Zayd ibn Ali - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Zayd ibn ‘Alī was the grandson of Husayn ibn Alī

Husayn ibn Ali

Hussein ibn ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib ‎ was the son of ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib and Fātimah Zahrā...

, the grandson of Muhammad

Muhammad

Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...

. Zayd was born in Medina

Medina

Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...

in 695. His father was the Shī‘ah Imam ‘Alī ibn Husayn "Zayn al-Abidīn". Zayd’s mother of Sindhi

History of Sindh

Sindh is one of the provinces of Pakistan. Sindh was home to one of the world's oldest civilizations, the Indus Valley civilization.-Paleolithic and Mesolithic era:...

origin named Jaydā, who is said to have been presented to his father by the Shī'ī rebel leader al-Mukhtār.

Hadith Prophesising his Birth

The prophet once looked at Zayd ibn Harithah

Zayd ibn Harithah

Zayd ibn Harithah or Zayd mawla Muhammad was a prominent figure in the early Islamic community and the only one of sahaba whose name is spelled directly in the Qur'an. As he was the adopted son of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, before Islam abolished adoption in exchange of Kafala. He was an...

, cried, and said "The martyr in the sake of Allah
Allah
Allah is a word for God used in the context of Islam. In Arabic, the word means simply "God". It is used primarily by Muslims and Bahá'ís, and often, albeit not exclusively, used by Arabic-speaking Eastern Catholic Christians, Maltese Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Mizrahi Jews and...

, The crucified of my people, The oppressed from my progeny, his name is thus." Then the prophet pointed at Zayd ibn Harithah
Zayd ibn Harithah
Zayd ibn Harithah or Zayd mawla Muhammad was a prominent figure in the early Islamic community and the only one of sahaba whose name is spelled directly in the Qur'an. As he was the adopted son of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, before Islam abolished adoption in exchange of Kafala. He was an...

and said "Come closer to me, your name became more dear to me because it is the same as my dear child (Zaid.)"

Imam Muhammad al-Baqir

Muhammad al-Baqir

Muḥammad ibn ‘Alī al-Bāqir was the Fifth Imām to the Twelver Shi‘a and Fourth Imām to the Ismā‘īlī Shī‘a. His father was the previous Imām, ‘Alī ibn Ḥusayn, and his mother was Fatimah bint al-Hasan...

narrated: "The Holy Prophet put his sacred hand on Husayn bin Ali's back and said: 'O Husayn, it will not be long until a man will be born among your descendants. He will be called Zaid; he will be killed as a martyr. On the day of resurrection, he and his companions will enter heaven, setting their feet on the necks of the people.'"

His Imamate

The Zaidi

Zaidiyyah

Zaidiyya, or Zaidism is a Shi'a Muslim school of thought named after Zayd ibn ʻAlī, the grandson of Husayn ibn ʻAlī. Followers of the Zaydi Islamic jurisprudence are called Zaydi Shi'a...

s claim that Zaid was the rightful successor to his father, rather than his half-brother Muhammad al-Baqir

Muhammad al-Baqir

.
Zayd rebelled against the Umayyad

Umayyad

The Umayyad Caliphate was the second of the four major Arab caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. It was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty, whose name derives from Umayya ibn Abd Shams, the great-grandfather of the first Umayyad caliph. Although the Umayyad family originally came from the...

Caliph he felt was unjust. It is here where many parallels with the life of his more famous grandfather, Husayn

Husayn

Hussein , is an Arabic name which is the diminutive of Hassan, meaning "good", "handsome" or "beautiful"...

, begin. Imam Zayd, following the foot steps of his grandfather Husayn

Husayn

Hussein , is an Arabic name which is the diminutive of Hassan, meaning "good", "handsome" or "beautiful"...

, thought that an Imam should fight oppression. Instead of watching the Muslims stay under a ruler he considered oppressive and ignorant (Hisham), he called for many people to follow him and fight.

Rafidha desertion of Imam Zaid

Zaidis accounts state the term Rafida was a term used by Zayd ibn Ali on those who rejected him in his last hours for his refusal to condemn the first two Caliphs of the Muslim world, Abu Bakr

Abu Bakr

Abu Bakr was a senior companion and the father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He ruled over the Rashidun Caliphate from 632-634 CE when he became the first Muslim Caliph following Muhammad's death...

and Umar. Zayd bitterly scolds the "rejectors" (Rafidha) who deserted him, an appellation used by Sunnis and Zaydis to refer to Twelver Shi'ites to this day.

