Shī'ism

Al-Kumayt b. Zayd al-Asadī of Kūfa (60–126/680–743) is the most prominent Shi'ite poet of the Umayyad age. While of the other Shi'ite poets of the time, like al-Sayyid al-Ḥimyarī and Kuthayyir 'Azza, only some fragments of their sectarian poems are preserved, his Hāshimiyyāl, gathered as a Shi'ite dīwān separately from his other poetical production, is extant in apparently more or less complete form. A commentary on the Hāshimiyyāl was composed by the Baṣran philologist Abū Riyāsh al-Qaysī (d. 339/950), who relied on the glosses of several earlier commentators.(¹) Despite some obscurity in their language, they have always remained popular in Shi'ite circles.

In spite of the name Hāshimiyyāl for al-Kumayt's Shi'ite poetry, modern scholars have generally seen him as supporting an exclusive right of the 'Alids to the imamate. J. Wellhausen described the Hāshimiyyāl as poems about the descendants of Fāṭima.(²) At the beginning of the introduction to his edition of the Hāshimiyyāl, J. Horovitz speaks of al-Kumayt as a representative of the moderate, purely legitimist wing of the Shī'a whose doctrine could be summed up in the statement "that the title to the leadership of the Muslim Community belonged only to 'Alī and his descendants." His poems reflected the mood of wide circles of the anti-Umayyad, pro-'Alid population of Iraq.(³) Later in the introduction Horovitz again asserts that al-Kumayt "does not preach anything but the doctrine that the caliphate belonged only to 'Alī and his descendants." (⁴) He notes that in two places in the Hāshimiyyāt al-'Abbās and his sons are included among the glorious relatives of the Prophet, but suggests vaguely that "this is probably an 'Abbāsid addition." Horovitz defends al-Kumayt against the charge of Ibn Qutayba that he was a Rāfiḍī, a follower of Ja'far al-Ṣādiq and the Imāmī line of Imams espousing the radical Shi'ite repudiation of the caliphate of Abū Bakr and 'Umar, and points to his clear support for Zayd b. "Alī in two of his later verses. (⁵)

The interpretation of Horovitz is fully endorsed by Ch. Pellat in his article on al-Kumayt in the new edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islam. "In spite of the title, the poet's praises are not aimed at all the Banū Hāshim, but primarily at the Prophet and at 'Alī and his descendants." Pellat affirms that the verses in which al-'Abbās and his sons are mentioned were no doubt added in the 'Abbāsid period, perhaps by al-Kumayt's son al-Mustahill, himself a poet. The Hāshimiyyāl reflect, according to Pellat, the opinions and sentiments current among the Zaydī circles of Kūfa. In his article on Hāshimiyya in the Encyclopaedia of Islam, B. Lewis states "it may be noted that already in the surviving Hāshimiyyāl of Kumayt... the poet restricts his praises to the Prophet, 'Alī and the 'Alids." Likewise M. Sharon in his recent monograph on the 'Abbāsid revolutionary movement characterizes al-Kumayt as a representative of the moderate pro-'Alid idea "as it was around the year 100" and states that in his poetry "we meet the first use of the term āl al-nahī as referring to the 'Alids."(⁶) Radically different is the interpretation of T. Nagel, who sees the Hāshimiyyāl as summoning to the support of all pious Hāshimites and as signifying a break with the earlier Shī'a which had exclusively backed 'Alī and his descendants.(⁷)

Significant for al-Kumayt's position in relation to strictly 'Alid Shi'ism is the absence of any mention—besides Fāṭima—of Abū Ṭālib b. 'Abd al-Muṭṭalib. On order to eclipse the distinguished rôle of al-'Abbās, after his late conversion to Islam, in backing his nephew, the 'Alid Shī'a came to magnify the rôle of 'Alī's father Abū Ṭālib turning him into a true believer and ascribing a whole dīwān of poetry to him as a proof of his Muslim faith. Al-Kumayt evidently was not yet aware of such efforts or chose to ignore them. He did not mention Abū Ṭālib as an unrepentant pagan however meritorious his stand in protecting Muḥammad in Mekka must have been in his view.

Similarly, and independently, M. Sharon maintained that, until the end of the first century of the Hijra, only the descendants of 'Alī were recognized as the ahl al-bayt, the āl Muḥammad and ahl bayt al-nabī. They alone were "identified with the rights and merits which the concept of the Family carried in the public mind".(²³) Unlike Nagel, however, Sharon derives the name of the Hāshimiyya from Abū Hāshim b. Muḥammad b. al-Ḥanafiyya and holds that the term Hāshimiyya in the meaning of the clan of Hāshim was not widely used before the caliphate of the 'Abbāsid al-Mahdī.(²⁴)

In reality the special status of the Banū Hāshim as the relatives (dhawu l-qurbā) of the Prophet and as his ahl al-bayt had been well established in the lifetime of Mḥammad. As the kin of the Prophet, the Banū Hāshim were excluded, like Muḥammad himself, from receiving alms (ṣadaqa, zakāl) and from administering their collection. They were associated with the Prophet in their entitlement to a portion of the khums, the fifth of the war booty not distributed among the warriors, and in the fay', the spoils that fell to the Muslims without battle. Their title as dhawu l-qurbā to these portions was explicitly confirmed in two verses of the Qur'an. Partly associated with the Banū Hāshim were the descendants of Hāshim's brother al-Muṭṭalib, whereas the descendants of his other brothers, 'Abd Shams and Nawfal, were expressly excluded. The Banu l-Muṭṭalib, in contrast to the Banū 'Abd Shams and Banū Nawfal, had been closely tied to the Banū HÉshim in the ḥilf al-fuḍūl.(²⁵)

