Laylat al-mabit

Laylat al-mabit (Arabic: لَـیْـلَـة ٱلْـمَـبِـیْـت, lit. 'the overnight stay') refers to the night in 622 CE when the Islamic prophet Muhammad fled Mecca for Medina to evade an assassination plot. Ali, the prophet's cousin and son-in-law, slept in his bed, pretending to be Muhammad so that the assassins who had gathered outside the prophet's house would believe that he was still there. This allowed Muhammad to leave Mecca safely and begin his immigration. The event has been referred to in Quran 2:207, which Shia and some Sunni sources interpret as referring to Ali's willingness to sacrifice himself for Muhammad.

Event

Upon arrival, Muhammad founded the Quba mosque, now located inside Medina, Saudi Arabia

As the harassment of early Muslims in Mecca continued, or perhaps with the hope of better prospects,[1] Muhammad asked his followers to emigrate to the city of Yathrib,[1] whose residents had pledged to protect him there.[2] To attract less attention, Muslims left Mecca in small groups,[3][4] throughout the summer of 622 CE,[5] while Muhammad remained behind in Mecca to organize and encourage the emigration efforts, or perhaps to ensure an independent position in Yathrib upon his arrival later.[3] Alarmed by the new developments,[3][6] the Meccan clan leaders decided to murder Muhammad. The plan was for a group of warriors, one from each Meccan clan, to kill Muhammad together to avoid any potential retribution from Muhammad's clan, the Banu Hashim.[3][7]

An informant,[8] or perhaps the archangel Gabriel,[9][10] disclosed the assassination plot to Muhammad. To foil their plans, his young cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib risked his life and slept in Muhammad's bed that night instead of him.[11][12][13] Alternatively, the historian Ibn Ishaq (d. 767) writes that Muhammad reassured Ali of his safety in advance.[14] At any rate, Muhammad left Mecca in the meantime under cover of darkness, joined later by Abu Bakr, another companion.[14] In a last-minute change of plans, however, the assassins waited until the next morning to attack.[9] At dawn, they broke into the house and found Ali, whose life they spared.[9][15] He stayed behind in Mecca for a few days after Muhammad's departure to return the goods entrusted to him,[12][16] who was evidently known in Mecca as al-Amin (lit. 'the trustworthy').[17] Then Ali too escaped Mecca together with a few Muslim women, including his mother, Fatima bint Asad, and Muhammad's daughter, Fatima.[18][12] Muhammad is said to have waited outside of Yathrib in Quba for Ali to join him before entering the city on 27 September 622.[19][20] Yathrib was later renamed Medinat al-Nabi (lit. 'city of the prophet'), or simply Medina, in his honor.[15]

Mention in the Quran

That Ali reputedly risked his life to facilitate Muhammad's safe escape may have been the reason for the revelation of verse 2:207 in the Quran,[21] "But there is also a kind of man who gives his life away to please God, and God is most compassionate to his servants."[22] This was the opinion Ibn Abbas (d. 687), an influential early exegete,[22] and such reports are also found in the works of the Sunni authors al-Tha'labi (d. 1035-6),[21] al-Razi (d. 1209),[23] and al-Haskani,[24] the Shia authors al-Tabarsi (d. 1153),[23] al-Hilli (d. 1325),[24] al-Balaghi (d. 1933),[17] and the Mu'tazilite scholar Ibn Abi'l-Hadid (d. 1258).[17]

See also

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 Watt 1953, p. 149.
  2. ↑ Peters 1994, p. 185.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Watt 1953, p. 150.
  4. ↑ Hazleton 2013, p. 57.
  5. ↑ Hazleton 2013, p. 129.
  6. ↑ Hazleton 2013, pp. 159–61.
  7. ↑ Lings 1991, p. 116.
  8. ↑ Abbas 2021, p. 45.
  9. 1 2 3 Lings 1991, p. 117.
  10. ↑ Peters 1994, p. 186.
  11. ↑ Huart 2012.
  12. 1 2 3 Momen 1985, p. 12.
  13. ↑ Tabatabai 1975, pp. 35, 170.
  14. 1 2 Watt 1953, p. 151.
  15. 1 2 Nasr & Afsaruddin 2022.
  16. ↑ Poonawala 1982.
  17. 1 2 3 Shah-Kazemi 2015.
  18. ↑ Tabatabai 1975, p. 170.
  19. ↑ Veccia Vaglieri 2012.
  20. ↑ Lings 1991, p. 123.
  21. 1 2 Nasr et al. 2015, p. 257.
  22. 1 2 Mavani 2013, p. 71.
  23. 1 2 Abbas 2021, pp. 46, 206.
  24. 1 2 Mavani 2013, pp. 71, 98.

References

  • Abbas, Hassan (2021). The Prophet's Heir: The Life of Ali ibn Abi Talib. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300229455.
  • Gleave, Robert M. (2008). "ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (Third ed.). doi:10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_26324. ISBN 9789004171374.
  • Hazleton, Lesley (2009). After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split in Islam. Doubleday. ISBN 9780385532099.
  • Hazleton, Lesley (2013). The First Muslim: The Story of Muhammad. Atlantic Books. ISBN 9781782392323.
  • Huart, Cl. (2012). "ʿAlī". In Houtsma, M.Th.; Arnold, T.W.; Basset, R.; Hartmann, R. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (First ed.). doi:10.1163/2214-871X_ei1_COM_0020. ISBN 9789004082656.
  • Kelen, Betty (1975). Muhammad: The Messenger of God. T. Nelson. ISBN 0840764405.
  • Lings, Martin (1991). Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources. Islamic Texts Society. ISBN 9780946621255.
  • Mavani, Hamid (2013), Religious Authority and Political Thought in Twelver Shi'ism: From Ali to Post-Khomeini, Routledge Studies in Political Islam, Routledge, ISBN 9780415624404
  • Momen, Moojan (1985). An Introduction to Shi'i Islam. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300035315.
  • Nasr, Seyyed Hossein; Dagli, C.K.; Dakake, Maria Massi; Lumbard, J.E.B.; Rustom, M. (2015). The Study Quran: A New Translation and Commentary. Harper Collins. ISBN 9780062227621.
  • Nasr, Seyyed Hossein; Afsaruddin, Asma (2022). "ʿAlī". Encyclopedia Britannica.
  • Peters, Francis E. (1994). Muhammad and the Origins of Islam. State University of New York Press. ISBN 0791418758.
  • Poonawala, I.K. (1982). "ʿALĪ B. ABĪ ṬĀLEB I. Life". Encyclopaedia Iranica (Online ed.).
  • Shah-Kazemi, Reza (2015). "ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib 2. Biography". In Daftary, Farhad (ed.). Encyclopaedia Islamica. Translated by Melvin-Koushki, Matthew. doi:10.1163/1875-9831_isla_COM_0252.
  • Tabatabai, Sayyid Mohammad Hosayn (1975). Shi'ite Islam. Translated by Nasr, Seyyed Hossein. State University of New York Press. ISBN 0873953908.
  • Veccia Vaglieri, L. (2012). "ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib". In Bearman, P.; Bianquis, Th.; Bosworth, C.E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W.P. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (Second ed.). doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0046. ISBN 9789004161214.
  • Watt, W. Montgomery (1953). Muhammad at Mecca. Clarendon Press.
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