or for his shifting allegiances later on.

He
appears to have been an opportunist rather
than an ideologue.
Bi bli ography
al-Tabar, Tarkh al-rusul wa-l-mulk , ed. M. J.
de Goeje (Leiden 18791901) 2:1854ff. ; Ibn
Askir, Tarkh madnat Dimashq , ed. Umar b.
Gharama al-Amraw (Beirut 1995), 31:216
23 ; Anonymous, Kitb al-uyn wa l-hadiq
f akhbr al-haqiq, in M. J. de Goeje and
Pieter de Jong (eds.), Fragmenta Historicum Arabi-
corum (Leiden 1869), 152ff. ; Khalfa b. Khayy;,
Kitb al-tarkh , ed. Akram Diy al-Umar (Najaf
1967), index ; al-Baldhur, Ansb al-Ashrf ,
ed. Mahmd al-Firdaws al-Azm (Damascus
19972004) 7:165ff. ; Ibn al-Athr, al-Kmil f
l-tarkh , ed. C. J. Tornberg (Leiden 185176),
5:228ff. ; Julius Wellhausen, The Arab kingdom and
its fall , trans. Margaret Graham Weir (Beirut
1963), 383ff. ; Gerald R. Hawting, The rst
dynasty of Islam. The Umayyad caliphate A.D.
661750 (London 1987), 99ff. ; Josef van Ess,
TG , 2:2405.
Steven Judd
Abdallh b. Umar b.
al-Kha;;b
Abdallh b. Umar b. al-Khab
(d. 73/693) was a Companion and brother-
in-law of the Prophet Muhammad and one
of the most important transmitters of his
sayings. He is often referred to simply as
Ibn Umar.
Abdallh b. Umar was born c. 610 C.E.,
the rst son of the caliph-to-be Umar b.
al-Kha;;b and Zaynab bt. Mazn. He
converted to Islam at an early age, together
with his parents, and was about eleven
when his family moved to Medina. He
was too young to ght at Badr and Uhud
but took part in the Battle of the Trench
(al-Khandaq) in 5/627. His alleged age at
that time (fteen) would be used later to
determine whether a boy was old enough
to ght. He is said to have taken part in
all subsequent military campaigns of the
prophet Muhammad. His sister Hafsa bt.
Umar was married to Muhammad in
3/625, after the ba ttle of Badr.
After Muhammads death, Ibn Umar
took part in the battles of Yarmk (15/636),
al-Qdisiyya (15/636 or 16/637), al-Jall
(16/637), and Nihwand (16 to 21/642)
and in the military campaigns in North
Africa (27/647), Tabaristan (30/650), and
against Byzantium (49/669). He died in
Mecca c. 73/693 at the age of about 84
(lunar) years and was buried in the vicinity
of Mecca, perhaps at the cemetery of the
muhjirn in Fakhkh.
Ibn Umars early conversion to Islam
and his meritorious deeds in its causein
addition to his being a brother-in-law of
the Prophet and a son of the second ca-
liphmade him one of the most inuential
and esteemed gures in early Islam and a
promising candidate for the caliphate. After
Umars death in 23/644 his name was
mooted whenever a new caliph had to be
chosen, and other aspirants to the caliph-
ate tried to win his favour to bolster their
claims. He was thus one of the candidates
after the murder of Uthmn (35/656), at
the negotiations following the battle of
Siffn (37/657), and after the deaths of the
caliphs Muwiya (60/680), Yazd (64/683),
and Marwn (65/684). Ibn Umar refused,
however, to become caliph unless by unani-
mous assent, as he did not wish to have a
part in the division of the community and
would not enforce his claim by ghting
other Muslims. This accords with his posi-
tion towards the aspirants to the caliphate,
to whom he did not pledge allegiance until
they succeeded in gathering the community
behind them.
During the First Civil War following the
murder of the caliph Uthmn, Ibn Umar
20

abdallh b.

