A Shi'ite Encyclopedia (chapter 10)

Al-saba'iya and the Multiple Personality of Ibn Saba

Since pre-Islamic times, the term "Saba'iya" used to indicate those related to Saba son of Yashjub, son of Ya'rub, son of Qahtan; synonymous to "Qahtaniya", also used to be known as "Yamaniya" referencing their place of origin, Yemen.

This group of people (i.e., Saba'iya/Qahtaniya/Yamaniya) in contrast to the "Adnaniya", "Nazariya" and "Mudhariya", which used to refer to relation to Mudhar son of Nazar, son of Adnan, from the sons of Ishmael (AS) the son of Abraham (AS). There were some allies for each tribe who were under protection of that tribe, and at times they were referred by the name of that tribe.

In general, Arabs trace their roots to one of these two major tribes. When the two tribes joined in Medina to create what became the first Islamic society led by the Prophet(PBUH&HF) (year 0 AH), those related to Qahtan were named al-Ansar (Helpers) who were the residents of Medina at that time; and those from Adnan and their allies who traveled to Medina and were called al-Muhajireen (Immigrants).

The personality Abdullah bin Wahab al-Saba'i, the first leader of al- Khawarij (the group which opposed Ali (AS) during his rule), was from the first tribe, the Saba'iya or Qhatan above. As the friction increased between the two tribes of Adnan and Qahtan in Medina and Kufa, the Adhanies reportedly used to nickname the Qhantanies by the term Saba'iya.

However, this name-calling was purely tribal and ethnical until the appearance of the work of Sayf Ibn Umar (of Adnan) in the beginning of the second century (AH) during the Umayad rule, in Kufa. Sayf took the advantage of this purely tribal friction and created the mythical Saba'iya religious entity, with Abdullah Ibn Saba as its leader, altering the meaning of the tribal reference to Qahtan to that of the ill inference attributed to Abdullah Ibn Saba's deviant sect.

To come up with the alleged name of the creator of the sect (Abdullah Ibn Saba), Sayf Ibn Umar either transposed the name Abdullah (bin Wahab) al- Saba'i, described above, to Abdullah Ibn Saba as appears from reports by al- Ash'ari, al-Sama'ani and al-Maqrizi; or he created the story and invented the name on his own altogether.

Either way, there was no strong proof for the existence to Abdullah Ibn Saba during the time of Uthman and Ali, except as Abdullah bin Wahab al-Saba'i who was the leader of Khawarij, as mentioned earlier.

One also finds that "Saba'i" tag in persons' names, who belong to the tribes of Qahtan, ceased especially in Iraq, the origin of the fairy tale, after that date.

This naming convention then continued throughout the second and third century (AH) in the areas of Yemen, Egypt and Spain, where a number of Sunni Hadith narrators (including some of the narrators of the traditions in six Sunni collections) were labeled Saba'i due to their relation to Saba Ibn Yashjub and not Abdullah Ibn Saba the Jew who created disturbance per Sayf's allegations.

Later as the books of the Tabari and others spread the fairy tale across the land, the naming convention of Saba'i was dropped every where. Whence this mention in the books is used to indicate a following to Abdullah Ibn Saba alone, even though they never enjoyed existence outside the covers of those books.

The tale evolved over the years to include a multiple of its creator's persona and beliefs. At the same time, while Abdullah Ibn Saba was Ibn al-Sawda' to the inventor of the tale (Sayf), you find them becoming two separate persons around the 5th century, along with the variation in their news (see "al-Farq" by Abdul-Qahir Ibn Tahir al- Baghdadi). We can delimit these variations in the fifth century onwards, in three personalites:

1. Abdullah bin Wahab al-Saba'i, head of the Khawarij, who opposed Imam Ali (AS).

2. Abdullah Ibn Saba who established the Saba'iya clan/group which believes in the deity of Ali. He and his followers were burnt with fire shortly after.

3. Abdullah Ibn Saba, also known as Ibn al-Sawda' to those who reported from Sayf. He was the creator of the Saba'iya clan/group who believed in successorship to Ali, who agitated against Uthman and then they started the war of Jamal (Camel).

The first one existed in reality, and some of the traditions related to Abdullah Ibn Saba actually refers to this man who was the leader of al- Khawarij. For the second person, there are few traditions which was mentioned earlier, yet they were not authenticated by either schools.

The third personage, however, was the imagination of Sayf who perhaps invented it based on the original story he heard about the first and the second persons, and then attaching his own story to them.

Ibn Saba and Shia

One should distinguish between those Sunnis scholars who reported the story of Abdullah Ibn Saba (either from Sayf's mass production (such as al- Tabari)

or otherwise (such as Ibn Hajar)), and those pseudo-Sunnis who not only reported it, but also declared that Shia are the followers of this fictitious character. It has been proven that those pseudo-scholars (i.e., the second group) who attributed the foundation of Shia to Abdullah Ibn Saba were never Sunnis.

They were rather the followers of Sunnah of the House of Abu Sufyan and Marwan. This is clear when one observes their tendencies to these two families when they discuss their history.

When these pseudo-scholars want to talk about Imami Shia, they use the word of al-Saba'iyyah to undermine the devotion of the followers of the Members of the House of Prophet (PBUH&HF) to Islam, in the same way that they undermine the devotion of a group of Muslims who were killed in the reign of Abu Bakr since they followed what the Messenger of Allah ordered them in distributing the Zakat (alms) among their own poor people and thus did not give it to Abu Bakr.

Yet these mercenary scholars, when talking about those people, they mix them with the issue of Musaylamah who claimed Prophethood, and attribute these martyrs to him, in order to justify shedding their bloods, plundering their wealth and taking their women. But Allah will soon judge between us and them, for He is the best judge.

