Yahya b. Harthama

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Yahya b. Harthama
Full NameYahya b. Harthama b. A'yan
Companion ofImam al-Hadi (a)
Well Known Asa well-known agent and commander of Harun al-Rashid and al-Ma'mun al-'Abbasi
Religious AffiliationShi'a


Yaḥyā b. Harthama (Arabic: یحیی بن هَرثَمَة) was a transmitter of hadiths from Imam al-Hadi (a). He is known for his mission together with Imam al-Hadi (a) from Medina to Samarra and his conversion to Shi'a after the trip. His conversion to Shi'a was because of observing certain supernatural wonders (karama) issued from Imam al-Hadi (a).

In Shiite sources of hadiths, hadiths are transmitted from Imam al-Hadi (a) about the details of the trip and the Imam's supernatural wonders. In sources of history, there are references to his protection of the road to Mecca in 233/847-8, his rule of Qom in 243/857-8, and then rule of Isfahan in 260/873-4.

Biography

Yahya b. Harthama was the son of Harthama b. A'yan, a well-known agent and commander of Harun al-Rashid and al-Ma'mun al-'Abbasi.[1] There is no information about the exact date of his birth and death. He does not appear much in historical sources, whereas he appears more in sources of hadiths as he transmitted hadiths from Imam al-Hadi (a). Yahya b. Harthama was the guardian and protector of the road to Mecca in 233/847-8.[2] He was in charge of governmental positions during the periods of caliphs such as al-Mutawakkil al-'Abbasi.[3]

According to some historical sources, in the period of al-Mutawakkil al-'Abbasi in 243/857-8, Yahya b. Harthama became the ruler of Qom, and it was in his period that the area of Qom was calculated.[4] He was active in the war between al-Musta'in and al-Mu'tazz in 252/866-7.[5] According to some historians, he also served as the ruler of Isfahan in 260/873-4.[6]

Some people believe that, at first, he was a follower of Hashwiyya and upon his meeting with Imam al-Hadi (a) he converted to Shi'a.[7]

Mission to Accompany Imam al-Hadi (a)

What led to the introduction of Yahya b. Harthama into Shiite sources, was his mission on behalf of al-Mutawakkil al-'Abbasi to accompany Imam al-Hadi (a) in 243/857-8,[8] or on other accounts, in 233/847-8,[9] from Medina to Samarra.[10] Since 'Abd Allah b. Muhammad[11] or Burayha al-'Abbasi[12] defamed Imam al-Hadi (a) and al-Mutawakkil received reports regarding the belief of people of Medina in the Imamate of Imam al-Hadi (a),[13] he sent Yahya b. Harthama for the Imam and invited him to visit Samarra.[14] He gave Yahya the mission to accompany Imam al-Hadi (a) on the trip.[15]

Yahya b. Harthama was assigned the mission, perhaps because people of Medina remembered his battle with Turks[16] and his assistance of 'Abd Allah b. Tahir (182-230/798-9 to 844-5).[17] Thus, when people of Medina learned that Yahya was going there, they were frightened and opposed his entrance to the city.[18] As Yahya himself said, people cried so loudly that he had never heard anything like that before.[19] However, Yahya took an oath to treat Imam al-Hadi (a) with all due respect.[20] As he promised people of Medina, he accompanied Imam towards Samarra with tremendous respect and honor. Some people believe that since people of different cities on the road particularly welcomed and respected the Imam[21] and he observed certain supernatural wonders from him,[22] Yahya acknowledged the wilaya of the Imams and converted to Shi'a.[23]

In Shiite sources of hadiths, hadiths are transmitted in which the details of Imam al-Hadi's trip to Samarra are transmitted from Yahya. During the trip, he observed and reported supernatural wonders from the Imam, including the sudden emergence of a tree and a water spring in a dry and hot land on their way,[24] and the Imam bringing warm clothes with him although the trip occurred during the heat of summer, which gave rise to Yahya's surprise. However, there was an unexpected rainfall and coldness on the way.[25]

