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chapter 1

shortened title used in running headline, please checkTheMeccan Prison of Abdallh b. al-Zubayr andthe Imprisonment of Muammad b. al-anafiyya

SeanW. Anthony*

i

The social history of prisons and carceral institutions in early Islam remainslargely unwritten, and until relatively recently, the subject has suffered neglect,with only a few notable exceptions.1 Arabian society before Islam, especiallyin the ijz, apparently knew little of formal, carceral institutions within thesphere of its social geography. Mentions of the institutions existence in thisperiod are exceedingly rare, and rarer still arementions of specific prison struc-tures and/or their locations. However, the practice of incarceration itself, under

* It is a pleasure and honor to dedicate this essay to my professor and advisor, Wadad Kadi, in

whose debt I shall always remain as a student, scholar, and friend. I would also like to thank

Prof.Michael Lecker for reading an earlier draft of this essay and for the invaluable comments

and insights he generously offered thereon.

1 The now classic studies on prisons and imprisonment in the early and formative periods of

Islam are Franz Rosenthal, The Muslim Concept of Freedom Prior to the Nineteenth Century

(Leiden: Brill, 1960), 3580 and Irene Schneider, Imprisonment in Pre-Classical and Clas-

sical Islamic Law, Islamic Law and Society 2 (1995): 157173 (see also her article in ei2, s.v.

sidjn). The recent efflorescence of studies on prisons and imprisonment for the Abbsid

period has been quite remarkablethis is made even all the more remarkable for its dom-

ination, with some important exceptions, by one scholar in particular: Mathieu Tillier. See

his Prisons et autorits urbaines sous les Abbassides, Arabica 55 (2008): 387408; idem,

Vivre en prison lpoque abbasside, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Ori-

ent 52 (2009): 635659; idem, Les prisonniers dans la socit musulmane (iie/viiieive/xe

sicle), in Dynamiques sociales au Moyen ge en Occident et en Orient, ed. E. Malamut (Aix-

en-Provence: Presses de lUniversit de Provence, 2010), 191212. For the Saljq period, equally

important, both conceptually and in terms of historical data, is Christian Langes Justice,

Punishment and the Medieval Muslim Imagination (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

2008). The IslamicWest has also received unprecedented attention in this regard, too, e.g., see

NejmeddineHentati, La prison en occidentmusulmanmedieval,Arabica 54 (2007): 149188

and Cristina de la Puente, En las crceles del poder: prisin en al-Andalus bajo los omeyas

(ii/viiiiv/x), in De muerte violenta: poltica, religin y violencia en al-Andalus, ed. Maribel

Fierro (Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientficas, 2004), 103136.


4 anthony

punitive or other sundry circumstances, was neither unknown nor foreign tothe inhabitants of the ijz. Rather, as I have discussed elsewhere,2 carceralpractices permeated Arabian society even in the absence of any truly pris-onesque institutions, occurring primarily on an ad hoc basis and within thedomestic sphere instead. Yet, following the advent of Islam and contempora-neous with what could arguably be called the rise of the Islamic state prior toand during the initial conquests outside the Arabian Peninsula, early Muslimsadopted and normalized carceral institutions with uncanny speed.3

Leaving aside the question of why there occurred such a swift adoption ofthe prison in the conquest period, this essay examines, instead, a concrete caseof how this institutional adoption occurred by investigating the history of oneof the earliest prisons about which the sources preserve an unusually size-able body of materials: the Meccan prison of the counter-caliph Abdallh b.al-Zubayr. In what follows, I argue that, although certainly not the only ijzprison utilized by the Zubayrids,4 Ibn al-ZubayrsMeccan prison offers a partic-ularly fascinating case study of an earlyijz prison inasmuch as the bounty ofdata concerning its origins and use are unique and, thus, can potentially shed

2 See S.W. Anthony, The Domestic Origins of Imprisonment: An Enquiry into an Early Islamic

Institution, Journal of the American Oriental Society 129 (2009): 571596.

3 The clearest example of this comes from Baldhur (d. 279/892), who informs us that, when

the garrison of Basra was founded by Utba b. Ghazwn in 14/635, a prison featured in

the urban planning of the settlement from the outset, writing, Utba built the governors

residence (dr al-imra) separate from themosque in the clearing (raba) that today is called

the Raba of the Ban Hishm and had been called al-Dahn; in it was the prison and the

register (wa-fh l-sijn wa-l-dwn). See Amad b. Yay al-Baldhur, Fut al-buldn, ed.

M.J. de Goeje (Leiden: Brill, 1866), 346f. For further examples, see Anthony, art. cit.

4 Medinas main prison during the period of Zubayrid preeminence in the ijz seems to

have been located in Dr Marwn [b. al-akam], so-named after the namesake of the Mar-

wnid dynasty of the Umayyads and the governor of Medina from 4148/661668 and 54

57/674677. This dr was likely his residence and, therefore, also the dr al-imra during

his governorship and thereafter. See Al b. Abdallh al-Samhd, Waf al-waf bi-akhbr

dr al-muaf, ed. al-Qsim al-Smarr, 5 vols. (London: Muassasat al-Furqn lil-Turth al-

Islm, 2001), 3:24f. and Amad b. Sahl al-Rz, Akhbr Fakhkh, ed. Mhir Jarrr (Beirut: Dr

al-Gharb al-Islm, 1995), 138. Al-Wald b. Utba, Yazd is governor of Medina, likely impris-

oned the pro-Zubayrid Abdallh b. Mu there when the latter openly showed his support

for the cause of Abdallh b. al-Zubayr. SeeMuammad b. abb (d. 245/859), al-Munammaq

f akhbr Quraysh, ed. Khrshd Amad Friq (Hyderabad: Dirat al-Marif al-Uthmniyya,

1964), 388390. (However, he may have also been imprisoned in the Sijn Ibn Sib mentioned

by Baldhur, Fut, 52.) After the Zubayrids gained control of Medina, certain members of

Ban Umayya were apparently imprisoned in Dr Marwn while Ibn al-Zubayr maintained

control over the ijz (al-Samhd,Waf, 1: 251).


the meccan prison of abdallh b. al-zubayr 5

considerable light on the earliest instantiations of the institutional prison asadopted (and adapted) by earlyMuslims. This is due, in part, to the early date ofthe prisons construction and its putative (and even somewhat controversial)5status as Meccas first prison, but it is also due to the fact that this early prisonstands at the nexus of a cluster of historiographical enigmas of the second civilwar ( fitna).

ii

The earliest Meccan prison mentioned by Arabic sources appears during thereign of Islams second caliph, Umar b. al-Khab (r. 1323/634644). Accord-ing to a number of reports, Umars governor in Mecca, Nfi b. Abd al-rithal-Khuz purchased a large domicile (dr) owned by the wealthy Qurashafwn b. Umayya for the sum of 4,000 dirhams with the aim of converting thisproperty into a local prison.6 This Meccan prison enjoys scant mention afterits conversion from a dr during Umars caliphate, but some five decades later,after Abdallh b. al-Zubayr enters Mecca and establishes there his so-calledcounter-caliphate in opposition to the Umayyads, the prison reappears in thesourceswith considerable frequency. Thereafter, the prison becomes famous inIslamic annals and prosopographical works under the name rims prison (Ar.sijn rim).7

5 At least one Meccan jurist, the Persian tbi ws b. Kaysn al-Yamn, seems to have

objected to there being any prison in Mecca at all, arguing, There is no need for a house

of chastisement to be in a house of mercy (l yanbagh li-bayt adhb an yakn f bayt

rama). See Ibn ajar al-Asqaln, Fat al-br f shar a al-Bukhr, ed. Abd al-Azz b.

