Majma al-Zawaid — Hadith 12083

Urwah bin al-Zubayr narrates: When Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) passed away, Sayyiduna Abdullah bin al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with them both) held back from obeying Yazid bin Mu'awiyah and began openly to revile him. Yazid was informed of this, and he swore an oath that he would be brought to him in chains, or else he would send an army against him. Sayyiduna Abdullah bin al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with them both) was told: Let us do this: we will have shackles of silver made for you, over which you can wear your clothes, and in this way you will let him fulfil his oath, for making peace is more fitting for you. Sayyiduna Abdullah bin al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: Allah Almighty will not let him fulfil his oath. Then he recited this verse: "I will not soften towards a wrong thing asked of me until the stone softens for the molar of the one who chews." Then he said: By Allah, a blow of the sword in honour is dearer to me than a blow of the whip in humiliation. Then he claimed the caliphate for himself and openly opposed Yazid bin Mu'awiyah. Yazid bin Mu'awiyah sent Muslim bin Uqbah al-Murri against him with the army of the people of Syria and ordered him to fight the people of Madinah, and when he had finished with them, to go on to Makkah. The narrator says: When Muslim bin Uqbah entered Madinah, the remaining Companions who were still there left the place. Muslim bin Uqbah committed many outrages there and carried out a great deal of killing and plunder; then he left. At a certain place on the way he died. He appointed Husayn bin Numayr al-Kindi as his successor and said: O son of a donkey's saddle-cloth! Beware of the tricks of Quraysh, and deal with them only on the basis of weapons, then of plucking (the fruit). Husayn set out until he came to Makkah, and there he fought Sayyiduna Abdullah bin al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with them both) for some days. Sayyiduna Abdullah bin al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with them both) had pitched a tent in the Mosque, in which women gave water to the wounded and treated them, prepared food for the hungry, and the wounded would come to them and take shelter. Husayn said: A lion keeps coming out at us from that tent, just as a lion comes out of its lair; so which of you will overpower him? A man from the people of Syria said: I will do it. When night grew dark, he placed a candle on the tip of his spear, spurred on his horse, and thrust the spear into the tent, and fire blazed up. In those days various kinds of cloths were draped over the Ka'bah, with a Yemeni mantle over them. The wind carried the fire to the Ka'bah and it began to burn, and because of that fire the two horns of the ram that was given as a ransom for Sayyiduna Ishaq (peace be upon him) were also burned. The narrator says: Meanwhile Husayn bin Numayr received news that Yazid bin Mu'awiyah had died, so he abandoned the fighting and went back. After the death of Yazid bin Mu'awiyah, Marwan bin al-Hakam claimed the caliphate for himself. The people of Hims accepted his call, and the people of Jordan and Palestine also accepted it. So Sayyiduna Abdullah bin al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with them both) sent al-Dahhak bin Qays al-Fihri against him with an army of one hundred thousand. The two armies met at Marj Rahit. At that time Marwan was with five thousand men of the Banu Umayyah, their freed slaves and their followers from the people of Syria. Marwan said to a slave of his called Kidah: Charge from whichever of the two flanks you wish. He said: How can I charge them when they are so many? Marwan said: Some of them have come under compulsion, and some have come for pay. May you have no mother! Charge them; a clear blow will be enough for you, and they will see to their own escape; these people are slaves of the dinar and the dirham. So Kidah charged them and routed them; al-Dahhak bin Qays was killed, and that army scattered. About this situation Zufar composed these verses: "By my life, the battle of Rahit has left for Marwan this situation: the slain lie far apart among us. Have you forgotten my weapon, may you have no father? I see that war only increases loss. Plants grow when the breast of the earth is split, but the loss of people (that is, their being killed) remains just as it was." He also said about it: "Is it right that Bahdal and the son of Bahdal should live, while Sayyiduna Ibn al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with them both) is killed? You lie! By the House of Allah, if you kill him, the day will not remain bright and shining, and then nobility among you will remain only as the ray of the sun is faint at the time of its setting." The narrator says: When Marwan died, Abd al-Malik claimed the caliphate; he stood up, and the people of Syria accepted his call. He gave a sermon on the pulpit and said: Which of you will overpower Ibn al-Zubayr? Al-Hajjaj said: O Commander of the Believers! I will do it. Abd al-Malik silenced him. Then the same happened again, and he silenced him again. Then the same happened, and al-Hajjaj said: O Commander of the Believers, I will do it, for I saw in a dream that I had taken off his cloak and put it on. So Abd al-Malik provided al-Hajjaj with an army so that he might reach Sayyiduna Abdullah bin al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with them both) in