Atiyah ibn Sa'd ibn Junādah al-'Awfi () ied 729was an early Muslim scholar of

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

. He is regarded as a reliable narrator of ''

hadith Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...

''. An aged supporter of rebels and a Shia notable of the time, a disciple of the companion of Muhammad Jabir ibn Abd Allah al-Ansari and a famous narrator of Hadith, Atiyya ibn Sa'd Awfi was arrested by Muhammad bin Qasim on the orders of Al-Hajjaj and demanded that he curse Ali on the threat of punishment. Atiyya refused to curse Ali and was punished. While Maclean doesn't give the details of the punishment, early historians like Ibn Hajar Al-asqalani and Tabari record that he was flogged by 400 lashes and his head and beard shaved for humiliation and that he fled to Khurasan and returned to Iraq after the ruler had been changed.History of al-Tabari Vol. 39, pp. 228, under "Those Who Died in the Year 111", State University of New York Press, (1998).Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani, "Tahdhib al-Tahdhib", Volume 7, pp 226, narrator no. 413.

Family background

Atiyah belonged to the Judaila family of the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

known as Qays and his patronymic appellation was Abu al-Hasan according to al-Tabari. Atiyah's mother was Greek.

Lifetime and legacy

Arba'een Walk

After the

battle of Karbala The Battle of Karbala () was fought on 10 October 680 (10 Muharram in the year 61 Hijri year, AH of the Islamic calendar) between the army of the second Umayyad Caliphate, Umayyad caliph Yazid I () and a small army led by Husayn ibn Ali, th ...

, the companion of Muhammad, Jabir ibn Abdullah Al-Ansari and his disciple Atiyah ibn Sa'd were the first pilgrims to visit the grave of

Hussain ibn Ali Husayn ibn Ali (; 11 January 626 – 10 October 680 CE) was a social, political and religious leader in early medieval Arabia. The grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and an Alid (the son of Ali ibn Abi Talib and Muhammad's daughter ...

in Karbala. Hearing the news of what had happened, they left

Medina Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...

to pay homage and reached Karbala on the 20th of the Islamic month of

Safar Safar (), also spelt as Safer in Turkish, is the second month of the lunar Islamic calendar. Most of the Islamic months were named according to ancient Sabean/Sabaic weather conditions; however, since the calendar is lunar, the months shift ...

.Ibrahim Ayati,
A Probe into the History of Ashura
, Ch. 49, Appendix – I, Lulu Press Inc. (2014). This event has evolved into a religious pilgrimage, known as the

Arba'een In Shia Islam, Arba'in () marks forty days after Ashura, which is the martyrdom anniversary of Husayn ibn Ali, grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the third Shia imam. Husayn was killed, alongside most of his relatives and his small re ...

, attended by millions of Muslims every year.

Revolt of Al-Ash'ath

Atiyah supported the revolt of

Ibn al-Ash'ath Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn al-Ash'ath (; died 704), commonly known as Ibn al-Ash'ath after his grandfather, was a prominent Arab nobleman and military commander during the Umayyad Caliphate, most notable for leading a failed rebellion aga ...

and his campaign against al-Hajjāj, the

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a membe ...

viceroy of Iraq under Caliph

Al-Walid I Al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (; – 23 February 715), commonly known as al-Walid I (), was the sixth Umayyad caliph, ruling from October 705 until his death in 715. He was the eldest son of his predecessor, Caliph Abd al-Malik (). As ...

. The revolt was suppressed and Ibn al-Ash’ath was killed in 85 AH. after which Atiyah fled to Fars. Al-Hajjāj ordered

Muhammad bin Qasim Muḥammad ibn al-Qāsim al-Thaqafī (; –) was an Arabs, Arab military commander in service of the Umayyad Caliphate who led the Muslim conquest of Sindh (and Punjab, part of ancient Sindh), inaugurating the Umayyad campaigns in India. His m ...

then governor of Fars, to summon Atiyah and demand him to curse Ali, which was a practice used by the Umayyads as a test of loyalty.: "Here the curse is used as a test of loyalty to the Umayyads." If Atiyah refused, he was to be flogged four hundred times and his head and beard shaved as humiliation.Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani, "''

Tahdhib al-Tahdhib ''Al-Kamal fi Asma' al-Rijal'' () is a collection of biographies of hadith narrators within the Islamic discipline of biographical evaluation by the 12th-century Islamic scholar Abd al-Ghani al-Maqdisi. Overview The author collected in this bo ...

''", Volume 7, page 226, Narrator no. 413.

