Mukhtar a Biograghy

Chapter 1 - Who was Mukhtar? His full name: Mukhtar Abu Obaida Masood Thaqafi of Banu Hawazin tribe; he was born in 1 AH.

His mother's name was Husna (some sources say Hilya) and his father's name was Abu Obaida Thaqafi.

He had one sister named Safiya who was married to Abdulla Omar, the son of the so-called second Khalifa Omar; another sister was married to Umar Saad, the chief commander of Yazeed's army in Kerbala; one of his daughter was married to Imam Zainul Abideen (as) to have a son named Omar.

Due to his successful mission of avenging the enemies of Imam (as), there were many false accounts and distortions of his life at the time; for example, that he was of a "low" family, not to be respected, etc; but some eminent people of the Banu Hawazin tribe are:

Maimoona - wife of Prophet Muhammad (saww)

Ummul Baneen - wife of Imam Ali (as), mother of H Abbas

Laila - wife of Imam Hussein (as), mother of Ali Akbar

Labeed - a great poet of Arabia; author of one of the seven poems at one time hung at Kaaba

Abu Obaida Thaqafi always wished for a son who would do an honourable and memorable deed in this world, and only marries when he is convinced of the right partner to give him such a son; once he has a dream to choose a certain girl from a brave family of his tribe, named Husna.

During the pregnancy of Mukhtar, Husna dreams of a horse rider descending from the sky and congratulating her for a brave son to come; on the night following the birth of Mukhtar, Husna dreams again of the same horse rider descending from the sky and congratulates her on the actual birth of the baby that would grow to be a firm follower of the Prophet Muhammad (saww), the Ahlal-bayt and avenger of Imam Husein's (as) killers and enemies.

Abu Obaida, Mukhtar's father, was the commander of an army unit which invaded Iran under the orders of Omar (the "second" Khalifa); the Iranian troops had elephants which Abu Obaida's people never saw before and were frightened of them, thus affecting their battle performance, but Abu Obaida fights gallantly and makes inroads to the territory; Abu Obaida dies in this battle in 13 AH when Mukhtar is 12 years old.

The battle command is then taken over by Abu Obaida's brother, to finally win the whole battle and bring the area fought under his influence.

Meanwhile, Mukhtar is brought up by his mother and uncle; his uncle is made governor of Madayn by Omar; during the time of Muawiyah, when there is a cease-fire between Imam Hasan (as) and Muawiyah, Mukhtar's uncle, till then the governor of Madayn, is transferred to the governorship of Mosul. (Madayn is where Salman Farsi, Jabir Abdulla Ansaree and Huzayfa Yamani are buried; also in Madayn is the Take Kisra.)