Hajjar b. Abjar

Without priority, Quality: b
From wikishia
Hajjar b. Abjar
Commander of 'Umar b. Sa'd's army
Full NameHajjar b. Abjar b. Jabir
LineageBakr b. Wa'il
Place of ResidenceKufa
EraEarly Islam
Notable rolesGovernor of Isfahan
ActivitiesTestifying against Hujr b. 'Adi, inviting Imam al-Husayn (a) to Kufa], opposing Uprising of al-Mukhtar, joining Mus'ab b. Zubayr


Ḥajjār b. Abjar al-ʿIjlī (Arabic: حَجّار بْن أبْجَر العِجْلي) was a nobleman of Kufa and a commander of 'Umar b. Sa'd's army in the Battle of Karbala. He was one of the people who wrote letters to Imam al-Husayn (a), inviting him to Kufa, but after 'Ubayd Allah b. Ziyad took over the rule of Kufa, he joined him and played a role in scattering people away from Muslim b. 'Aqil. Hajjar was a commander of 'Umar b. Sa'd in the Battle of Karbala, and after the battle, he was an opponent of the Uprising of al-Mukhtar and joined Mus'ab b. Zubayr. Mus'ab commissioned him to combat 'Ubayd Allah b. Hurr al-Ju'fi. He later joined 'Abd al-Malik b. Marwan in his fight with Mus'ab.

Lineage

Hajjar b. Abjar b. Jabir b. Bujayr b. 'A'idh b. Shurayt b. 'Amr b. Malik b. Rabi'a b. 'Ijl[1] was the head of the Bakr b. Wa'il tribe.[2]

Hajjar was alive in the period of the Prophet Muhammad (s). He and his father, Abjar, went to 'Umar b. al-Khattab; Hajjar recited shahadatayn and converted to Islam, but his father did not convert to Islam. A short time before the martyrdom of Imam 'Ali (a) in 40/661, his father died as a Christian.[3] 'Abd al-Rahman b. Muljam who had entered Kufa to martyr Imam 'Ali (a) saw some people and priests of Kufa holding a funeral for Abjar. He said: "I swear to God that I would kill them all with my sword had I not wanted to stay alive for a greater purpose."[4]

Hajjar was aware of Mustawrid b. 'Ulafa al-Khariji's riot against al-Mughira b. Shu'ba in 43/663-4, but kept it a secret.[5] He also testified against Hujr b. 'Adi.[6]

The Battle of Karbala

Hajjar was one of the people who wrote letters to Imam al-Husayn (a), inviting him to Kufa.[7] But after 'Ubayd Allah b. Ziyad took over Kufa, he played a role in scattering people away from Muslim b. 'Aqil.[8] In the Event of Ashura, Ibn Ziyad sent Hajjar to aid 'Umar b. Sa'd.[9] On the Day of 'Ashura, Imam al-Husayn (a) addressed him as a writer of letters to him.[10]

After Ashura

He was a commander of the army of Ibn Muti', the ruler of Kufa, against al-Mukhtar's army.[11] Al-Mukhtar commissioned Ahmar b. Shumayt to combat him.[12] When al-Mukhtar took over the rule of Kufa, Hajjar joined Mus'ab b. Zubayr. Mus'ab commissioned him to combat 'Ubayd Allah b. Hurr al-Ju'fi. He was defeated in this combat.[13]

Later in the battle between Mus'ab and 'Abd al-Malik b. Marwan, Hajjar b. Abjar, together with Ghadban b. Qaba'thari, 'Attab b. Warqa', Qutn b. 'Abd Allah al-Harithi, Muhammad b. 'Abd al-Rahman b. Sa'id, Zahr b. Qays, and Muhammad b. 'Umayr al-Tamimi, among others, joined 'Abd al-Malik b. Marwan on the condition of being appointed as the ruler of Isfahan. In 71/690, they were given the rule of Isfahan.[14]

