The Origins and Early Development of Shia Islam
Chapter 8: The Reaction after Karbala
The martyrdom of Husayn was of great religious significance and had a
deep heart-searching after-effect upon the Shi'is, giving a new turn to
the mode and nature of the Shi'I movement. The tragic fate of the
grandson of the Prophet stirred religious and moral sentiments,
particularly among those of the Kufan followers of the House of the
Prophet who had so zealously asked Husayn to come to Iraq to guide them
on what they considered to be the path of God. But when Husayn came to
Iraq they did not or could not stand with him in the hour of trial. Soon
afterwards, however, they realized that their inability, or rather
weakness, had been the cause of the tragedy. A deep sense of repentance
set in, provoking their religious conscience; and in order to expiate
their negligence and obtain God's forgiveness, they thought they must
make similar sacrifices. They believed that they could only prove their
real repentance by exposing themselves to death while seeking vengeance
for the blood of Husayn.
Hence they named themselves the Tawwabun (penitents) and are known in
Islamic history by this self-imposed title.[^1] This movement, as will
be seen below, proved to be an important step forward in the
consolidation of Shi'i Islam.
The movement began under the leadership of five of the oldest and most
trusted associates of 'Ali, with a following of a hundred diehard and
devoted Shi'is of Kufa, none of whom was below sixty years of age.[^2]
This age factor should particularly be noted, as it indicates the
maturity of their religious thinking and behaviour. The five leaders of
the movement, Sulayman b. Surad al-Khuza'i, Al-Musayyab b. Najaba
al-Fazari; 'Abd Allah b. Sa'd b. Nufayl al-Azdi, Abd
Allah b. Walin at-Tami, and Rifa'a b. Shaddad al-Bajali; had always
been in the forefront of all Shi'i activities in Kufa, and were highly
respected by the Shi'a for their sincerity of purpose and unshaken
devotion to the cause of the Ahl al-Bayt. Similarly, the other hundred
who joined these leaders of the movement are described as “the most
select from among the followers of 'Ali”.[^3] Towards the end of 61/680
they held their first meeting in the house of Sulayman b. Surad.[^4]
This was the first opportunity for them to come out from their hiding
places and meet together, since the state of martial 18W imposed on Kufa
before the massacre at Karbala had now been relaxed.
Detailed accounts of this first meeting and the passionate speeches
made by these five leaders are preserved for us by the sources. The
first to speak was Al-Musayyab b. Najaba al-
Fazari He said:
“We invited the son of the daughter of our Prophet to come to Kufa to
guide us on the right path, but when he responded to our call we became
greedy for our own lives until he was killed in our midst. What excuse
would we have before our Lord, and before our Prophet when we meet him
on the Day of Resurrection, while his most beloved son, family, and
progeny were massacred in our midst. By God, there is no other way for
us to expiate ourselves for the sin except to kill all his murderers and
their associates or be killed. Perhaps by doing so our Lord may forgive
our sin. You must, therefore, now select someone from among you as your
leader, who can organize and mobilize you under his command and proceed
with the plan of seeking God's forgiveness by taking the action which
has been proposed.”[^5]
Rifa'a b. Shaddad al-Bajali, another senior member of the five leaders,
then spoke, appealing passionately to the religious sentiments of those
present. After emphasizing further what Al-Musayyab had said, he
proposed:
“Let us give command of our affairs to Shaykh ash-Shi'a, the companion
of the Prophet, possessor of priority in Islam, Sulayman b. Surad, the
one praised for his intrepidity and for his religion and the one who has
been dependable and reliable in his judiciousness and prudence
(Hazm).”[^6]
The other three leaders named above spoke in the same vein and seconded
the proposal to chooose Sulayman as their leader on the same grounds as
mentioned by Rifa'a. It is important to note that the qualifications for
the leadership of the movement, which was indeed dedicated to the Shi'i
cause, were companionship with the Prophet and priority or precedence in
Islam (sabiqa). This, like many other instances, means that the main
emphasis of the Shi'is was to enforce the Islamic ideal, which they
thought could only be achieved through the Ahl al-Bayt, the people
nearest to the Prophet. Sulayman b. Surad, accepting the responsibility
of leading the movement, made a forceful speech in which he laid down
the severest standards required of those who wanted to participate and
emphasized that they should be ready to sacrifice their lives for the
noblest task ahead of them.[^7]
The response from all those present was equally enthusiastic. They
pledged to seek God's pardon by fighting to the death the killers of the
grandson of the Prophet. In order to prove the purity of their
intentions many of them willed all of their properties and possessions,
except for arms, as Sadaqat for the Muslims. Sulayman appointed 'Abd
Allah b. Walin at-Taymi as the treasurer to collect the contributions
made by the Shi'a and to use the money for the preparation of the
mission.[^8]
With no loss of time Sulayman undertook the organization of the
movement. He entered into correspondence with Shi'I leaders in other
cities, namely with Sa'd b. Hudhayfa al-Yaman in Al-Mada'in and
Al-Muthanna b. Mukharriba al-'Abdi in Basra. The movement, however, went
on secretly for about three years, increasing in numbers and strength
and waiting for an appropriate time and opportunity.