Al-Tabari Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr ibn Yazīd al-Ṭabarī (; 839–923 CE / 224–310 AH), commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Sunni Muslim scholar, polymath, historian, exegete, jurist, and theologian from Amol, Tabaristan, present- ...

narrates that Atiyah refused to curse Ali and he was punished. According to ''

Chachnama ''Chach Nama'' (; ; "Story of the Chach"), also known as the ''Fateh nama Sindh'' (; "Story of the Conquest of Sindh"), and as ''Tareekh al-Hind wa a's-Sind'' (; "History of Hind and Sind"), is a historical source for the history of Sindh. The ...

'', he was the commander of the right wing of bin Qasim's army after the conquest of

Armabil Bela (), () is a city in Lasbela District in the Balochistan province of Pakistan. It is an ancient city surrounded by hills above the Arabian Sea, nearly northwest of Karachi and south of Quetta. During the autumn of 325 BC, the settlement was ...

(modern

Bela Bela may refer to: Places Asia *Bela Pratapgarh, a town in Pratapgarh District, Uttar Pradesh, India *Bela, a small village near Bhandara, Maharashtra, India *Bela, another name for the biblical city Zoara * Bela, Dang, in Nepal *Bela, Janakpur, ...

). Modern historians, like

Yohanan Friedmann Yohanan Friedmann (; born 1936) is an Israeli scholar of Islamic studies. Biography Friedmann was born in Zákamenné, Czechoslovakia and immigrated to Israel with his parents in 1949. He attended high school at the Reali School in Haifa (194 ...

and André Wink, question the historical authenticity of this claim in ''Chachnama''. Friedmann writes:- : "One of the most conspicuous elements of this kind is the large number of warriors and traditionists (scholars of Hadith) who figure in the Chachnama and are absent in other accounts of the conquest".Friedmann, Yohann (1984), "The origins and significance of the Chach Nāma", Islam in Asia: South Asia, Magnes Press/Westview Press, pp. 23–37, Other early historians like

Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalani Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī (; 18 February 1372 – 2 February 1449), or simply ibn Ḥajar, was a classic Islamic scholar "whose life work constitutes the final summation of the science of hadith." He authored some 150 works on hadith, history, ...

and

Tabari Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr ibn Yazīd al-Ṭabarī (; 839–923 CE / 224–310 AH), commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Sunni Muslim scholar, polymath, historian, exegete, jurist, and theologian from Amol, Tabaristan, present-day ...

record that he moved on to Khurasan and returned to Iraq after the ruler had been changed.

Khorasan

Al-Tabari's biography states that Atiyah moved to

Khorasan KhorasanDabeersiaghi, Commentary on Safarnâma-e Nâsir Khusraw, 6th Ed. Tehran, Zavvâr: 1375 (Solar Hijri Calendar) 235–236 (; , ) is a historical eastern region in the Iranian Plateau in West and Central Asia that encompasses western and no ...

and stayed there during the governorship of

Qutayba ibn Muslim Abū Ḥafṣ Qutayba ibn Abī Ṣāliḥ Muslim ibn ʿAmr al-Bāhilī (; 669–715/6) was an Arab commander of the Umayyad Caliphate who became governor of Khurasan and distinguished himself in the conquest of Transoxiana during the reign o ...

. After the accession of

Yazid II Yazid ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (; — 26 January 724), commonly known as Yazid II, was the ninth Umayyad caliph, ruling from 720 until his death in 724. Although he lacked administrative or military experience, he derived prestige from his ...

and the appointment of

Umar ibn Hubayra Umar ibn Hubayra al-Fazari (; ) was a prominent Umayyad general and governor of Iraq, who played an important role in the Qays–Yaman conflict of this period. Origin and early career A Qaysi from the Jazira, Umar claimed to belong to the tradi ...

as the Governor of

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

(in 103 AH / 721–722 CE), he sought permission to return to Iraq. He then moved to

Kufa Kufa ( ), also spelled Kufah, is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates, Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000. Along with Samarra, Karbala, Kadhimiya ...

lived there until his death in 111 AH / 729 CE.

Scholarly impact

Atiyah ibn Sa'd is regarded as a reliable transmitter of narrations about Muhammad (

) by

Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī (; 18 February 1372 – 2 February 1449), or simply ibn Ḥajar, was a classic Islamic scholar "whose life work constitutes the final summation of the science of hadith." He authored some 150 works on hadith, history, ...

and al-Tabari. In addition, he was a great exegete of the

Qur'an The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God ('' Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides ...

and wrote a commentary on it in five volumes. He was known to be a shia according to many of the scholars, and his narrations are only accepted if they do not support or have relation to the shia theology.

References

Bibliography

External links

*Ayati, Ibrahim. ''A Probe into the History of Ashura''. Chapter 48. Published by: Islamic Seminary Publications, Karachi, Pakistan
Available online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atiyah Ibn Sad 8th-century Arab people 8th-century Muslim scholars of Islam 729 deaths Year of birth unknown Shia scholars of Islam