Makkah and fight him there. Sayyiduna Abdullah bin al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with them both) said to the people of Makkah: Guard these two mountains, for you will remain in good condition and prevail as long as the enemy does not gain the upper hand over these two mountains. It was not long before al-Hajjaj and the men with him took control of the mountain of Abu Qubays. Al-Hajjaj had catapults set up on it, and he kept hurling projectiles with them; he kept bombarding Sayyiduna Abdullah bin al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with them both) and the people with him in the Mosque with stones. On the morning of the day on which Sayyiduna Abdullah bin al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with them both) was martyred, he came to his mother, Sayyidah Asma bint Abi Bakr (may Allah be pleased with her), who was then one hundred years old; not one of her teeth had fallen out, nor had her eyesight been affected. She asked her son: Abdullah, what is the state of the (enemy) army? He told her: They have reached such-and-such a place. The narrator says: Sayyiduna Abdullah bin al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with them both) laughed and said: There is rest in death. Sayyidah Asma (may Allah be pleased with her) said: O my son! Perhaps you are wishing for it because of me. I do not wish to die until it comes to one of your two outcomes: if you become the ruler, my eyes will be cooled by it, and if you are martyred, I will hope for reward through you. The narrator says: Then he bade his mother farewell. Sayyidah Asma (may Allah be pleased with her) said to him: O my son! Beware of giving up anything of your religion out of fear of being killed. Sayyiduna Abdullah bin al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with them both) left her and entered the Mosque. He had placed two door-leaves over the Black Stone, and by means of them he protected it from being struck by the catapult projectiles. When Sayyiduna Abdullah bin al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with them both) came, he was sitting by the Black Stone, and someone asked: Shall we open the door of the Ka'bah for you so that you can climb up and go inside it? Sayyiduna Abdullah bin al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with them both) looked at him and then said to him: You can protect your brother from everything, but you cannot protect him from death. Does the Ka'bah not have sanctity? Does this place not have that sanctity? By Allah, even if they found you clinging to the coverings of the Ka'bah, they would still kill you. He was asked: Then why do you not talk to them about making peace? He said: Is this a time for peace? By Allah, if they find you, they will slaughter all of you. He recited these verses: "I am not one to buy life at the price of disgrace, nor one to climb a ladder out of fear of death. I will contend with the arrow; it does not hold back, and I will meet death, whichever edge it aims for." Then he turned to the members of the family of Sayyiduna al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with him) and, admonishing them, began to say: Let each one of you guard his sword as he guards his face, lest his sword break and he then have to ward off attacks on himself with his hand as if he were a woman. By Allah, whenever I have faced an advancing army, it was only in the front rank, and I have never felt the pain of a wound except when medicine was applied to it. The narrator says: While they were in this state, some people came in upon them from the direction of the gate of the Banu Jumah, and among them was a black man. He asked: Who are these people? He was told: These are people of Hims. He went to attack them, holding two swords. The first to face him was the black man; he struck him with his sword and wounded him. The black man said to him: Get away, O son of an adulteress! Sayyiduna Abdullah bin al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with them both) said to him: Get away yourself, O son of Ham! Is Sayyidah Asma (may Allah be pleased with her) an adulteress? Then he drove those people out of the Mosque and came back, and found that some people had come in from the direction of the gate of the Banu Sahm. He asked: Who are these people? He was told: These are people of Jordan. He attacked them, reciting this verse: "I face an assault like a flood, whose dust will not settle until nightfall." He drove these people out of the Mosque too, and then some people came from the gate on the side of the Banu Makhzum. He attacked them, reciting this verse: "If my opponent were only one, I would have been enough for him." The narrator says: On the roof of the Mosque were some of his helpers, who were throwing bricks at the enemy. He attacked those enemies, and meanwhile a brick struck him on the parting of his hair and split open his head. He stopped and began to recite this verse: "We are not those whose wounds bleed on their heels; rather, the drops of blood drip on our feet." The narrator says: Then he fell, and two of his slaves bent over him, reciting this verse: "A servant who was defending (the religion of) his Lord, while himself seeking protection." The narrator says: Then his body was taken to the enemy, and he had his head cut off.
Al-Tabarani recorded it; its chain contains Abd al-Malik bin Abd al-Rahman al-Dhimari, whom Ibn Hibban and others declared thiqah (trustworthy), while Abu Zur'ah and others called him da'if (weak).