The prohibition for the Banū Hāshirn to receive, and to administer the collection of, alms is reported in numerous hadiths(²⁶), of which only a few may be briefly quoted here. In a hadith transmitted by Mālik, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of "Abd Allāh b. 'Abd Allāh b. Nawfal b. al-Ḥārith b. 'Abd al-Muṭṭalib (b. Hāshim), "Abd al-Muṭṭalib b. Rabī'a b. al-Ḥārith b. 'Abd al-Muṭṭalib related that his father Rabī'a got together with al-'Abbās b. 'Abd al-Muṭṭalib and they agreed that they should send their young sons, 'Abd al-Muṭṭalib b. Rabī'a and al-Faḍl b. al-'Abbās, to the Prophet to persuade him to appoint them as collectors of ṣadaqāt so that they would materially benefit from it as other collectors did. When they asked the Prophet, he remained silent for a long time and then told them: "Truly, the alms are not proper for the āl Muḥammad. They are the dregs (awsākh) of the people." Then he told them to call Maḥmiya (b. al-Jaz'), the custodian of the khums, and ordered him to give his daughter in marriage to al-Faḍl b. al-'Abbās. Likewise he ordered Nawfal b. al-Ḥārith b. 'Abd al-Muṭṭalib to give his daughter in marriage to (his nephew) "Abd al-Muṭṭalib b. Rabī'a. Then he instructed Maḥmiya to pay the dower for the two brides from the khums.(²⁷) In other hadiths the Prophet is quoted as stating: "We, the āl Muḥammad, do not eat (from) the ṣadaqa"(²⁸), and "Truly, God has forbidden for me the ṣadaqa and for the People of my House (ahl bayti)."(²⁹) He is said to have addressed his relatives: "O BanŪ 'Abd al-Muṭṭalib, the ṣadaqa is the dregs of the people, therefore do not consume it nor work (in collecting) it."(³⁰) His freedman Abū Rāfi' was urged by Arqam b, Abi l-Arqam to assist him in the collection of ṣadaqa. When Abū Rāfi' asked Muḥammad for permission, he told him: "We are the people of a house (ahl bayt) such that ṣadaqa is not licit for us, and the mawlā of a people belongs to them (mawla l-qawrn min arifusihim)."(³¹)

The entitlement of the Banū Hāshim to a share of the khums, often interpreted as a recompense for their exclusion from the alms, was affirmed by Qur'an VIII (41) which enumerated as its recipients, besides God and the Prophet, the relative(s) (dhi l-qurbā), orphans, the poor, and the traveller(s) (ibn al-sabīl). Concerning the fay', there were two Qur'anic rulings revealed on different occasions. The earlier one, revealed concerning the former property of the Banu l-Naḍīr, named as those entitled to a share the "poor Emigrants who were expelled from their homes and their possessions" and explicitly excluded the Medinan Anṣār and late-comers of the emigrants. (³²) Muḥammad in fact divided the estates of the Banu l-Naḍīr among his early Mekkan Companions and gave exceptional shares to only two of the Anṣār.(³³)

The second verse, apparently revealed concerning Khaybar, Fadak, and Wādi l-Qurā, mentioned the same recipients, including dhi l-qurbā, as for the khums.(³⁴) It was on the occasion of the division of the spoils of Khaybar, or more exactly of the Prophet's portion al-Katība, that the Banu l-Muṭṭalib were included with the Banū Hāshim among Muḥammad's relatives while the Banū 'Abd Shams and the Banū Nawfal were excluded. The story is narrated in a number of slightly variant versions in the major Sunnite hadith collections. One of them may be quoted here. Al-Zuhrī, on the authority of Sa'īd b. al-Musayyib: Jubayr b. Muṭ'im (b. 'Adī b. Nawfal b. 'Abd Manāf) related to me that when the day of Khaybar occurred, the Messenger of God placed the share of the relatives (sahm dhi l-qurbā) among the Banā Hās-him and the Banu l-Muṭṭalib and left the Banū Nawfal and Banū 'Abd Shams out. So I and 'Uthmān b. 'Affān set out until we came to the Messenger of God, and we said: "O Messenger of God, these Banū Hāshim, we do not deny their excellence (faḍl), because of the place in which God has put you in respect to them. But what is the matter with our brethren, the Banu l-Muṭṭalib? You have given them and left us out, yet our relationship (to you) is the same." The Messenger of God said: "Surely we and the Banu l-Muṭṭalib do not separate either in the Jāhiliyya or in Islam. Rather we and they are one thing", and he interwined his fingers.(³⁵) The sīra and biographical sources confirm that a large number of the descendants of al-Muṭṭalib b. 'Abd Manāf were given shares of the crops of al-Katība at that time.(³⁶) In the collection of the Qur'an, the later fay' verse was inserted between the opening and latter parts of the fay' revelation concerning the Banu l-Naḍīr giving rise to much confusion in their later interpretation.

The distinct status of purity prescribed for the relatives of the Prophet in excluding them from the ṣadaqāl, judged to be "the dregs of the people", raises the question of the significance of Qur'an XXXIII 33 where it is affirmed that God wishes to remove pollution (rijs) from the ahl al-bayt and to purify them thoroughly. The meaning of the ahl al-bayt in this verse is disputed. Against traditional interpretations, R. Paret has cautiously put forward the suggestion that bayt here, and in sūra XI 73, relating to the story of Abraham, means the Ka'ba and that the ahl al-bayt in both verses thus are the adherents of the Islamic Ka'ba cult in general.(³⁸) On closer examination, this interpretation must seem highly improbable in the respective context in which the term occurs. The statement concerning God's desire to purify the ahl al-bayt comes within a passage in which the wives of the Prophet are reminded of their special status, in distinction to all other women, and are admonished to act accordingly. If ahl al-bayt here meant the adherents of the Ka'ba cult, that is the Muslims in general, it would flatly contradict the intent of the context which was to raise the rank of the Prophet's wives above that of the ordinary Muslims and their women. (³⁹) Even if it is assumed that the statement was originally an independent revelation, not part of the context addressed to Muhammad's wives into which it was later inserted, as is held by much of traditional Muslim interpretation as well as by R. Bell (⁴⁰), it must have been understood as agreeing with the intent of the context rather than being at variance with it. Likewise in Qur'an XI 73, where the angels are addressing Sarah to rebuke her for doubting that she might give birth in view of her and Abraham's old age and are reminding her that the mercy and blessings of God are upon "you, the ahl al-bayt", the latter expression cannot refer to the ordinary adherents of the Ka'ba cult instituted by Abraham. Rather, Sarah is reminded of her raised, blessed status as a member of the Prophet Abraham's ahl al-bayt.

