Tawwabin uprising (, ') or the penitents uprising refers to the uprising of a group of

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 ...

n pro-Alids 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 ...

to take revenge for the murder of

Husayn ibn Ali Husayn ibn Ali (; 11 January 626 – 10 October 680 Common Era, CE) was a social, political and religious leader in early medieval Arabia. The grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and an Alids, Alid (the son of Ali ibn Abu Talib ibn Abd a ...

, whom they had invited to Kufa in 680 CE (60 AH). The group was led by Sulayman ibn Surad Khuzai, a companion of the Islamic prophet

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

. The army of Tawwabin fought against 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 ...

army in the Battle of 'Ayn al-Warda in January 685, there the Tawwabin were defeated and their leaders were killed.

Background and formation of the Tawwabin

After the accession of the second

caliph, Yazid, the

ns invited Husayn ibn Ali to lead a revolt against him. While on his way to Kufa, Husayn was killed in the

by the government forces, and the support of Kufan Shia did not materialize. Kufans were regretful and blamed themselves for not having done anything to help Husayn. Following these emotions, an organized movement was started by a group of Kufan Shia, who called themselves ''Tawwabin'' (the penitents). The uprising started under the leadership of five followers of Husayn's father

Ali ibn Abi Talib Ali ibn Abi Talib (; ) was the fourth Rashidun caliph who ruled from until Assassination of Ali, his assassination in 661, as well as the first imamate in Shia doctrine, Shia Imam. He was the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muha ...

, and initially comprised one hundred Kufans, all aged sixty years or more. They held their first meeting in the house of Sulayman ibn Surad Khuzai, a companion of

, in 61 AH (680/81 CE), in which Sulayman was elected as the leader of the uprising. The movement remained secret until 64 AH (683/84 CE). After the death of Yazid and the start of the

Second Fitna The Second Fitna was a period of general political and military disorder and civil war in the Islamic community during the early Umayyad Caliphate. It followed the death of the first Umayyad caliph Mu'awiya I in 680, and lasted for about twelve y ...

, the Iraqis drove out the Umayyad governor

Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad () was the Umayyad governor of Basra, Kufa and Khurasan during the reigns of caliphs Mu'awiya I () and Yazid I (), and the leading general of the Umayyad army under caliphs Marwan I () and Abd al-Malik (). He virtually ...

and Iraq came under

Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam (; May 624October/November 692) was the leader of a caliphate based in Mecca that rivaled the Umayyads from 683 until his death. The son of al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam and Asma bint Abi Bakr, and grandson of ...

's influence. The collapse of Umayyad authority eased conditions for the Tawwabin and they publicly started calling for support to their cause. The movement had no further goals apart from fighting the Umayyads and atoning for their failure to support Husayn. Their slogan was "''Ya Latharat al-Husayn''" (). Some 16,000 people enlisted in the register of Sulayman. They secretly gathered soldiers and weapons from Kufa and the tribes around it. Sulayman secured support of Shia leaders in

Basra Basra () is a port city in Iraq, southern Iraq. It is the capital of the eponymous Basra Governorate, as well as the List of largest cities of Iraq, third largest city in Iraq overall, behind Baghdad and Mosul. Located near the Iran–Iraq bor ...

and

al-Mada'in Al-Mada'in (, ; ''Māḥozā''; ) was an ancient metropolis situated on the Tigris in what is now Iraq. It was located between the ancient royal centers of Ctesiphon and Seleucia, and was founded by the Sasanian Empire. The city's name was used ...

by sending letters.

Start of the uprising

In Rabi' al-thani of 65 AH (November/December 684 CE), Sulayman summoned his men that had joined his army to Nukhayla. Out of 16,000 people that had promised to show up, only 4000 were present. One of the reasons was that

Mukhtar al-Thaqafi Al-Mukhtar ibn Abi Ubayd al-Thaqafi (; – 3 April 687) was a pro- Alid revolutionary based in Kufa, who led a rebellion against the Umayyad Caliphate in 685 and ruled over most of Iraq for eighteen months during the Second Fitna. Born in Ta ...

believed that Sulayman had no experience of wars, so many Shia, especially those from Mada'in and Basra, from Khuzai's army began to abandon him in large numbers. Finally, 1000 more left the army. The army spent three days in Nukhayla, and then went to Karbala to mourn at the grave of Husayn.

Battle of Ayn al-Warda

After visiting Karbala, the army arrived at Qarqisia. The Tawwabin pressed on to Ayn al-Warda (identified with Ra's al-Ayn), where they met an Umayyad army of 20,000, under command of Husayn ibn Numayr. The battle started on 4 January 685 and lasted for three days. Although the Tawwabin held the upper hand in a first skirmish, over the next two days the numerical superiority of the Umayyad army began to prevail. Finally, Sulayman was killed and the Tawwabin were almost annihilated. Rifa bin Shaddad advised the survivors to return and brought them to Qarqisiya. The small number of Tawwabin who survived the battle, went over to

. These Kufans, who formed the backbone of Mukhtar's movement, called themselves ''Shia al-Mahdi'', ''Shia al-Haqq'' or ''Shia al-Muhammad''. In his book, ''The origins and early development of Shia Islam'', Seyed Husain Mohammad Jafari argues that the Tawwabin were apparently defeated, but in fact they formed the first ever integrated Shia organization, which was influenced by Husayn's thinking, in order to serve the Shia community.

References

Sources

* * * * * * {{cite book, last=Wellhausen, first=Julius , year= 1901, author-link=Julius Wellhausen, title=Die religiös-politischen Oppositionsparteien im alten Islam, language=German, url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.358135, publisher=Weidmann'sche Buchhandlung, location=Berlin, oclc=453206240 Husayn ibn Ali Battle of Karbala Second Fitna Rebellions against the Umayyad Caliphate 680s in the Umayyad Caliphate 680s conflicts