Abdallh b. Bz,MuammadFud Abd al-Bq, andMuibb al-Dn al-Khab, 14 vols. (Cairo:

Muaf al-Bb al-alab, 1969), 5: 472f. According to al-Qsim b. Sallm, however, ws

proscription of the building of a bayt adhb rather referred to a proscription against building

churches, fire temples, shops selling illicit goods, and the like. See Ab Ubayd al-Qsim b.

Sallm, Kitb al-Amwl, ed. Khall Muammad Harrs, 2 vols. (Beirut: Dr al-Fikr, 1988), 1: 124

(I owe this reference to M. Lecker).

6 Ab l-Wald al-Azraq, Akhbr Makka wa-m ja fh min al-thr, in F. Wstenfeld, Die

Chroniken der Stadt Mekka, 4 vols. (Leipzig: F.A. Brockhaus, 18581861), 1: 474; Muammad

b. Isq al-Fkih, Akhbr Makka f qadm al-dahr wa-adthih, ed. Abd al-Malik b. Abdallh

b. Duhaysh, 3 vols. (Beirut: Dr Khir, 1994), 3: 340f.; Ibn ajar, Fat, 5: 472f.

7 Masd refers to the prison as abs rim; see Murj al-dhahab wa-madin al-jawhar, ed.

Ch. Pellat (Beirut: Manshrt al-Jmia al-Lubnniyya, 1970), 3: 274. abs and sijn are, of

course, synonymous. The assertion of Yqt al-amaw (d. 626/1229) that the prison had


6 anthony

The prison acquired its name, as well as its infamous reputation, as thefinal resting place of an ill-fated slave-boy (ghulm) of the Qurash Muab b.Abd al-Ramn b. Awf (d. 64/684).8 The slaves master, Muab, was a staunchsupporter of Abdallh b. al-Zubayr, yet the ghulms loyalties lay not with theZubayrids but with the Umayyad Amr b. Sad b. al- al-Ashdaq to whose ser-vice the ghulm dedicated himselfmuch to the chagrin of hismaster.When theUmayyad caliph Yazd i

small capital, ok?b. Muwiya (r. 6064/680683) appointed al-Ashdaq

as the governor of Medina in 60/680 to menace Ibn al-Zubayr (who had sincedeclared himself idh al-baytthe seeker of refuge in [Gods] house),9 thecaliph also charged al-Ashdaq with the sizeable task of arresting Ibn al-Zubayrand transporting him to the caliphs court, if necessary in chains.10

It was only after betraying his pro-Zubayrid master and his joining theentourage of Amr al-Ashdaq that the ghulm, previously known as Zayd, be-camemore commonly known by his nomen odiosum rim (i.e., wicked) givento him by Ibn al-Zubayr and his partisans. In 61/681, Zayd-rims loyalty toAmr al-Ashdaq culminated in his fighting in the ranks of the army sent towrest Mecca from the growing influence of Abdallh b. al-Zubayran armyled by none other than Ibn al-Zubayrs half-brother, Amr b. al-Zubayr. WhenAmrs expedition againstMeccamet a disastrous end, the debacle did not bodewell for the ghulm who, as a result, faced the unmitigated ire of his formermaster. The Zubayrids took Zayd captive along with others and, in revengefor his flagrant disloyalty to Muab b. Abd al-Ramn, he was imprisoned inMecca. Zayds incarceration, however, seems to have constituted a special case;the Zubayrids contrived a notoriously cruel death for this impudent ghulm.

been located inif is certainlymistaken; seehisMujamal-buldn: JacutsGeographisches

Wrterbuch, ed. F. Wstenfeld, 6 vols. (Leipzig: F.A. Brockhaus, 18661873), 3: 586.

8 A Medinan q appointed in 54/674 by Marwn b. al-akam while he reigned there

during his second term as governor (5457/674677); see Khalfa b. Khayy, al-Tarkh,

ed. Akram iy al-Umar (Damascus: Dr al-Qalam, 1977), 222, 228, 255. According to

Baldhur, who cites the authority of al-Wqid, some narrators claim rather that he was

the slave (ghulm) ofMuammad b. Abd al-Ramn b. al-rith b. Hishm b. al-Mughra

al-Makhzm; seeAmadb. Yay al-Baldhur, Ansbal-ashrf, vol. 4(1), ed. Isn Abbs

(Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner, 1979) (Bibliotheca Islamica 28d), 310. See also Fkih, Akhbr

Makka, 3: 341.

9 On Ibn al-Zubayr as idh al-bayt in poetry contemporary with the second fitna, see

W.Madelung, AbdAllh ibnal-Zubayr themulid, in ActasxviCongresoueai, ed. C.V. de

Benito and M..M. Rodrguez (Salamanca: csic, 1995), 303.

10 Ab Jafar Muammad b. Jarr al-abar, Tarkh al-umam wa-l-mulk, ed. M.J. de Goeje et

al. (Brill: Leiden, 18791901), 2: 223224, 397.



According tomost accounts, they built a space two cubits square for him [banlah bin dhirayn f dhirayn] and forced (Zayd-)rim and a number ofthose with him into the narrow space.11 Brick and mortar, it is said, were builtup around him and his ill-fated companions, walling them in. In this extremelyconfined space, Zayd-rim perished.12

In a few short years, Ibn al-Zubayr apparently put this prisonnow knownas rim prison, the sources inform usto frequent use. It is surprising howmany persons are known to have been imprisoned during the brief periodhe dominated Mecca. In all likelihood, the prison was located inside Meccasurban center; according to al-Fkih (d. ca. 272/885886), the prison restedbehindDr al-Nadwa [ f dubur dr al-nadwa].13Masd relies perhaps on hisown dramatic flourish as a narrator rather than personal observation when hedescribes it as a dark, dreary prison [abs mish mulim], but any confine-ment within its walls was undoubtedly an extremely unpleasant experience.Inmates incarcerated there where certainly chained,14 andmany were severelybeaten.

Indeed, rim, the prisons namesake, was not the only soul to perish there.Amr b. al-Zubayr, who had likewise been captured once the expedition againsthis brother failed, died there as well.15 Amrs cruelty as Medinas head of thepolice (shura; sg. shura) in service to the Umayyads ensured that his sym-

11 Baldhur, Ansb, 4(1): 315. See further Ibn Askir, Tarkh madnat Dimashq wa-dhikr

falih wa-tasmiyat man allah min al-amthil aw ijtz bi-nawh min wridh wa-

ahlih, ed. Umar b. Gharma al-Amraw, 80 vols. (Beirut: Dr al-Fikr, 19952000), 46: 11.

Other accounts, less plausibly, give themeasurements of the space asmerely a single cubit

square; e.g., Ibn ajar, Fat, 5: 473 and Fkih, Akhbr Makka, 3: 341.

12 Fkih, AkhbrMakka, 3: 341. A report fromWqid seems to imply that his corpsewas later

removed from thewalled enclosure, claiming that a gravewas prepared for himwithin the

confines of the prison (ibid.).

13 Ibid.; Ibn ajar, Fat, 5: 473. Dr al-Nadwa served theMeccans, both prior to and after the

advent of Islam, as a central gathering place in themidst of town. According to Baldhur,

Quayy b. Kilb built (the Dr al-Nadwa), and they (i.e., the Quraysh) used to gather in it

and affairs would be decided therein (kn yajtamin ilayh fa-tuq l-umr fh); see his

Fut, 52. Cf. ei2, s.v. Dr al-Nadwa (R. Paret).

14 E.g., see the panegyric of Abdallh b. Amr b. Ab ub al-Muzan for Muab b. al-Zubayr

in which he states: law kuntu f sijni rimin bi-d.m.b.. (?) qad shuddat alayya quydu

in al-Zubayr b. Bakkr, Jamharat nasab Quraysh wa-akhbrih, ed. MamdMuammad

Shkir, 2 vols. (Riyadh: Dr al-Yamma, 1999), 1: 249.-1.

