Jondab-e-asadi
Jundub Ibn Ka'b Al-Azadi was a companion of Muhammad and Ali ibn Abu Talib, cousin of Muhammad. He fought alongside Ali at the Battle of Jamal and at Siffin. He remained loyal to Ali and his cause, along with Malik al-Ashtar, Amar e Yassar and Miqdaad. He is associated with an event during the reign of Third Islamic Caliph Uthman Ibn Affan. In A.D 645, Usman appointed Waleed ibn Uqba as governor of Kufa. At that time, Jondab was living in Kufa. On a particular occasion, a magician came to the city to show his magical tricks. He was invited to the main mosque of the city by Waleed. A huge number of people gathered to see his tricks. First, the magician transformed into a camel and started walking on a rope. Then, he entered a donkey from his mouth and came out from his back side. Then he ordered a man; accused of some unknown offence; to come to the centre. When the man came, he transformed him into a dog. Then he changed him back to a human being. By this time, Waleed became very happy with the magician. He threw one of his shoe, probably made of gold, at the magician as a token of his tricks. However, the magician transformed the shoe into a pigeon and let him fly. Waleed became surprised at this but the magician produced the shoe from his clothes and gave it back to Waleed. Then, the magician announced that now, he would kill the man and again bring him back to life. Jondab was also watching his tricks. Just when the magician raised his sword to kill the man, Jondab stopped him. He admonished the crowd not to come into magician's tricks. He also asked Waleed why had he allowed the magician (a Jew) to enter the mosque. Then he turned to the magician and started making several arguments with him regarding magic. At the end of the argument, the magician said that he knew the secrets of life and therefore he can inflict death and give life to a person. At this, Jondab raised his sword and beheaded the magician with a single strike of the sword. Then Jondab said If he is truthful, let him bring himself back to life. Afterwards, Jundab narrated that he heard Muhammad saying: "The punishment of the Sahir (magician) is a strike of the sword (i.e. the Sahir is killed).[1] Later, he was arrested by Waleed on charge of murder of the magician. He was put in a dark jail. His charge-sheet and narration were sent to Caliph Usman in Medina for verification. Usman declared Jondab as not guilty. However, he escaped from prison by the help of jail ward named a Dinar and members of his fellow Azadi tribe. Some historians say that Waleed wanted to kill Jondab. When Jondab was freed, the Azadi tribe gathered outside Kufa to defend themselves against any attack by Waleed. On the advice of Malik-Al-Ashtar, he went to Medina to meet Ali Ibn Abu Talib to clear his tribe's position in front of Caliph Usman so that Waleed may not cause any harm to his tribe. During the course, Dinar, the jail ward was killed by Waleed. With the interference of Ali, things came back to normal. However, Jondab did not return to Kufa and stayed back in Medina in the company of Ali. Back in Kufa, Malik-Al-Ashtar made peace between Azadi tribe and Walid.[2]