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or for his shifting allegiances later on. He

appears to have been an opportunist rather

than an ideologue.

Bibliographyal-abar, Tarkh al-rusul wa-l-mulk, ed. M. J.

de Goeje (Leiden 18791901) 2:1854ff.; IbnAskir, Tarkh madnat Dimashq, ed. Umar b.Gharama al-Amraw(Beirut 1995), 31:21623; Anonymous, Kitb al-uyn wa l-adiqf akhbr al-aqiq, in M. J. de Goeje andPieter de Jong (eds.),Fragmenta Historicum Arabi-corum(Leiden 1869), 152ff.; Khalfa b. Khayy,Kitb al-tarkh, ed. Akramiyal-Umar(Najaf1967), index; al-Baldhur, Ansb al-Ashrf,

ed. Mamd al-Firdaws al-Am (Damascus19972004) 7:165ff.; Ibn al-Athr, al-Kmil fl-tarkh, ed. C. J. Tornberg (Leiden 185176),5:228ff.; Julius Wellhausen, The Arab kingdom andits fall, trans. Margaret Graham Weir (Beirut1963), 383ff.; Gerald R. Hawting, The firstdynasty of Islam. The Umayyad caliphate A.D.661750(London 1987), 99ff.; Josef van Ess,TG, 2:2405.

Steven Judd

Abdallh b. Umar b.al-Khab

Abdallh b. Umar b. al-Khab

(d. 73/693) was a Companion and brother-

in-law of the Prophet Muammad and one

of the most important transmitters of his

sayings. He is often referred to simply as

Ibn Umar.

Abdallh b. Umar was born c. 610 C.E.,

the first son of the caliph-to-be Umar b.al-Khab and Zaynab bt. Man. He

converted to Islam at an early age, together

with his parents, and was about eleven

when his family moved to Medina. He

was too young to fight at Badr and Uud

but took part in the Battle of the Trench

(al-Khandaq) in 5/627. His alleged age at

that time (fifteen) would be used later to

determine whether a boy was old enough

to fight. He is said to have taken part in

all subsequent military campaigns of the

prophet Muammad. His sister afa bt.

Umar was married to Muammad in3/625, after the ba ttle of Badr.

After Muammads death, Ibn Umar

took part in the battles of Yarmk (15/636),

al-Qdisiyya (15/636 or 16/637), al-Jall

(16/637), and Nihwand (16 to 21/642)

and in the military campaigns in North

Africa (27/647), Tabaristan (30/650), and

against Byzantium (49/669). He died in

Mecca c. 73/693 at the age of about 84

(lunar) years and was buried in the vicinity

of Mecca, perhaps at the cemetery of the

muhjirn in Fakhkh.

Ibn Umars early conversion to Islam

and his meritorious deeds in its causein

addition to his being a brother-in-law of

the Prophet and a son of the second ca-

liphmade him one of the most influential

and esteemed figures in early Islam and a

promising candidate for the caliphate. After

Umars death in 23/644 his name was

mooted whenever a new caliph had to be

chosen, and other aspirants to the caliph-

ate tried to win his favour to bolster their

claims. He was thus one of the candidates

after the murder of Uthmn (35/656), at

the negotiations following the battle of

iffn (37/657), and after the deaths of the

caliphs Muwiya (60/680), Yazd (64/683),

and Marwn (65/684). Ibn Umar refused,

however, to become caliph unless by unani-

mous assent, as he did not wish to have apart in the division of the community and

would not enforce his claim by fighting

other Muslims. This accords with his posi-

tion towards the aspirants to the caliphate,

to whom he did not pledge allegiance until

they succeeded in gathering the community

behind them.

During the First Civil War following the

murder of the caliph Uthmn, Ibn Umar

20 abdallh b. umar b. al-khab


2/3

was among those Companions who chose

to remain neutral in the contest between

Al and his adversaries. He refused to

pledge allegiance to Muwiya before Alsdeath but did so after Muwiya was gen-

erally acknowledged as caliph in 41/661.

He also refused to swear the oath to

Muwiyas son Yazd when Muwiya tried

to install him as successor-caliph, but he did

so soon after Muwiyas death (60/680).

During the Second Civil War he refused

to pledge allegiance to either Abdallh b.

al-Zubayr or Abd al-Malik b. Marwn

until the latter had defeated the former. For

these reasons Ibn Umar served as a role

model of strict neutrality and loyalty to the

community and the state powers.

Ibn Umars role in the transmission

of adth is controversial. He is counted

among the so-called mukaththirn (prolific

transmitters), each of whom was said to

have transmitted more than a thousand

traditions from Muammad; only Ab

Hurayra is said to have transmitted more

traditions than Ibn Umar. Al-Mizz (d.

742/1341) and al-Dhahab (d. 748/1348

or 752/13523) name more than two

hundred transmitters who reportedly heard

traditions from him. He is the main author-

ity of the Medinan traditionists and jurists,

and in Mliks Muwaa most traditions

are traced back either to Ibn Umar or

to the Prophet through him. Several bio-

graphical traditions emphasise his probity

and accuracy in transmitting sayings ofMuammad. The isnd(chain of authori-

ties) of Mlik from Nfi(the mawlof Ibn

Umar) from Ibn Umar is counted among

the most reliable in Muslim adth studies

and is often referred to as the golden chain

(silsilat al-dhahab).

On the other hand there are traditions

from al-Shab and Mujhid, who claim

that although they studied with Ibn Umar

in Medina, they heard him transmit only

one saying of Muammad. The historicity

of material going back to Ibn Umar in

general, and the golden chain in particu-

lar, has been disputed by some Westernscholars (e.g., Schacht, 25f., 176ff.; Juynboll,

142f., 196); others hold that there are genu-

ine traditions going back to Ibn Umar (e.g.,

Motzki, 1326, 156). No comprehensive

study of the material transmitted under

his name exists.