Circumstances took a sudden turn in favour of the movement with the
unexpected death of Yazid in 64/683, encouraging the Tawwabun to come
out in the open. Some of the leading members urged Sulayman to rise
publicly, Oust 'Amr b. Hurayth, deputy of 'Abd Allah b. Ziyad, from the
city, pursue those responsible for the blood of Husayn, and call the
people to support the Ahl al-Bayt Sulayman, however, opted for a more
restrained policy, pointing out that the murderers of Husayn were in
fact the ashraf al-qaba'il of Kufa, who would have to pay for his blood.
If the action wereimmediately directed against them, they would become
very oppressive; and a revolt against them at this stage would achieve
nothing but disaster or even the complete destruction of the Shi'is
themselves. The purpose of avenging the blood of Husayn would be lost.
It would therefore be advisable, at his stage, to intensify their
propaganda campaign only among their own Shi'is and among others
throughout Kufa, enlisting as much support as possible. He added that
since Yazid was now dead the people would join them more readily and
quickly.[^9] Sulayman's suggestion prevailed and the movement, so far a
secret organization, came into the open with an intensified campaign on
a large scale. A number of emissaries began ceaselessly working to
invite people to join the movement.
Abu Mikhnaf has preserved for us a speech of one of these emissaries,
'Ubayd Allah al-Murri. It is reported from a man of Muzayna, who said he
heard it so many times that he learned it by heart. The narrator further
comments that he had never seen anyone in his time more eloquent than
Al-Murri, and that the latter would never miss an opportunity to preach
if he happened to see a group of people. He would begin by praising God
and praying for His messenger. Then
he would say:
“God chose Muhammad from among all His creatures for His Prophethood;
He singled him out for all of His bounties. God strengthened you by
making you his followers and honoured you with having faith in him;
through Muhammad, God saved you from the shedding of blood, and through
him He made your dangerous paths safe and peaceful. 'You were on the
brink of the pit of Fire and God saved you from it. Thus God makes His
signs clear to you. Perhaps you may be guided.' (Qur'an, III, 103). Has
God created anyone from the first to the last with greater right over
this Umma than its Prophet? Has the offspring of anyone from among the
Prophets or the Messengers or anyone else greater right over this Umma
than the offspring of its own Prophet? No, by God, this has never been
the case, nor will it ever be. [O you people], you belong to God. Don't
you see, don't you understand what a crime you have committed against
the son of the daughter of your Prophet? Don't you see the people's
violation of his sanctity, their slackness towards him while he was
lonely and helpless, and their staining him with blood?
They were pulling him violently on the ground, not thinking of God in
regard of him nor his relationship to the Prophet. Eyes have never
before seen the like of this. By God, Husayn b. 'Ali, what a betrayal of
truth, forbearance, trust, nobility, and resolution: the son of the
first Muslim in Islam and the son of the daughter of the Messenger of
the Lord of the Worlds. Around him his defenders were few, and his
attackers were in multitudes. His enemies killed him while his friends
deserted him. Woe to the killers and reproaches to the deserters! God
will accept no excuse from those who killed him, nor any argument from
those who deserted him except that the latter should sincerely repent
before God and fight against the killers and repudiate and eliminate the
unjust and the corrupt. Only then, perhaps, God may accept our
repentance and remove our guilt. We invite you to the Book of God and
the Sunna of his Prophet, to vengeance for the blood of his [Prophet's]
family and to war on the heretics and deviators from the true religion.
