'Abdullaah bin Saba`, known as Ibn Sauda' was a Jew from
San'aa)Yemen(. He announced his acceptance of Islam during the
Caliphate of 'Uthmaan bin 'Affaanwith the intention of taking
advantage of the progress and prosperity of the Muslims. He settled in
Al-Madeenah to go deep into the internal affairs and weaknesses of the
Muslims to take advantage thereof. He set out from Al-Madeenah,
reached Basrah and stayed with Haakim bin Jabalah, a man from Basrah
who used to commit highway robbery with a band of criminals. There he
established close and cordial relations with Haakim bin Jabalah and
his friends. Afterwards, he set himself to creating doubts and
mischievous thoughts in the minds of the people around him, after
cleverly presenting himself as a well-wisher of Muslims and the family
of the Prophet,, . After gaining the confidence of many Muslims, he
began to carry out his nefarious plan. He first raised the question
that if 'Eesaa )Jesus(could come back to this world, why not
Muhammad,?
In order to fortify his plea, he began to misinterpret the meaning of
the verse )which means(:"Verily, He Who imposedupon you the Quran will
take you back to a place of return."]Quran 28:85[
He proposed thereby that the lastProphet,must come back to this world.
Following this, he began to bring the people round to another point
that every Prophet had a Caliph )successor( and executor, and that of
Muhammad,, was 'Ali. Encouraged by the favorable response from
gullible Muslims, he came out to openly propagatehis evil intentions
of removing the Caliph and replacing him by 'Ali.
'Abdullaah binSabaleft Basrah and came to another military base at
Koofah after issuing secret instructions to his followers. In Koofah
he found a section already working against the office of the Caliphate
and its governor. Thus, 'Abdullaah binSabafound this land more fertile
and the atmosphere more favorable and encouraging for hisevil plans.
'Abdullaah binSabawas antagonistic to Islam on one hand and was
hostile to 'Uthmaan bin 'Affaan on the other. He was, therefore,
restless to take his revenge on the Caliph. In Koofah, he first
established himself as a pious and God-fearing man and was very soon
held in high esteem. When 'Abdullaah's mischievous activities came to
the notice of the governor, Sa'eed bin Al-'Aashe called him and took
him to task. As a result, 'Abdullaah binSababecame suspect in
everyone's eyes. Finding the atmosphere unfavorable, he left Koofah
and went toSyria.
Like Basrah he left behind a strong lobby in Koofah who wereready to
carry on his dirty business. Maalik Al-Ashtar and hisfriends and
relatives were the main figures to lend support to his plan.
AtDamascus, inSyria, his nefarious plans could not make any headway
and he had toleave the city after being there only a short time. His
next target wasEgyptwhere he moved very cautiously in the light of his
past experiences. He showed love for the Prophet's family and support
of 'Alithe main plank of his propaganda. In order to expeditehis plan
in an organized way he set up a secret society. He easily gained
ground inEgyptbecause the Egyptians and the Arabs livingthere already
had complaints against 'Abdullaah bin Sa'd, the governor ofEgypt.
'Abdullaah binSa'd was too preoccupied with the problems created by
the African Berbers and the Caesar of Constantinople to pay attention
to these internal affairs.
'Abdullaah binSabacommunicated with his friends inBasrah and Koofah by
letters, his group instituted a letter writing campaign with the
result that letters containing complaints were constantly being sent
against the governors to the people of Al-Madeenah fromEgypt, Koofah
and Basrah with charges of atrocities and malpractice brought against
them. Similar letters were dispatched from Basrah and Koofah
toEgyptand fromBasrah,EgyptandDamascusto Koofah. Since no one was made
the subject of atrocities, in each city they thought that this news
was referring to other provinces, which might be having victims of
these malpractices. All these accusing letters were directed against
'Uthmaan bin 'Affaanthe Caliph who was charged withfavoring repressive
governors and refusing their dismissal. In view of the letters of
complaint coming in torrents, 'Uthmaan bin'Affaan sent 'Ammaar bin
Yaasir and Muhammad bin Maslamahto Egypt and Koofah respectively, to
make inquiries into the affairs and inform the office of the Caliphate
with the facts.
