Bakka'un
Bakkā'ūn (Arabic: البكاؤون) or Weepers were a group of the Prophet's companions who came to be known thus because they wept over their failure to attend the Battle of Tabuk. On one hadith, Adam (a), Jacob (a), Joseph (a), Fatima (a), and Imam Zayn al-'Abidin (a) are also known as Bakka'un.
Seven People from the Companions
Bakka'un were seven poor people from the companions who asked the Prophet (s) for a horse so that they could attend the Battle of Tabuk. The Prophet told them that he had no vehicle, so he could not take them to the battle. They were sad that they could not attend the battle and wept. When they wanted to return, some of the companions gave them vehicles and took them to the battle.[1] Their names are variously mentioned in different sources, and they came to be known as “Bakka'un.”[2] The battle of Tabuk occurred in 9/630[3] during an unbearable heat,[4] and because of the poverty of the companions, they came to be known as “Jaysh al-'Usra”,[5] (the Army of Hardship). In this battle, vehicles and weapons were supplied by the warriors themselves.[6]
According to some Quranic exegetes, the verse "Nor [is there any blame] on those to whom, when they came to you to provide them with a mount, you said, ‘I do not find any mount for you,’ and they turned back, their eyes flowing with tears, grieved because they did not find any means to spend."[7] was revealed about them,[8] although there are other possible interpretations of the verse as well.[9]
The Other Five
According to a hadith from Imam al-Sadiq (a), Bakka'un are five: Adam (a) when he was expelled from the Heaven, Jacob (a) when he was away from his son Joseph (a), Joseph (a) when he was away from his father Jacob (a), Fatima (a) for the tragedy of the demise of her father Prophet Muhammad (s), and Imam Zayn al-'Abidin (a) in tragedies of the Event of Ashura.[10]
Notes
- ↑ Wāqidī, al-Maghāzī, vol. 3, p. 993-994.
- ↑ Ṣāliḥī Shāmī, Subul al-hudā, vol. 5, p. 438; Ibn Ḥabīb Baghdādī, Kitāb al-muḥabbar, p. 281; Wāqidī, al-Maghāzī, vol. 3, p. 993-994.
- ↑ Balādhurī, Ansāb al-ashrāf, vol. 1, p. 368.
- ↑ Wāqidī, al-Maghāzī, vol. 3, p. 990.
- ↑ Balādhurī, Ansāb al-ashrāf, vol. 1, p. 368.
- ↑ Wāqidī, al-Maghāzī, vol. 3, p. 990.
- ↑ Qur'an 9:92
- ↑ Qurtubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-aḥkām al-Qurʾān, vol. 8, p. 228; Ṭūsī, al-Tibyān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, vol. 5, p. 280; Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, vol. 5, p. 91; Wāḥidī, Asbāb al-nuzūl al-Qurʾān, p. 262.
- ↑ See: Ṭūsī, al-Tibyān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, vol. 5, p. 280.
- ↑ Ṣadūq, al-Amālī', p. 140 and 141.
References
- Balādhurī, Aḥmad b. Yaḥyā al-. Ansāb al-ashrāf. Edited by Muḥammad Ḥamīd Allāh. Cairo: Dār al-Maʿārif, 1959 CE.
- Ibn Ḥabīb Baghdādī, Muḥammad b. Ḥabīb. Kitāb al-muḥabbar. Edited by Elza Lichten Stetter. Beirut: Dār al-Āfāq al-Jadīda, [n.d].
- Ibn Hishām, ʿAbd al-Malik. Al-Sīra al-nabawīyya. Edited by Muṣṭafā al-Saqā, Ibrāhīm Ābyārī and ʿAbd al-Ḥafīz Shalbī. Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifa, [n.d].
- Qurtubī, Muḥammad b. Aḥmad al-. Al-Jāmiʿ li-aḥkām al-Qurʾān. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Nāṣir Khusraw, 1364 Sh.
- Ṣāliḥī Shāmī, Muḥammad b. Yusuf. Subul al-hudā wa al-rashād fī sīrat khayr al-ʿibād. Edited by ʿĀdil Aḥmad ʿAbd al-Mawjūd and ʿAlī Muḥammad Muʿawwaḍ. 1st edition. Beirut: 1414 AH/1993.
- Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Al-Amālī. Tehran: Kitābchī, 1376 Sh.
- Ṭabrisī, Faḍl b. al-Ḥasan al-. Majmaʿ al-bayān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Edited by Muḥammad Jawād Balāghī. 3rd edition. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Nāṣir Khusraw, 1372 Sh.
- Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. Al-Tibyān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Edited by Aḥmad Qaṣīr al-ʿĀmilī. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, [n.d].
- Wāḥidī, Alī b. Aḥmad. Asbāb al-nuzūl al-Qurʾān. Edited by Kamāl Basyūnī Zaghlūl. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya, 1411 AH.
- Wāqidī, Muḥammad b. ʿUmar al-. Al-Maghāzī. Edited by Marsden Jones. Beirut: Muʾassisa al-Aʿlām, 1409 AH.