Burayr ibn Khuḍayr al-Hamdānī ( ar, بُرَيْر بن خُضَيْر ٱلْهَمْدَانِيّ) was descended from ''Bani Mashriq'', a branch of Banu Hamdan, who were originally from

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the northeast an ...

. He was a

Qāriʾ A Qari (, ar, قَارِئ, plural ''qāriʾūn'', ''qurrāʾ'' or ''qaraʾah'') is a person who recites the Quran with the proper rules of recitation ('' tajwid''). Although it is encouraged, a qāriʾ does not necessarily have to memorize ...

and used to teach

Quran 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.: , sing.: ...

in Masjid al-Kufa. He was also one of the

Tabi'un 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 (''ṣaḥābah'') of the Islamic prop ...

and a companion of Ali as well. When Burayr heard of

Husayn ibn Ali Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, أبو عبد الله الحسين بن علي بن أبي طالب; 10 January 626 – 10 October 680) was a grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a son of Ali ibn Ab ...

's migration from

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 second-holiest city in Islam, and the capital of the ...

Karbala Karbala or Kerbala ( ar, كَرْبَلَاء, Karbalāʾ , , also ;) is a city in central Iraq, located about southwest of Baghdad, and a few miles east of Lake Milh, also known as Razzaza Lake. Karbala is the capital of Karbala Govern ...

, he left

Kufa Kufa ( ar, الْكُوفَة ), 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 River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000. Currently, Kufa and Naja ...

to join Husayn's army.

Objection to Umar ibn Sa'd

Some companions of Husayn condemned

Umar ibn Sa'd ʿUmar ibn Saʿd () (fl. 620–686) was a son of Muhammad's companion, Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas. He was born in Medina and later moved to Kufa, which was founded by his father and stayed there until his death. He took orders from Ubaydullah ibn Zi ...

for denying water access to

in the

Battle of Karbala The Battle of Karbala ( ar, مَعْرَكَة كَرْبَلَاء) was fought on 10 October 680 (10 Muharram in the year 61 AH of the Islamic calendar) between the army of the second Umayyad Caliph Yazid I and a small army led by Husa ...

among whom was Burayr ibn Khudayr who went to Ibn Sa'd and called out whether he would leave the "family of prophethood to die of thirst" while he claimed he knew God and His Messenger.

Mubahala with Yazid

Yazid bin Moqal, an ally of

Abd al-Qays The Abd al-Qays ( ar, عبد القيس) was an ancient Arabian tribe from the Rabi'a branch of the North Arabian tribes. History Origins The name of the tribe means 'servant of the odQays'. It belonged to the tribal groups originally residen ...

moved towards the camp of Husayn and reaching near, he called out in a loud voice to Burayr ibn Khudayr, asking how did he find what God had destined for him. Burayr replied that God had sent good with regard to him, and evil in regard with Yazid. In response Yazid called him a liar who was among deviated ones. Burayr challenged him to Mubahala (i.e. calling God's curse down upon whoever is liar). Yazid agreed and they came before the two camps to take part in the imprecation contest after which they attacked each other. It is said that Yazid's strike had no effect, however, Burayr's blow split Yazid's helmet and the sword reached up to his brain. He fell down and died a few moments later.

Death

After killing Yazid, Burayr began to attack on the camp of

Ibn Sa'd Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Sa‘d ibn Manī‘ al-Baṣrī al-Hāshimī or simply Ibn Sa'd ( ar, ابن سعد) and nicknamed ''Scribe of Waqidi'' (''Katib al-Waqidi''), was a scholar and Arabian biographer. Ibn Sa'd was born in 784/785 CE ...

, calling them "murderers of the son of the daughter of the Messenger" of God. Razi ibn Munqidh Abadi attacked him and they fought for sometime. However Burayr subdued him and sat upon his chest. While he was engaged in this, the Ka'b ibn Jabir Azadi, delivered a blow with a spear on the back of Burayr and killed him. It is related that his killer was condemned by people including his wife,Ibne Athir, Tarikh, 4/66-67 and his cousin, Ubayd Allah ibn Jabir. The killer, himself, was also ashamed and composed some couplets that described his grief and regret.

References

* {{cite book, last=al-Qarashi, first=Baqir Sharif, title=The life of Imam Husain (AS), year=2007, publisher=Ansariyan Publications, location=Iran, translator=Sayyid Athar Husain S.H. Rizvi, isbn=978-964-438-889-7 People killed at the Battle of Karbala

Objection to Umar ibn Sa'd

Mubahala with Yazid

Death

See also

References