It is thus evident that the ahl al-bayt in both verses are the families of the respective prophets, not the adherents of the Ka'ba cult instituted by them. In both cases the gender is changed to masculine plural, although those immediately addressed are the wives, or the wife, of the two prophets. The ahl al-bayt are primarily the prophets and their kin, to which the wives belong merely through marriage. The wives have to be reproachfully reminded of the implications of their special status. In the case of Qur'an XXXIII 33, the change of gender evidently encouraged speculation that the statement addressed to the ahl al-bayt originated in a separate revelation. Various edifying stories were invented connecting it with 'Alī, Fīṭima, Ḥasan and Ḥusayn, and these make up the bulk of traditions quoted by al-Ṭabarī in his commentary on the verse.(⁴¹) In spite of their fictitious character, these stories are closer to the intended meaning of the verse than the interpretation of 'Ikrima quoted by al-Ṭabarī and supported by modern scholars like H. Lammens and R. Strothmann that the ahl al-bayt in the verse simply meant the Prophet's wives⁴². The verse confirms that the Banū Hāshim were given a special status as the dhawu l-qurbā and the ahl al-bayl of Muḥammad whom God wished to purify from all defilement.

In the poetry of Ḥassān b. Thābit, too, the āl Hāshim are praised as the kinsmen of the Prophet. Ḥassān calls Muḥammad the prophet of goodness (nabī al-khayr) of the āl Hāshim (⁴³) Of Hāshim are the noble lords, those of ancient glory and noble ancestry. From among them is the Messenger of right guidance, whom God has preferred over all other men.(⁴⁴) They are a people through whom darkness is illuminated and from whom blindness, horrors, and disasters are dispelled.(⁴⁵) In his elegy on the death of Zayd b. Ḥāritha and Ja'far b. Abī Ṭālib at Mu'ta he extols he āl Hāshim in particular. They have ever been pillars of unceasing strength in Islam, a source of pride. They are the mountain of Islam, the people around it, massive rocks towards a high mount that astounds and conquers. Through them distress is cleared away in every predicament. They are the friends (awliyā') of God upon whom He has sent down His decree and among whom the Purified Book was descended. They are noble lords, among them Ja'far, his brother 'Alī, the chosen Aḥmad, Ḥamza, al-'Abbās, and 'Aqīl.(⁴⁶) Quite similar is the imagery used by Ka'b b. Mālik on the same occasion in lamenting the death of Ja'far and concluding with a glowing praise of Hāshim and their most illustrious leader, the Prophet.(⁴⁷) Ḥassān, on the other hand, describes the Hāshimite Abū Sufyan b. al-Ḥārith b. 'Abd al-Muṭṭalib, a poet opponent of Muḥammad, as an ignoble pretender falsely linked to the āl Hāshim.(⁴⁸)

III

The death of Muḥammad and the establisment of the caiiphate on the principle of sābiqa, early merit in Islam, rather than blood relationship to the Prophet, removed the Banū Hāshim from their privileged position. Abū Bakr denied them their inheritance from the Prophet claiming that he had heard him say: "We (the prophets) are not inherited from. Whatever we leave is alms (ṣadaqa)."(⁴⁹) According to Jubayr b. Muṭ'im, Aūu Bakr also deprived the Baūu āashim of the share of the dhawu l-qurāa in the khums which Mḥhammad had given them.⁵⁰^M) The political motivation behind these measures is obvious. The concentration of the inheritance of the Prophet and the substantial share of the dhawu l-qurāa in all booty would have undermined the stability of the caliphate based on ādbiqa. 'Umar and his successors (man ba'daūu), Jubayr b. Mṭt'im continued, resumed payment of the khums to them. Jubayr probably meant 'Umar's institution of the īwāan for the distribution of the fay' in which the Baūu āashim were listed first and received some of the largest payments.(⁵¹) Payment from the fay' was at the same time extended to all Muslim warriors and their families. The ahl al-āabiqa, beginning with the veterans of Badr, were given large stipends comparable to those of the Baūu āashim so that there was no danger of a concentration of economic power in the hands of the latter. Payment of the khums of the war booty to the Baūu āashim continued to be withheld under 'Umar and his successors. According to al-Zuhīi, the Kāarijite Najda wrote 'Abd Alāah b. al-'Abāas concerning the Qur'anic share of the dhawu l-qurāa. Ibn al-'Abāas affirmed: It belongs to us (the Baūu āashim). 'Umar invited us that we might pay for the marriage of the widows among us, settle our debts, and provide for services to our dependents, but we declined unless he would turn it over to us (fully). He refused that to us."(⁵²) Only the Umayyad 'Umar II, who surrendered the oasis of Fadak to the descendants of Fatima as their inheritance from the Prophet, is also reported to have sent both the share of the Prophet and that of his kin in the khums to the Banū Hāshim.(⁵³)

The disestablishment of the Banū Hāshim naturally attracted the attention and sympathy of those dissatisfied with the established caliphate to them. This became even more apparent after the emergence of the Umayyad caliphate which substituted hereditary rule for the principle of sābiqa, yet whose ancestors had expressly been denied the status of dhawu l-qurbā by Muḥammad. At first the hopes of the opposition focused on 'Alī, the Hāshimite with the most distinguished sābiqa, and then on his sons. Strong currents of Kūfan Shi'ism clearly narrowed their support of the ahl al-bayt to the 'Alids, or to the Prophet's descendants through Fāṭima, from an early date. But there was widespread sympathy, even in the early Umayyad age, for the cause of the Banū Hāshim in general which was not necessarily tied to 'Alid interests.