If we are killed, there is nothing better for the pious than to be with
their God; if we are successful, we will restore power to the Ahl
al-Bayt of our Prophet.”[^10]
In all the preceding chapters dealing with the developments from the
time of the death of the Prophet till the death of Husayn, the Shi'i
doctrinal stand and their religio-political aspirations have repeatedly
been pointed out. If we recall the arguments put forward by the
supporters of 'All on the occasions of the Saqifa and the Shura, the
contents of the letters written by Hasan to Mu'awiya and that of Husayn
to the Shi'is of Kufa and Basra, the pledges and statements made by the
supporters of Husayn at Karbala, and the speeches delivered by the
leaders of the Tawwabun in their first meeting, Al-Murri's exhortations
can be seen as nothing other than an echoing of the same ideals. It
would suffice to say that throughout Al-Murri's speech the main emphasis
is laid on Husayn's relationship with the Prophet through Fatima. The
name of 'Ali appears only twice: the first time in Husayn's name as
“Husayn b. 'Ali”, which was a usual way of describing anyone, and the
second when Husayn is mentioned as “the son of the first Muslim”, but
even in this his position as “the son of the daughter of our Prophet” is
immediately referred to. (Even at the time of the Saqifa and the Shura
the main emphasis was on 'Ali's nearness and close association and
relationship with the Prophet.) Thus the Tawwabun put far more emphasis
on the idea of succession to the Prophet by blood than to 'Ali by blood.
The main part of the speech, that to kill the murderers of Husayn in
order to avenge his blood or be killed in order to expiate their failure
in supporting
Husayn, and thus to seek God's forgiveness, was a new dimension
necessitated by the tragedy of Karbala. Finally, a call to the Book of
God and the Sunna of the Prophet, as has been pointed out earlier, was
an implicit rejection of the precedent of the first three caliphs and
thereby gave 'Ali and other Imams of the family of the Prophet exclusive
authority to interpret or reinterpret the Prophetic Sunna.
The campaign of the Tawwabun, however, succeeded in gaining the support
of i6,ooo Kufans,[^11] since the situation in Kufa was much more
conducive to success now than ever before. The sudden death of Yazid
greatly weakened Umayyad control of the province. The sickly son of
Yazid, Mu'awiya II, succeeded his father only six months before his own
death, and the old Marwan b. al-Hakam managed to become the new Umayyad
caliph. In Syria this led to a bloody conflict between the two rival
tribal groups of Kalb and Qays, leaving the Umayyad capital in chaos and
unable to maintain its firm control over neighbouring Iraq. In the
Hijaz, 'Abd Allah b. az-Zubayr, who had already put forward his own
claims to the caliphate and was taking advantage of Yazid's death and of
Syrian confusion and weakness, organized and consolidated his power
afresh and assumed the title of Amir al-Mu'minin. The Umayyad governor
and the strong man, 'Ubayd Allah b. Ziyad, who resided in Basra as the
governor of both Kufa and Basra, was expelled by a rebellion of the
inhabitants of the latter city and fled to Marwan in Syria.
The Kufans, on their part, ousted 'Amr b. al-Hurayth, the deputy of Ibn
Ziyad in Kufa.[^12] In the power vacuum, the ashraf of Kufa promptly
wrote to 'Abd Allah b. az-Zubayr to take advantage of the situation and
appoint his governor. With the Shi'i groups emerging and the Syrian
domination weakening, the tribal and clan leaders of Kufa found it in
their interest to align themselves with Ibn az-Zubayr, who represented
the old Meccan-Qurayshite hegemony. Ibn az-Zubayr immediately sent to
Kufa 'Abd Allah b. Yazid al-Ansari as his governor in charge of military
affairs, and Ibrahim b. Muhammad b. Talha in charge of the
kharaj.[^13]
Now with the obstacles removed, Sulayman b. Surad started final
preparations for action. He wrote to the Shi'I leaders in Al-Mada'in and
Basra, calling them to be ready to rise to avenge the blood of Husayn
and to put right the affairs which had gone wrong and had become
unjust. He asked them to meet at Nukhayla, outside Ku fa, on the first
of Rabi' II of the next year, 65/684. The Shi'i leader in Al-Mada'in,
Sa'd b. Hudhayfa b. al-Yaman, called in the Shi'a of that region and
read the letter to them and received an enthusiastic response. The Shi'i
leader in Basra, Al-Muthanna b. Mukharriba al-'Abdi, also accepted the
call and mobilized the Shi'is of that city. The long texts of these
letters,[^14] which Abu Mikhnaf has meticulously preserved for us, make
extremely useful and revealing reading for an understanding of the
religious sentiments and feelings and the doctrinal stand of the Shi'a
of this period. In essence these are much the same as the speeches of
the Tawwabun and that of Al-Murri.
