Sa‘īd ibn Jubayr (665–714) (), also known as Abū ‘Abd Allāh, was originally from

Kufa Kufa ( ), also spelled Kufah, is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates, Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000. Along with Samarra, Karbala, Kadhimiya ...

, in modern-day

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. He was regarded as one of the leading members of the

Tabi'in The tābiʿūn (, also accusative or genitive tābiʿīn , singular ''tābiʿ'' ), "followers" or "successors", are the generation of Muslims who followed the companions (''ṣaḥāba'') of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and thus received their ...

(d. ca. 712). Sa'īd is held in the highest esteem by scholars of the

Shi'a Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor ( caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community ( imam). However, his right is understoo ...

and Sunni Islamic tradition and was considered one of the leading jurists of the time. He also narrated several hadith from

Ibn Abbas ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās (; c. 619 – 687 CE), also known as Ibn ʿAbbās, was one of the cousins of the Prophets and messengers in Islam, prophet Muhammad. He is considered to be the greatest Tafsir#Conditions, mufassir of the Quran, Qur'an. ...

Life

Originally from Africa, in Abyssinia, or from Koufa (the sources differ, it could be that it was his ancestors who came from Africa)., formerly a slave, he was the freedman of the Banû Wâlibah, a clan of the Banû Asad Ibn Khuzaymah tribe. At the battle of Jamājim in 82 AH (699-701),

Ibn al-Ash'ath Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn al-Ash'ath (; died 704), commonly known as Ibn al-Ash'ath after his grandfather, was a prominent Arab nobleman and military commander during the Umayyad Caliphate, most notable for leading a failed rebellion aga ...

and his followers, including 100,000 from amongst the mawāli, took on the army of al-Hajjāj (d. 714), the governor of the Iraqi provinces during the reign of the

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a membe ...

caliph A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...

Abd al-Malik. Within their forces was a group known as the 'Battalion of Qur'an Reciters' headed by Kumayl ibn Ziyad an-Nakha`i and including Sa`īd ibn Jubayr. The revolt was brutally put down and Sa`īd was forced to flee to the outskirts of

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

. He persisted in travelling to Mecca itself twice a year to perform the

hajj Hajj (; ; also spelled Hadj, Haj or Haji) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for capable Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetim ...

and `umrah and would enter Kufa secretly to help resolve peoples' religious issues. He also was the first men to be associated with blindfolded chess games.

Dialogue between Ibn Jubayr and al-Hajjaj

Sa'īd was finally apprehended and brought before al-Hajjāj. Excerpts from a transcript of their dialogue follows:Sa'īd ibn Jubayr entered upon al-Hajjāj, who asked his name (and he knew his name well): :Sa'īd: ''Sa'īd ibn Jubayr.'' :Al-Hajjaj: ''Nay, you are Shaqīy ibn Kusayr.'' (al-Hajjāj is playing with words here: Sa'īd means happy and Shaqī means unhappy; Jubayr means one who splints broken bones and Kusayr means one who breaks them.) :Sa'īd: ''My mother knew better when she named me.'' :Al-Hajjāj: ''You are wretched (shaqīta) and your mother is wretched" (shaqiyat). Then he told him: "By Allah, I will replace your

dunya In Islam, ' () refers to the temporal world and its earthly concerns and possessions. In the Quran, "dunya" is often paired with the word "life" to underscore the temporary and fleeting nature of the life of this world, as opposed to the eternal r ...

with a blazing Fire.'' :Sa'īd: ''If I knew you could do it, I would take you as a God.'' :Al-Hajjāj: ''I have gold and wealth.'' Bags of gold and silver were brought and spread before Sa'īd ibn Jubayr in order to try him. :Sa'īd: ''O Hajjāj, if you gathered it to be seen and heard in showing off, and to use it to avert others from the way of Allah, then by Allah, it will not avail you against Him in any way.'' Saying this, he aligned himself towards Qiblah. :Al-Hajjāj: ''Take him and turn him to other than the Qiblah. By Allah, O Sa'īd ibn Jubayr, I will kill you with a killing with which I have not killed any of the people.'' :Sa'īd: ''O Hajjāj choose for yourself whatever killing you want, by Allah you will not kill me with a killing except that Allah will kill you with a like of it, so choose for yourself whatever killing you like.'' :Al-Hajjāj: ''Turn him to other than the Qiblah.'' :Sa'īd: ''Wherever you ightturn, there is the Face of Allah''. :Al-Hajjāj: ''Put him under the earth.'' :Sa'īd: ''From it (the earth) We created you, and into it We will return you, and from it We will extract you another time''. Al-Hajjāj was outdone and ordered the beheading of Sa'īd ibn Jubayr. Sa'īd was martyred in the month of Sha'bān, 95 AH (ca. May 714) at the age of 49. Al-Hajjāj is reported to have soon lost his senses and died within a month.

