Az-Zubayr ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib

For Muhammad's cousin and companion, see Zubayr ibn al-Awwam.

Az-Zubayr ibn ‘Abd al-Muṭṭalib (Arabic: الزبير بن عبد المطلب‎) was the son of Shaiba ibn Hashim and Fatimah bint Amr, hence an uncle of Muhammad. He was full brother to Abu Talib and to Muhammad's father Abdullah.[1]

He married Atika bint Abi Wahb of the Makhzum clan, and they had four daughters: Duba'ah, Umm al-Hakam (or Umm Hakim), Safiya and Umm al-Zubayr.[2][3]

After the death of his eldest half-brother, Al-Harith, Az-Zubayr was next in line. With his brother Abu Talib, he took responsibility for the family obligation to provide food and drink for the pilgrims. He also shared joint guardianship of the young Muhammad. It is said that he took Muhammad on a journey to Yemen c.584.[4]

A tradition that Ibn Kathir calls "weak" states that he died c.585.[5] This is contradicted by several traditions that indicate that he was still alive many years later.

Az-Zubayr was the founder of the order of chivalry known as the Hilf al-Fudul. This was a movement formed in Mecca in May 591 (soon after the end of the Sacrilegious War) for the suppression of violence and injustice.[6][7] He is supposed to have said about the pact:

I swore, "Let’s make a pact against them, though we're all members of one tribe. We'll call it al-Fudul; if we make a pact by it, the stranger could overcome those under local protection, and those who go around the Kaaba will know that we reject injustice and will prevent all things shameful ... Al-Fudul made a pact and alliance that no evildoer shall dwell in Mecca's heart. This was a matter they firmly agreed; and so the protected neighbour and the unprotected stranger are safe among them."[8]

Az-Zubayr was among the many Quraysh who participated in the rebuilding of the Kaaba in 605. At first they were afraid to commence, for a large snake took up residence in the sanctuary. One day an eagle carried off the snake, leaving the builders free to work. Az-Zubayr, very impressed by this, composed a poem describing how "down came the eagle, deadly straight in its swoop; it bore it away ..."[9]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Abdulmalik ibn Hisham. Notes to Ibn Ishaq's Life of Muhammad. Translated by Guillaume, A. (1955). The Life of Muhammad, p. 707, note 97. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  2. ↑ Muhammad ibn Saad. Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir, vol. 8. Translated by Bewley, A. (1995). The Women of Madina, pp. 34-35. London: Ta-Ha Publishers.
  3. ↑ See also Muhammad ibn Ishaq. Sirat Rasul Allah. Translated by Guillaume, A. (1955). The Life of Muhammad, p. 522. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  4. ↑ Ismail ibn Umar ibn Kathir. Al-Sira al-Nabawiyya. Translated by Le Gassick, T. (1998). The Life of the Prophet Muhammad, vol. 1, p. 166. Reading, U.K.: Garnet Publishing.
  5. ↑ Ibn Kathir/Le Gassick, vol. 1 p. 166.
  6. ↑ Muhammad ibn Saad. Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir, vol. 1. Translated by Haq, S. M. (1967). Ibn Sa'ad's Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir, Volume I, Parts I & II, p. 144. Delhi: Kitab Bhavan.
  7. ↑ Ibn Kathir/Le Gassick, vol. 1 p. 186.
  8. ↑ Ibn Kathir/Le Gassick, vol. 1 p. 187.
  9. ↑ Ibn Ishaq/Guillaume pp. 84-87.

External links


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