15 Ibn Sad, Kitb al-abaqt al-kubr, ed. E. Sachau et al., 6 vols. (Leiden: Brill, 19051940), 5:

138; Baldhur, Ansb, 4(1): 314 f.; Ab l-Arab al-Tamm, Kitb al-Mian, ed. Y.W. al-Jubr

(Beirut: Dr al-Gharb al-Islm, 1983), 358; Ibn Askir, Dimashq, 46: 10 f.


8 anthony

pathizers would be a paltry few once captured.16 Years earlier, while Amr al-Ashdaq governed Medina for the Umayyads, Amr b. al-Zubayr worked in al-Ashdaqs employ relentlessly pursuing anti-UmayyadQurayshwhomhewouldbeat with lashes, declaring, These are the partisans [sha] of Abdallh b. al-Zubayr! Though Amr was spared the ghulms suffocating fate, he also suf-fered his own cruel, unenviable ordeal. After his capture and imprisonmentby the Zubayrids in Mecca, Muab b. Abd al-Ramn and others exactedtheir revenge upon him for his prior cruelty towards the Medinan support-ers of Ibn al-Zubayr by subjecting him to a series of floggings spanning mul-tiple days at the hands of his former victims. Amrs wounds from the flog-ging eventually proved so severe that they soon caused him to expire withinthe confines of the prison.17 The same accounts narrating Amrs death inrim prison also note with fitting irony that Abdallh b. al-Zubayr aban-doned his brothers corpse to be exposed to the elements at the same locationwhere al-ajjj b. Ysuf al-Thaqaf would crucify him in 72/692i.e., Shib al-Jiyaf.18

Yet, Amr was not the only blood relative to be imprisoned there. Ibn al-Zubayr allegedly even incarcerated his own son, amza b. Abdallh b. al-Zubayr, there. amza languished in chains in the prison on the heels of hisshort-lived appointment as Baras governor after having failed to bring withhim to the ijz the state money (ml) from Bara.19 According to some ac-counts, amza had indeed successfully transported the funds from Bara, butthe money was embezzled by the men with whom he deposited it, minus oneJew who was the sole individual to honestly fulfill his obligation.20

Another inmate of Ibn al-Zubayrs prison was Salm b. Ziyd b. Ab Sufyn.Prior to Yazd i b. Muwiyas death in 64/683, Salm served as governor for theUmayyads in Khursn. When unrest against the Umayyads compelled him toleave his post in the East, he journeyed westward and eventually all the way tothe ijz, disdaining to enter the service of his brother Ubaydallh b. Ziyd in

16 Gernot Rotter, Die Umayyaden und der zweite Brgerkrieg (680692) (Wiesbaden: Harras-

sowitz, 1982) (Abhandlungen fr die Kunde des Morgenlandes 45/3), 41 ff.

17 See Ibn Sad, 5: 137 f.; Baldhur, Ansb, 4(1): 312 f.; abar, 2: 225227.

18 Cf. S.W. Anthony, Crucifixion and Death and Spectacle: Umayyad Crucifixion in Its Late

Antique Context (New Haven: American Oriental Society, 2014) (American Oriental Soci-

ety 96), 41 and n. 1 thereto.

19 Zubayr b. Bakkr, Jamhara, 1: 102 f.

20 abar, 2: 752. amza seems in general to have been well-intentioned, but also comically

incompetent, as a governor, or as al-Madin described him (related on the authority of

Ibn Shabba), kna amza jawdan sakhiyyan mukhallaan (ibid., 2: 751).



Iraq. However, once he arrived in the ijz, he found Ibn al-Zubayr in controlrather than his Umayyad masters. When Salm entered Mecca, Ibn al-Zubayrpromptly imprisoned him and extorted a considerable sum of money from thedisgraced governor (4 million dirhams according to Baldhur).21 Even afterbeing deprived of this hefty sum, Salm apparently remained a wealthy man.After his initial imprisonment in Mecca, Ibn al-Zubayr would again appealto the imprisoned Salm to contribute a portion of his wealth to aid the poetal-Farazdaq to pay amahr of 20 thousand dirhams, which the poet required tomarry his cousin al-Nawr.22

Reports also survive concerning Ibn al-Zubayrs imprisonment of thestaunchly pro-Umayyad poet, Ab akhr al-Hudhal, who resided in rimprison for at least a year. According to one account, the poet remained incarcer-ated there until Ibn al-Zubayr himself was slain.23 Another account, however,asserts that Ab akhrs stay in prison had been cut short after anonymous per-sons from the Ban Hudhayl and a Qurash with Hudhal kinship ties (khula)intervened on his behalf. Thanks to their entreaties, the account claims, Ibn al-Zubayr set him free after a year [alaqah bada sana].24 Ab akhrs incarcer-ation had been an affair wrapped in the delicate issue of political allegiances,like that of the other aforementioned inmates of the prison, and had resultedfrom his denigration of Ibn al-Zubayr as avaricious while extolling the magna-nimity of the Umayyads. His invectivewas, in fact, a response to Ibn al-Zubayrsobstinacy regarding Ab akhrs pension (a), which he refused to hand overto the poet. Ibn al-Zubayr balked at the prospect of squandering money onan individual whose loyalty to the Umayyads he regarded as incorrigible. Ina heated exchange between the two, Ab akhr reportedly interrogated Ibn al-Zubayr, On what basis have you denied me what is due to me! Im a Muslimman. Ive neither introduced into Islam anything pernicious (ma adathtu f l-

21 Fut, 613; see also Baldhur, Ansb, 4(1): 372. The sum is not inconsistent with other

estimations of his wealth; e.g., see al-Q al-Rashd b. al-Zubayr, Kitb al-Dhakhir wa-

l-tuaf, ed. Mamd amd Allh (Kuwait: Dirat al-Mabt wa-l-Nashr, 1959), 11. Cf.

P. Crone, Slaves on Horses (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980), 227 at n. 239

and ei2, 8: 997, s.v. Salm b. Ziyd b. Ab Ziyd (C.E. Bosworth).

22 Ab l-Faraj al-Ifahn, Kitb al-Aghn, ed. Muammad Ab l-Fal Ibrhm et al., 24 vols.

(Cairo: Dr al-Kutub al-Arabiyya, 19271974), 9: 330f.; Ibn Askir, Dimashq, 22: 144f. The

story is quite a well-known episode in al-Farazdaqs biography; cf. S.K. Jayyusi, Umayyad

Poetry, in Arabic Literature to the End of the Umayyad Period, ed. A.F.L. Beeston (Cam-

bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 403f.

23 Ab l-Faraj, Aghn, 24: 110.

24 Ibid., 24: 112 f.


10 anthony

islm adathan) nor have I ever lifted a finger in disobedience (wa-l akhrajtumin a yadan)! To which Ibn al-Zubayr sharply replied, Youre so keen on theBan Umayya, so ask them for your pension!25

iii

Of all the hapless inmates reputed to have entered rim prison, the mostfamous inmate of all is undoubtedly Muammad b. Al b. Ab lib (d. 81/700701), known more widely as Ibn al-anafiyya. As was the case with the afore-mentioned inmates of Ibn al-Zubayrs prison, Ibn al-anafiyya found himselfimprisoned after meeting the brunt of the counter-caliphs ire when he refusedto render his baya to Ibn al-Zubayr on behalf of the BanHshim. Distinguish-ing the imprisonment of Ibn al-anafiyya from that of the inmates discussedabove, however, is that the historicity of Ibn al-anafiyyas tenure in rimprison and the circumstances surrounding the incarceration is fraught withnumerous difficulties. The imprisonment of Ibn al-anafiyya stands out as anexceptional case in the study of the early Islamic prison in that historians haveat their disposal a multitude of extant narratives and sourcesthe panoramaof which is dominated not only by Ab Mikhnaf (d. 157/774), Hishm b. al-Kalb (d. 206/822), al-Wqid (d. 207/823), al-Madin (d. 228/843), and otherless prolific purveyors of historical akhbr, but also intimates and students ofthe Hshimid sharf who lived alongside him inMecca. However, these diversetestimonies agree only on the vaguest generalities of this episode and contra-dict one another in ways that seem intractable and irresolvable. Oddly enough,many accounts of Ibn al-anafiyyas conflict with Ibn al-Zubayr leave out anymention of a prison altogether.