Legacy

Sunni view

writes: From him are recorded by Imams Bukhari, Muslim, al-Tirmidhi, al-Nasa'i, Abu Dawud, Ibn Maja, Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and Imam Malik ibn Anas. Sa'id narrates 147 traditions in Sahih Bukhari and 78 in Sahih Muslim.

Shia view

According to ''Khulasat al-aqwal'' by

Al-Hilli Al-Hilli () is an Arabic surname. Notable people with the surname include: * al-Allama al-Hilli (1250–1325), theologian * Safi al-Din al-Hilli (1278–1349), poet * al-Hilli family, victims of the Annecy shootings of 2012 {{surname, Al-Hilli ...

and '' Rijal al-Kashshi'' by Muhammad ibn 'Umar al-Kashshi he was a Shia Muslim. They point out, among many, that Sa'id ibn Jubayr was a follower and companion of

Ali ibn Husayn Zayn al-Abidin Ali ibn al-Husayn al-Sajjad (, – 712), also known as Zayn al-Abidin () was the great-grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and the fourth imam in Shia Islam, succeeding his father, Husayn ibn Ali, his uncle, Hasan ibn Ali, and his gr ...

, supported the

Alid The Alids are those who claim descent from Ali ibn Abi Talib (; 600–661 CE), the fourth Rashidun caliph () and the first imam in Shia Islam. Ali was also the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The main branches are the ...

rebellion against the Umayyads, for which he was killed by the Umayyad appointed

Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf Abu Muhammad al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf ibn al-Hakam ibn Abi Aqil al-Thaqafi (; ), known simply as al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf (), was the most notable governor who served the Umayyad Caliphate. He began his service under Caliph Abd al-Malik (), who successiv ...

. Sa'id was asked by

Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ibn al-Hakam (; July/August 644 or June/July 647 – 9 October 705) was the fifth Umayyad caliph, ruling from April 685 until his death in October 705. A member of the first generation of born Muslims, his early life in ...

to write a book concerning Quranic exegesis. His exegesis is mentioned by

Ibn al-Nadim Abū al-Faraj Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq an-Nadīm (), also Ibn Abī Yaʿqūb Isḥāq ibn Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq al-Warrāq, and commonly known by the '' nasab'' (patronymic) Ibn an-Nadīm (; died 17 September 995 or 998), was an important Muslim ...

in his ''

al-Fihrist The () (''The Book Catalogue'') is a compendium of the knowledge and literature of tenth-century Islam compiled by Ibn al-Nadim (d. 998). It references approx. 10,000 books and 2,000 authors.''The Biographical Dictionary of the Society for the ...

'' under Shiite exegeses, without mentioning any other exegesis that is temporally prior to it. His mausoleum is located in

al-Hay Al-Hay () is a town located in Iraq's Wasit Province. It 45 kilometers south of the Kut and 220 kilometers south of Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris ...

city in the

Wasit Province Wasit Governorate () is a governorate in eastern Iraq, south-east of Baghdad and bordering Iran. Prior to 1976 it was known as Kut Province. Major cities include the capital Al-Kut, Al-Hai and Al-Suwaira. The governorate contains the Mesopotam ...

. In Iraq, Rabi' al-Awwal 25 of every year is recognized as the anniversary of Sa'id ibn Jubayr's martyrdom. On this day people congregate in his mausoleum and honor the day. His mausoleum is a pilgrimage site for the Shia Muslims.

References

Bibliography

* al-Mufīd, ''Kitāb al-Irshād'', Ansariyan Publications. * al-Qarashi, B.S., ''The Life of Imam Zayn l-'Abidin'', Ansariyan Publications, 2000. * al-Sayyid, K., ''Saeed bin Jubayr'', Ansariyan Publications, 1996. * Jafri, S.H.M., ''The Origins and Early Development of Shi'a Islam'', Oxford University Press, 2001. * Madelung, W., ''The Succession to Muhammad (A study of the early Caliphate),'' Cambridge University Press, 1997. * Weststeijn. J.K. & de Voogt, A.J., "Dreams in Tabari: Husayn, Jubayr, and those in God's favor in the Umayyad period", Le Muséon: Revue d'études orientales 120:225–29, 2007. * Weststeijn, Johan, & Alex de Voogt, "Sa'id b. Gubayr: piety, chess and rebellion", ''Arabica'', 49/3 (2002): 383–6.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sa'id ibn Jubayer 665 births 714 deaths Iraqi imams 7th-century Arab people Tabi‘un hadith narrators Tabi‘un