" الکعبةواقعة الحرة: عندما
هاجم "مسلمون" الکعبة
THE HARRA INCIDENT:
WHEN “MUSLIMS” ATTACKED
THE KA`BA
By
Yasin T. Al-Jibouri
The
text below is originally published on pp. 170 – 179 of my book titled Kerbala
and Beyond: An Epic of Immortal Heroism which was published by AuthorHouse
of Bloomington, Indiana, and released to the public on August 26, 2011. It is
slightly edited from the original, and the editing includes the removal of
accented characters, Arabic salutations, etc. You are at liberty to quote this
text, reprint it, circulate it, use it in your thesis, dissertation, term
paper, post it on your web site or use it in any other way you see fit, and
when you do, rest assured that the Almighty will be pleased with you and will
reward you in the life of this world and in the Hereafter. This text contains
two photos of the site of Harrat Waqim near Medina which I obtained for you
from the Internet. May Allah enable all of us to achieve such a great blessing
beyond which there is no other blessing at all, Allahomma Aameen.
THE HARRA INCIDENT
This incident started on a
Wednesday, Thul-Hijja 28, 63 A.H./August
31, 683 A.D.
and was led by Abdullah ibn az-Zubair, a cousin of the
Prophet of Islam (P). Let us stop here to introduce the reader to this man
although he is too well known to any average student of Islamic history.
His full name is Abdullah ibn az-Zubair ibn al-Awwam. His mother was Asma’, the
oldest daughter of caliph Abu Bakr and older sister of Aisha, the youngest wife
of Prophet Muhammed (P). He was born in 1 A.H. and died in 73 A.H. (622 - 692 A.D.) and participated in
the Muslim invasions of Persia, Egypt and North Africa and sided with his
maternal aunt, Aisha, during the Battle of the Camel against Imam Ali ibn Abu
Talib (as). He lived most of his life in Medina and rebelled against the
government of Yazid ibn Mu'awiyah and against Umayyad rulers of Hijaz,
declaring himself caliph. He extended his influence to Iraq after the Battle of
Marj Rahit till al-Hajjaj ibn Yousuf al-Thaqafi
succeeded in putting an end to his reign, executing him in the most ruthless
way by nailing him to the Ka'ba..
Abdullah
ibn az-Zubair delivered a sermon once wherein he strongly condemned those
responsible for killing Imam al-Hussain (as), his family and friends,
describing Yazid as a shameless drunkard, a man who preferred to listen to
songs rather than to the recitation of the Holy Qur’an, who preferred wine
drinking over fasting and the company of his hunting party to any majlis
where the Qur’an is explained. Amr ibn Sa'd ibn al-`Aas was then governor of
Mecca, and he was quite ruthless in dealing with Abdullah
ibn az-Zubair, keeping him under constant surveillance, sending spies to his
meeting places and constantly harassing him. When Yazid heard about Ibn
az-Zubair’s denunciations, he pledged to have him chained, so he dispatched
some of his men with a silver chain, ordering them to tie Ibn az-Zubair with
it. His deputies passed by Medina on their way to Mecca and met with Marwan ibn
al-Hakam who joined them in their effort to arrest Ibn az-Zubair, but the party
failed in carrying out its mission, and more and more people pledged to assist
Ibn az-Zubair against Yazid.
Having come to know of such
failure, Yazid called to his presence ten men from among the most prominent
supporters of his bloody regime, and there are always those who support bloody
regimes in every time and clime. He ordered these ten men to meet with Ibn
az-Zubair to dissuade him from rebelling. But they, too, failed in their
attempt due to the public support Ibn az-Zubair was enjoying. Yazid now
resorted to deposing Mecca’s governor Amr ibn Sa`d and appointing al-Walid ibn
Utbah in his place, prompting Ibn az-Zubair to write Yazid to describe his
newly appointed governor as an idiot who never listened to advice nor enjoyed
any wisdom. Yazid deposed al-Walid ibn Utbah and replaced him with Othman ibn
Muhammed ibn Abu Sufyan, a young man who knew absolutely nothing about politics
or diplomacy.
The first action the new governor
undertook was dispatching a fact finding committee to Damascus to ascertain all
the rumors about Yazid being a corrupt bastard, a man unfit to rule. Among the
members of the mission were: Abdullah ibn Hanzalah
al-Ansari,
Abdullah ibn Abu Amr al-Makhzumi, al-Munthir ibn
az-Zubair, and a good number of the most prominent men of Hijaz. Yazid received
them with open arms and showered them with money and presents, but when they
returned, they cursed Yazid for his blasphemy and un-Islamic conduct, encouraging
people to revolt against him, using the money they had received from him to
finance the rebellion against him. While passing by Medina, the residents heard
the report of the members of this committee. They, therefore, deposed their
governor, Othman ibn Muhammed, and elected Abdullah
ibn Hanzalah as their new governor.
When the Umayyads saw how the
public turned against them, they sought refuge at the house of Marwan ibn
al-Hakam, cousin of caliph Othman ibn Affan, where they were besieged. The siege
was not lifted till those Umayyads solemnly swore not to take any measure
against those who laid the siege against them and not to help Yazid in any way
whatsoever, a pledge which they did not keep, for Abu Sufyan, Mu'awiyah and
Yazid were their mentors, and these men never honored a pledge as long as they
lived.
When the rebellion reached such a
point, Yazid realized that he had lost control over the people of Hijaz, and
that only an army sent against them from Damascus would do the job. He,
therefore, appointed a ruffian man named Muslim ibn Uqbah al-Murri who was, at
the time, quite advanced in age, to undertake such a task. Despite his age,
Muslim agreed to shoulder the responsibility of quelling the rebellion. An
army, hence, of twenty thousand strong set out from Damascus to quell the
rebellion in Hijaz with clear orders from Yazid to "... Invite the people
to renounce their rebellion and to renew their pledge of loyalty [to Yazid].
