Atiyah ibn Sa'd ibn Junādah al‐'Awfi
Personal
Died111 AH/729 CE[1]
Kufa, Umayyad Caliphate
ReligionIslam
EraUmayyad
RegionMesopotamia
CreedIslam
Muslim leader
Influenced by

Atiyah ibn Sa'd ibn Junādah al‐'Awfi (Arabic: عطية بن سعد بن جنادة) [died 729][1] was an early Muslim scholar of Islam. He is regarded as a reliable narrator of hadith. An aged supporter of rebels and a Shia notable of the time, a disciple of the companion of Prophet Jabir ibn Abd Allah al-Ansari and a famous narrator of Hadith,[2] 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.[3][4]

Family background

Atiyah belonged to the Judaila family of the tribe known as Qays and his patronymic appellation was Abu al-Hasan according to al-Tabari. Atiyah's mother was Greek.[5] Some accounts suggest that she was a Roman slave girl.

Sa'd bin Junadah i.e. the father of Atiyah is reported to have approached Ali, the fourth caliph and the cousin of the prophet Mohammed, and asked him to name him. Ali said: "He is an atiyah (Arabic for gift) of Allah". Thus he was named Atiyah.

Lifetime and legacy

Arba'een Walk

After the battle of Karbala, the companion of Prophet 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 in Karbala. Hearing the news of what had happened, they left Medina to pay homage and reached Karbala on the 20th of the Islamic month of Safar.[6] This event has evolved into a religious pilgrimage, known as the Arba'een, attended by millions of Muslims every year.[7]

Revolt of Al-Ash'ath

Atiyah supported the revolt of Ibn al-Ash'ath and his campaign against al-Hajjāj, the Umayyad viceroy of Iraq under Caliph Al-Walid I. The revolt was suppressed and Ibn al-Ash’ath was killed in 85 AH. after which Atiyah fled to Fars.[5] Al-Hajjāj ordered Muhammad bin Qasim 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.[8][9] If Atiyah refused, he was to be flogged four hundred times and his head and beard shaved as humiliation.[5][10] Al-Tabari narrates that Atiyah refused to curse Ali and he was punished.[8] According to Chachnama, he was the commander of the right wing of bin Qasim's army after the conquest of Armabil (modern Bela).[1][11] Modern historians, like Yohanan Friedmann and André Wink, question the historical authenticity of this claim in Chachnama.[12] 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".[13]

Other early historians like Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalani and Tabari record that he moved on to Khurasan and returned to Iraq after the ruler had been changed.[3][4]

Khorasan

Al-Tabari's biography states that Atiyah moved to Khorasan and stayed there during the governorship of Qutayba ibn Muslim. After the accession of Yazid II and the appointment of Umar ibn Hubayra as the Governor of Iraq (in 103 AH / 721–722 CE), he sought permission to return to Iraq. He then moved to Kufa lived there until his death in 111 AH / 729 CE.[5]

Scholarly impact

Atiyah ibn Sa'd is regarded as a reliable transmitter of Prophetic narrations, hadith, by Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani[10] and al-Tabari.[8] In addition, he was a great exegete of the Qur'an and wrote a commentary on it in five volumes.[6] He was a student of Abdullah ibn Abbas and Jabir ibn Abd Allah al-Ansari.

References

  1. 1 2 3 MacLean 1989, pp. 99–100.
  2. ↑ Maclean, Derryl N. (1989), Religion and Society in Arab Sind, BRILL, pp. 126, ISBN 90-04-08551-3
  3. 1 2 History of al-Tabari Vol. 39, pp. 228, under "Those Who Died in the Year 111", State University of New York Press, (1998).
  4. 1 2 Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani, "Tahdhib al-Tahdhib", Volume 7, pp 226, narrator no. 413.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Landau-Tasseron, Ella (1988), History of al-Tabari Vol. 39, The: Biographies of the Prophet's Companions and Their Successors, SUNY Press, pp. 228–229, ISBN 978-1-4384-0998-6
  6. 1 2 Ibrahim Ayati, "A Probe into the History of Ashura", Ch. 49, Appendix - I, Lulu Press Inc. (2014).
  7. ↑ Husein, Umme-Salma Mujtaba (2018), A Phenomenological Study of Arbaeen Foot Pilgrimage in Iraq, Elsevier, pp. 9–19
  8. 1 2 3 MacLean 1989, p. 126.
  9. ↑ Landau-Tasseron, Ella (1988), History of al-Tabari Vol. 39, The: Biographies of the Prophet's Companions and Their Successors, SUNY Press, p. 228, note 992, ISBN 978-1-4384-0998-6: "Here the curse is used as a test of loyalty to the Umayyads."
  10. 1 2 Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani, "Tahdhib al-Tahdhib", Volume 7, page 226, Narrator no. 413.
  11. ↑ R. S. Sharma; K. M. Shrimali, eds. (2008) [first published 1957], A Comprehensive History of India, Vol. 4, Part 2, Indian History Congress / People's Publishing House, p. 173, ISBN 9788173045615: "Apart from Musa b. Yaqub Thaqafi..., there were a number of individuals who came to Sindh in the wake of the Umayyad conquest, but chose not to settle in the region. One such person was 'Atiyah b. Sad al-Awfi, the renowned Shiite traditionalist."
  12. ↑ Andre Wink (2002), Al-Hind, the Making of the Indo-Islamic World: Early Medieval India and the Expansion of Islam 7th-11th Centuries, Brill Academic, ISBN 978-0391041738, pages 192-196.
  13. ↑ Friedmann, Yohann (1984), "The origins and significance of the Chach Nāma", Islam in Asia: South Asia, Magnes Press/Westview Press, pp. 23–37, ISBN 978-965-223-521-3

Bibliography

  • Ayati, Ibrahim. A Probe Into the History of Ashura. Chapter 48. Published by: Islamic Seminary Publications, Karachi, Pakistan. Available online
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