umar b. al-khab
was among those Companions who chose
to remain neutral in the contest between
Al and his adversaries. He refused to
pledge allegiance to Muwiya before Als
death but did so after Muwiya was gen-
erally acknowledged as caliph in 41/661.
He also refused to swear the oath to
Muwiyas son Yazd when Muwiya tried
to install him as successor-caliph, but he did
so soon after Muwiyas death (60/680).
During the Second Civil War he refused
to pledge allegiance to either Abdallh b.
al-Zubayr or Abd al-Malik b. Marwn
until the latter had defeated the former. For
these reasons Ibn Umar served as a role
model of strict neutrality and loyalty to the
community and the state powers.
Ibn Umars role in the transmission
of adth is controversial. He is counted
among the so-called mukaththirn (prolic
transmitters), each of whom was said to
have transmitted more than a thousand
traditions from Muhammad; only Ab
Hurayra is said to have transmitted more
traditions than Ibn Umar. Al-Mizz (d.
742/1341) and al-Dhahab (d. 748/1348
or 752/13523) name more than two
hundred transmitters who reportedly heard
traditions from him. He is the main author-
ity of the Medinan traditionists and jurists,
and in Mliks Muwaa most traditions
are traced back either to Ibn Umar or
to the Prophet through him. Several bio-
graphical traditions emphasise his probity
and accuracy in transmitting sayings of
Muhammad. The isnd (chain of authori-
ties) of Mlik from N (the mawl of Ibn
Umar) from Ibn Umar is counted among
the most reliable in Muslim adth studies
and is often referred to as the golden chain
(silsilat al-dhahab) .
On the other hand there are traditions
from al-Shab and Mujhid, who claim
that although they studied with Ibn Umar
in Medina, they heard him transmit only
one saying of Muhammad. The historicity
of material going back to Ibn Umar in
general, and the golden chain in particu-
lar, has been disputed by some Western
scholars (e.g., Schacht, 25f., 176ff.; Juynboll,
142f., 196); others hold that there are genu-
ine traditions going back to Ibn Umar (e.g.,
Motzki, 1326, 156). No comprehensive
study of the material transmitted under
his name exists.
The sources portray Ibn Umar as a
generous, pious, ascetic, and humble man,
strictly following the Sunna of Muhammad.
He appears to have declined the ofces of
governor of Syria and q . He is said to
have had twelve sons and four daughters.
Some of his sons transmitted adth s from
him. Nothing is known about his eldest
son, Abd al-Rahmn, whence Ibn Umar
received his kunya Ab Abd al-Rahmn.
One of his daughters was married to the
third caliphs son Amr b. Uthmn and
one to the historian and jurist Urwa b.
al-Zubayr.
Bi bli ography
Longer biographies
Ab Nuaym, ilyat al-awliy (Beirut 1967),
1:292314 ; Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Dha-
hab, Siyar alm al-nubal , ed. Shuayb al-
Arna; and Husayn al-Asad (Beirut 1981),
3:20339 ; al-Dhahab, Tarkh al-islm , ed.
Umar Abd al-Salm Tadmur (Beirut 1990),
5:45367 ; Ibn Askir, Tarkh madnat Dimashq ,
ed. Umar b. Gharma al-Amraw (Beirut
1996), 31:79204 ; Ibn Khallikn, Wafayt
al-ayn , ed. Ihsn Abbs (Beirut 1970),
3:2831 ; Ibn Sad, al-abaqt al-kubr , ed.
Julius Lippert (Leiden 1906), 4/1:10538,
index ; al-Mizz, Tahdhb al-kaml , ed. Bashshr
Awwd Marf (Beirut 1988), 15:33241 ;
al-Safad, al-Wf bi-l-wafayt , ed. Dorothea
Krawulsky (Wiesbaden 1982), 17:3624.
Primary sources
al-Baldhur, Ansb al-ashrf , vol. 5, ed. S. D.
Goitein ( Jerusalem 1936), and vol. 4/1, ed.
Ihsn Abbs (Wiesbaden 1979), indices ;

abdallh b.