Contemporaries opinions of Zayd ibn Ali

Zayd was a revered and respected member of the Ahl ul Bayt, the family bloodline of the prophet Muhammad. Scholars, Saints, Sufis and Imams alike, all spoke of him in respectable terms.

Al-Shaykh Al-Mufid the writer of the famous Shi'ah book Kitab al Irshad described him as, "...a devout worshipper, pious, a jurist, God-fearing and brave."

When describing Zayd, Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq

Ja'far al-Sadiq

Jaʿfar ibn Muhammad al-Sādiq was a descendant of Muhammad and a prominent Muslim jurist. He is revered as an Imam by the adherents of Shi'a Islam and as a renowned Islamic scholar and personality by Sunni Muslims. The Shi'a Muslims consider him to be the sixth Imam or leader and spiritual...

said: "Among us he was the best read in the Holy Qur'an, and the most knowledgeable about religion, and the most caring towards family and relatives." Hence his title "Ally of the Quran" (Halef Al-Quran)

Zayd's brother Imam Muhammad al-Baqir

Muhammad al-Baqir

spoke of him reverentially, "No one of us was born to resemble ‘Ali ibn Abi Taleb more than he did"

Imam Ali ar-Ridha spoke of him respectfully:
Imam Jafar Sadiq's love for his uncle Zayd ibn Ali was immense. Upon receiving and reading the letter of Zayd ibn Ali's death he broke down and cried uncontrollably, and proclaimed aloud:
Abu Hanifah once said about Imam Zayd, "I met with Zayd and I never saw in his generation a person more knowledgeable, as quick a thinker, or more eloquent than he was."

The Sufi scholar, Mujtahid and mystic, Sufyan al-Thawri respected Imam Zayd's knowledge and character, saying "Zayd took the place of Imam Al-HUssain
Husayn ibn Ali
Hussein ibn ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib ‎ was the son of ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib and Fātimah Zahrā...

. He was the most versed human concerning Allah’s holy book. I affirm: women have not given birth to the likes of Zayd..."

The famous ascetic Caliph Umar ibn Abdul Aziz was the then Governor of Madinah during the reign of al-Walid and Suleiman and was also an associate of Zayd ibn Ali. Zayd continued to correspond and advise him when he became khalifah.

It is worth mentioning that he is also the first narrator of the famous as-Sahifah as-Sajjãdiyya of Imam Zainul 'Abidin.

Several works of hadith

Hadith

The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....

, theology, and Qur'anic exegesis are attributed to him. The Mu‘tazilite school of theology is believed to have adopted many of Zayd's teachings, and therefore followers of the Zaidiyyah

Zaidiyyah

Zaidiyya, or Zaidism is a Shi'a Muslim school of thought named after Zayd ibn ʻAlī, the grandson of Husayn ibn ʻAlī. Followers of the Zaydi Islamic jurisprudence are called Zaydi Shi'a...

sect were initially close to Mu'tazilite school of theology because of their founder Wasil ibn Ata being the student of Zayd, but they later progressed into two very distinct schools of thought.

He was an excellent orator and spent much of his life learning and educating others. It is said of his brother Imam Muhammad al-Baqir

Muhammad al-Baqir

wanted to test his brother on the Quranic knowledge, asking him various questions for which he received answers beyond his expectation, causing to him to remark, "For our father and mother’s life! You are one of a kind. God grace your mother who gave you birth, she gave birth to a replica of your forefathers!"

Hadith Prophesising his Death

The prophet Muhammad prophesied his death, as narrated by Imam Husayn:

His Death

Historians of both Shi'is and Sunnis recorded that when Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik became the caliph, he committed many atrocities. With regard to the Bani Hashim, he was particularly cruel. At last, Zayd ibn ‘Ali, well known as a great scholar and a pious theologian, went to see the caliph to seek redress for the grievances of the Bani Hashim. As soon as Zaid arrived, the caliph, instead of greeting him as a direct descendant of the prophet, abused him with such abominable language that it can not be repeated. Because of this disgraceful treatment, Zayd left Syria for Kufa, where he raised an army against the Bani Umayyad. The governor of Kufa, Yusuf ibn 'Umar al-Thaqafi came out with a huge army to face him. Zayd recited the following war poem: "Disgraceful life and honourable death: both are bitter morsels, but if one of them must be chosen, my choice is honourable death."