Give them three days to consider doing so. If they persist in their defiance,
let the soldiers have a free hand in the city for three days: Any money or
weapons or food they lay their hands on is theirs. Once the three days are
over, leave the people alone, and spare Ali son of al-Hussain (Imam
Zainul-`Abidin) (as), and admonish everyone to be good to him and show respect
to him, for he did not join the rebellion," as at-Tabari tells us on the
first pages of Vol. 4 of his Tarikh (Beirut, Lebanon: Al-Amira
Publishers, 1426 A.H./2005 A.D.) where more details are provided about this
horrific crime of burning the Ka`ba, the holiest of holies in Islam.
Harrat Waqim
Yazid’s troops first attacked Medina
then Mecca. In Medina, according to al-Mas'udi and al-Daynuri, they demolished
homes, raped women, girls and even children, plundered anything and everything
they found in their way, committing untold atrocities justified only by those
who follow Yazid and who do not curse or condemn him, hence they shall receive
their share of the Almighty’s condemnation on the Day of Judgment and shall be
lodged in hell in the company of Yazid and his likes. In his renown Tarikh, Ibn
Katheer tells us that as many as seven hundred men who knew the text of the
Holy Qur’an by heart, including three close sahabis of the Prophet (P),
were killed in that incident which is referred to in the books of history as
the Incident of the Harra, a reference to "Harrat Waqim" where
Yazid’s army first attacked. This place is named after a man belonging to the
Amaliqa (“the giants”) and is one of two Medina suburbs bearing the same name:
the eastern Harra, this same “Harrat Waqim,” located on the eastern side of Medina,
and the western Harra, as we are told by Imam Shihabud-Deen Abu Abdullah Yaqut ibn Abdullah al-Hamawi
ar-Rami al-Baghdadi, famous as Yaqut al-Hamawi, who describes several places
each one of which is called “Harra,” then he details Harrat Waqim (see image
below) and comments saying the following on pp. 287-288, Vol. 2, of his
voluminous work Mu'jam al-Buldan:
Harrat Waqim near Medina, Hijaz
It was at this Harra that the
famous “Harra Incident” took place during the lifetime of Yazid son of
Mu'awiyah in the year 63 A.H./683
A.D. The commander of the army, who had been appointed by Yazid, was Muslim ibn
Uqbah al-Murri who, on account of his ugly action, was called “al-musrif” (the
one who went to extremes in committing evil). He [Muslim] came to Harrat Waqim
and the people of Medina went out to fight him. He vanquished them, killing
three thousand and five hundred men from among the mawali, one thousand
and four hundred from among the Ansar, but some say one thousand and seven
hundred, and one thousand and three hundred men from among Quraish. His hosts
entered Medina. They confiscated wealth, arrested some people and raped women.
Eight hundred women became pregnant and gave birth, and the offspring were
called “the offspring of the Harra.” Then he brought prominent personalities to
swear the oath of allegiance to Yazid ibn Mu'awiyah and to declare that they
were slaves of Yazid ibn Mu'awiyah. Anyone who refused was killed.
The people of Medina had re-dug
the moat (khandaq) which had been dug during the Battle of the Moat,
preparations for which started at the beginning of the month of Shawwal, 5 A.H. (the end of February, 627 A.D.), according to the
orders of the Prophet (P) and in response to a suggestion presented to him by
the great sahabi Salman al-Farisi as they stood to defend themselves
against a huge army raised by Abu Sufyan to fight them. They also tried to
fortify their city with a bulwark.
Yazid’s army succeeded in putting
an end to the rebellion at a very high cost, but Abdullah
ibn az-Zubair survived unscathed. A number of highly respected sahaba
and tabi’een as well as narrators of hadith and Sunna were
branded like animals as an additional insult.
Having finished with the people
of Medina, Muslim, the aging commander of Yazid’s handpicked troops, marched to
Mecca. On the way, he camped at a place called al-Mushallal. There, he felt
that death was approaching him, so he called to his presence al-Haseen ibn
Nameer as-Sukuni and said to him, "O son of the donkey’s saddle! By Allah,
had I not felt that death was approaching me, I would never have given you
command of this army. But the commander of the faithful (meaning Yazid) had put
you second in command, and none can override his orders. Listen, therefore,
carefully to my will, and do not listen to any man from Quraish at all. Do not
stop the Syrians from slaughtering their foes, and do not stay for more than
three days before putting an end to the reprobate Ibn az-Zubair." This is
sated by at-Tabari on p. 381, Vol. 4, of the Arabic text of his famous
voluminous Tarikh where he provides details of this incident. Muslim
died and was buried there. Once the Syrian army left al-Mushallal, people dug
up his grave, took his corpse out and hanged it on a palm tree. When the army
came to know about this incident, a detachment was sent to investigate and to
kill those suspected of hanging the corpse which was buried again and soldiers
were assigned to guard it at all times. These details and many more are stated
on p. 251, Vol. 2, of al-Ya'qubi’s Tarikh.
Catapults
were installed around Mecca and in the vicinity of the Ka'ba, the holiest of
holies in Islam. Fireballs were hurled and the Ka'ba was soon in flames... Its
walls collapsed and were burnt, and its ceiling crumbled... According to pp.
71-72, Vol. 3, of al-Mas'udi’s voluminous book Muraj at-Thahab, a
thunderbolt hit the Syrian army on a Saturday, Rab'i I 27, 61 A.H./December 28, 680