Sa’īd bin Jubayr, whose known was Abū Muhammad, was originally from Kufa. He was regarded as one of the leading members of the tabi’een (the next generation after the immediate generation of the Prophet Muhammad) and was numbered by Sheikh al-Tūsi as one of the companions of Ali ibn Husayn. Sa’īd occupies the position of one held in the highest regard by scholars of the Shi'a as well as those from amongst Ahl al-Sunnah and was regarded as one of the leading jurists of the time. Ibn Hajar al-Asqalāni and al-Dhahabi praise him greatly in their respective treatises.

At the battle of Jamājim in 82 AH (699-701 CE) Ibn Ash’ath and his varied following, including 100,000 from amongst the mawāli , took on the might of al-Hajjāj, the governor of the Iraqi provinces during the caliphate of the Umayyad al-Walid I. Amongst the revolutionaries were a group known as the ‘Battalion of Qur’an Reciters’ headed by Kumayl bin Ziyad an-Nakhai. Sa’īd bin Jubayr was amid these ranks. The revolt came to nothing and was brutally put down. Sa’īd was forced to flee to the outskirts of Makkah. He persisted in travelling to Makkah itself twice a year to perform the hajj and ‘umrah and would enter Kūfa secretly too, in order to resolve the peoples’ religious issues. Sa’īd was finally apprehended though and brought before al-Hajjāj. Excerpts from a transcript of their dialogue follows:

Sa’īd bin Jubayr entered upon al-Hajjāj, so al-Hajjāj asked him: “What is your name (and he knew his name well)?”

He answered: “Sa’īd bin Jubayr.”

Al-Hajjāj responded to him saying: “Nay, you are Shaqiy bin Kusayr.” (al-Hajjāj is playing with words here: Sa’īd means happy and Shaqiy means unhappy; Jubayr means one who splints broken bones and Kusayr means one who breaks them.)

Sa’īd: “My mother knew better when she named me.”

Al-Hajjāj: “You are wretched (shaqayta) and your mother is wretched” (shaqiyat). Then he told him: “By Allah, I will replace your dunya with a blazing Fire.”

Sa’īd: “If I knew you could do it, I would take you as a God.”

Al-Hajjāj: “I have gold and wealth.”

Bags of gold and silver were brought and spread before Sa’īd bin Jubayr in order to try him.

Sa’īd bin Jubayr: “O Hajjāj, if you gathered it to be seen and heard in showing off, and to use it to avert others from the way of Allah, then by Allah, it will not avail you against Him in any way.” Saying this, he aligned himself towards Qiblah.

Al-Hajjāj: “Take him and turn him to other than the Qiblah. By Allah, O Sa’īd bin Jubayr, I will kill you with a killing with which I have not killed any of the people.”

Sa’īd: “O Hajjāj choose for yourself whatever killing you want, by Allah you will not kill me with a killing except that Allah will kill you with a like of it, so choose for yourself whatever killing you like.”

Al-Hajjāj said: “Turn him to other than the Qiblah.”

Sa’īd: “Wherever you [might] turn, there is the Face of Allah.” [Qur'an, 2:115]

Al-Hajjāj: “Put him under the earth.”

Sa’īd: “From it [the earth] We created you, and into it We will return you, and from it We will extract you another time.” [Qur'an, 20:55]

Al-Hajjāj was outdone and ordered the beheading of Sa’īd bin Jubayr. Sa’īd was martyred in the month of Sha’bān, 95/714 at the age of 49. Al-Hajjāj is reported to have lost his senses on committing the atrocious act and died within a month.

Bibliography

• al-Mufīd, Kitāb al-Irshād, Ansariyan Publications.

• al-Qarashi, B.S., The Life of Imam Zayn l-‘Abidin, Ansariyan Publications, 2000.

• al-Sayyid, K., Saeed bin Jubayr, Ansariyan Publications, 1996.

• Jafri,S.H.M., The Origins and Early Development of Shi’a Islam, Oxford University Press, 2001

• Madelung, W., The succession to Muhammad (A study of the early Caliphate), Cambridge University Press, 1997.