Notes

  1. Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-umam, vol. 11, p. 666.
  2. Dīnawarī, al-Akhbār al-ṭiwāl, p. 214.
  3. Ibn Ḥajar, al-Iṣāba, vol. 2, p. 103; Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-umam, vol. 5, p. 146.
  4. Dīnawarī, al-Akhbār al-ṭiwāl, p. 214; Balādhurī, Ansāb al-ashrāf, vol. 2, p. 494; Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-umam, vol. 5, p. 146.
  5. Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-umam, vol. 5, p. 182.
  6. Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-umam, vol. 5, p. 270; Balādhurī, Ansāb al-ashrāf, vol. 5, p. 255.
  7. Dīnawarī, al-Akhbār al-ṭiwāl, p. 229; Balādhurī, Ansāb al-ashrāf, vol. 3, p. 158; Ibn Miskawayh, Tajārub al-umam, vol. 2, p. 40; Ibn Aʿtham, al-Futūḥ, vol. 2, p. 30; Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 44, p. 334; Mufīd, al-Irshād, vol. 2, p. 38.
  8. Dīnawarī, al-Akhbār al-ṭiwāl, p. 239; Mufīd, al-Irshād, vol. 2, p. 52; Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 44, p. 349; Ibn al-Athīr, al-Kāmil, vol. 4, p. 31; Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-umam, vol. 5, p. 369.
  9. Balādhurī, Ansāb al-ashrāf, vol. 3, p. 178; Dīnawarī, al-Akhbār al-ṭiwāl, p. 254.
  10. Balādhurī, Ansāb al-ashrāf, vol. 3, p. 188; Mufīd, al-Irshād, vol. 2, p. 98; Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 45, p. 7; Ṭabrisī, Iʿlām al-warā, p. 242.
  11. Ibn Aʿtham, al-Futūḥ, vol. 6, p. 235; Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 45, p. 368.
  12. Balādhurī, Ansāb al-ashrāf, vol. 6, p. 391; Ibn al-Athīr, al-Kāmil, vol. 4, p. 219; Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-umam wa l-mulūk, vol. 6, p. 22.
  13. Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-umam, vol. 6, p. 134.
  14. Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-umam, vol. 6, p. 156.

References

  • Balādhurī, Aḥmad b. Yaḥyā al-. Ansāb al-ashrāf. Edited by Muḥammad Bāqir Maḥmūdī. Beirut: Muʾassisat al-Aʿlamī li-l-Maṭbūʿāt, 1397 AH/1977 CE.
  • Balādhurī, Aḥmad b. Yaḥyā al-. Jumal min ansāb al-ashrāf. Edited by Suhayl Zakār & Riyāḍ al-Ziriklī. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1417 AH/1996 CE.
  • Dīnawarī, Aḥmad b. Dāwūd al-. Al-Akhbār al-ṭiwāl. Edited by ʿAbd al-Munʿim ʿĀmir and Jamāl al-Dīn Shiyāl. Qom: Manshūrāt al-Sharīf al-Raḍī, 1379 AH/1959 CE.
  • Ibn Aʿtham, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī. Al-Futūḥ. Edited by ʿAlī al-shīrī. Beirut: Dār al-Aḍwāʾ, 1411 AH.
  • Ibn al-Athīr, al-Jazarī, ʿAlī b. Abī l-Karam. Al-Kāmil fī l-tārīkh. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir, 1385 AH/1965 CE.
  • Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī, Aḥmad b. ʿAlī. Al-Iṣāba fī tamyīz al-ṣaḥāba. Edited by ʿĀdil Aḥmad ʿAbd al-Mawjūd and ʿAlī Muḥammad Muʿawwaḍ. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmīyya, 1415 AH/1995 CE.
  • Ibn Miskawayh, Aḥmad b. Muḥammad. Tajārub al-umam. Edited by Abu l-Qāsim Imāmī. Tehran: Surūsh, 1379 Sh.
  • Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir al-. Biḥār al-anwār. Beirut: Muʾassisat al-Wafāʾ, 1404 AH.
  • Mufīd, Muḥammad b. Muḥammad al-. Al-Irshād fī maʿrifat ḥujaj Allāh ʿalā l-ʿibād. Qom: Intishārāt-i Kungira-yi Jahānī Shaykh al-Mufīd, 1413 AH.
  • Ṭabarī, Muḥammad b. Jarīr al-. Tārīkh al-umam wa l-mulūk. Edited by Muḥammad Abu l-faḍl Ibrāhīm. Beirut: Dar al-Turāth, 1387 AH/1967 CE.
  • Ṭabrisī, Faḍl b. al-Ḥasan al-. Iʿlām al-warā bi-aʿlām al-hudā. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyya, [n.d].