When the Anṣārī al-Nu'mān b. Bashīr (d. 65/684–5), who had earlier backed Mu'āwiya against 'Alī, was enraged against the caliph because of al-Akhṭal's lampoon of the Anṣār for the benefit of the Umayyads, he addressed a poem to him in which he asserted that he was merely blandishing the 'Abd Shams, while concealing his true feelings. Mu'āwiya did indeed not deserve the reign since Hāshim was by right entitled to it. Through the Banū Hāshim God had laid down right guidance and from them would come a rightly guiding imam at the end.(⁵⁴) †

The Baṣran Abu l-Aswad al-Du'alī (d. 69/688), an ardent supporter of "Alī, affirmed his love for Muḥammad, 'Abbās, Ḥamza, the waṣī ('Alī), Ja'far b. Abī Ṭālib, al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn, in a poem addressed to his anti-'Alid neighbours. Continuing his praise of the Prophet's "cousins and closest relatives", he explained that he loved them for the sake of the love of God, since He had guided them and had chosen a prophet from among them.(⁵⁵) In a lament for the death of al-Ḥusayn at al-Ṭaff he addressed his partner; "Don't you see (how) the iniquitous youths have annihilated the Banū Hāshim?" (⁵⁶) In another piece he initially described those slain at al-Ṭaff by the "brutes (jufāl) of Nizār" as the sons of 'Alī, the āl of the House of Muḥammad, but then incites the Banū Qushayr to come forth to fight for the Hāshim, "the best of creation in the Book of the Creator."(⁵⁷) Abu l-Aswad thus regularly placed his backing for 'Alī and his sons in the wider context of his love and admiration for the Banū Hāshim.

Among the prominent Hāshimites during the early caliphate was 'Abd Allāh b. Ja'far b. Abī Ṭālib (d. 80/699). Born during his parents' emigration to Ethiopia, he became after his father's death at Mu'ta closely attached to his uncle 'Alī whose daughter Zaynab, grand-daughter of Muḥammad, he married. During 'Alī's caliphate he belonged, together with his cousins al-Ḥasan, al-Ḥusayn, and Muḥammad b. al-Ḥanafiyya, to the intimate family circle on whose advice and aid the caliph relied.(⁵⁸) Together with al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn he washed the body of 'Alī at his funeral. (⁵⁹)Al-Ḥasan first intimated his decision to write Mu'āwiya seeking peace to al-Ḥusayn and him(⁶⁰), and jointly with the Prophet's grandsons he departed from Kufa for Medina(⁶¹).

While the relations of al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn with Mu'āwiya always remained hostile, 'Abd Allāh b. Ja'far now sincerely abandoned all political ambitions and let himself be most extravagantly paid by the caliph for his positive attitude to the outcome of the fitna. Mu'āwiya, whom he regularly visited, is said to have granted him a million dirhams annually arousing the envy of some of the Qurayshite aristocrats who had backed the Umayyad cause during the fitna but received much smaller gifts.(⁶²) The reason for Mu'awiya's munificence towards 'Abd Allāh was evidently in part his satisfaction at having secured the friendly disposition of a prominent Hāshimite so closely associated with 'AlĪ and partly his appreciation of the fact that 'Abd Allāh would spend most of the money for lavish gifts in Medinan society. 'Abd Allāh b. Ja'far became known as one of the generous patrons of poets, musicians, and singers, male and female, assembled in Medina. When Yazīd succeeded Mu'āwiya as caliph, he increased the amount given to the Ṭālibid by this father fourfold. Questioned about this huge expense, he said: "He will distribute his money. Thus my gift to him is my gift to the people of Medina."(⁶³)

Although sympathetic to his Umayyad paymasters, 'Abd Allāh b. Ja'far did not become deferent. When Mu'āwiya asked him to give his daughter Umm Kulthūm, great-granddaughter of Muḥammad, in marriage to his son Yazīd, he personally agreed but insisted that the girl's maternal uncle al-Ḥusayn should be asked for his consent. Al-Ḥusayn publicly affronted Marwān, the Umayyad representative in Medina, who announced the proposed marriage as a token of reconciliation between the two families, by giving her hand to her cousin al-Qāsim b. Muḥammad b. Ja'far b. Abī Ṭālib.(⁶⁴) When al-Qāsim b. Muḥammad died, al-Ḥajjāj b. Yūsuf, at that time governor of Medina and Mekka, insisted on marrying Umm Kulthūm. However, the caliph 'Abd al-Malik, considering the upstart Thaqafite no suitable match for the great-granddaughter of the Prophet, ordered him to divorce her, and al-Ḥajjāj complied.(⁶⁵) She married then the Umayyad Khālid b. Yazīd b. Mu'āwiya, who proudly proclaimed her in verses a splendid woman of 'Abd Manāf, "purified between the Prophet Muḥammad and the Martyr Dhu l-Janāḥayn Ja'far."(⁶⁶)

Despite his avoidance of political engagement after the death of his uncle, "Abd Allāh b. Ja'far maintained his independence and distinct pride as a leading member of the Banū Hāshim, the ahl al-bayt of the Prophet. The singer and poet Malik b. Abi l-Samḥ of the Banū Ṭayyi' was placed by his father under the care of 'Abd Allāh b. Ja'far for his upbringing. According to Ibn al-Kalbī and Abū Ghassān Yaḥyā b. Ghānim, 'Abd Allāh "entered him and all his brothers into the kinship (di'wa) of the Banū Hāshim and they are still with them to this day (the early 'Abbāsid age)."(⁷²) Malik b. Abi l-Samh then attached himself to the Medinan 'Abbāsidpoet al-Ḥusayn b. 'Abd Allāh b. 'Ubayd Allāh b. al-'Abbās, a friend of 'Abd Allāh b. Ja'far's grandson 'Abd Allāh b. Mu'āwiya. After the rise of the 'Abbāsids, he visited Sulaymān b. "Alī b. 'Abd Allāh b. al-'Abbās in Baṣra and joined his family on the basis of his adoptive kinship among the Banū Hāshim.(⁷³)