Wadad Kadi undertook the only attempt to evaluate the contradictory ac-counts on this incident in her seminal monograph on the Kaysniyya, thesect that regarded Ibn al-anafiyya as a messianic redeemer (mahd) andthe successor (wa) of his father Al b. Ab lib.26 She found that, while alarge number of sources affirm that Ibn al-Zubayr had indeed incarcerated Ibnal-anafiyya in rim prison,27 numerous sources also contradict this claim

25 See ibid., 24: 111.

26 Al-Kaysniyya f l-trkhwa-l-adab (Beirut: Dr al-Thaqfa, 1974), 100f. and esp. n. 3 thereto;

see now EIr, art. Kaysniya (S.W. Anthony).

27 Al-Mubarrad, al-Kmil, ed. Muammad Ab l-Fal Ibrhm and al-Sayyid Shita, 4 vols.

(Cairo: Mabaat Nahat Mir, 1956), 3: 265; Baldhur, Ansb, 4(1): 315; Ibn Abd Rabbih,

al-Iqd al-fard, ed. Amad Amn, Amad al-Zayn, and Ibrhm al-Ibyr, 7 vols. (Cairo:



outright: some by asserting that Ibn al-anafiyya had been imprisoned inthe well of Zamzam28 and others by declaring that he was merely blockaded(mar) in the piedmont (shib) of the Ban Hshim.29 The sources also dif-fer with regard to the identity of those imprisoned, such as whether the pris-oners also included, in addition to Ibn al-anafiyya, all the members of Ibnal-anafiyyas household from the Ban Hshim living in Mecca,30 whetherAbdallh b. Abbs numbered among them,31 or even whether those incar-cerated also included the partisans of Ibn al-anafiyya, who had travelled toMecca to seek his opinion concerning the claims of the Kfan rebel al-Mukhtrb. Ab Ubayd al-Thaqaf.32

Of all the accounts of these events, themost extensive and useful collectionsof akhbr are to be found in Ibn Sads abaqt, al-Baldhurs Ansb, al-abarsTarkh, and (to a lesser extent) the anonymous Akhbr al-Abbs wa-waladih,33although even these narratives ought to be supplementedwith other accounts.Ibn al-anafiyyas imprisonment occurs in the midst of the high drama of thesecond civil war ( fitna) and, thus, plays a key role in the drama unfolding, par-ticularly during the Kfan struggle against the Zubayrids irredentist ambitionsin al-Irq. Prior to these events, Ibn al-anafiyya fled Medina and alighted inMecca along with his family hoping to escape the perils of the impending bat-tle of arra (63/683),much like Abdallh b. al-Zubayr, albeit without harboringany of the concomitant ambitions held by Ibn al-Zubayr for achieving politicalpreeminence over the Umayyads. Once Ibn al-anafiyya arrived in Mecca, hesettled with his cousin, Ibn Abbs, who lived in the piedmont (shib) of Min

Lajnat al-Talf wa-l-Tarjama wa-l-Nashr, 19401944), 4: 413; Ab l-Faraj, Aghn, 9: 15 and

15: 150.

28 Ibn Sad, 5: 74; abar, 1: 693ff.

29 Masd,Murj, 3: 275; Ibn Ab l-add, SharNahj al-balgha, ed. MuammadAb l-Fal

Ibrhm, 20 vols. (Cairo: Dr Iy al-Kutub al-Arabiyya, 1964), 20: 146f.

30 Mubarrad, Kmil, 3: 265; Ibn Atham al-Kf, Kitb al-Fut, ed. M. Abd al-Mud Khn, 8

vols. (Hyderabad: Dirat al-Marif al-Uthmniyya, 1972), 6: 129f., 136; Ab l-Arab,Mian,

336337; Ibn Abd Rabbih, Iqd, 4: 413; Masd, Murj, 3: 275; Ibn Ab l-add, Shar, 20:

146f.

31 Ibn Sad, 5: 74f.; Yaqb, Trkh, 2: 211 f.

32 Baldhur, Ansb al-ashrf, vol. 2, ed. Wilferd Madelung (Beirut: Klaus Schwarz, 2003)

(Bibliotheca Islamica 28b), 656f.; abar, 2: 693.

33 Edited by Abd al-Azz al-Dr and Abd al-Jabbr al-Mualib as Akhbr al-dawla al-

Abbsiyya wa-fhi Akhbr al-Abbs wa-waladih (Beirut: Dr al-ala, 1971). On the author-

ship and date of this work, see E. Daniel, The Anonymous History of the Abbasid Family

and Its Place in Islamic Historiography, International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 14

(1982): 419434.


12 anthony

where the Ban Hshim traditionally resided.34 When Abdallh b. al-Zubayrtook over Mecca in Muarram 64/September 683, he proclaimed himself amral-muminn after the death of the Umayyad caliph Yazd i

small capital, ok?b.Muwiya, and had

clearly expected the Ban Hshim in Mecca to swiftly lend him their supportin order to make a common cause against the Umayyads. However, Ibn Abbsand Ibn al-anafiyya frustrated his ambitions by delaying the declaration oftheir allegiance (baya) to any claimant to the caliphate, protesting that theypreferred to wait until a single candidate obtained a broad-reaching consensusof the community (umma).

There was clearly no love lost between these two parties: Ibn al-Zubayr hadfought against both Ibn Abbs and Ibn al-anafiyya decades earlier when theywere all young men at the Battle of the Camel (36/656), a battle in which Ibnal-anafiyyas father won the noble victory and Ibn al-Zubayrs father, fleeingthe battlefield, died a disgraceful death. However, as the elders of the BanHshim, the Prophets clan, Ibn al-Zubayr could hardly aspire to leadershipover the umma without obtaining at least their tacit approval, so he took per-suasive actions against the Ban Hshim collectively. Ibn al-Zubayr resolvedto institute a blockade (ir) against Ibn al-anafiyya and his clan and, thus,confined them inside their piedmont (shib) in Mecca. Lest they attempt tothwart this blockade, Ibn al-Zubayr also appointed watchmen (ruqab) tomaintain close surveillance over them.35 This measure proved all the wisergiven the Zubayrids loss of Kfa in Rab i 66/October 685 to the Sh rebelal-Mukhtr b. Ab Ubayd al-Thaqaf, who portrayed himself as conducting therevolt as a proxy on behalf of Ibn al-anafiyya. Indeed, when later that sameyear word of Ibn al-anafiyyas suffering at the hands of Ibn al-Zubayr reachedal-Mukhtr in Kfa, he swiftly dispatched an armed contingent of Arab war-riors alongwith club-wieldingmawl, aptly called Khashabiyya, to liberate Ibnal-anafiyya from Ibn al-Zubayrs custody.36 If Ibn al-anafiyya hadbeen incar-cerated in rim prison, then his incarceration would have fallen some time

34 E.g., see Baldhur, Ansb al-ashrf, vol. 1(1), ed. Ysuf al-Marashl (Beirut: Klaus Schwarz,

2008) (Bibliotheca Islamica 28a), 542ff.

