Ali ibn Abd Allah ibn al-Abbas
Ali ibn ʿAbd Allāh علي بن عبد الله | |
|---|---|
| Personal life | |
| Born | c. January 661 |
| Died | c. 736 |
| Spouse |
|
| Children | |
| Parents |
|
| Known for | Father of Muhammad ibn ʿAlī, grandfather of al-Saffah and al-Manṣūr; progenitor of Abbasid revolutionaries |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Islam |
ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib (Arabic: علي بن عبد الله بن العباس بن عبد المطلب) (ca. 661–ca. 736) was an ancestor of the Abbasids. He was a grandson of al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib and the grandfather of the first two Abbasid caliphs al-Saffah and al-Mansur.
Early life
Ali was the youngest son of Abd Allah ibn Abbas, the cousin of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and Zur'ah bint Mishrah, a daughter of one of the "four kings" of the tribe of Kinda.[1][2] According to tradition he was born on the exact night that the assassination of Ali ibn Abi Talib (d. 661) took place.[3] Alternative sources dispute the year of his birth.[4][5] Years later, during the rebellion of Medina against the Umayyad caliph Yazid I, the city's residents rose up in revolt before facing defeat at the Battle of al-Harra in 683.[6] Following their defeat, the Medinans were forced to pledge allegiance under a humiliating formula, but Ali, who was then in his early twenties, was spared this treatment due to the intervention of his maternal uncles of Kinda and troops of Rabi'a, who constituted the major segment of the Umayyad army.[7]
Later life and relocation
Prompted by the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, who objected to him holding both the name and the kunya of Ali, he eventually changed his kunya from Abu al-Hasan to Abu Muhammad.[3] During the reign of al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik (r. 705–715), Ali ran afoul of the Umayyad government, which ordered him to be flogged and banished from the capital. He subsequently relocated to the province of al-Sharat, on the border between Palestine and Arabia, and took up residence at the village of Humayma, establishing that place as the new headquarters of the Abbasid family. He died at Humayma in 735-6 or the following year, by which time his son Muhammad had already assumed leadership of the family and the Abbasid propaganda effort.[4][8][5]
Characterization and offspring
Ali is described as being a handsome man of large stature and fair complexion, with a long beard and a bald head which was concealed by a cap. He frequently used black hair dye, and was considered reliable by traditionalists with few hadiths.[3] He was considered extremely pious and was said to pray constantly, and in orthodox circles he eventually came to be known by the surname of "al-Sajjid" (meaning one who prostrates himself habitually).[4][9][2]
Ali reportedly fathered upwards of twenty children during his stay at Humayma, with his wives and free consorts including Al-Aliyya bint Ubaydullah ibn al-Abbas, Umm Abiha bint Abdullah ibn Ja'far, and a woman of the Banu al-Harish, alongside several umm walads.[3][10] is most prominent son was Muhammad, who became one of the leading figures of the Abbasid cause and the father of the future caliphs al-Saffah and al-Mansur. Other of his offspring, including ʿIsā,[11] Dawud,[12] Sulayman,[11] Abd al-Samad,[13] Salih,[13] Isma'il,[13] and Abd Allah,[11] were active participants in the Abbasid Revolution, and several of them continued to play a prominent role in the first decades of the Abbasid Caliphate.
References
- ↑ Elad 2005, pp. 311–312.
- 1 2 Yarshater 1985–2007, p. 54, v. 39.
- 1 2 3 4 Ibn Sa'd 2000, p. 193.
- 1 2 3 Zetterstéen 1960, p. 381.
- 1 2 Ibn Khallikan 1843, p. 217.
- ↑ Ahmed 2011, p. 33.
- ↑ Lecker 2024, p. 645.
- ↑ Kennedy 1993, p. 396.
- ↑ Ibn Khallikan 1843, pp. 216, 219, 220.
- ↑ Ibn Khallikan 1843, p. 220.
- 1 2 3 Yarshater 1985–2007, p. 56, v. 28.
- ↑ Yarshater 1985–2007, p. 195, v. 27.
- 1 2 3 Yarshater 1985–2007, p. 150, v. 27.
Bibliography
- Elad, Amikam (2005). "Mawali in the composition of al-Ma'mun's army: a non-Arab takeover?". In Bernards, Monique; Nawas, John (eds.). Patronate and Patronage in Early and Classical Islam. Leiden & Boston: Brill. pp. 278–325. ISBN 978-90-04-14480-4.
- Ibn Khallikan, Shams al-Din Abu al-'Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad (1843). Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary, Vol. II. Trans. Baron Mac Guckin de Slane. Paris: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland.
- Kennedy, Hugh (1993). "Muhammad b. 'Ali b. 'Abd Allah". In Bosworth, C. E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W. P. & Pellat, Ch. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Volume VII: Mif–Naz. Leiden: E. J. Brill. p. 396. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_5342. ISBN 978-90-04-09419-2.
- Zetterstéen, K.V. (1960). "'Ali b. 'Abd Allah b. al-'Abbas". In Gibb, H. A. R.; Kramers, J. H.; Lévi-Provençal, E.; Schacht, J.; Lewis, B. & Pellat, Ch. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Volume I: A–B. Leiden: E. J. Brill. p. 381. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_0510. OCLC 495469456.
- Lecker, Michael (2024). Jews and Arabs in Pre- and Early Islamic Arabia. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-040-23141-8.
- Ibn Sa'd, Muhammad (2000). Kitab at-Tabaqat al-Kabir, Volume II: The Men of Madina. Translated by Aisha Bewley. Ta-Ha Publishers. ISBN 1-897940-91-2.
- Ahmed, Asad Q. (2011). The Religious Elite of the Early Islamic Hijaz: Five Prosopographical Case Studies. Unit for Prosopographical Research, Linacre College, University of Oxford. ISBN 978-1-900934-13-8.
- Yarshater, Ehsan, ed. (1985–2007). The History of al-Ṭabarī (40 vols). SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-7249-1.