ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām al-Asadī ( ar , عروة بن الزبير بن العوام الأسدي, ) was among the seven '' fuqaha'' (jurists) who formulated the

fiqh ''Fiqh'' (; ar, فقه ) is Islamic jurisprudence. Muhammad-> Companions-> Followers-> Fiqh. The commands and prohibitions chosen by God were revealed through the agency of the Prophet in both the Quran and the Sunnah (words, deeds, and e ...

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, ...

in the time of the

Tabi‘in The tābi‘ūn ( ar, اَلتَّابِعُونَ, also accusative or genitive tābi‘īn , singular ''tābi‘'' ), "followers" or "successors", are the generation of Muslims who followed the Companions of the Prophet, companions (''ṣaḥāb ...

and one of the Muslim historians.

Biography

Family

He was the son of

Zubayr ibn al-Awwam Az Zubayr ( ar, الزبير) is a city in and the capital of Al-Zubair District, part of the Basra Governorate of Iraq. The city is just south of Basra. The name can also refer to the old Emirate of Zubair. The name is also sometimes written ...

and

Asmā' bint Abu Bakr Asmāʾ bint Abī Bakr ( ar, أسماء بنت أبي بكر; 594/595 – 692 CE) was one of the companions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and half-sister of his third wife Aisha. She is regarded as one of the most prominent Islamic figures, ...

. He was also the brother of

Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam ( ar, عبد الله ابن الزبير ابن العوام, ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām; May 624 CE – October/November 692), was the leader of a caliphate based in Mecca that rivaled the ...

and the nephew of

Aisha bint Abu Bakr Aisha ( ar, , translit=ʿĀʾisha bint Abī Bakr; , also , ; ) was Muhammad's third and youngest wife. In Islamic writings, her name is thus often prefixed by the title "Mother of the Believers" ( ar, links=no, , ʾumm al- muʾminīn), referr ...

. His most loved son was Hisham ibn Urwah. He purportedly built a residential complex on some farming land on the outskirts of Medina, some 3 km west of Masjid an-Nabawi.

Uthman's era

He was born in the early years 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 ...

Uthman Uthman ibn Affan ( ar, عثمان بن عفان, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān; – 17 June 656), also spelled by Colloquial Arabic, Turkish and Persian rendering Osman, was a second cousin, son-in-law and notable companion of the Islamic prop ...

and lived through the civil war which occurred after Uthman's martyrdom. Although his brother Abd-Allah ibn al-Zubayr wrested the rule from Abd al-Malik, it is unknown if he assisted him. He devoted himself to the study of fiqh and

hadith Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approva ...

and had the greatest knowledge of hadiths narrated from

Aishah Aisha ( ar, , translit=ʿĀʾisha bint Abī Bakr; , also , ; ) was Muhammad's third and youngest wife. In Islamic writings, her name is thus often prefixed by the title "Mother of the Believers" ( ar, links=no, , ʾumm al- muʾminīn), refer ...

. He said, "Before Aishah died, I saw that I had become one of four authorities. I said, 'If she dies, there will be no hadith which will be lost from those she knows. I have memorized all of them."

Legacy

He was one of the seven fuqaha, or jurists, of Medina.

Works

Urwah wrote many books, but destroyed them the day of the

Battle of al-Harrah The Battle of al-Harra ( ar, يوم الحرة, Yawm al-Ḥarra ) was fought between the Syrian army of the Umayyad caliph Yazid I () led by Muslim ibn Uqba and the defenders of Medina from the Ansar and Muhajirun factions, who had rebelled ...

. He later had a feeling of regret, saying "I would rather have them in my possession than my family and property twice over." At the same time, he quashed any fears that they might become sources of authority alongside the

Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , si ...

. He is also known to have written one of the first writings in the area of the biography of

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mon ...

, known as the ''Tract of Seerah''. This is not extant either but is known through

Ibn Ishaq Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn Yasār ibn Khiyār (; according to some sources, ibn Khabbār, or Kūmān, or Kūtān, ar, محمد بن إسحاق بن يسار بن خيار, or simply ibn Isḥaq, , meaning "the son of Isaac"; died 767) was an 8 ...

. Alfred Guillaume writes: mong precursors of Ibn Ishaq's SiraA man of much greater importance was 'Urwa b. al-Zubayr b. al- 'Awwam (23-94). He and his brother 'Abdullah were in close contact with the prophet's widow nd their aunt'A’isha. He was a recognized authority on the early history of Islam, and the Umayyad caliph 'Abdu’l-Malik applied to him when he needed information on that subject. Again, it is uncertain whether he wrote a book, but the many traditions that are handed down in his name by Ibn Ishaq and other writers justify the assertion that he was the founder of Islamic history.

Hadith

Among his narrations are: His transmitted narrations from: *

Aisha Aisha ( ar, , translit=ʿĀʾisha bint Abī Bakr; , also , ; ) was Muhammad's third and youngest wife. In Islamic writings, her name is thus often prefixed by the title "Mother of the Believers" ( ar, links=no, , ʾumm al- muʾminīn), referr ...

His narrations are transmitted by: *

Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn Ubaydullah ibn Abdullah ibn Shihab al-Zuhri ( ar, محمد بن مسلم بن عبید الله بن عبد الله بن شهاب الزهری, translit=Muḥammad ibn Muslim ibn ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh b. S̲h̲i ...

Non-Muslim view

Gregor Schoeler Gregor Schoeler, born in Germany in 1944, is a contemporary non-Muslim Islamic scholar He has served the chair of Islamic studies at the University of Basel since 2009. Prior to that, he served in a professorship role in the same field at Paris- ...

calls him as the first head of what he calls a "Madinese historical school," who began the systematic organization of material into books (tasnīf)

Early Islam scholars

References

also: *''The Four Imams'', Muhammad Abu Zahrah, Dar al-Taqwa Publications

External links

Biodata at MuslimScholars.info

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20131111202907/http://www.at-tawhid.net/article-urwah-ibn-az-zubayr-ibn-al-awwam-m-94-99538080.html Biography of Imam 'Urwah Ibn Az Zubayr by at-tawhid.net {{DEFAULTSORT:Urwah Ibn Zubayr Tabi‘un Sunni imams Tabi‘un hadith narrators Arab Muslim historians of Islam 713 deaths Abu Bakr family Year of birth unknown Scholars from the Umayyad Caliphate Banu Asad (Quraysh) 8th-century jurists 7th-century Arabs 8th-century Arabs