Uqba b. Sam'an

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Uqba b. Sam'an
Companion ofImam al-Husayn (a)
Wellknown RelativesRubab bt. Imri' al-Qays (master)
Place(s) of ResidenceMedina


ʿUqba (ʿĀqiba) b. Samʿān (Arabic: عُقبة(عاقبة) بن سمعان, alive in 61/680-1) was Rubab bt. Imri' al-Qays's servant and a companion of Imam al-Husayn (a) in the Event of Karbala. He reported parts of the event. He was arrested by the army of 'Umar b. Sa'd on the Day of Ashura, but he was released because he was a slave. He reported that Imam al-Husayn (a) never asked for the permission to meet Yazid b. Mu'awiya or to go to faraway borders. This is a rejection of 'Umar b. Sa'd's letter to 'Ubayd Allah b. Ziyad in which these two requests were attributed to the Imam (a).

Life

'Uqba or 'Aqiba[1] b. Sam'an was Rubab's servant, but he also undertook Imam al-Husayn's (a) tasks, such as the preparation of the horses and camels. After the martyrdom of Imam al-Husayn (a), he was arrested by the army of 'Umar b. Sa'd, but he was released because he was a slave.[2] Al-Shaykh al-Tusi has mentioned him among the companions of Imam al-Husayn (a).[3] He is mentioned in al-Ziyara al-Rajabiyya.[4] Ayatollah Khu'i mentioned him among the Martyrs of Karbala, but reported some Sunni historians as claiming that he escaped and survived the Event of Ashura.[5]

Event of Karbala

'Uqba accompanied Imam al-Husayn (a) from Medina to Karbala. When the caravans of Imam al-Husayn (a) and Hurr b. Yazid met in Dhu Husam, 'Uqba took out two saddlebags full of letters from people of Kufa (in which they had invited the Imam (a) to go to Kufa).[6]

Abu Mikhnaf has transmitted some events of Ashura from 'Uqba through 'Abd al-Rahman b. Jundab[7] and Harith b. Ka'b al-Walibi[8]. 'Uqba b. Sam'an is reported as saying:

I accompanied, and never separated from, Husayn b. 'Ali (a) until he was killed. I heard all of his words and sermons. I swear to God that, unlike what others say, he never asked for a permission to meet Yazid and pledge his allegiance with him, or to go to faraway borders. He only asked to be allowed to return to where he had come from or wander in the wide lands of God and see what would happen to these people.[9]

These remarks are replies to 'Umar b. Sa'd's letter to 'Ubayd Allah b. Ziyad in which he claimed that Husayn b. 'Ali (a) had promised him to do one of the following:

  • To return to the place where he had come from.
  • To go to a border of the Islamic territory and be like other Muslims in their rights and obligations and share their benefits and harms.

Reports

Here are some of 'Uqba's reports from the Event of Karbala:

  • Imam al-Husayn's (a) leaving Medina.[11]
  • An encounter between Imam al-Husayn's (a) caravan in Tan'im and a caravan belonging to Yazid b. Mu'awiya which was going from Yemen to Syria. In this encounter, the Imam (a) confiscated the property of Yazid's caravan.[15]
  • 'Ubayd Allah b. Ziyad's letter to Hurr b. Yazid.[16]
  • The story of 'Umar b. Sa'd being commissioned by 'Ubayd Allah b. Ziyad to combat Imam al-Husayn (a). [18]

Notes

  1. Abū Mikhnaf, Waqʿat al-Ṭaff, p. 107.
  2. Abū Mikhnaf, Waqʿat al-Ṭaff, p.257; Balādhurī, Ansāb al-Ashrāf, vol. 3, p. 257; Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-umam wa l-mulūk, vol. 5, p. 454; Ibn al-Athīr, Al-Kāmil, vol. 4, p. 80; Ibn Kathīr, Al-Bidāya wa l-nihāya, vol. 8, p. 189.
  3. Ṭūsī, Rijāl al-Ṭūsī, p. 104.
  4. Sayyid b. Ṭāwūs, Iqbāl al-Aʿmāl, p. 713.
  5. Khoei, Muʿjam Rijāl, vol. 11, p. 154.
  6. Abū Mikhnaf, Waqʿat al-Ṭaff, p. 49; Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-umam wa l-mulūk, vol. 5, p. 402; Ibn Aʿtham, Kitāb al-Futūḥ, vol. 5, p. 78; Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 44, p. 377; Mufīd, Al-Irshād, vol. 2, p. 80.
  7. Abū Mikhnaf, Waqʿat al-Ṭaff, p. 49; Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-umam wa l-mulūk, vol. 5, p. 407, 413; Ibn Kathīr, Al-Bidāya wa l-nihāya, vol. 8, p. 175.
  8. Abū Mikhnaf, Waqʿat al-Ṭaff, p. 49; Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-umam wa l-mulūk, vol. 5, p. 383, 385; Ibn Kathīr, Al-Bidāya wa l-nihāya, vol. 8, p. 175.
  9. Abū Mikhnaf, Waqʿat al-Ṭaff, p. 187; Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-umam wa l-mulūk, vol. 5, p. 413-414; Ibn al-Athīr, Al-Kāmil, vol. 4, p. 54; Ibn Kathīr, Al-Bidāya wa l-nihāya, vol. 8, p. 175.
  10. Balādhurī, Ansāb al-Ashrāf, vol. 3, p. 183; Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-umam wa l-mulūk, vol. 5, p. 415; Ibn Aʿtham, Kitāb al-Futūḥ, vol. 5, p. 93; Mufīd, Al-Irshād, vol. 2, p. 88.
  11. Abū Mikhnaf, Waqʿat al-Ṭaff, p. 40; Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-umam wa l-mulūk, vol. 5, p. 351.
  12. Abū Mikhnaf, Waqʿat al-Ṭaff, p. 40; Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-umam wa l-mulūk, vol. 5, p. 351.
  13. Abū Mikhnaf, Waqʿat al-Ṭaff, p. 40; Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-umam wa l-mulūk, vol. 5, p. 385; Ibn Kathīr, Al-Bidāya wa l-nihāya, vol. 8, p. 166; Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 44, p. 368; Ibn Nmā, Muthīr al-Aḥzān, p.39.
  14. Abū Mikhnaf, Waqʿat al-Ṭaff, p. 40; Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-umam wa l-mulūk, vol. 5, p. 383; Ibn Kathīr, Al-Bidāya wa l-nihāya, vol. 8, p. 159.
  15. Abū Mikhnaf, Waqʿat al-Ṭaff, p. 40.
  16. Abū Mikhnaf, Waqʿat al-Ṭaff, p. 38, 40.
  17. Abū Mikhnaf, Waqʿat al-Ṭaff, p. 40, 176-177; Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-umam wa l-mulūk, vol. 5, p. 407; Mufīd, Al-Irshād, vol. 2, p. 182; Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 44, p. 379.
  18. Dhahabī, Tārīkh al-Islām, vol. 5, p. 195.
  19. Abū Mikhnaf, Waqʿat al-Ṭaff, p. 32, 40.

References

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  • Balādhurī, Aḥmad b. Yaḥyā al-. Ansāb al-Ashrāf. Edited by Muḥammad Bāqir al-Maḥmūdī. Beirut: Dār al-Tʿārīf li-l-Maṭbūʿāt, 1397AH-1977.
  • Dhahabī, Muḥammad b. Aḥmad. Tārīkh al-Islām wa wafayāt al-mashāhīr wa al-aʿlām. Edited by ʿUmar ʿAbd al-Salām Tadmurī. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿArabī, 1413AH-1993.
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