The activity of another branch of the Hāshimites, the descendants of 'Abd al-Muṭṭalib's eldest son al-Ḥārith, as representatives of the ahi al-bayt of Muḥammad has been noted by Nagel.(⁷⁹) Some of the Banu l-Ḥārith settled in Baṣra at an early date. When the Umayyad governor of Baṣra, 'Ubayd Allāh b. Ziyād, was forced to abandon his position after the caliph Yazīd's death in 64/693, the Baṣrans set up 'Abd Allāh b. al-Hārith b. Nawfal b. al-Ḥārith b. 'Abd al-Muṭṭalib, known as Babba, as their leader. According to Abū 'Ubayda, al-Nu'mān b. Ṣuhbān al-Rāsibī, who proposed his candidacy, "mentioned the Prophet and the right of his ahl al-bayt and his relatives (qarāba). Then he said: O people, what could you hold against a man of the cousins (banī 'amm) of your Prophet whose mother is Hind, the daughter of Abū Sufyān?"(⁸⁰) Babba was evidently considered by the Baṣrans a potential candidate for the caliphate. He had no great ambitions, however, and soon recognized 'Abd Allāh b. al-Zubayr as caliph on behalf of the town.(⁸¹)

In 82/701, after the rebel leader'Abd al-Raḥmān b. Muḥammad b. al-Ash'ath abandoned Baṣra for Kūfa, the Baṣrans rallied around 'Abd al-Raḥman b. al-'Abbās b. Rabī'a b. al-Ḥārith b. 'Abd al-Muṭṭalib, whom Ibn al-Ash'ath had earlier appointed their commander. They swore allegiance to him having been told by his proponent: "He is a man of Quraysh and of the Banū Hāshim of the ahl al-bayt of your Prophet."(⁸²) 'Abd al-Raḥmān b. al-'Abbās then joined Ibn al-Ash'ath as the latter retreated to Sijistā, and took possession of Harāt. Expelled from there he left for Sind where he died.(⁸³)

'Abd al-Raḥmān's son al-Faḍl was a Hāshimī activist and poet. He composed an elegy on the death of Zayd b. 'Alī in which he threatened the Umayyads with death and destruction. (⁸⁴) After the murder of al-Walīd II in 126/744, he encouraged the Hasanid 'Abd Allāh b. al-Hạsan b. al-Ḥasan in some verses to rise with the sword.(^84a) 'Abd Allāh b. al-Ḥasan now tried to gain support among his kinsmen for the candidacy of his son Muḥammad for the caliphate. Al-Faḍl was present at the meeting of the Banū Hāshim at al-Abwā' near Mekka at which Muḥammad's candidacy is said to have been generally accepted.(⁸⁵) When al-Faḍl died in 129/746–7, 'Abd Allāh b. al-Ḥasan, deeply depressed by the news, is reported to have said of him: "Our sayyid in Iraq has died."(⁸⁶)

In 132, 749–50, at the time of the 'Abbāsid revolution, Baṣra was abandoned by the governor Salm b. Qutayba b. Muslim. According to al-Ṭabarī, the Banu l-Ḥārith b. 'Abd al-Muṭṭalib present gathered around Muḥammad b. Ja'far, a descendant of Nawfal b. al-Ḥārith, and set him up as governor. According to al-Balādhurī and Khalīfa b. al-Khayyāṭ, it was Salm who appointed Muḥammad b. Ja'far as his successor.(⁸⁷) Muḥammad b. Ja'far displayed the black colour of the 'Abbāsids. His government lasted only a few days until the 'Abbāsids seized control.

From all these reports it is abundantly evident that throughout the age of the eariy caliphate there was a general awareness of the privileged position of the Banū Hāshim as the kin of Muḥammad and his ahl al-bayt. The Hāshimites were thus widely recognized as natural candidates for leadership in the Muslim community and for the caliphate. This recognition did not result from an extension of the rights of 'Alī and his descendants, on whom the hopes for a reign of the Family of the Prophet was initially for historical circumstances focussed, to other branches of his kin. Rather It was based on the status of purity and special material rights which Muḥammad had conferred on them and which was confirmed by the Qur'an. It was the "Alid Shī'a who more and more narrowed down the concept of the Prophet's ahl al-bayt to the Ṭālibids, the 'Alids, the descendants of Fāl=t.ma, and their specific lines of imams, a process naturally speeded up by the exclusive hereditary appropriation of the caliphate by the 'Abbasids, who had gained it as representatives of the Prophet's kin, and the attendant brutal persecution and repression of the 'Alids, in particular by al-Manṣūr.

The special status of the Banū Hāshim with regard to their exclusion from receiving zakāl and ṣadaqa and their entitlement to a share of the khums and fay' was mostly recognized by the legal schools, both Sunnite and Shi'ite. A partial exception were the Ḥanafites who, according to al-Mawardlī, held that the special status of the Prophet's kin had lapsed upon his death and that they both could receive zakāt and were not entitled to a special share of the khums and fay'.(⁹³) This is not confirmed in respect to the zakāt by al-Marghīnānī's Kitāb al-Hidāya, where the common doctrine of the special status of the Banū Hāshim excluding them from "the dregs of the people" is upheld.(⁹⁴) In respect to the entitlement to a share of the khums, however, Abū Ḥnlīa and most HḤafIī sholars according to AbuūYūsuf held that the practice of the rightly-guided caliphs should be followed who divided it into only three shares, for the orphans, the poor, and the travellers.(^9S5 This is also the position of al-Marghlīaālī who adds that, among the poor, the BanuūHaāhim should be given first because of their exclusion from zakaā. The wealthy among the BanuūHaāhim should be given nothing since, al-Marghmīnāiīasserts, the Prophet had given them only on the basis of their support of him, not because of their kinship.(^M96 According to Maāikite doctrine, the BanuūHaāhim are not allowed to receive zakaā.(⁹⁷) The distribution of the khums seems to have been left by the Maāikites to the discretion of the imam.(⁹⁸) The Shaāi'ites included the Banu 1lMutṭṭlib both in regard to the prohibition of receiving zakaā and the entitlement to a share of the khums and fay'.Each member of the BanuūHaāhim and Banu 1lMutṭṭlib should be given an equal share irrespective of wealth and age, but the male receiving double the share of the female.(99)