umar b. al-khab 21
Khalfa b. Khayy;, Kitb al-tarkh , ed. Suhayl
Zakkr (Beirut 1993), indices ; al-Wqid,
Kitb al-maghz , ed. Marsden Jones, 3 vols.,
London 1966. See also: Ihsn Sidq al-Amad
(ed.), Al-shaykhn Ab Bakr al-iddq wa-Umar b.
al-Khab wa-wulduhum. Bi-riwyat al-Baldhur
f Ansb al-ashrf (Kuwait 1989), 390405,
index ; al-Tabar, Tarkh al-rusul wa-l-mulk ,
(Annales), ed. M. J. de Goeje et al., 15 vols.
(Leiden 18791901), index.
Studies
G. H. A. Juynboll, Muslim tradition. Studies in
chronology, provenance, and authorship of early
adth , Cambridge 1983 ; Wilferd Madelung,
The succession to Muammad. A study of the early
caliphate , Cambridge 1997 ; Harald Motzki,
The origins of Islamic jurisprudence. Meccan qh
before the classical schools , Leiden 2002 ; Tilman
Nagel, Rechtleitung und Kalifat. Versuch ber
eine Grundfrage der islamischen Geschichte , Bonn
1975 ; Gernot Rotter, Die Umayyaden und der
zweite Brgerkrieg (680692) , Wiesbaden 1982 ;
Joseph Schacht, The origins of Muhammadan
jurisprudence , Oxford 1950.
Andreas Grke
Abdallh b. al-Zubayr
Abdallh b. al-Zubayr , a son of
the famous Companions al-Zubayr b. al-
Awwm and Asm bt. Ab Bakr, was the
rst child born to the Muslim community
in Medina after the hijra , in 2/624. He
played a key role in the Second Civil
War or fitna (strife), ruling from Mecca
for approximately nine years as caliph
before being killed by Umayyad forces in
723/6912. This part of the Second Civil
War is often referred to in Arabic sources
as the tna of Ibn al-Zubayr.
1. Fami ly ti es and early
experi ence
Genealogical connections are crucial to
understanding Ibn al-Zubayrs later career.
As the son of Asm bt. Ab Bakr, Ibn
al-Zubayr often visited his maternal aunt
isha, the famous wife of the Prophet.
isha was even given the honorary
kunya Umm Abdallh (Mother of
Abdallh). Through his mother Ibn al-
Zubayr was thus not only the grandson of
Ab Bakr but also the nephew of isha,
perhaps even having a status approach-
ing that of a son to the childless isha,
with whom he was closely associated for
the rest of her life. Through his father,
Ibn al-Zubayr was closely related both to
the grandsons of Khadjaal-Hasan and
al-Husaynand to the Prophet himself.
Ibn al-Zubayrs father, al-Zubayr b. al-
Awwm, was himself both a cousin of
the Prophetal-Zubayrs mother, Sayya,
was the sister of the Prophets fatherand
the son of al-Awwm, Khadjas brother.
These matrilineal and patrilineal links
thus connected Ibn al-Zubayr both to the
family of the Prophet and to the family
of Ab Bakr.
Ibn al-Zubayr is counted a Companion
of the Prophet by many Sunn scholars and
is widely considered the rst child born to
the community of muhjirn (emigrants)
at Medina. It is recounted that he pledged
allegiance to the Prophet at an early age,
though he is usually reckoned to have
been only about eight years old when
the Prophet died. As a young man, he
is reported to have participated with his
father in the Battle of Yarmk (15/636)
and the conquest of Egypt (19/640) and
later to have earned renown for his battle
skills in the conquest of Ifrqiya and in the
victory over the Byzantine exarch Gregory.
However important these considerations
may have been in the minds of rst/sev-
enth-century Muslims in qualifying him for
leadership later on, they are entirely over-
shadowed in later chronological histories
by accounts of the second tna .
22

abdallh b. al-zubayr