Notes

  1. ↑ Ziriklī, al-Aʿlām, vol. 8, p. 81.
  2. ↑ Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-umam wa l-mulūk, vol. 9, p. 163.
  3. ↑ Qummī, Tārikh-i Qum, p. 103.
  4. ↑ Qummī, Tārikh-i Qum, p. 103.
  5. ↑ Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-umam wa l-mulūk, vol. 9, p. 293.
  6. ↑ Qummī, Tārikh-i Qum, p. 185.
  7. ↑ Irbilī, Kashf al-ghumma, vol. 2, p. 392. Māzandarānī, Sharḥ al-kāfī, vol. 7, p. 303/Irbilī, Kashf al-ghumma, vol. 2, p. 392; Māzandarānī, Sharḥ al-kāfī, vol. 7, p. 303/
  8. ↑ Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, vol. 2, p. 607; Mufīd, al-Irshād, vol. 2, p. 310.
  9. ↑ Nawbakhtī, Firaq al-Shīʿa, p. 92; Ashʿarī al-Qummī, al-Maqālāt wa l-firaq, p. 100.
  10. ↑ Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-umam wa l-mulūk, vol. 9, p. 163; Mufīd, al-Irshād, vol. 2, p. 297; Yaʿqūbī, Tārīkh Yaʿqūbī, vol. 2, p. 484.
  11. ↑ Ibn Shahrāshūb, Manāqib Āl Abī Ṭālib, vol. 4, p. 417.
  12. ↑ Masʿūdī, Ithbāt al-waṣīyya, p. 233.
  13. ↑ Yaʿqūbī, Tārīkh Yaʿqūbī, vol. 2, p. 512-513.
  14. ↑ For more information about the leter see: Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, vol. 1, p. 501.
  15. ↑ Irbilī, Kashf al-ghumma, vol. 2, p. 390; Masʿūdī, Murūj al-dhahab, vol. 4, p. 84.
  16. ↑ Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-umam wa l-mulūk, vol. 9, p. 330.
  17. ↑ Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-umam wa l-mulūk, vol. 9, p. 251.
  18. ↑ Masʿūdī, Murūj al-dhahab, vol. 4, p. 84; Ibn al-Jawzī, Tadhkirat al-khawāṣ, vol. 2, p. 492.
  19. ↑ Masʿūdī, Murūj al-dhahab, vol. 4, p. 84.
  20. ↑ Masʿūdī, Murūj al-dhahab, vol. 4, p. 85.
  21. ↑ Yaʿqūbī, Tārīkh Yaʿqūbī, vol. 2, p. 484.
  22. ↑ Ibn Ḥamza al-Ṭūsī, al-Thāqib fī l-manāqib, p. 531-551.
  23. ↑ Irbilī, Kashf al-ghumma, vol. 2, p. 392; Ibn Ḥamza al-Ṭūsī, al-Thāqib fī l-manāqib, p. 552; Rāwandī, al-Kharāʾij wa l-jarāʾiḥ, vol. 1, p. 396.
  24. ↑ Ibn Ḥamza al-Ṭūsī, al-Thāqib fī l-manāqib, p. 531.
  25. ↑ Ibn Ḥamza al-Ṭūsī, al-Thāqib fī l-manāqib, p. 551-552; Rāwandī, al-Kharāʾij wa l-jarāʾiḥ, vol. 1, p. 396; Qummī, Safīnat al-biḥār, vol. 2, p. 535.

References

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  • Ibn al-Jawzī, Yūsuf b. Qazāwughlī. Tadhkirat al-khawāṣ. Qom: Nashr-i Liylī, 1426 AH.
  • Ibn Ḥamza al-Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī. Al-Thāqib fī l-manāqib. Edited by Nabīl Riḍā ʿAlwān. Qom: Anṣārīyān, 1419 AH.
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  • Kulaynī, Muḥammad b. Yaʿqūb al-. Al-Kāfī. Edited by ʿAlī Akbar Ghaffārī & Muḥammad Ākhūndī. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyya, 1407 AH.
  • Masʿūdī, ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn al-. Ithbāt al-waṣīyya li-l-Imām ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib. Qom: Anṣārīyān, 1426 AH.
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  • Māzandarānī, Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ b. Aḥmad al-. Sharḥ al-kāfī – al-uṣūl wa l-rawḍa. Edited by Abū l-Ḥasan Shaʿrānī. Tehran: al-Maktaba al-Islāmīyya, 1382 AH.
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  • Rāwandī, Quṭb al-Dīn Saʿīd b. Hibat Allāh. Al-Kharāʾij wa l-jarāʾiḥ. Qom: Muʾassisat al-Imām al-Mahdī, 1409 AH.
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