35 Ibn Sad, 5: 74.

36 Numerous folk etymologies for the Khashabiyyas name abound; e.g. see ei2, s.v. al-

Khashabiyya (C. van Arendonck). Mukhtrs Khashabiyya were given this name because

theywerenon-Arab slaves and freedmen (abd,mamlk,mawl, etc.)who, poorly armed,

found themselves forced to battle with wooden pikes and clubs (i.e., khashab). See

P. Crone, The Significance of Wooden Weapons in al-Mukhtrs Revolt and the Abbsid

Revolution, in Studies in Honour of Clifford Edmund Bosworth i: Hunter of the East, Arabic

and Semitic Studies, ed. I.R. Netton (Leiden: Brill, 2000), 176ff.



within this period spanning Ibn al-Zubayrs seizure of Mecca and the arrival ofal-Mukhtrs Khashabiyya.37

There are two competing versions of this conflict between Ibn al-Zubayrand Ibn al-anafiyya that omit any mention of rim prison and which, fur-thermore, seem to contradict one another as equally as they contradict theaccounts mentioning Ibn al-anafiyyas imprisonment in rim prison. Oneversion states that Ibn al-Hanafiyya and his household were merely confinedto the piedmont (shib) of the Ban Hshim and thereafter never mentionshis individual imprisonment. In such narratives, Ibn al-Zubayr places Ibn al-anafiyya and his household under a collective siege. Invariably, this version ofevents, as do others, also mentions the group of Ibn al-anafiyyas Kfan devo-tees who had traveled to the ijz to investigate the veracity of al-Mukhtrsclaim to have initiated his revolt with the express mandate of Ibn al-anafiyya.This first wave of Kfans suffers alongside Ibn al-anafiyya. The second waveof Kfans to arrive in Mecca, however, includes those whom al-Mukhtr dis-patches to liberate Ibn al-anafiyya after receiving the latters entreaties forhelp in a letter. In such accounts, once Ibn al-anafiyyas letter to al-Mukhtris read aloud in Kfa, Mukhtr sends a force that, rather than liberating Ibn al-anafiyya fromprison,merely liberates himandhis family from Ibnal-Zubayrsblockade (ir).38

On the other hand, a second variety of accountsin general themost abun-dantly attested to in the sourcesclaim that Ibn al-anafiyya was imprisonedalong with his household and seventeen men from the heads of the house-holds of Kfa in Zamzam.39 Zamzam, of course, is Meccas hallowed well, notits prison. Clearly, however, the environs of the well are intended here and notthe well itself, since the size of the well could not possibly have accommodated

37 Asdatedbyabar, 3: 693ff. Khalfa b.Khayys dateof both Ibnal-anafiyyas blockadeby

Ibn al-Zubayr and subsequent liberation by al-Mukhtrs partisans to ah 65, which is prior

to the beginning of al-Mukhtrs repulse of the Zubayrids fromKfa, is certainly incorrect

(see his Trkh, 262f.).

38 Khalfa, Trkh, 262; cf. the same account, also Khalfas but differently worded, in Ibn

Askir, Dimashq, 54: 337f. See also Ibn Atham, 6: 130ff.; in general, Ibn Athams account

tends to depend on materials from al-Wqid, much like his account of the ridda wars;

however, Ibn Athams account diverges from Ibn Sads more reliable redaction of al-

Wqids account in significant details. See Albrecht Noth and Lawrence I. Conrad, The

EarlyArabicHistorical Tradition: A Source-Critical Study, 2nd ed., trans.M. Bonner (Prince-

ton: Darwin Press, 1994) (slaei 3), 30 and n. 17. Ibn Ab l-add inexplicably refers to the

piedmont where they were confined throughout his account as shib rim (Shar, 20:

123.-1, 124.5).

39 abar, 2: 693; Baldhur, Ansb, 2: 658f.


14 anthony

a group of people that, including the Ban Hshim and the Kfans, numbered2030 individuals. Hence, more than one account claims that Ibn al-anafiyyawas imprisoned in what is called the enclosure (Ar., ujra or, alternatively,ara) of Zamzam.40 That rim prison numbered among these structuresmust be regarded as unlikely. Whereas Zamzam is located East of the Kaba,rim prison, situated behind Dr al-Nadwa, was situated to the North.41

However, not even those who affirm that the location of Ibn al-anafiyyasimprisonment was in or near Zamzam agree that there were others confinedalong with him. Ibn Sad, for example, records from al-Wqid a putativelyfirsthand account from a certain Sulaym Ab mir al-Anr, who impliesin his testimony that Ibn al-anafiyya was alone, recounting that, I saw Ibnal-anafiyya confined (mabs) in Zamzam while the people were forbiddento visit him.42 Despite the prohibitions isolating Ibn al-anafiyya, Sulaymdecided to visit him. Eventually, the determined Sulaym makes good on hisresolve to reach Ibn al-anafiyya by waiting until his guards (aras) fall asleep.After having outsmarted the indolent guards, Sulaym aids Ibn al-anafiyyain relaying messages to and from Ibn Abbs who, rather than languishing inprison alongside his cousin, remained safely in the shib of the Ban Hshim.

Many details of this account seem implausible: Sulaym al-Anr is an ob-scure figure about whom little is known,43 and the key anecdotal detail aboutthe sleeping guards is merely a topos appearing elsewhere, most often explain-ing how Ibn al-anafiyyas Kfan liberators ambushed Ibn al-Zubayrs forces.44But, for our purpose, it is the Sitz im Leben conveyed in the account that con-cerns us most.

Anotherputative eyewitness is Aiyyab. Sadb. al-Jundaal-Awf (d. 111/729),a Kfan known for his Sh inclinations (tashayyu),45 whom Ibn Sads source,

40 Akhbr al-Abbs, 99.8, 106.ult.; Yaqb, Trkh, 2: 261.-6.

41 Fkih, Akhbr Makka, 3: 341.

42 Ibn Sad, 5: 74.4.

43 He may be the Syrian mawl mentioned by Muammad b. Isml al-Bukhr, al-Trkh

al-kabr, 4 vols., ed. al-Sayyid Hshim al-Nadw (Beirut: Dr al-Fikr, n.d.), 4: 126. Cf. Umar

b. Shabba, Trkh al-madna al-munawwara, ed. Fuhaym Muammad Shaltt, 4 vols.

(Riyadh: Dr al-Ifahn, 1973), 4: 1309f. where he narrates Uthmns assassination. I owe

these two references to Michael Lecker.

44 See Baldhur, Ansb, 2: 656 and abar, 2: 693. The duty of acting as the night guard was

certainly an onerous and soporific task, but that the guards would be so utterly inept

strains credulity.

45 Jaml al-Dn al-Mizz, Tahdhb al-Kaml f marifat asm al-rijl, ed. Bashshr Awwd

Marf, 35 vols. (Beirut: Dr al-Gharb al-Islm, 19801992), 20: 145ff.



al-Wqid, ostensibly utilizes as his principal source on the affair (although heintersperses details from other akhbrs into Aiyyas account). Aiyya relateshis account from the perspective of an unnamed leader (ras) of one of the sor-ties sent by Mukhtr to save Ibn al-anafiyya. He vividly describes seeing Ibnal-anafiyya, Ibn Abbs and their companions upon Ibn al-anafiyyas arrivalin Mecca as gathered together in houses (dr) around which was gatheredkindling that surrounded them until it reached the top of the walls (rus al-judur)if a flame had fallen on it, not one of them would have been seenagain until Judgment Day!46 Aiyyas colorful description of the dire straitsin which the Kfans found Ibn al-anafiyya and his kinsmen, including theirbeing surrounded by firewood and Ibn al-Zubayrs grim threats to burn themalive, appears to be quite early inasmuch as a number of accounts post-datingal-Wqid reproduce its detailsmore or less to the letter.47 Viewing Aiyyas tes-timony as paradigmatic (at least as transmitted by al-Wqid to Ibn Sad), onecan see that, by the second/eighth century, fully developed, robust narratives ofIbn al-Zubayrs conflict with the Ban Hshim in Mecca existed that omit anymention of Ibn al-anafiyyas imprisonment in rim prison. Whence came,therefore, the assertion that Ibn al-anafiyya had been imprisoned in rimprison?