At this stage, Al-Mukhtar b. Abi 'Ubayda ath-Thaqafi, also a devoted
follower of the Ahl al-Bayt, appeared in Kufa. His mission was the same
as that of the Tawwabun insofar as the revenge for the blood of Husayn
and establishing the rights of the Ahl al-Bayt were concerned, but
differed in that he wanted td achieve political authority through a more
organized military power. Mukhtar, therefore, tried to persuade the
Tawwabun not to take any hasty action and to join him for a better
chance of success. The Tawwabun refused to join Mukhtar, as they had no
wish to participate in any doubtful adventure or to deviate from their
main purpose of atonement through sacrifice. They said that they would
follow only Shaykh ash-Shia Sulayman b. Surad.[^15]
Two points in. Mukhtar's arguments with the Tawwabun are worth noting
here, since they reveal fundamental differences between them. Mukhtar
said that firstly Sulayman did not know how to organize the military for
warfare, nor did he have any knowledge of diplomacy or politics;
secondly, Mukhtar had been appointed by the Mahdi, Muhammad b.
al-Hanafiya, as his deputy, confidant, and minister to avenge the blood
of Husayn.[^16] (Muhammad b. al-Hanafiya was 'Ali's third son from a
Hanafite woman, and was not a descendant of the Prophet.) The refusal of
the Tawwabun to support Mukhtar on these grounds indicates that they
were interested neither in purely military ventures nor in political
affairs; nor were they ready to accept even the eldest surviving son of
'Ali as their Imam, as he was not the direct descendant of the Prophet
through Fatima. Thus the disagreement over strategy or tactics was
secondary to the disagreement over the Imam.
Though the Tawwabun did not openly proclaim any particular member of
the Ahl al-Bayt as their Imam, there are strong indications that they
believed that the rightful Imam was now Husayn's surviving son 'Ali,
later known as Zayn al- 'Abidin. There are many factors that support
this view. Firstly, the very idea of the leadership based in the
hereditary sanctity, which attracted the Arabs of Shi'i tendency, was
still confined to the progeny of Muhammad through Fatima; it had been
transferred from Hasan to Husayn and not to any other member of the
Hashimite clan.
It has repeatedly been pointed out in what we have discussed so far that
only rarely are Hasan and Husayn described as the sons of 'Ali; they
were much more frequently referred to as “the son of the daughter of our
Prophet”. Secondly, the name of Muhammad b. al-i;1anaflya had not been
cited at the time when the Tawwabun first held their meeting soon after
Karbala in 61/680; Mukhtar arrived in Kufa after the death of Yazid in
64/684 and began his campaign in the name of Ibn al-Hanafiya. Thus the
name of Ibn al-Hanafiya appeared for the first time four years later,
when the Tawwabun were almost ready for action. Thirdly, even Mukhtar,
who was the main progenitor of Ibn al-Hanafiya's leadership, first
approached 'Ali b. al-Husayn, as will be seen later, and only when the
latter refused to involve himself in any public movement did Mukhtar
turn to Ibn al-Hanafiya and ingratiate himself with his name.
Since 'Ali b. al-Husayn himself refused to make any public claims or to
allow any claims to be made on his behalf, the Tawwabun refrained from
mentioning his name. Nevertheless, since certain vague references made
by the Tawwabun during their campaign, such as the verses composed by
their poet, 'Abd Allah b. al-Ahmar, in which he speaks of “a caller who
invited them to salvation”,[^17] obviously refer to an Imam, and since
the name of Ibn al-Hanafiya would not be associated with the imamate for
another three years, the reference must have been to 'Ali b. al-Husayn.
This is based on the fact that the Shi'a of Kufa had already established
a precedent when they proclaimed Hasan b. 'Ali, and not any other member
of the Hashimite house, as the successor of his father. It seems also
that the Tawwabun, after their sad experience vis-à-vis Husayn, decided
not to put forward 'Ali b. al-Husayn's name for the leadership until
they had been successful in throwing off Umayyad rule in Kufa or else
sacrificing themselves in active repentance for their failure in
carrying out their duties with regard to Husayn.
The main body of the Tawwabun, however, refused to join Mukhtar, though
at least 2,000 of these who had registered their names with Sulayman did
switch over to him, obviously in the hope of better political
prospects.
As the time for action was approaching, Sulayman b. Surad and other
leaders of the movement were putting more and more emphasis on
disavowing any intention of political conquest and discouraged those who
might have joined them for material benefits or worldly gains. According
to their plan, in the beginning of Rabi' II, 65/November, 684, they
raised their call for “revenge for the blood of Husayn (ya latha'rat
al-Husayn)” and set out on their mission.