Among the Shi'ite schools, the Zaydīs agreed most closely with Sunnite doctrine in forbidding all Hāshimites to receive zakāl and in granting them the share of the dhi l-qurbā in the khums and fay'.(¹⁰⁰) The Imāmīs likewise did not allow Hāshimites to accept alms of the common people but held that they could receive alms of other Hāshimites.(¹⁰¹) Concerning the khums, they held that three of its six portions, those of God, of the Prophet, and of the dhi l-qurbā, belonged to the imam, dhu l-qurbā meaning the imam in particular. The other three portions belonged to the orphans, the poor, and the travellers of the Hāshimites only.(¹⁰²) Only the Ismā'īlīs implicitly restricted the āl Muḥammad and ahl al-bayt to their imams and their families excluding other Hāshimites. Qāḍī al-Nu'mān thus affirms that the ṣadaqāt are forbidden to the imams of the Family of Muḥammad.(¹⁰³) Concerning the khums, Qāḍī al-Nu'mān quotes imam Ja'far as stating that it "belongs to us for the orphans, the poor, the travellers of us. There are no poor nor travellers among us today through the bounty of God. The khums is thus made abundant (muwaffar) for us."(¹⁰⁴) Thus it belonged exclusively to the imams.

(1) J. Horovitz, Die Hāšmijjāl des Kuwail, Leiden 1904, introd. p. XXII.

(2) J. Wellhausen, Das arabische Reich und sein Sturz, Berlin 1902, p. 314, n. 1.

(3) Die Hāšimijjāl, introd. p. v.

(4) P. XVII.

(5) P. XVII.

(6) M. Sharon, Black Banners from the East, Jerusalem Leiden 1983, pp. 79–80.

(7) T. Nagel, Untersuchungert zur Entstehung des Abbasidischen Kalifats, Bonn 1972, pp. 79ff., and Geschichte der arabischen Well, ed. U. Haarmann, Munich 1987, p. 108.

(8) Die Hāšmijjāl, Arabic text, p. 157.

(9) P. 4.

(10) P. 14.

(11) P. 29.

(12) P. 54.

(13) Pp. 127, 141, 143.

(14) Die Hāšimijjāt, transl. pp. 87, 94. On p. 96 Horovitz translates the same expression correctly as the relatives of Aḥmad.

(15) Arabic text, pp. 16, 59.

(16) P. 21

(17) P. 63.

(18) P. 139.

(19) P. 154.

(20) Nagel, Untersuchungen, p. 72. The term āl, it should be noted, does not signify descendants but kinsfoik, clan. The kinship group was, however, often defined by its common ancestor, and thus āl Hāshim could be used synonymously with Banū Hāshim, the descendants of Hāshim. But it was quite proper to speak of the same Banū Hāshim in their relation to the Prophet as āl Muḥammad.

(21) Untersuchungen, pp. 70ff., 85–6.

(22) Untersuchungen, pp. 86–7.

(23) Sharon, Black Banners, p. 75.

(24) Black Banners, pp. 84–5. Sharon qualifies W. M. Watt's reference to the term Hāshimiyya having been used already before al-Kumayt's Hāshimiyyāt to denote the clan of Banū Hāshim as "impossible."

(25) W. M. Watt, Muhammad ai Mecca, Oxford 1953, pp. 6–7; Ch. Pellat, art. Ḥilf al-Fuḍūl in E.I. 2nd ed.

(26) See the references in Wensinck, Handbook of Early Muhammadan Tradition, Leiden 1927, p. 266.

(27) Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ, 12: 166; Ibn Sa'd, al-Ṭabaqāt, ed. E. Sachau, Leiden 1905–40, IV/1 pp. 40–41; al-Maqrīzī, K. al-Nizā' wa l-takhāṣum, ed. G. Vos, Leiden 1888, pp. 45–6.

(28) Ibn Sa'd, 1/2 p. 106.

(29) Ibn Sa'd, 1/2 p. 107.

(30) Ibn Sa'd, 1/2 p. 108.

(31) Ibn Sa'd, IV/1 p. 52.

(32) Qur'ān LIX 6, 8–10.

(33) Al-Balādhurī, Futūḥ al-buldārt, ed. J. de Goeje, Leiden 1886, pp. 18–19.

(34) Qur'ān LIX 7.

(35) Abū Dāwūd, Sunan, 19: 51; al-Maqrīzī, p. 23.

(36) Ibn Hishām and al-Zubayrī list, with some differences, the following: Al-Ṣalt b. Makhrama b. al-Muṭṭalib and his two sons; Qays b. Makhrama; al-Qāsim b. Makhrama; Miṣṭaḥ b. Uthātha b. "Abbād b. al-Muṭṭalib; 'Ujayr b. Abd Yazīd b. Hashim b. al-Muṭṭalib; Rukāna b. 'Abd Yazīd; Abū Nabqa b. 'Alqama b, al-Muṭṭalib; the daughters of 'Ubayda b. al-Ḥārith b. al-Muṭṭalib (who had been killed at Badr) and the daughters of al-Ḥusayn b. al-Ḥārith. Ibn Hishām, Sīrat rasūl Allāh, ed, F Wüstenfeld, Göttingen 1859–60, p. 775; al-Zubayrī, Nasab Quraysh, ed. E. Lévi-Provençal, Cairo 1953, pp. 92–7. According to al-Balādhurī, Fulūḥ p. 28, Muḥammad gave the Banu l-Muṭṭalib a formal letter confirming their entitlement.

(37) Ibn Hishām, pp. 877–8.

