Fuzt wa Rabb al-Kaʿba (Arabic: فُزْتُ وَ رَبِّ الْكَعْبَة) is a phrase said by Imam Ali (a) when he was struck in the head. The sentence means: "I swear to the Lord of the Ka'ba that I have prospered." Different Shi'ite scholars, such as al-Sayyid al-Radi[1] and Ibn Shahrashub[2] as well as Sunni scholars, such as Ibn Athir[3] and al-Baladhuri,[4] have cited the sentence. A few recent sources have cited the sentence as follows: "Fuzt bi-Rabb al-Ka'ba" (فُزتُ بِرَبِّ الکَعبة).[5]

Ibn Qutayba al-Dinawari, a historian of the 3rd/9th century, gives the following report of the event:

Ibn Muljam went to Ali (a) and said: "the verdict is God's, not yours," and then struck Ali's (a) forehead with his sword. Ali (a) said: "I swear to the Lord of the Ka'ba that have prospered." He then said: "do not let this man (Ibn Muljam) run away." Then, people arrested Ibn Muljam.[6]

The sentence was also uttered before Imam Ali (a) in 4/625 in the event of Bi'r Ma'una by a person called Haram b. Milhan before his martyrdom. A historian of the 5th/11th century, Ibn 'Abd al-Barr reports:

In the event of Bi'r Ma'una, Haram b. Milhan was struck in the head. He let the blood pour in his hand and then rubbed it all over his head and face and then said: "I swear to the Lord of the Ka'ba that I have prospered."[7]

Notes

  1. Raḍī, Khaṣāʾiṣ al-aʾimma, p. 63.
  2. Ibn Sahrāshūb, Manāqib Āl Abī Ṭālib, vol. 2, p. 119.
  3. Ibn Athīr, Usd al-ghāba, vol. 3, p. 618.
  4. Balādhurī, Ansāb al-ashrāf, vol. 2, p. 488.
  5. Mazandarānī, Sharḥ al-Kāfī, vol. 11, p. 225.
  6. Ibn Qutayba al-Dīnawarī, al-Imāma wa l-sīyāsa, vol. 1, p. 180.
  7. Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, al-Istīʿāb, vol. 1, p. 337.

References

  • Balādhurī, Aḥmad b. Yaḥyā al-. Ansāb al-ashrāf. Edited by Suhayl Zakar & Rīyāḍ al-Ziriklī. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1417 AH.
  • Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, Yūsuf b. ʿAbd Allāh. Al-Istīʿāb fī maʿrifat al-aṣḥāb. Edited by ʿAlī Muḥammad al-Bajāwī. Beirut: Dār al-Jayl, 1412 AH.
  • Ibn Athīr al-Jazarī, ʿAlī b. Muḥammad. Usd al-ghāba fī maʿrifat al-ṣaḥāba. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1409 AH.
  • Ibn Qutayba al-Dīnawarī, ʿAbd Allāh b. Muslim. Al-Imāma wa l-sīyāsa. Edited by ʿAlī Shīrī. Dār al-Aḍwāʾ. Beirut: 1410 AH.
  • Ibn Sahrāshūb. Manāqib Āl Abī Ṭālib. Qom: Intishārāt-i ʿAllāma, 1379 AH.
  • Māzandarānī, Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ b. Aḥmad. Sharḥ al-Kāfī. Edited by Abū l-Ḥasan Shaʿrānī. Tehran: al-Maktaba al-Islāmīyya, 1382 Sh.
  • Raḍī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥusayn al-. Khaṣāʾiṣ al-aʾimma. Edited by Muḥammad Hādī Amīnī. Mshhad: Āstan-i Quds-i Raḍawī, 1406 AH.