Battle of Harra

Event of Ḥarra (Arabic: واقعة الحرّة) is the violent attack of the Sham army under the commandership of Muslim b. 'Uqba on the people of Medina who rose against Yazid b. Mu'awiya. In 63/682, the people of Medina rose against the rule of Yazid b. Mu'awiya under the leadership of 'Abd Allah b. Hanzala. In this event, many people were killed, including 80 of the Prophet Muhammad (s)'s Sahaba and 700 of memorizers (hafiz) of the Qur'an, and people's property were plundered.

In this uprising, Imam al-Sajjad (a) remained neutral, though he gave refuge to many women and children and even the family and companions of Marwan b. Hakam.

The meaning of harra and the date of the event

The word "harra" refers to black rocky terrains. Since the uprising took place in rocky terrains East of Medina, called "Harra Waqim" or "Harra Zuhra" (attributed to Banu Zuhra, a Jewish tribe), it was called the event of Harra. Most historical sources take the event to have occurred on the second day of Dhu l-Hajja or two or three days to the end of Dhu l-Hajja 63 A.H. (August 2, or August 27-28, 683), thus the accounts according to which it took place in 62 A.H. are wrong.

Causes of the event

• The dissatisfaction of people in Medina by the rule of Yazid b. Mu'awiya because of his political incompetence and his overt crimes, such as killing Imam Husayn (a),

• People's pledge of allegiance to 'Abdullah b. Zubayr and their dismissal of Yazid from caliphate,

• Their information about Yazid's morally vice deeds,

• People's refusal to send some selected objects to Yazid.

The event

The dismissal of the ruler of Medina

Upon the command of 'Abdullah b. Zubayr, people of Medina dismissed 'Uthman b. Muhammad from the rule of Medina, rebelled against the Umayyads, and sieged about 1000 Umayyad people who had gathered in Marwan b. Hakam's house.

'Abdullah b. Zubayr appointed 'Abdullah b. Hanzala as the ruler of Medina. This account as well as the ones mentioned before show how influential 'Abdullah b. Zubayr was on this uprising and its leaders.

The equipment of the Sham army

'Abdullah b. Ja'far, as the agent of the Sham government, made attempts to make people obey Yazid, but to no avail. Yazid's threatening letter, as well as Nu'man b. Bashir's intercession to conciliate people, did not work. Thus Yazid decided to equip an army to quench people of Medina. When 'Ubaydullah b. Ziyad refused to undertake the commandership of the army, Yazid gave the commandership to Muslim b. 'Uqba al-Murri. His army, on some accounts, consisted of 5000 to 27000 soldiers. The attack was accompanied by Husayn b. Numayr. Husayn undertook the commandership of people of Hums.

Digging a trench around Medina

When people of Medina heard about the departure of Yazid's army to Medina, they dug a trench around Medina as a shelter.

People allowed the agents of the Umayyad government to go out of Medina on the condition that they give no information about Medina to the Sham army and do not attend the war. After they went out of Medina, the Umayyad people broke their oath, and 'Abd al-Malik b. Marwan's father suggested him to devise a plan for an attack on Medina together with Muslim b. 'Uqba.

After crossing Harra, Muslim b. 'Uqba settled in east of Medina, and gave a three day deadline to people of Medina. Then he bypassed the trench and entered the city with the help of the Banu Haritha tribe—who were deceived by financial promises—and committed incredible crimes there in such a way that he came to be known as the criminal.

The army's treatment with people of Medina

Upon the order of Yazid, Muslim b. 'Uqba announced that his army is at liberty to do anything to people's lives and property for three days. According to Ibn Kathir and al-Suyuti, the plunders and crimes of the army in these three days led to a horrific catastrophe. And according to al-Mas'udi, it was the most hideous event after the martyrdom of Imam Husayn (a). In these three days, the army of Muslim b. 'Uqba committed abhorrent crimes such as rapes, taking fetuses out of pregnant women's wombs, killing infants, offending the outstanding companions of the Prophet (s), such as Jabir b. 'Abdullah al-Ansari who was blind and Abu Sa'id al-Khidri.

According to some sources, over 4000 or 11,700 or 10,700 people were killed in the event of Harra. Of these, 700 people were memorizers of the Quran and 80 people were the Sahaba (companions) of the Prophet (s) such that none of the Sahaba who fought in the Battle of Badr—who were called "People of Badr" (Ahl al-Badr)—stayed alive. 'Abdullah b. Hanzala and his sons were also killed.

Forcing people to pledge their allegiance

After all these crimes, Muslim b. 'Uqba gathered people of Medina and coerced them to pledge their allegiance to Yazid on the condition that they and their fathers are Yazid's servants, that is, they are owned by Yazid as booties of the war, and whoever refuses to obey the order will be decapitated.

Only 'Ali b. 'Abdullah b. Abbas (with the intercession of some of his relatives who were in Yazid's army) and Imam Sajjad (a) were exempted from pledging their allegiance.

Imam Sajjad (a)'s position

Imam Sajjad (a)'s neutrality with respect to the uprising: Imam Sajad (a) did not accompany the people of Medina in the uprising. The reasons for his neutrality included the facts that the uprising began by the permission and support of 'Abdullah b. Zubayr, and the number of people in Medina was very small in comparison with the number of Sham's violent, cruel army. Moreover, Imam Sajjad (a) wanted to stay away from the accusations of the Umayyad government, which was, on one account, Muslim b. 'Uqba's main motivation for his attack on Medina, and he wanted his few followers to survive (in order for Shiism to survive) and he wanted to preserve the dignity of the Prophet (s)'s progeny and household.

Imam Sajjad (a)'s house as a safe refuge: since Imam Sajjad (a) did not accompany the rebels, his household remained safe, and his house came to be a safe place for many women and children and even the family of Marwan b. Hakam. Imam Sajjad (a) sent Marwan's family, together with his own family, to Yannabu'.

Muslim b. 'Uqba's treatment of Imam Sajjad (a): after the event, Imam Sajjad (a) went to Muslim together with Marwan b. Hakam and his son. It seems that Yazid had already recommended Muslim to treat Imam Sajjad (a) with respect. Thus Muslim honored the Imam (a), and saddled a horse to send him back home. Some people take the unexpectedly good treatment of Imam Sajjad (a) by Muslim b. 'Uqba to be caused by a pray that the Imam (a) recited in order to create fear in Muslim's heart.

The neutrality of some Sahaba with respect to rebels: some Sahaba, such as 'Abdullah b. 'Umar, Abu Sa'id al-Khidri and Jabir b. 'Abdullah al-Ansari stayed neutral and did not accompany the people of Medina.

The cause of defeat

Ibn Qutayba has compared the early and unexpected defeat of people in the event of Harra with the resistance of 'Abdullah b. Zubayr and his few companions to the same army, tracing the cause of people's defeat in Harra to be their having two commanders. But there are no reports in the sources about any disagreements among the heads of Medina's uprising.

Muslim b. 'Uqba is reported as having said that, after his confession to tawhid (monotheism), his best deed was the massacre of people in Harra. Some Muslim historiographers maintain that the violent oppression of people in the event of Harra was motivated by the revenge of the Umayyad bloods who were killed in the Battle of Badr by Muslims and the revenge of the murder of 'Uthman by people of Medina, especially Ansar.