Al-Abwa'
Al-Abwāʾ (Arabic:الأبواء) is a big village near al-Waddan located between Mecca and Medina. Amina bt. Wahb, the mother of Prophet Muhammad (s) is buried there. Also the Prophet (s) attended the Battle of al-Abwa' in this region.
Geography
Al-Abwa' is a big village near al-Waddan between Mecca and Medina. It is located on south-west of Medina and north-west of Mecca.[1] Its water is provided from the wells of the village.
Also a mountain near the village is called al-Abwa'. Al-Abwa' literally means a place where floods meet, or a place where groups of people gather together.[2]
Currently old al-Abwa' village is wrecked and abandoned, which is called al-Khurayba, it contains fields and gardens of date palms. New al-Abwa' village is located on the north of old al-Abwa'. The majority of people of al-Abwa' have migrated to large cities. However improvement of facilities in al-Abwa' flourished the region again. Today it contains seven thousand people who are mostly from Harb tribe. The village has nine schools and health centers as well. In summer 2010 the village suffered from water inadequacy; therefore, people were forced to bring water to the village.[3]
Historical Events
The Burial Place of the Prophet's (s) Mother
Amina bt. Wahb, Prophet Muhammad's (a) mother passed away on his way back to Mecca from Medina in about 46 B.H./577-8 in al-Abwa'.[4] It is said she is buried in this village.[5] When Quraysh planned to attack Medina to avenge their losses in the Battle of Badr, they reached al-Abwa'. A number of them wanted to exhume Amina's body. But Abu Sufyan consulted with leaders of Quraysh and they decided to avoid it. In the event of Hudaybiyya, Prophet Muhammad (s) visited his mother's tomb and rebuilt it.[6] He also visited her tomb after Hajjat al-Wida' (Hajj of Farewell).[7]
The Battle of al-Abwa'
In Safar, 2/August, 623 Prophet Muhammad (s) planned to encounter Quraysh and Banu Dumra. At the end, Prophet (s) made peace with Makhshi b. 'Amr, the leader of Dumra tribe, in al-Abwa'.[8] The Battle of al-Abwa' was the first Ghazwa of Prophet Muhammad (s).[9]11
Revelation of al-Tayammum Verse
The al-Tayammum Verse[10] was revealed in a travel of Prophet Muhammad (s) to al-Abwa'.[11]
Conversion of Abu Sufyan to Islam
Before the Conquest of Mecca by Prophet Muhammad (s), Abu Sufyan came to him and converted to Islam.[12]
Burial place of Muslim b. 'Uqba al-Murri
Because of the countless murders and massacres Muslim b. 'Uqba committed in the late 63/683, he was called Musrif, meaning he who exceeds all bounds of propriety. He was killed and buried in al-Abwa'.[13]
Burial place of 'Abd Allah b. Ja'far
Some sources stated that 'Abd Allah b. Ja'far passed away at the age of 90 in al-Abwa', and he was buried there.[14] However it is famously said that 'Abd Allah passed away in Medina and the one buried in al-Abwa' is a different person, who was a descendant of 'Abd al-Muttalib. He passed away in al-Abwa' as well as Sulayman b. 'Abd al-Malik in 99/717-8.[15] The mistake here happened as Ja'far b. Abi Talib's family had a large number of servants in al-Abwa'.[16]
Birthplace of Imam al-Kazim (a)
Imam Musa b. Ja'far (a) was born in 128/745 in al-Abwa'.[17]
Oath of allegiance to al-Nafs al-Zakiyya
In the end of Umayyad's rule, a number of Banu Hashim members including 'Abd Allah al-Mahd and his sons along with Saffah and al-Mansur gather together in al-Abwa'. 'Abd Allah introduced his son, Muhammad as the promised Mahdi and asked them to take oath of allegiance to him. Nevertheless Imam al-Sadiq (a) prohibited them from doing so.[18]
Notes
- ↑ Ibn Rasta, al-Aʿlāq al-nafīsa, vol. 7, p. 178.
- ↑ Ḥamawī, Muʿjam al-buldān, vol. 1, p. 100.
- ↑ al-Riyadh (newspaper), 2010/09/09.
- ↑ Ibn Hishām, al-Sīra al-nabawīyya, vol. 1, p. 177.