The testimony of the third/ninth-century Abbsid historian al-Madinoverwhelmingly dominates the camp of those akhbrs who unambiguouslyassert that Abdallh b. al-Zubayr had indeed imprisoned Muammad b. al-anafiyya in the jail known as Sijn rim. Two reports transmitted from al-Madin, both redacted by Ab l-Faraj al-Ifahn in his Aghn, convey thisversion of events. One al-Madin transmits from Ab Mikhnaf, who in turncites the authority of a contemporary of his, a Medinese traditionist namedAbd al-Malik b. Nawfal b.Musiq.48 According to this report, Ibn al-anafiyyahad been imprisoned in Sijn rim by Ibn al-Zubayr upon Ibn al-anafiyyasreturn to Mecca from Syria.49 This causes a group a Kfans, the account calls

46 Ibn Sad, 5: 74f.; cf. Shams al-Dn al-Dhahab, Trkh al-islm wa-wafayt al-mashhr

wa-l-alm, ed. Basshr Awwd Marf, 17 vols. (Beirut: Dr al-Gharb al-Islm, 2003), 2:

665.

47 E.g., see Baldhur, Ansb, 2: 658f. and ibid., 4(1): 315; abar, 2: 694.

48 His death date is unknown; however, Dhahab places him in the fifteenth abaqa (ah 141

150); see his Trkh, 3: 921. Cf. Ibn ajar, Tahdhb al-Tahdhb, 12 vols. (Hyderabad: Dirat

al-Marif al-Uthmniyya, 19051907), 6: 428. Bukhr states that hewas numbered among

the inhabitants of the ijz (yuaddmin ahl al-ijz); see his al-Trkh al-kabr, 3(1): 434.9.

49 This reference to a trip to Syria undertaken by Ibn al-anafiyya before Ibn al-Zubayrs

defeat is obscure. I have not been able to locate a similar claim in parallel accounts.


16 anthony

them an army ( jaysh), led by Ab l-ufayl Amr b. Wthila, to march to Meccato liberate Ibn al-anafiyya from his imprisonment. The forces were success-ful, claims the account, and they destroyed [the jail] and removed [Ibn al-anafiyya] ( fa-kasarhwa-akhrajh).50 The account is problematic in severalrespects. For one, another account transmitted on Ab Mikhnafs authority,but this time by Ibn al-Kalb, omits any reference to rim prison and claimsthe Kfans and the Khashabiyya, rather than destroying the prison, brokedown the boards of Zamzam (kasar awd Zamzam).51 This account alsomentions a trip of Ibn al-anafiyya to Syria prior to Ibn al-Zubayrs defeat, anassertion unconfirmed by any parallel account. Lastly, al-Madins accountplaces Ab l-ufayl mir b. Wthila at the head of the army sent from Kfato help Ibn al-anafiyya escape, whereas most accounts place him alongsideIbn al-anafiyya in the first wave of Kfans who came to Mecca to inquireafter al-Mukhtrs grandiose claims.52 In most accounts, it is rather Ab l-ufayls son, al-ufayl b. mir b. Wthila, whom al-Mukhtr sends from Kfaas a minor commander embedded with the forces sent to liberate Ibn al-anafiyya.53

Al-Madins second account comes to us on the authority of the Baranakhbr Ab Bakr al-Hudhal (d. ca. 167/783)54 and also relates Ibn al-ana-fiyyas imprisonment in rim prison and subsequent rescue by the Kfans;however, this time they are led by another of al-Mukhtrs partisans, Ab Ab-dallh al-Jadal, who in most accounts is named as the leader of the Kfan cav-


51 Seeabar, 2: 694. abars account, however, is a combinedaccount, cullingmaterials from

Ibn al-Kalbs version of AbMikhnafs account and combining themwith an account also

transmitted by al-Madin on the authority of Maslama b. Murib, a grandson of Ziyd

b. Abhi through his son Salm mentioned above. On Maslama, see Wilferd Madelung,

Maslama b.Murib: UmayyadHistorian, in Proceedings of the 20th Congress of the ueai,

Budapest, 1017September2000, PartOne, editedbyK.Dvnyi; beingTheArabist: Budapest

Studies in Arabic 2425 (2002): 203214. Baldhurs account, which also likely derives in

large part fromAbMikhnaf, confirms that AbMikhnafs account originally omitted any

mention of rim prison; see Ansb, 2: 652ff.

52 Baldhur, Ansb, 2: 655; Ibn Atham, 6: 128f.

53 E.g., Baldhur, Ansb, 2: 656, 659. Ab l-ufayl and his son, al-ufayl, are often confused

in the sources, with poems ascribed to father often being ascribed to the son as well. See

al-Q, Kaysniyya, 309ff.

54 A companion of the Caliph al-Manr, his reputation rested predominately on his knowl-

edge of ayym al-arab. He was generally regarded as unreliable in his transmission of

adth. See al-afad, al-Wf bi-l-Wafayt, vol. 15, ed. Bernd Radtke (Wiesbaden: Franz

Steiner, 1979) (Bibliotheca Islamica 6o), 325; Ibn ajar, Tahdhb, 22: 45f.



alry force thatmarched onMecca.55 This second account seems to reveal somecognizance of the varying versions of the story, which had no doubt enteredinto broad circulation by al-Madins time. It reads:56

Then [Ibn al-Zubayr] imprisoned Ibn al-anafiyya in rim prison. Later(thumma), he gathered [Ibn al-anafiyya] and the rest of the Ban H-shim in his care together and placed them in a confined space, which hefilled with kindling and set ablaze.57

The account concludes with the familiar, dramatic rescue: Ab Abdallh al-Jadal arrives just in time to extinguish the fire and rescue the Ban Hshim.58One of the more curious features of this account, however, is that it seems toboth accommodate Ibn al-anafiyyas imprisonment in rim prison and theimprisonment occurring at Zamzamwith the details (originating perhapswithAiyya b. Sads testimony) of the looming immolation of the BanHshim andthe Kfans last minute rescue. It provides a plausible scenario, but it is in alllikelihood a synthetic harmonization undertaken by al-Madin and should betaken cum grano salis.

Clearly, therefore, there are amass of reports that conveys an array of contra-dictory information regarding the imprisonment and (at times) the blockadeof Muammad b. al-anafiyya and the Ban Hshim by Ibn al-Zubayr. Al-Madins harmonization demonstrates that these divergent accounts can bereconciled. But, inasmuchas the accountbears the telltalemarks of harmoniza-tion, the solution contained within al-Madins version offers an artificial oneand should not be taken as settling the issue definitively. However, his accountdoes raise an important question, namely:Whywould al-Madin feel the needto undertake such a harmonization?

The answer comes at the end of al-Madins khabar as preserved in theAghn and provides the strongest evidence for suggesting that Ibn al-ana-fiyya had indeed languished in rim prison. It comes in the form of severallines of poetry composed by the Kaysn poet Kuthayyir Azza (d. 105/723).Kuthayyirs verse stands as the most important testimony to these events, for

55 Baldhur, 2: 658f.; abar, 2: 694f.; Ibn Atham, 6: 132, 134ff.

56 Aghn, 11: 16 f.; cf. Baldhur, Ansb, 4(1): 315. The accounts of al-Mubarrad (Kmil, 3: 265),

Ab l-Arab (Mian, 337), and Ibn Abd Rabbih (Iqd, 4: 413), in my view, appear to be

literary descendants of al-Madins account.

57 Fa-abas Ibn al-anafiyya f sijn rim thumma jamaah wa-sir man kn bi-aratih min

Ban Hshim fa-jaalahum f mabas wa-malaah aaban wa-aram fh al-nr.