(38) "Der Plan einer neuen Koranübersetzung", in Orientalislissche Studien Enno Littmann zu seinem 60. Geburtstag, Leiden 1935, pp. 127–30. Paret's interpretation is adopted by both Nagel, Untersuchungen, p. 88, and Sharon, Black Banners, pp. 75–6.

(39) Evidently in view of this conflict, Paret suggested that verse 33 may no longer be addressed specifically to the wives of Muḥammad, but rather to the Muslim women in general. However, this is hardly plausible given the close connection in meaning and syntax between verses 32 and 33.

(40) The Qur'ān, Edinburgh 1937, p. 414.

(41) Al-ṬabarĪ, Jāmi' al-bayān, Cairo 1321, XX 5–7.

(42) See al-Ṭabarī, Jāmi', XX 7: kāna 'Ikrima yunādī fī l-sūq... nazalat fī nisā' al-nabī khāṣṣa. The claim that 'Alī, Faṭima, and the Prophet's grandsons were meant evidently provoked a polemical reaction of 'Ikrima, known for his Khānjite leanings. Lammens, Fāṭima et les filles de Mahomel, Rome 1912, pp. 97–99; Strothmann, Das Staatsrecht der Zaiditen, Strassburg 1912, pp. 19–20.

(43) W. N. 'Arafat, Diwan of Ḥassān Ibn Thābit, London 1971, I 109.

(44) I 228.

(45) I 408.

(46) I 98–9. In translating this poem, A. Guillaume (The Life of Muhammad, Oxford 1955, p. 538) comments: All this reads like 'Alid propaganda. In his introduction (p. xxx) he comments further on the poem stating with reference to the line 'The best of the believers followed one another to death': "it is sufficient to remember that practically all the prophet's principal companions survived Uḥud. But when this careless forger wrote all the best Muslims had long been dead." Yet the poem is about Mu'ta, not Uḥud. Guillaume states further: "Here the 'Alids are the "friends' or 'saints' of God and Muḥammad is little more than a member of their family." None of those mentioned aside from 'Alī is an 'Alid. In reality there is no good reason to doubt the authenticity of the poem. It fits perfectly well the occasion, and an 'Alid Shi'ite propagandist would hardly have mentioned al-'Abbās.

(47) Ibn Hishām, pp. 799–800.

(48) Dīwān of Ḥassān Ibn Thābit, I 398, 401, 402. Similarly the Hāshimite Abū Lahab is addressed: "If you were a free man of the root of Hāshim," in a poem probably falsely ascribed to Ḥassān (I 390).

(49) Ibn Sa'd, 11/2 p. 85; I. Hrbek, "Muḥammads Nachlass und die 'Aliden," in Arch. Or. XVIII/3 pp. 143–9.

(50) Abū Dāwūd, 19:50; al-Maqrīzī, p. 22.

(51) See the traditions assembled by L. Caetani, Annali dell' Islam, IV, Milan 1911, pp. 368–417. As an expert on genealogy, Jubayr b. Muṭ'im was among those commissioned by 'Urnar to establish the dīwān. Ibn Sa'd, III/1 p. 212.

(52) Abū Yūsuf, K. al-Kharāj, Cairo 1352, pp. 20–21.

(53) Abū Yūsuf, p. 21.

(54) Abu l-Faraj al-Iṣfahānī, al-Aghānī, Cairo 1345-/1926-, XIV 126. Nagel considered the last lines of the poem mentioning Hāshim as definitely forged much later at the time of the Hāsbimiyya movement (Alexander der Grosse in der frühislamischen Volksliteratur, Walldorf-Hessen 1978, p. 106). The lines, however, clearly fit the context with the preceding attack on the 'Abd Shams and the reminder of the defeat of the Mekkan Quraysh by the Anṣār at Badr.

(55) Dīwān Abi l-Aswad al-Du'alī, ed. M. H. Āl Yāsīn, Beirut 1974, pp. 119–20; in the shorter version of the poem, al-Aghānī XII 321, the lines about Ja'far and the grandsons of the Prophet are missing.

(56) Dīwān Abi l-Aswad al-Du'alī, p. 122.

(57) P. 124.

(58) Al-Ṭabarī, Ta'rīkh, ed. M. J. de Goeje, Leiden 1879–1901 (henceforth quoted as Ṭab.), I 3186–7, 3243–5.

(59) Ṭab. I 3463.

(60) Ṭab. II 3.

(61) Ṭab II 9.

(62) Al-Balādhurī, Ansāb al-ashrāf, IV/1, ed. Iḥsan 'Abbās, Wiesbaden 1979, p. 88.

(63) Al-Balādhurī, Ansāb, IV/1 p. 289.

(64) Al-Balādhurī, Ansāb, IV/1 pp. 142–3.

(65) Al-Zubayrī, Nasab Quraysh, pp. 82–3. A more elaborate account according to which 'Abd al-Malik initially gave his consent and then was persuaded by Khālid b. Yazīd to withdraw it is given by al-Mubarrad and Ibn 'Abd Rabbih. See J. Périer, Vie d'al-Hadjdjâdj, Paris 1904, pp. 58–9.

(66) Al-Balādhurī, Ansāb, IV/1 p. 360.

(67) Ṭab. II 279–80.

(68) The brothers were 'Awn and Muḥammad al-Aṣghar, Ibn 'Inaba, 'Umdai al-Ṭālib, ed. Muḥ. Ḥasan Ạl al-Ṭāliqānī, Najaf 1380/1961, p. 36. The sons were al-Ḥusayn, 'Awn al-Aṣghar, and Muḥammad al-Aṣghar, al-Zubayrī, Nasab Quraysh, p. 83.

(69) Al-Balādhurī, Ansāb, IV/1, p. 352.

(70) Al-Zubayrī, p. 83.

(71) Al-Aghānī, XII 221.

(72) Al-Aghānī, V 101, 106–7.

(73) Al-Aghānī, XII 101–2, 107.

