ʿĪsā ibn Ṭalḥa al-Taymī () was a notable of the

Quraysh The Quraysh ( ar, قُرَيْشٌ) were a grouping of Arab clans that historically inhabited and controlled the city of Mecca and its Kaaba. The Islamic prophet Muhammad was born into the Hashim clan of the tribe. Despite this, many of the Qu ...

Medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...

and is cited as a transmitter of historical reports by early Islamic historians.

Family, life and work

Isa was a son of Talha ibn Ubaydallah, a prominent

companion of Muhammad The Companions of the Prophet ( ar, اَلصَّحَابَةُ; ''aṣ-ṣaḥāba'' meaning "the companions", from the verb meaning "accompany", "keep company with", "associate with") were the disciples and followers of Muhammad who saw or m ...

from the

Banu Taym ) , type = Qurayshi / Adnanite Arabs , image = Banu Taym Allah Flag.svg , image_size = 150 px , alt = , caption = Banner of Banu Taym , nisba = At-Taymī () , location = Western Arabian Peninsula, especially ...

clan of the

tribe. Isa's mother was Su'da bint Awf ibn Kharija ibn Sinan, a prominent chief of the

Banu Murra Banu Murra () was a tribe during the era of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. They participated in the Battle of the Trench.Rodinson, ''Muhammad: Prophet of Islam'', p. 208. They were members of the Ghatafan tribe See also *List of battles of Muham ...

tribe and noted peacemaker among the tribes of the Ghatafan in north central Arabia in the pre-Islamic period. Isa's family became part of the early Islamic nobility in

, which served as the seat of the Muslim state from the 620s until 656 and afterward retained prominence as a religious and cultural center of the

Caliphate A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

. Isa was part of a delegation of Medinese notables sent to the

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...

caliph

Mu'awiya I Mu'awiya I ( ar, معاوية بن أبي سفيان, Muʿāwiya ibn Abī Sufyān; –April 680) was the founder and first caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from 661 until his death. He became caliph less than thirty years after the deat ...

() in

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

. A number of reports related to Mu'awiya in the early Islamic sources are attributed to Isa's encounter with the caliph. Nothing is heard of Isa again until the reign of the Umayyad caliph

Abd al-Malik Abdul Malik ( ar, عبد الملك) is an Arabic (Muslim or Christian) male given name and, in modern usage, surname. It is built from the Arabic words '' Abd'', ''al-'' and ''Malik''. The name means "servant of the King", in the Christian instan ...

() when he was part of another delegation of notables from Medina who requested that the caliph dismiss their governor in 692–694,

al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf Abu Muhammad al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf ibn al-Hakam ibn Abi Aqil al-Thaqafi ( ar, أبو محمد الحجاج بن يوسف بن الحكم بن أبي عقيل الثقفي, Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf ibn al-Ḥakam ibn Abī ʿAqīl al-T ...

. Abd al-Malik accepted their request. Isa had a son by the same name from his wife Umm Isa bint Iyad of the Banu Asad clan of the Quraysh. Another son, Muhammad, was a courtier and

panegyrist A panegyric ( or ) is a formal public speech or written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or thing. The original panegyrics were speeches delivered at public events in ancient Athens. Etymology The word originated as a compound of grc, ...

of the

Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...

caliph

al-Mansur Abū Jaʿfar ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Manṣūr (; ar, أبو جعفر عبد الله بن محمد المنصور‎; 95 AH – 158 AH/714 CE – 6 October 775 CE) usually known simply as by his laqab Al-Manṣūr (المنصور) ...

(). Muhammad's son, also named Muhammad, by his kinswoman, a daughter of Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn Talha, served the same role, while the elder Muhammad's daughter, Fatima, married al-Mansur and had three sons by him,

Sulayman Sulayman (Arabic: سُلِيمَان ''sulaymān'') is an Arabic name of the Biblical king and Islamic prophet Solomon meaning "man of peace", derived from the Hebrew name Shlomo. The name Sulayman is a diminutive of the name Salman (سَلْ� ...

, Ya'qub, and Isa. Sulayman served several important offices under the Abbasid caliph

Harun al-Rashid Abu Ja'far Harun ibn Muhammad al-Mahdi ( ar , أبو جعفر هارون ابن محمد المهدي) or Harun ibn al-Mahdi (; or 766 – 24 March 809), famously known as Harun al-Rashid ( ar, هَارُون الرَشِيد, translit=Hārūn ...

References

Bibliography

*{{cite book , last1=Ahmed , first1=Asad Q. , title=The Religious Elite of the Early Islamic Ḥijāz: Five Prosopographical Case Studies , date=2010 , publisher=University of Oxford Linacre College Unit for Prosopographical Research , isbn=9781900934138 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v1dwdBDDjcUC 7th-century Arabs 7th-century people from the Umayyad Caliphate People from Medina Banu Taym