Sa'id ibn Jubayr
Encyclopedia
Sa'id bin Jubayr , also known as Abū Muhammad, was originally from Kufa
, in modern-day Iraq
. He was regarded as one of the leading members of the Tabi‘in
and was counted by Sheikh
al-Tusi as one of the companions of the fourth Imam
, Ali ibn Husayn (d. ca. 712). Sa'īd is held in the highest esteem by scholars of the Shi'a and Sunni Islamic traditions and was considered one of the leading jurists of the time. Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani
and al-Dhahabi
praise him greatly in their respective treatises. He also narrated several hadith from Ibn Abbas.
, took on the army of al-Hajjāj (d. 714), the governor of the Iraqi provinces during the reign of the Umayyad
caliph
al-Walid I. Within their forces was a group known as the 'Battalion of Qur'an Reciters' headed by Kumayl bin Ziyad an-Nakhai and including Sa'īd bin Jubayr. The revolt was brutally put down and Sa'īd was forced to flee to the outskirts of Makkah. He persisted in travelling to Makkah itself twice a year to perform the hajj
and umrah
and would enter Kufa secretly to help resolve peoples' religious issues.
Bags of gold and silver were brought and spread before Sa'īd bin Jubayr in order to try him.
Al-Hajjāj was outdone and ordered the beheading of Sa'īd bin 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.
From him are recorded by Imams Bukhari, Muslim, al-Tirmidhi, al-Nasa'i, Abu Dawood, Ibn Maja, Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal, and Imam Malik ibn Anas. Sa'id narrates 147 traditions in Sahih Bukhari and 78 in Sahih Muslim.
Kufa
Kufa is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000....
, in modern-day Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
. He was regarded as one of the leading members of the Tabi‘in
Tabi‘in
The Tābi‘ūn are the generation of Muslims who were born after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad but who were contemporaries of the Sahaba "Companions". As such, they played an important part in the development of Islamic thought and philosophy, and in the political development of the...
and was counted by Sheikh
Sheikh
Not to be confused with sikhSheikh — also spelled Sheik or Shaikh, or transliterated as Shaykh — is an honorific in the Arabic language that literally means "elder" and carries the meaning "leader and/or governor"...
al-Tusi as one of the companions of the fourth Imam
Imam
An imam is an Islamic leadership position, often the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads Islamic worship services. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have a religious question...
, Ali ibn Husayn (d. ca. 712). Sa'īd is held in the highest esteem by scholars of the Shi'a and Sunni Islamic traditions and was considered one of the leading jurists of the time. Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani
Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani
Al-Haafidh Shihabuddin Abu'l-Fadl Ahmad ibn Ali ibn Muhammad, better known as Ibn Hajar due to the fame of his forefathers, al-Asqalani due to his family origin , was a medieval Shafiite Sunni scholar of Islam who represents the entire realm of the Sunni world in the field of Hadith...
and al-Dhahabi
Al-Dhahabi
Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn `Uthman ibn Qaymaz ibn `Abd Allah, Shams al-Din Abu `Abd Allah al-Turkmani al-Diyarbakri al-Fariqi al-Dimashqi al-Dhahabi al-Shafi`i , known as Al-Dhahabi , a Shafi'i Muhaddith and historian of Islam.-Biography:...
praise him greatly in their respective treatises. He also narrated several hadith from Ibn Abbas.
Life
At the battle of Jamājim in 82 AH (699-701), Ibn Ash'ath and his followers, including 100,000 from amongst the mawāliMawali
Mawali or mawālá is a term in Classical Arabic used to address non-Arab Muslims.The term gained prominence in the centuries following the early Arab Muslim conquests in the 7th century, as many non-Arabs such as Persians, Egyptians, and Turks converted to Islam...
, took on the army of al-Hajjāj (d. 714), the governor of the Iraqi provinces during the reign of the Umayyad
Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate was the second of the four major Arab caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. It was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty, whose name derives from Umayya ibn Abd Shams, the great-grandfather of the first Umayyad caliph. Although the Umayyad family originally came from the...
caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
al-Walid I. Within their forces was a group known as the 'Battalion of Qur'an Reciters' headed by Kumayl bin Ziyad an-Nakhai and including Sa'īd bin Jubayr. The revolt was brutally put down and Sa'īd was forced to flee to the outskirts of Makkah. He persisted in travelling to Makkah itself twice a year to perform the hajj
Hajj
The Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is one of the largest pilgrimages in the world, and is the fifth pillar of Islam, a religious duty that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so...
and umrah
Umrah
The Umrah or is a pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, performed by Muslims that can be undertaken at any time of the year. In Arabic, Umrah means "to visit a populated place"...
and would enter Kufa secretly to help resolve peoples' religious issues.
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 bin Jubayr entered upon al-Hajjāj, who asked his name (and he knew his name well):- Sa'īd: Sa'īd bin Jubayr.
- Al-Hajjaj: Nay, you are Shaqiy bin Kusayr. (al-Hajjāj is playing with words here: Sa'id means happy and Shaqiy 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 (shaqayta) and your mother is wretched" (shaqiyat). Then he told him: "By Allah, I will replace your dunyaDunyaDunyā is a word in Arabic which means, in Islamic terminology, the temporal world—and its earthly concerns and possessions—as opposed to the eternal spiritual realm, or the hereafter . Dunyā literally means 'closer' or 'lower'...
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 bin 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 bin 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 [might] turn, 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 bin 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.
Sunni view
writes :From him are recorded by Imams Bukhari, Muslim, al-Tirmidhi, al-Nasa'i, Abu Dawood, Ibn Maja, Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal, and Imam Malik ibn Anas. Sa'id narrates 147 traditions in Sahih Bukhari and 78 in Sahih Muslim.