58 Ab l-Faraj, Aghn, 9: 16. See also Baldhur, Ansb, 2: 658ff.; abar, 2: 694f.


18 anthony

he was both a contemporary eyewitness and a close companion of Ibn al-anafiyya throughout Ibn al-Zubayrs persecutions.59 In one specific verse,Kuthayyir reproaches Ibn al-Zubayr:60

You tell whomever you meet that you are a seeker of refuge (i.e., inMecca)

but the aggrieved seeker of refuge is in the prison of rim!

tukhabbiru man lqayta annaka idhunbal al-idhu l-malmu61 f sijni rim[!]

Although the aggrieved (al-malm) in Kuthayyirs poem remains unnamed,it is generally assumed by Abbsid-era akhbrs and modern scholars alikethat this phrase alludes toMuammad b. al-anafiyya. Elsewhere in the poem,for instance, Kuthayyir also refers to the namesake/legatee of the chosenProphet and his cousin (samiyyu/waiyyu l-nabiyyi al-muaf wa-bnu am-mihi),62 bywhichKuthayyir clearly intends Ibn al-anafiyya (who shared boththe Prophets forename and kunya, Ab l-Qsim) and Ibn Abbs. Al-Madinsaccount, at least as redacted in the Aghn, construes this connection betweenKuthayyirs poem and the historical reports that depict al-anafiyyas impris-onment. It would seem, then, that Kuthayyirs poem provides definitive proofof Ibn al-anafiyyas incarceration in Ibn al-Zubayrs Meccan prison.

However, another, lesser-known interpretationof the above lines contradictsthe above interpretation and claims that the referent in the phrase al-idh al-malm is not the imprisoned Ibn al-anafyya but rather his son, al-asanb. Muammad b. al-anafiyya. This interpretation appears in the Murj al-

59 Isn Abbs regarded Kuthayyirs attachment to the Kaysniyya a short, emotional

interlude, to which he was driven by his pity for Ibn al-anafiyyas imprisonment

(ei2, s.v. Kuthayyir b. Abd al-Ramn), but I believe there is a compelling case to be

made for the attribution to him of at least one early Kaysn poem in which he speaks of

the ghayba of Ibn al-anafiyya included in Abbss own edition of the poets dwn. See

Dwn Kuthayyir Azza, ed. Isn Abbs (Beirut: Dr al-Thaqfa, 1971), 521 f.; cf. al-Q,

al-Kaysniyya, 312322 andP.Crone,TheNativist ProphetsofEarly Islamic Iran:RuralRevolt

and Local Zoroastrianism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), 250.

60 See Ab l-Faraj, Aghn, 9: 16.2. See also al-Mubarrad, Kmil, 3: 265; Baldhur, Ansb, 4(1):

315; Ab l-Arab, Mian, 337; and Dwn Kuthayyir, 224f.

61 Baldhur (Ansb, 4(1): 315.8) and Ab l-Arab (Mian, 336.2) read instead al-idh al-

mabs, i.e., the imprisoned seeker of refuge.




dhahab of the Abbsid historian al-Masd (d. 345/956). In his account, al-Masd relates a story of al-asan b.Muammad b. al-anafiyya being impris-oned by Ibn al-Zubayr in rim prison in which al-asan successfully escapesbymeans of a clever trick (la). After his escape, he flees via thewinding passesof themountains surroundingMecca until he finds hisway to his father inMin(where the shib of the Ban Hshim is located).63

Al-Masds account, although idiosyncratic at first glance, actually hasmuch to recommend it over that of al-Madin. Often neglected, for example,is Kuthayyirs depiction of the circumstances of Ibn al-anafiyya in one of theverses in the poem just cited above, which states:64

Whoever sees this shaykh at the piedmont near MinFrom among the people, knows that he is not unjust.

man yara hdh l-shaykha bi-l-khayfi min Minanmina l-nsi yalam annahu ghayru lim

The assertion that this shaykhundoubtedly Ibn al-anafiyya65would beseen in Min at the foot of the nearby mountain (bi-l-khayf ) is directly at oddswith the assertion that Ibn al-anafiyya was in rim prison. Later, in anotherverse of the same poem, Kuthayyir declares,66

By Gods grace, we recite his BookAbiding at the lower slope of this mountain, the slope of the sacred ones

nanu bi-amdi llhi natl kitbahuullan bi-hdh l-khayfi khayfi l-marim

Here,Kuthayyir clearly depicts himself as residingwith Ibnal-anafiyya, aswellas others, nearMin on the lower slope of themountain, i.e., the khayf, or whatother accounts call the shib.

63 Masd, Murj, 3: 274f. Perhaps, the incident involving al-asans escape may lay some

claim to historicity, but the association with the verses of Kuthayyir posited by Masd is

certainly confused (see Q, Kaysniyya, 313 n. 1).

64 Ab l-Faraj, Aghn, 9: 15.14 and Masd, Murj, 3: 275.4; cf. Dwn Kuthayyir, 224.

65 Cf. Muab al-Zubayr, Nasab Quraysh, ed. E. Levi-Provenal (Cairo: Dr al-Marif, 1953),

42.12.

66 Ab l-Faraj, Aghn, 9: 15.17; Dwn Kuthayyir, 224.


20 anthony

Hence, Kuthayyirs poem lucidly depicts a scenario wherein Ibn al-ana-fiyya resides in the khayf while another individual remains imprisoned byIbn al-Zubayr in rim prison. Al-Masds assertion that this individual oughtto be identified with al-asan b. Muammad b. al-anafiyya fits the contentof Kuthayyirs poem in a manner far more compelling than, for instance, al-Madins account. However, al-Masd remains a rather late source, so fromwhence does his information on al-asan derive? While the source of theaccount remains shrouded by anonymity in al-Masds work, a similar tradi-tion relating al-asansmisadventurewith Ibn al-Zubayr appears in the AkhbrMakka of al-Fkih (d. ca. 272/858859) related on the authority of the Meccantraditionist Amr b. Dnr (d. 125/742)67 directly from al-asan himself. In thisaccount, al-asan narrates the story:68

Ibn al-Zubayr took me and imprisoned me in the Dr al-Nadwa, in rimprison, but I escaped from it still in my chains. I continued to traverse themountains until I descended to my father in Min.

Amrs transmission of this story from al-asan proves an invaluable clue indeciphering not only Kuthayyirs poem, but also in uncovering the chronologyof the conflict between Ibn al-Zubayr and al-asans father, Ibn al-anafiyya.Amrb.Dnrwas a close intimateof al-asan,whosehomehe reputedly visitedfrequently; Amr was, furthermore, one of the most prominent and admiringpupils of al-asan to have transmitted from his knowledge.69 It seems quiteunlikely that a scholar so intimately familiar with both the Alids and theenvirons of Mecca would have erred in reporting al-asans imprisonment inrim prison.70

The question remains, however, as to when and why Ibn al-Zubayr hadplaced Ibn al-anafiyyas son in rim prison. The clue revealing the rationale

67 Ibn ajar, Tahdhb, 8: 28 and Harald Motzki, The Origins of Meccan Jurisprudence: Mec-

can Fiqh before the Classical Schools, trans. Marion Katz (Leiden: Brill, 2002), 173204 et

passim.

68 Fkih, Akhbr Makka, 3: 341: akhadhan Ibn al-Zubayr (r) fa-abasan f dr al-nadwa f

sijn rim fa-infalattu minhu f quyd fa-lam azal atakha al-jibl att saqatu al ab

bi-Min. Cf. Ibn ajar, Fat, 5: 473.

69 Yaqb al-Fasaw, Kitb al-Marifa wa-l-trkh, ed. Akramiy al-Umar, 4 vols. (Baghdad:

al-Irshd, 1974), 1: 543f.; Ab Bakr b. Ab Khaythama, al-Trkh, ed. al b. Fat Halal, 4

vols. (Cairo: al-Frq al-adtha, 2003), 2: 221.

