Muhammad ibn Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas () was a commander, particularly known for his role in the rebellion of
Ibn al-Ash'ath in Iraq against the
Umayyad Caliphate.
Life
Muhammad was a son of
Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, one of the prominent
companions of the Islamic prophet
Muhammad and a member of his tribe, the
Quraysh
The Quraysh ( ar, قُرَيْشٌ) were a grouping of Arab clans that historically inhabited and controlled the city of Mecca and its Kaaba. The Islamic prophet Muhammad was born into the Hashim clan of the tribe. Despite this, many of the Qur ...
. Sa'd led the
Muslim conquest of Iraq
The Muslim conquest of Persia, also known as the Arab conquest of Iran, was carried out by the Rashidun Caliphate from 633 to 654 AD and led to the fall of the Sasanian Empire as well as the eventual decline of the Zoroastrianism, Zoroastrian ...
in the 630s and founded
Kufa, one of the two main
garrison centers and provincial capitals of Iraq. Muhammad was probably born in Iraq and moved to
Medina, then capital of the
Caliphate, after his father was dismissed from the governorship of Kufa in . Muhammad's mother, Mariya or Mawiya, belonged to the South Arabian
Kinda
Kinda or Kindah may refer to:
Politics and society
*Kinda (tribe), an ancient and medieval Arab tribe
*Kingdom of Kinda, a tribal kingdom in north and central Arabia in –
Places
* Kinda, Idlib, Syria
* Kinda Hundred, a hundred in Sweden
* Kinda ...
tribe, which established an important presence in Kufa. He and his full brother,
Umar ibn Sa'd
ʿUmar ibn Saʿd () (fl. 620–686) was a son of Muhammad's companion, Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas. He was born in Medina and later moved to Kufa, which was founded by his father and stayed there until his death.
He took orders from Ubaydullah ibn Zi ...
, were the most politically active of Sa'd's many children.
While his brother Umar fought for the
Umayyad Caliphate, attaining infamy for killing the Islamic prophet's grandson
Husayn ibn Ali
Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, أبو عبد الله الحسين بن علي بن أبي طالب; 10 January 626 – 10 October 680) was a grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a son of Ali ibn Abi ...
at the
Battle of Karbala in 680, Muhammad generally stood against the Umayyads. During the
Battle of al-Harra in 683, when an Umayyad army was suppressing a rebellion in Medina, Muhammad fought in the ranks of the Medinans. He is reported by an account in the 9th-century history of
al-Tabari
( ar, أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), more commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari ...
to have pursued a troop of fleeing Umayyad troops, attacking them until retreating when the Umayyad field victory became clear. In another account, his attack against the Umayyad troops after they were ordered by
their commander to halt fighting is implied to have provoked a renewed assault by the Umayyad army, which ended in the killings of more Medinan men, the 'compromising' of women, and raiding of property in the town. He probably fled Medina soon afterward, but evidently returned during the governorship of
al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf
Abu Muhammad al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf ibn al-Hakam ibn Abi Aqil al-Thaqafi ( ar, أبو محمد الحجاج بن يوسف بن الحكم بن أبي عقيل الثقفي, Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf ibn al-Ḥakam ibn Abī ʿAqīl al-T ...
in 692–694, as he is mentioned as part of a Medinan delegation to the Umayyad caliph
Abd al-Malik
Abdul Malik ( ar, عبد الملك) is an Arabic (Muslim or Christian) male given name and, in modern usage, surname. It is built from the Arabic words '' Abd'', ''al-'' and '' Malik''. The name means "servant of the King", in the Christian insta ...
petitioning for al-Hajjaj's dismissal.
Muhammad afterward moved back to Iraq where he became a supporter of the mass Iraqi rebellion led by the Kufan Kindite noble and commander
Ibn al-Ash'ath. At the
Battle of Dayr al-Jamajim in 701 he served as the commander of Ibn al-Ash'ath's infantry. They were defeated by the Syrian troops of the Umayyad Caliphate under al-Hajjaj, who had become Iraq's governor in 694. Muhammad then took control of the city of
al-Mada'in
Al-Mada'in ( ar, المدائن, , ; ) was an ancient metropolis situated on the Tigris River in modern-day Iraq. It was located between the ancient royal centers of Ctesiphon and Seleucia, and was founded by the Sassanid Empire. The city's na ...
(Ctesiphon) where many of the rebels later gathered, only to leave for
Basra upon the approach of al-Hajjaj. Muhammad probably joined Ibn al-Ash'ash at the subsequent Battle of Maskin where they were again defeated, practically putting an end to the rebellion.
The historian Asad Ahmed assumes Muhammad fled with Ibn al-Ash'ash to
Sijistan and then took refuge with the
Zunbil. In any case, Muhammad split from Ibn al-Ash'ath and body of the rebels, and took up position in
Khurasan
Greater Khorāsān,Dabeersiaghi, Commentary on Safarnâma-e Nâsir Khusraw, 6th Ed. Tehran, Zavvâr: 1375 (Solar Hijri Calendar) 235–236 or Khorāsān ( pal, Xwarāsān; fa, خراسان ), is a historical eastern region in the Iranian Plate ...
, and gave his allegiance to Abd al-Rahman ibn Abbas al-Hashimi. He was captured by the governor of Khurasan,
Yazid ibn al-Muhallab, who sent him to al-Hajjaj. The latter summoned him, declared him a malcontent and rebel, and then executed him.
Descendants
Muhammad fathered a number of children by
slave concubines. His descendants were not involved in political or military affairs, but a number became transmitters of historical or religious reports. His son Isma'il and grandson Abu Bakr ibn Isma'il are cited as sources by the 9th-century historian
al-Tabari
( ar, أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), more commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari ...
.
References
Bibliography
*
*{{The History of al-Tabari , volume=16
People executed by the Umayyad Caliphate
Banu Zuhrah
Rebels of the medieval Islamic world
People of the Second Fitna
People from Kufa
People from Medina