When 'Ammaar bin Yaasirreached Egypt, both the sections growing angry
with the governorand the followers of 'Abdullaah bin Saba brought
'Ammaar to their own way of thinking. They held him back from
returning to Al-Madeenah, ostensibly to avoid supporting "the
atrocious ways" of 'Uthmaan bin 'Affaan. Muhammad bin Maslamah wrote
to the Caliph from Koofah that both the common people and thenoblemen
were openly speaking against the Caliphate and showing signs of
discontent. About the same time Al-Ash'ath bin Qays, Sa'eed bin Qays,
Saa'ib bin Al-Aqra', Maalik bin Habeeb, Haakim bin Salamah, Jareer bin
'Abdullaah, and Salmaan bin Rabee'ah who were wealthy, influential and
courageous supporters of the Islamic Caliphate left Koofah for other
places. In view of the public protest and uproar prevailing over a
vast area, Sa'eed bin Al-'Aas appointed Al-Qa'qaa' bin 'Amr,his deputy
and left for Al-Madeenah, to personally meet the Caliph and give an
account of the new developments in Koofah.With his departure, the
people of Koofah wrote to Maalik Al-Ashtar,who was then staying in
Hims, that there was a complete vacuum in Koofah and they should come
back without delay. In the absence of a strict governor, the
antagonistic elements came out in open criticism and challenged the
authority of the Caliph. Gradually they mustered enough courage to
send a party of the disgruntledelements under the leadership of Yazeed
bin Qays to reach Al-Madeenah to dislodge 'Uthmaan bin 'Affaan from
powerby force. However, Al-Qa'qaa' bin `Amrstood in the way and
arrested Yazeed.
Yazeed implored Al-Qa'qaa' to forgive him because he had nothing more
than some complaints against Sa'eed bin Al-'Aas, and his mission was
simply to seek the deposition of the governor. Al-Qa'qaa' set Yazeed
free. However, shortly after that Maalik Al-Ashtar reached Koofah with
his party from Hims. His arrival generated anew zeal into the
subversive people and he declared his support to Yazeed bin Qays and
his decision to join the forces of Yazeed. Al-Qa'qaa' could not stop
the joint forces of Yazeed and Maalik. They marched out of Koofah and
arrived at Jara'ah near Qaadisiyah.
Events of 34 AH
'Uthmaan bin 'Affaan, the Caliph of Islam issued orders to all the
governors to meet him in Al-Madeenah after Hajj for important
consultations. In addition to these governors, the Caliph invited some
men of soundjudgement from Al-Madeenah. The Caliph put before them the
issue of the prevailing anger and dissatisfaction against him and
sought their advice. 'Abdullaah bin 'Amr put forward his suggestion
that the unruly elements should be engaged in Jihaad to fill their
idle hours and charged them with disruptive activities and uprisings.
Sa'eed bin Al-'Aas submitted the suggestion that the leaders of the
troublemakers be dealt with a heavy hand, so that their punishments
would scare away their followers. Even though the Caliph showed his
agreement with this suggestion, he thought that this was a difficult
task. Mu'aawiyah came with the suggestion that governors of each
province should uphold their responsibilities and clear the province
off the existence of those troublemakers. 'Abdullaah bin Sa'd
suggested the point thatthey were all greedy and could, therefore, be
subdued by the power of the purse.
When the real causes leading to the riots and disruptions were
inquired into, it came to light that they were all far-fetched
andunfounded. Some of them raised the point that each one of the
mischief-mongers and rioters should be put to death without showing
any restraint. 'Uthmaan bin 'Affaan disagreed and said that he could
only punish people according to the limits set by the Quran. Thus, the
session came to an end without anything concrete being decided.
The people attached to 'Abdullaah binSabaand those harboring hostile
feelings against'Uthmaan bin 'Affaan set about complaining against the
governors and officers appointed by the Caliph. They began to write
letters to the influential people of Al-Madeenah to create suspicion
in their minds about 'Uthmaan bin 'Affaan. In response to the
complaints, the people of Al-Madeenah became angry with the governors
and officials and pressed the Caliph for their dismissal. However,
when they would come out faultless after inquiries, the Caliph
refrained from taking any action against them. They grew suspicious of
the fair dealings of the Caliph. Men like Abu 'Usayd Sa'eedi, Ka'b bin
Maalik and Hassaan bin Thaabitrose to stop the disgruntled section
fromspeaking against the Caliph, but to no avail.
When letters of complaint came pouring into Al-Madeenah from almost
every province and city under the Muslim rule, some distinguished
persons of Al-Madeenah called on the Caliph and drew his attention to
the prevailing anger and dissatisfaction against the governors
appointed by him. 'Uthmaan bin 'Affaan then selected some reliable
persons and sent them to each province to look into the situation and
come back with a complete report. Thus, Muhammad bin Maslamah was sent
to Koofah and Usaamah bin Zayd and 'Abdullaah bin 'Umarwere sent to
Basrah andSyriarespectively. In this way, each large or small province
and territory was given one official to report the state of affairs to
the Caliph.
All the investigators returned with reports that none of the governors
were found guilty of any evil act or excesses, and all ofthem were
carrying out their duties within the bounds of Sharee'ah. Besides, no
man of understanding and wisdom was found against any governor or the
Caliph. The people of Al-Madeenah received the reportswith
satisfaction. However, very soon the situation took a disturbing turn.
The Hajj season was at hand and taking advantage of the opportunity,
the Caliph proclaimed among the citizens of every city and
town:"Reports are pouring into Al-Madeenah highlighting the excesses
of the governors of various provinces. So, I have sent orders to all
the governors to be present at Hajj. Anybody bearing complaints
against anyone's governance should come and lodge it in my presence
and get his rights either from me or fromthe governor after the
verification of the facts."
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