(74) Al-Aghānī, VIII 227–9.

(75) Al-Aghānī, XII 217.

(75a) Ibn 'Asākir, Ta'rīkh madīnal Dimashq, ed. "Abd al-Qādir Badrān, Damascus 1329–51/1911–32, VII 342–3.

(76) Al-Aghānī, XII 222–3.

(77) Al-Aghānī, XII 221.

(78) Al-Aghānī, XII 226.

(79) Untersuchungen, pp. 77–8, 111, 167–9.

(80) Ṭab. II 447.

(81) See on his career '"Abd Allāh b. al-Zubayr and the Mahdī," in JNES XL (1981), pp. 297–305.

(82) Al-Balādhurī, Ansāb, in W. Ahlwardt, Anonyme arabische Chronik, Greifs-wald 1883, pp. 348–9, 354; Ṭab. II 1066.

(83) Al-Balādhurī, Ansāb, III, ed. 'Abd ai-'Azīz al-Dūrī, Wiesbaden 1978, p. 300. His brother al-Faḍl al-Aṣghar had been killed fighting the Umayyad army in the battle of al-Ḥarra in 63/683 (Tab. II 413–4). His brother al-Qāsim was killed in Fāre under unknown circumstances (al-Zubayrī, p, 88). His brother 'Abd Allāh was killed fighting in a Baṣran army sent by al-Ḥajjāj to Sijistān in 78/697 (Khalīfa, Ta'rīkh, ed. Akram Ḍiyā' al-'Umarī, Beirut 1397–1977, p. 277) and his brother al-Ḥārith was killed in the Baṣran army fighting the Khārijite Abū Fudayk in al-Baḥrayn in 72/691–2 (al-Zubayrī p. 88).

(84) Quoted by Abu l-Faraj al-Iṣfahānī, Maqātil al-Ṭalibiyyīn, ed. Aḥmad Ṣaqr, Cairo 1949, pp. 148–50, where Faḍl b. al-'Abbās b. "Abd al-Raḥmān should be corrected to Faḍl b. 'Abd al-Raḥmān b. al-'Abbās.

(84a) Anon., al-'Uyūn wa l-ḥadā'iq, in Fragmenta Historicoram Arabicorum, ed. M. J. de Goeje, Leiden 1881, p. 231.

(85) Maqātil, pp. 253–5; Nagel, Untersuchungen, pp. 138, 168; idem, "Ein frūher Bericht über den Aufstand von Muḥammad b. 'Abd Allāh im Jahre 145h," in Der Islam XLVI (1970), p. 259.

(86) Al-Balādhurī, Ansāb, III 300–1.

(87) Ṭab. III 23; al-Balādhurī, Ansāb, III 176; Khalīfa, p. 405.

(88) Ṭab. III 301; al-Ya'qūbī, Ta'rikh, ed. M. Th. Houtsma, Leiden 1883, II 454.

(89) Ṭab. III 549–50.

(90) Ṭab. III 61.

(91) Ṭab. 507, 509, 516; Nagel, Untersuchungen, pp. 168–9.

(92) Ṭab. III 550.

(93) Al-Māwardī, al-Aḥkām al-sulṭāniyya, ed. M. Enger, Bonn 1853, pp. 214, 218–9, 241–2.

(94) Al-Marghīnānī, al-Hidāya, Cairo 1965, 1 114. Ibn al-Murtaḍā mentions the contrary opinion ascribed to Abū Ḥanīfa as a riwāya shādhdha. Al-Baḥr al-zakhkhār, Cairo 1366–68/1947–49, II 184.

(95) Abū Yūsuf, al-Kharāj, pp. 19, 21.

(96) Al-Marghīnānī, II 148.

(97) See for instance Khalīl b. Isḥāq al-Mālikī, Mukhlaṣar, ed. al-Ṭāhir Aḥmad al-Zāwī, Cairo n.d., p. 67. Ibn al-Murtaḍā reports, however, also the contrary opinion as one opinion of Mālik. Al-Baḥr al-zakhkhār, II 184.

(98) Ibn al-Murtaḍā reports as a riwāya from Mālik that the imam is free to pay a share of the khums to them or to others, al-Baḥr II 224. According to al-Māwardi (pp. 241–2), Mālik agreed with Abū Ḥanīfa that the khums should be divided into only three portions for the orphans, the poor, and the travellers. The distribution of the khums is apparently not discussed in the standard Mālikī fiqh works.

(99) Al-Māwardī, pp. 214, 218, 224, 242.

(100) Ibn al-Murtaḍā, al-Baḥr II 184–5, 224; idem, 'Uyūn al-azkār, ed. al-Ṣādiq Mūsā, Beirut 1975, pp. 137, 145–6.

(101) See for instance Miqdād al-Suyūrī, al-Tanqīḥ al-rī'i' li-mukhiaṣar al-sharā-'i', ed. 'Abd al-Laṭīf al-Ḥusaynī al-Kūhkamarī, Qum 1404, I 324–5. Al-Suyūrī adds that the Hāshimī is allowed to accept alms if the khums falls short of his needs. Ibn al-Murtaḍā (II 184) lists, besides the Imamiyya, Zayd b. 'Alī and al-Murtaḍā b. al-Hādī as holding the view that the alms of Hāshimites are licit to other Hāshimites.

(102) Al-Suyūrī, I 339–41.

(103) Da'ā'im al-Islām, ed. A. A. A. Fyz.ee, Cairo 1383/1963, pp. 258–9. See his discussion of the meaning of āl Muḥammad and ahl al-bayt, pp. 28–38. P. 32 the ahl bayt Muḥammad are described as "of the Banū Hāshim," but clearly the Banū Hāshim are not identical with āl Muḥammad in Qāḍī al-Nu'mān's view.

(104) Da'ā'im, I 386.

4 The Hāshimiyyāt of Al-Kumayt and Hāshimī Shi’ism

II

III

4
The Hāshimiyyāt of Al-Kumayt and Hāshimī Shi’ism