Such blending of falsehood and truth is not anything new for us when we see in today's world of technology those who see Islam a barrier for their illegitimate interest in the world, accuse Muslims of terrorism, in order to justify shedding their bloods and taking their wealth.

To prepare their agenda, they take advantage of some foolish individual(s) who happened to be Muslim in ID, and who did a violation out of his/their anger. They call devoted Muslims terrorists because a pseudo-Sunni-Muslim blew up the World Trade Center. By that, they follow exactly the footsteps of Sayf Ibn Umar who in turn learnt this great idea from the devil.

Moreover, if they could not find any foolish act from Muslims to cover the media at any period, they pay money to emulate it artificially, and attribute it to the Muslims, much the same way that Sayf Ibn Umar shaped the character of Abdullah Ibn Saba (and most probably invented him by picking up his name at the middle of the night).

They do this to provide an excuse for their malicious accusations and their attacks to the whole Muslim world, much the same as what Sayf and his disciples did to the House of Prophet (PBUH&HF).

According to both Shia and Sunni scholars, Sayf Ibn Umar was one of those who manipulated the truth and made some fake traditions based on some partial truth. Believing in the existence of Ibn Saba does not mean believing in the stories of Sayf who tried to relate him to Shia. The fact is that people like Abdullah Ibn Saba are useless without a story attached to their names. Fake stories around such characters are different than their actual existence. Such a person might be existent while the stories around him might not be.

Sayf's Achievements: An Overview

What follows in this article and the next parts of this series is a comparison between Sayf's stories and others. First I give a general view of achievements of Sayf Ibn Umar:

Sayf was paid to write some stories as a relief for the contradictions and disputes happened in the early history of Islam. Those critical disputes were from year 11 AH (demise of Prophet) till 40 AH. Sayf only focused on that period (11-40 AH) and left the rest.

The first dispute he has talked about is the dispute related the dispatch of the army of Usamah and the death of prophet. The Prophet (PBUH&HF), about four days before his death, ordered all Helpers and all Immigrants except Ali to leave Medina, and to go Syria in order to fight with the Romans.

But companions disobeyed and complained about the leadership of Usamah (See Sahih al-Bukhari, Arabic-English version, Traditions numbers 5.552, 5.744 and 5.745) and delayed in joining the camp, and finally returned to Medina, in order to prepare themselves for discussion about successorship as soon as the Messenger of Allah dies. Sayf tried to forge the story to show that there was no delay. Sayf said that after the death of Prophet, when Abu Bakr dispatched the army of Usamah, he said to them:

"March on! May God destroy you by murder and plague!"

Sunni references: History of al-Tabari and History of Ibn Asakir, reported from Sayf, Events of Year 11 AH

This is while other narrators never mentioned such a stupid thing from Abu Bakr. Sayf being a heretic, wanted to make a mockery of Islam as a religion, as well as to please the Caliph of his time.

The next thing he has talked, is about the pavilion of Saqifa. Sayf reported that:

"Ali was in his house when he was told that Abu Bakr had sat to receive the oath of allegiance. So He went out immediately wearing his night shirt only, out of dislike that he might be late. Then He gave the oath of allegiance and sat with Abu Bakr, and then sent for his clothes. When (the clothes) were brought to him, he put them and stayed in (Abu Bakr's) assembly."

Sunni reference: History of al-Tabari, English version, v9, pp 195-196 reported from Sayf Ibn Umar.

This ridiculous report is in clear contradiction with Sahih al-Bukhari where it has been mentioned that Imam Ali did NOT give the oath to Abu Bakr for the first six month of his reign (Sahih al- Bukhari, Arabic-English version, Tradition 5.546).

Sayf has told seven stories about Saqifa, and has used three imaginary characters as the companions of prophet who played his scenarios in Saqifa, whose names are not mentioned anywhere else except in the work of those who reported from Sayf himself. He named them: Qa'qa, Mubashshir, and Sakhr.

His main legend is the malicious stories attributed to Abdullah Ibn Saba, by which he had tried to solved the following puzzles:

-Creation of Shia -Problem of exile of Abu Dhar -Murder of Uthman -The War of Jamal (Camel)

Sayf has also maliciously tried to link the forged stories of Abdullah Ibn Saba to the Shia Imam Ali (AS) which shows he did not know too much about Shia, otherwise he would not had attributed some of the beliefs which are not held by the followers of the members of the house of Prophet.

Insha Allah, in the next parts, I will analyze the fictitious story of Abdullah Ibn Saba in comparison with the other Sunni reports.

I should mention that al-Askari had a very distinguished achievement. He proved beyond any doubt, in his book named "Abdullah Ibn Saba and Other Myths", that Ibn Saba _with_ such achievements never existed, and that he was invented by Sayf Ibn Umar. If there was any Abdullah Ibn Saba at that time, his story was much different than what Sayf manipulated.

For brothers and sisters who like to know more about the business of Abdullah Ibn Saba and his fictitious character, I introduce the following two interesting books, in English, which can be ordered immediately:

1- "Abdullah Ibn Saba and Other Myths," (English) by al-Askari, S. M. To order, send $15.00 to:

al-Khoei Foundation Library, 89-89 Van Wyck Expressway, Jamaica, NY 11435-4123 U.S.A.

Unfortunately only first volume, out of four volumes of this book is available in English which still gives enough information, however the rest are available in Arabic. The second two volumes in Arabic are separately named "One Hundred Fifty Companions".

2- "The Shiites Under Attack," (English) by Chirri, M. J. To order, send $8.00 to:

Muhammad Javad Chirri,