- ↑ Dhahabī, Siyar aʿlām al-nubalāʾ, vol. 1, p. 50; Maqrizī, Imtāʿ al-asmāʾ, vol. 1, p. 13.
- ↑ Wāqidī, al-Maghāzī, vol. 1, p. 206.
- ↑ Ibn Saʿd, al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā, vol. 1, p. 116.
- ↑ Ibn Hishām, al-Sīra al-nabawīyya, vol. 1, p. 591.
- ↑ Ibn Hishām, al-Sīra al-nabawīyya, vol. 1, p. 591; Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, vol. 1, p. 5.
- ↑ Qur'an 4:43.
- ↑ Ibn Saʿd, al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā, vol. 8, p. 75; Ibn Ḥanbal, Musnad al-Imām Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal, vol. 1, p. 220.
- ↑ Wāqidī, al-Maghāzī, vol. 2, p. 807.
- ↑ Balādhurī, Ansāb al-ashrāf, vol. 4, p. 45.
- ↑ Ibn Qutayba , al-Maʿārif, p. 206.
- ↑ Balādhurī, Ansāb al-ashrāf, vol. 3, p. 299; Dhahabī, Siyar aʿlām al-nubalāʾ, vol. 1, p. 201-209.
- ↑ Iṣṭakhrī, Masālik al-mamālik, p. 220; Ḥamawī, Muʿjam al-buldān, vol. 4, p. 910.
- ↑ Ṣaffār, Baṣāʾir al-darajāt, p. 460.
- ↑ Mufīd, al-Irshād, vol. 2, p. 192.
References
- Abu l-Faraj al-Iṣfahānī, ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn. Maqātil al-ṭālibīyyīn. Edited by Aḥmad al-Ṣaqar. Beirut: Muʾassisa al-Aʿlamī li-l-Maṭbūʿāt, 1408 AH.
- Bukhārī, Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl al-. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī. Istanbul: 1401 AH.
- Balādhurī, Aḥmad b. Yaḥyā al-. Ansāb al-ashrāf. Edited by ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Dawrī. Beirut: 1398 AH.
- Dhahabī, Muḥammad b. al-Aḥmad al-. Siyar aʿlām al-nubalāʾ. Edited by Shuʿayb al-Arnaʾūt and Ḥusayn Asad. Beirut: 1405 AH.
- Hamadānī, Ḥasan. Ṣifat jazīrat al-ʿarab. Edited by Muḥammad ʿAlī al-Akwaʿ. Beirut: 1403 AH.
- Ḥamawī, Yāqūt b. ʿAbd Allāh al-. Muʿjam al-buldān. Beirut: Dār al-Ṣādir,
- Ibn Ḥanbal, Aḥmad b. Muḥammad. Musnad al-Imām Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal. Istanbul: 1402 AH.
- Ibn Rasta, Aḥmad. Al-Aʿlāq al-nafīsa. Leiden: 1891.
- Iṣṭakhrī, Ibrāhim b. Muḥammad. Masālik al-mamālik. Edited by De Goeje. Leiden: 1927.
- Ibn Saʿd, Muḥammad. Al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir, [n.d].
- Ibn Qutayba al-Dīnawarī, ʿAbd Allāh b. Muslim . Al-Maʿārif. Edited by Tharwat ʿAkkāsha. Cairo: 1960.
- Ibn Hishām, ʿAbd al-Malik. Al-Sīra al-nabawīyya. Edited by Muṣṭafā al-Saqā. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, [n.d].
- Mufīd, Muḥammad b. Muḥammad al-. Al-Irshād fī maʿrifat ḥujaj Allāh ʿalā l-ʿibād. Qom: Kungira-yi Shaykh al-Mufīd, 1413 AH.
- Mustawfī, Ḥamd Allāh. Nuzhat al-qulub. Edited by Guy Le Strange. Leiden: 1331 AH.
- Maqrizī, Aḥmad b. ʿAlī. Imtāʿ al-asmāʾ. [n.p]. [n.d].
- Qummī, Shaykh ʿAbbās. Safīnat al-biḥār wa madīnat al-ḥikam wa l-āthār. Najaf: [n.d].
- Wāqidī, Muḥammad b. ʿUmar al-. Al-Maghāzī. Edited by Marsden Jones. London: [n.n], 1996.