Although he fought bravely, Zayd was killed in battle on the 2nd of Safar in 120 or 122 A.H. (740 A.D.) at the age of forty-two by Yusuf ibn 'Amr ath-Thaqafi (the Umayyad governor). His son, Yahya, took his body from the field and buried him away from the city near the river bank, causing the water to flow over it. However, the grave was discovered and, under Yusuf's orders, the body was exhumed, Zayd's head was cut off and sent to Hisham in Syria. In the month of Safar, 121 A.H., Hisham had the sacred body of this descendant of the Prophet placed on the gallows entirely naked. For four years the sacred body remained on the gallows. Thereafter, when Walid Ibn Yazid ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan became caliph in 126 A.H., he ordered that the skeleton be taken down from the gallows, burnt, and the ashes scattered to the wind.

The same man committed a similar atrocity to the body of Yahya ibn Zayd of Gurgan (or Jowzjan), who was martyred in Juzjan and buried in Gurgan. This noble man also opposed the oppression of the Bani Umayyad. He too was martyred on the battlefield. His head was sent to Syria and, as in the case of his revered father, his body was hung on the gallows - for six years. Friend and foe alike wept at the sight. Wali al-din Abu Muslim al-Khurasani, who had risen against the Bani Umayyad on behalf of Bani 'Abbas, took his body down and buried it in Gurgan (or Jowzjan). In Sarakhs however, there is a site of pilgrimage at Miyami.

When a survivor of the initial battle of Zayn bin Ali came to Medina to report the death to his nephew, the Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq

Ja'far al-Sadiq

he reported the devastation of the Imam upon hearing the news:

Shrines

There are two shrines for Zayd, One is in Kufa, Iraq, the other is in Karak, Jordan. The shrine in Jordan is believed to be the final resting place of the head of Zayd ibn ‘Ali ibn Al-Husayn.

Inspiration for Ahlul bayt

All schools of Islam Sunnis and Shias, regard Zayd Ibn Ali as a righteous martyr (Shaheed) against what was regarded as the corrupt leadership of an unjust Caliph. It is even reported that Mujtahid Imam Abu Hanifa, founder of the largest school of Sunni jurisprudence, gave financial support to Zayd's revolt and called on others to join Zayd's rebellion.

Zayd's sect, the Zaydiyya were separated from the Kufan influence of the Imamiyah and flourished in North Africa and Yemen as a prominent Shi'ah sect.
Imam Zayd ibn Ali's rebellion became the inspiration for the Zaidiyyah

Zaidiyyah

Zaidiyya, or Zaidism is a Shi'a Muslim school of thought named after Zayd ibn ʻAlī, the grandson of Husayn ibn ʻAlī. Followers of the Zaydi Islamic jurisprudence are called Zaydi Shi'a...

sect. The Zaidiyya school of Shia Islam holds that any learned descendant of Imam's Hasan or Hussain can become an Imam by asserting and fighting for his claim as Zayd Ibn Ali did. They thoroughly reject the notional belief of infallibility of the Imam as well as the belief in divine appointment. By contrast the more later founded Ismaili and Ithna Ashariya Shi'as claimed that the Imam must be divinely appointed, something Zaidis absolutely reject. In fact Zayd himself criticised the validity of the notion of divine appointment, rejecting it completely.
Zayd's rebellion inspired other revolts by members of his clan, especially in the Hejaz

Hejaz

al-Hejaz, also Hijaz is a region in the west of present-day Saudi Arabia. Defined primarily by its western border on the Red Sea, it extends from Haql on the Gulf of Aqaba to Jizan. Its main city is Jeddah, but it is probably better known for the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina...

, the most famous among these being the revolt of Imam Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya al-Mahdi against the Abbasids in 762

762

Year 762 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 762 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Asia :* July 30 – Abbasid caliph al-Mansur...

Hadith Prophesising his Birth

His Imamate

Rafidha desertion of Imam Zaid

Contemporaries opinions of Zayd ibn Ali

Hadith Prophesising his Death

His Death

Shrines

Inspiration for Ahlul bayt

See also