Abu l-Haytham b. al-Tayyihan: Difference between revisions

'''Abu l-Haytham b. al-Tayyihān''' (Arabic: {{iarabic|ابو الهيثم بن التَيِّهان}}) is one of the [[Prophet (s)]]'s [[sahaba]] and a fellow of [[Imam 'Ali (a)]]. He was a monotheist even before [[Islam]]. He was present at [['Aqaba allegiance]], the battles of [[battle of Badr|Badr]], [[Battle of Uhud|Uhud]], [[Battle of Khandaq|Khandaq]], and [[battle of Mu'ta|Mu'ta]].

Abu l-Haytham opposed [[Abu Bakr]]'s caliphate after the death of the Prophet (s), and made an allegiance to [[Imam 'Ali (a)]] after [['Uthman]]'s murder. He was martyred in the [[battle of Siffin]]. Imam 'Ali (a) regrets the loss of fellows like him in ''[[Nahj al-Balagha]]''.

His parentage is not clearly known; in most of the sources he is said to belong to the Bani Za'ur 'Abd al-'Ashhal clan from the 'Aws tribe. Some hold that he was from the clan of Quda'a and Halif b. 'Abd al-'Ashhal. His brother, 'Ubayd or Utayk, fought in the battle of Badr with Muslims and was martyred in the battle of Uhud. Some have confused Abu l-Haytham with his brother.

He and As'ad b. Zurara were among the first people from [[Ansar]] who converted to Islam, and they made allegiance to the [[Prophet (s)]] in both 'Aqaba allegiance.

He is also one of the twelve Nuqaba who were selected for the propagation of Islam from among people who made the allegiance.

After his immigration ([[hijra]]), the Prophet (s) made a fraternity pact between Ibn Tayyahan and [['Uthman b. Maz'un]].

We make an allegiance to you conditioned upon our obedience of [[God]] and the tradition of his [[Prophet (s)]], and if we are not committed to this, you do not have to obey us and will have no commitment to our allegiance; and the guide between us is the [[Qur'an]].

At the beginning of the [[battle of Siffin]], Abu l-Haytham encouraged the Iraqi armies to participate in the war. Some people have said that he died years before this war in 20/640-641 during 'Umar's caliphate. Accordingly some people have cast doubts on his participation in the war of Siffin.

Though [[Ibn Abi l-Hadid]]'s quotation from [[Nasr b. Muzahim]] is not found in the present copies and versions of the latter's book, the presence of an elegy for Abu l-Haytham among the elegies of the Siffin martyrs in Nasr b. Muzahim's book might, on the one hand, shows omissions in the present copy of his book and the correctness of Ibn Abi l-Hadid's quotation from him, and, on the other hand, it shows that Abu l-Haytham is probably killed then, and the issue of his participation in Siffin might come down to disputes about whether and how the fellows of Badr took part in Imam 'Ali's (a) battles, just as there is the same controversy regarding the participation of [[Khuzayma b. Thabit]], known as Dhu l-Shahadatayn in Imam 'Ali's (a) battles.