They gathered at Nukhayla, a suburb of Kufa, from where they had to march against the forces of 'Ubayd Allah b. Ziyad, the Umayyad governor who had been responsible for the massacre at Karbala. The rigorous standards set by Sulayman b. Surad, however, proved to be too much for the majority of the volunteers: of the 16,000 who had registered themselves, only 4,000 came to the rendezvous at Nukhayla. The governor of Ibn al-Zubayr, 'Abd Allah b. Yazid, tried to dissuade them from carrying out their plans and suggested to Sulayman that he wait until the former could prepare an army to join them. They refused to change their plan or to accept his help,[^18] as it would have compromised their whole position. Their intention was to avenge the blood of Husayn, to establish the Shi'i imamate or to die.
They were prepared to die rather than to have 'Abd Allah b. Yazid's
non-Shi'i support. If they had accepted it they would have merely been
joining one political faction, the supporters of Ibn az-Zubayr, against
another, the Umayyads. Now, with the Tawwabun volunteers reduced from
16,000 to 4,000, they could hardly hope for any success except in
fighting to the death and seeking atonement and repentance. They were
determined to carry out their pledges to themselves.
They spent three days in prayer and remembrance of God at Nukhayla. The
Shi'a from Al-Mada'in and Basra had not yet arrived, and some of those
at Nukhayla wanted to await their arrival, but Sulayman insisted that
they should proceed without further delay. He told them:
“There are two kinds of people. There are those who want the benefits
of the hereafter, who hurry towards it and do not seek any worldly
reward; and there are those whose acts are motivated by worldly gains.
You are going for the benefits of the life hereafter: remember God in
abundance in any situation and you will soon attain nearness to God and
receive His best reward by fighting in His way and being patient in all
calamities. Let us then proceed to our goal.”[^19]
According to Baladhuri the people responded from all sides, “We are not
seeking the world and we have not come out for it.”[^20] But in the
morning another 1,000 were missing from his army. Sulayman was not
discouraged and merely said that it was better that such people should
go.
From Nukhayla the Tawwabun first went to Karbala to the grave of
Husayn, where they gave themselves up to wild and unprecedented
expressions of grief, weeping and wailing for the suffering and tragic
death of the grandson of the Prophet.[^21] Welihausen points out that
this was the first incidence of the glorification of the grave of Husayn
and was purely Arabian in its character and nature since the Arabs were
used to glorifying the Black Stone fixed in the Kaeba.[^22] After
spending a day and night in mourning they left the grave of Husayn.
When they reached the village of Qarqisiya, the fifth stage from
Karbala on the road to the Syrian border, they were generously
entertained by the chief of the village, Zufar b. al-Harith, who
informed them that 'Ubayd Allah b. Ziyad, with a 30,000-man Syrian army,
had reached 'Ayn al-Warda. The chieftain provided Sulayman with plenty
of provisions and advised him further about 'Ubayd Allah's army and gave
him the names of other leaders who were with him. Zufar also told
Sulayman that he, along with his people, would fight the Syrians if the
Tawwabun would stay with him and use Qarqisiya as a base. But Sulayman
did not agree.
The Tawwabun ultimately reached 'Ayn al-Warda and engaged the Syrians
fiercely, shouting, “Paradise! Paradise for the Turabites!”[^23] The
battle lasted for three days, and the Tawwabun fought with unprecedented
resolution, determination, and zeal. Even though greatly outnumbered, on
the first day they inflicted heavy losses on the Syrians. On the second
day, however, their own losses began to tell and their leaders fell one
after the other. The first to be killed was Sulayman b. Surad himself,
followed by Al-Musayyab b. Najaba, 'Abd Allah b. Sa'd b. Nufayl, and
then 'Abd Allah b: Walin at-Taymi, each taking the leadership and the
Tawwabun standard in succession one after the other. By the end of the
third day the majority of the Tawwabun had fulfilled their pledge to
sacrifice their lives in the name of Husayn. The only surviving leader,
Rifa'a b. Shaddad, advised the handful of survivors to return, and while
on their way back they were met by the Shi'is of Al-Mada'in and Basra,
who had been coming to join them, but now turned back to
Qarqisiya.[^24]
In an attempt to analyse the Tawwabun movement, a few points are
conspicuous. Firstly, all the 3,000 Tawwabun who fought in the battle
were Arabs there were no mawali among them.[^25] It was Mukhtar who
first mobilized the Persian mawali in active participation, thus giving
the Shi'i movement a wider appeal. Secondly, among these 3,000 Tawwabun,
though the majority were from South Arabian or Yemeni tribes, the
northern and central Arabian tribes of Mudar and Rabi'a were by no means
under-represented. In fact, the second in command, Al-Musayyab b.