The sources portray Ibn Umar as a

generous, pious, ascetic, and humble man,

strictly following the Sunna of Muammad.

He appears to have declined the offices of

governor of Syria and q. He is said to

have had twelve sons and four daughters.

Some of his sons transmitted adths from

him. Nothing is known about his eldest

son, Abd al-Ramn, whence Ibn Umar

received his kunyaAbAbd al-Ramn.

One of his daughters was married to the

third caliphs son Amr b. Uthmn and

one to the historian and jurist Urwa b.

al-Zubayr.

Bibliography

Longer biographiesAb Nuaym, ilyat al-awliy (Beirut 1967),

1:292314; Muammad b. Amad al-Dha-hab, Siyar alm al-nubal, ed. Shuayb al-Arna and usayn al-Asad (Beirut 1981),3:20339; al-Dhahab, Tarkh al-islm, ed.Umar Abd al-Salm Tadmur(Beirut 1990),5:45367; Ibn Askir, Tarkh madnat Dimashq,

ed. Umar b. Gharma al-Amraw (Beirut1996), 31:79204; Ibn Khallikn, Wafaytal-ayn, ed. Isn Abbs (Beirut 1970),3:2831; Ibn Sad, al-abaqt al-kubr, ed.Julius Lippert (Leiden 1906), 4/1:10538,index; al-Mizz, Tahdhb al-kaml, ed. BashshrAwwd Marf (Beirut 1988), 15:33241;al-afad, al-Wf bi-l-wafayt, ed. DorotheaKrawulsky (Wiesbaden 1982), 17:3624.

Primary sourcesal-Baldhur, Ansb al-ashrf, vol. 5, ed. S. D.

Goitein ( Jerusalem 1936), and vol. 4/1, ed.

Isn Abbs (Wiesbaden 1979), indices;

abdallh b. umar b. al-khab 21


3/3

Khalfa b. Khayy,Kitb al-tarkh, ed. SuhaylZakkr (Beirut 1993), indices; al-Wqid,Kitb al-maghz, ed. Marsden Jones, 3 vols.,London 1966. See also: Isn idqal-Amad

(ed.),Al-shaykhn AbBakr al-iddq wa-Umar b.al-Khab wa-wulduhum. Bi-riwyat al-Baldhurf Ansb al-ashrf (Kuwait 1989), 390405,index; al-abar, Tarkh al-rusul wa-l-mulk,(Annales), ed. M. J. de Goeje et al., 15 vols.(Leiden 18791901), index.

StudiesG. H. A. Juynboll, Muslim tradition. Studies in

chronology, provenance, and authorship of earlyadth, Cambridge 1983; Wilferd Madelung,The succession to Muammad. A study of the earlycaliphate, Cambridge 1997; Harald Motzki,

The origins of Islamic jurisprudence. Meccan fiqhbefore the classical schools, Leiden 2002; TilmanNagel, Rechtleitung und Kalifat. Versuch bereine Grundfrage der islamischen Geschichte, Bonn1975; Gernot Rotter, Die Umayyaden und derzweite Brgerkrieg (680692), Wiesbaden 1982;Joseph Schacht, The origins of Muhammadanjurisprudence, Oxford 1950.

Andreas Grke

Abdallh b. al-Zubayr

Abdallh b. al-Zubayr, a son of

the famous Companions al-Zubayr b. al-

Awwm and Asmbt. AbBakr, was the

first child born to the Muslim community

in Medina after the hijra, in 2/624. He

played a key role in the Second Civil

War or fitna (strife), ruling from Mecca

for approximately nine years as caliph

before being killed by Umayyad forces in723/6912. This part of the Second Civil

War is often referred to in Arabic sources

as the fitnaof Ibn al-Zubayr.

1. Family ties and early

experience

Genealogical connections are crucial to

understanding Ibn al-Zubayrs later career.

As the son of Asm bt. Ab Bakr, Ibn

al-Zubayr often visited his maternal aunt

isha, the famous wife of the Prophet.

isha was even given the honorary

kunya Umm Abdallh (Mother ofAbdallh). Through his mother Ibn al-

Zubayr was thus not only the grandson of

AbBakr but also the nephew of isha,

perhaps even having a status approach-

ing that of a son to the childless isha,

with whom he was closely associated for

the rest of her life. Through his father,

Ibn al-Zubayr was closely related both to

the grandsons of Khadjaal-asan and

al-usaynand to the Prophet himself.

Ibn al-Zubayrs father, al-Zubayr b. al-

Awwm, was himself both a cousin of

the Prophetal-Zubayrs mother, Safiyya,

was the sister of the Prophets fatherand

the son of al-Awwm, Khadjas brother.

These matrilineal and patrilineal links

thus connected Ibn al-Zubayr both to the

family of the Prophet and to the family

of AbBakr.

Ibn al-Zubayr is counted a Companion

of the Prophet by many Sunnscholars and

is widely considered the first child born to

the community of muhjirn (emigrants)

at Medina. It is recounted that he pledged

allegiance to the Prophet at an early age,

though he is usually reckoned to have

been only about eight years old when

the Prophet died. As a young man, he

is reported to have participated with his

father in the Battle of Yarmk (15/636)

and the conquest of Egypt (19/640) andlater to have earned renown for his battle

skills in the conquest of Ifrqiya and in the

victory over the Byzantine exarch Gregory.

However important these considerations

may have been in the minds of first/sev-

enth-century Muslims in qualifying him for

leadership later on, they are entirely over-

shadowed in later chronological histories

by accounts of the second fitna.

22 abdallh b. al-zubayr

abdallah b. 'umar b. al-khattab

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