70 Indeed, Amrwas himself imprisoned inMecca by Khlid al-Qasr; see Ab l-Arab,Mian,

344f.



behind Ibn al-Zubayrs imprisonment of al-asan comes from a report trans-mitted by the Kfan akhbr Awna b. al-akam (d. 147/764765 or 158/774775). He briefly states:71

After the murder of al-Mukhtr, [al-asan] travelled to Nisibis with aband [nafar] of the Khashabiyya. They made him their leader (raashalayhim). Muslim b. al-Asr, whowas from the Zubayrid faction,marchedagainst them, defeated them, and took al-asan captive. Al-asan wasthen sent to Ibn al-Zubayr, and he imprisoned (al-asan) in Mecca. It issaid that he escaped from the prison and went to his father in Min.

Al-asans imprisonment, if Awnas account is to be trusted, can be placedsometime in the immediate aftermath of the Zubayrids defeat of al-Mukhtrand their recapture of Kfa on 14 Raman 67/3 April 687, after which thesurviving remnant of al-Mukhtrs partisans fled to Nisibis and formed a short-lived, independent city-state.

With most of the data before us now, we can look back and attempt a roughchronology of Ibn al-Zubayrs conflict with Ibn al-anafiyya and the BanHshim. All accounts are unanimous in affirming that Ibn al-Zubayr attemptsto proclaim himself Commander of the Faithful and leader of the Muslimumma had been severely attenuated by the Ban Hshim living in Mecca who,under the leadership of Ibn al-anafiyya and Ibn Abbs, refused to recognizeIbn al-Zubayrs claims to the caliphal office. Their resistance engendered aseries of increasingly harsh reprisals, likely beginning with a general blockade(ir) and leading up to the imprisonment of Ibn al-anafiyya, and perhapshis associates and family as well, near or around Zamzam. Although Ibn al-Zubayr did likely imprison these individuals, it is unlikely that he imprisonedthem in the infamous rim prison; rather, according to most accounts andeven one putative eyewitness, Ibn al-Zubayr gathered Ibn al-anafiyya and hisassociates into makeshift houses (Ar. dr; sg. dr), as one account describesthe structure, or a large pen (Ar. ara and ujra) as other accounts claim.It was from these makeshift structures, and not from rim prison, that theKfan forces dispatched by al-Mukhtr likely freed Ibn al-anafiyya and hisassociates. The reports claiming that Ibn al-anafiyya had been imprisoned inrim, likely originatingwith the Abbsid historian al-Madin, probably arosefrom a misreading of a poem attributed to one of Ibn al-anafiyyas devotees,Kuthayyir Azza, which references the imprisonment of Ibn al-anafiyyas son,

71 Dhahab, Trkh, 2: 1083.


22 anthony

al-asan, several months following Ibn al-Zubayrs imprisonment of his fathernear Zamzam.

iv

Awnas otherwise isolated account of al-asan b.Muammd b. al-anafiyyasill-fated foray into the political fortunes of Mukhtrs partisans in Nisibis hasreceived bad press from modern scholars, but this is rather undeserved. Josefvan Ess, who was well-disposed to accept the accounts veracity, famously putAwnas account to great use in his study of the Kitb al-irj, an early epistleattributed to al-asan that, van Ess contends, represents the earliest survivingexampleof Islamic theology. Awnas account omits any reference to al-asansepistle but, in van Esss estimation, nonetheless offers a tantalizing backstoryfor the epistle. The epistle is as repletewithpolemics against theKfanSha (or,the Sabaiyya in al-asans parlance) as it is with calls for irj,72 and this led vanEss to conclude that the epistle marked a public conversion of sorts, implicitlyrenouncing al-asans former ties with al-Mukhtrs partisans and explicitlyrebuking the religious perversions of the Kfan Sha.73 Thosemodern scholarsapt to deny the epistles authenticity have attacked van Esss reconstruction astoodependent on Awnas account,which theydeemeda spurious and fancifulscenario invented to cast aspersions against one of the alleged founders of theearly Murjia.74

Yet, the case of rim prison represents one of those uncanny instanceswherein social and intellectual history intersect. In light of thematerials exam-ined above, Awnas account (and, by extension, van Ess hypothesis regardingthe authenticity of the Kitb al-irj) does not seem improbable at all. Its verac-ity, at least in terms of the plausibility of its broad outlines, finds confirmationnot only in the testimony of a contemporary and sympathetic poet, Kuthayyir

72 I.e., the position generally defined by the postponing of judgment on who was right or

wrong among the Prophets Companions in the conflicts and strife that transpired during

the first civil war (al-fitna al-kubr).

73 J. van Ess, Das Kitb al-Ir des asan b. Muammad b. al-anafiyya,Arabica 21 (1974):

2052; cf. also idem, Nachtrge und Verbesserungen, Arabica 22 (1975): 4851; idem,

Anfnge muslimischer Theologie: Zwei antiqadaritische Traktate aus dem ersten Jahrhun-

dert der Hira (Beirut: Franz Steiner, 1977) (Beiruter Texte und Studien 14), 112.

74 Michael Cook, EarlyMuslim Dogma: A Source-Critical Study (Cambridge: Cambridge Uni-

versity Press, 1981), 78; Patricia Crone and Fritz Zimmerman, The Epistle of Slim ibnDhak-

wn (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), 259f.



Azza, but also in al-asans own testimony of his imprisonment by Ibn al-Zubayr as transmitted by his student and friend, Amr b. Dnr.75

rim prisons last mystery is why one hears nothing of the structure afterthe death of Ibn al-Zubayr. One finds mentions of prisons in Mecca thereafter,but never one named sijn rim. It is possible that the prison simply ceased tobe known under the same name.76 Perhaps, onemight speculate, the structuredid not survive the famously brutal siege of Mecca conducted by al-ajjj b.Ysuf al-Thaqaf in 72/692. While the fate of the prison remains a mystery,the prison itself reveals to modern historians many valuable insights into thecarceral practices of the early Islamic ijz.

The institutional role of the prison can, for instance, hardly be said to havebeen governed by any normative legal frameworkoral, written, or other-wise. Rather, the prison served, as so often was the case during the conquestand Sufynid periods, as a tool of the local governor/ruler to intimidate ene-mies, weaken rivals, and punish malefactors who offended not the law per sebut, rather, the sensibilities of the authority (Ibn al-Zubayr, in this case) whowielded imprisonment as a tool to compel total compliance. It was, in essence,an informal institution at this early stagean institution governed not by law,but by the whim of the parochial authority. Put another way, the institutionof the prison was governed by the law as instantiated by the will of the local,governing authority, not by an impersonal, discrete body of law for which theauthority acted merely as a steward and enforcer. It was, fundamentally, anextra-legal institution.

Reflecting this state of affairs as well is that the only incarcerated prison-ers of whom the sources speak are the lites of the new Islamic polity, albeitlites who find themselves on the wrong side of the winds of political changeand upheaval. The only non-lite, which is to say non-Arab, of whom we hear,is Zayd-rim, the namesake of the prison itself. Yet, of the non-Arab popula-tions and their relationship to the early prison next to nothing is known. Asfar as we can discern, the early Islamic prison functioned in this era as a pro-foundly personalized institution, one in which the incarcerated quite literallyknows the incarcerator and in which ones incarceration results from a souredrelationship with the latter. However, this moment in the history of the Islamicprison is ephemeral, and attitudes towards carceral institutions were destinedto change just as swiftly as these institutions were adopted.

75 Cf. S.W. Anthony, The Caliph and the Heretic: Ibn Saba and the Origins of Shism (Leiden:

Brill, 2012), 294299.

76 Fkih, Akhbr Makka, 3: 340.


24 anthony

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