Thul Kila’ sent for Abu Noah al-Himyari and enquired whether Ammar was on Imam Ali’s side. Abu Noah confirmed the fact and asked why the inquiry was being made. Thul Kila’ replied that Amr bin al-Aas recollected the