Najaba, was from Mudar. Looking at the names of some of the Tawwabun as
given by the sources,[^26] one finds that many of the chief tribes of
the Arabs of both Yemenis and Nizaris were well represented. Thus Shi'i
feelings were not confined to any single group of the Arabs. Thirdly,
the penitent army included a very large number of the original qurra' of
Kufa,[^27] all the five leaders being among them.
All of these facts, however, indicate two fundamental points. Firstly,
the Shi'i movement till the time of the Tawwabun (65/684) was still
purely Arabian in character and totally untouched by non-Arab elements,
doctrinal or otherwise. And secondly, the movement of the Tawwabun was
totally a religious affair. Husayn himself, when he met Yazid's army,
was fully aware of his dignity as the grandson of the Prophet, as well
as the son of 'Ali, and the Tawwabun by their action were certainly
combining loyalty to 'Ali with loyalty to Muhammad himself, and thus
were taking the matter strictly as a religious issue. Finally, if we
compare the feeling and the expressions of those of the Shi'a who gave
up their lives with Husayn at Karbala, as explained in the previous
chapter, with the speeches and expressions made by the Tawwabun,
recorded earlier in this chapter, we find that the arguments and
sentiments of both groups were based on the same religious principles.
But there is a great difference between the two, however. At Karbala
the presence of Husayn himself was a great personal obligation on the
Shi'a who fought and were killed with him. In the case of the Tawwabun
there was no personal binding force which could keep them zealous enough
to make them die except a strong feeling of duty and a deep sense of
religious obligation. Thus the Tawwabun pushed Shi'ism another step
forward towards an independent and self-sustaining existence.
[^1]: Baladhuri, V, pp.204 ff.; Tabari, II, p.497; Mas'udi, Muruj, III, p.93; Welihausen, Die religios politischen Oppositionsparteien im alten Islam trans. 'Abd ar-Rahman Badawi, Ahzab al-mu'arada as- siyasiya al-diniya fi sadr al-Islam (Cairo, 1968), p. 189
[^2]: Tabari, II, p. 498; Welihausen, loc. cit.
[^3]: Tabari, II, p. 498; Baladhuri, V, pp.204 f.
[^4]: Tabari, II, p.497; Baladhuri, loc. cit.
[^5]: Tabari, II, p. 498; Baladhuri, V, p.205
[^6]: Tabari, II, p.499; Baladhuri, loc. cit.
[^7]: Tabari, II, pp.499 f.; Baladhuri, V, pp.205 f.
[^8]: Tabari, loc. cit.; Baladhuri, loc. cit.
[^9]: Tabari, II, pp. 506-7
[^10]: Tabari, II, pp. 507-8
[^11]: Baladhuri, V, p. 2o8
[^12]: Baladhuri, V. p. 207
[^13]: Baladhuri, V, p.207; Tabari, II, p.509
[^14]: Tabari, II, pp.502-s
[^15]: Baladhuri, V, p.207; Tabari, II, p.509
[^16]: Baladhuri, loc. cit.; Tabari, loc. cit.
[^17]: Mas'udi, Muruj ; III, p.93
[^18]: Tabari, II, pp.543 f.; Baladhuri, V, p.209
[^19]: Tabari, II, p.545
[^20]: Baladhuri, V, p.209
[^21]: Baladhuri, loc. cit.; Tabari, II, p. 546; Welihausen, Ahzab, p.194
[^22]: Ahzab, p.194. Cf. Tabari, II, p. 546; Baladhuri, V, p.209
[^23]: Mas'udi, Muruj, III, p.94. “Turabites”: reference to Abu Turab, 'Ali's kunya.
[^24]: See the detailed account of 'Ayn al-Warda in Baladhuri, V, pp.210 f.; Tabari, II, pp. 558 ff; Mas'udi, Muruj, III, p.94
[^25]: Welihausen, Ahzab, p.194
[^26]: See Tabari, II, pp.497, 559, 566, 599, 601; Baladhuri, V, pp.207 ff.; Welihausen, loc. cit.
[^27]: Welihausen, loc. cit.