Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya

Early life

After the assassination of the third Rashidun caliph Uthman ibn Affan (r. 644–656), Ali was elected as caliph in Medina. During his caliphate, Ibn al-Hanafiyya accompanied Ali in his battles, as his champion and standard-bearer. Ibn al-Hanafiyyah was in his early twenties during the First Fitna and accompanied his father in the Battle of the Camel, the Battle of Siffin and the Battle of Nahrawan. During the Battle of Siffin, on 22 July 657, Ibn al-Hanafiyyah was challenged to a duel by Ubaydallah ibn Umar. Ibn al-Hanafiyyah initially accepted this challenge but was eventually recalled by Ali, who feared that Ubaydallah would succeed in slaying Muhammad. When Ali was assassinated at Kufa in January 661, his eldest son Hasan was proclaimed caliph there, but later abdicated in favor of Mu'awiya I (r. 661–680) in August 661.

Hasan died in 669 in Medina, poisoned allegedly at the instigation of Mu'awiya, who nominated his own son Yazid I (r. 680–683) as his successor, often portrayed by Muslim historians as impious and immoral. Hasan was thus succeeded by his younger brother Husayn as the head of Banu Hashim. When Marwan ibn al-Hakam prevented the burial of Hasan near his grandfather, Ibn al-Hanafiyya is said to have convinced Husayn to bury their brother in the Baqi Cemetery.

Battle of Karbala

Upon Mu'awiya's death and Yazid's accession in 680, the latter instructed his governor of Medina to secure Husayn's pledge of allegiance. Husayn immediately left for Mecca to avoid recognizing Yazid as the caliph. There Husayn received some letters of support from Kufans, whose intentions were verified by his envoy, Muslim ibn Aqil. Among many others, Ibn al-Hanafiyya is said to have warned Husayn not to trust the Kufans, who had betrayed their father Ali and their brother Hasan, suggesting that he should instead stay in Mecca or conceal himself in Yemen.

Husayn ignored such warnings, saying that he expected to be killed while fighting the tyranny of Yazid. The promised Kufan support did not materialize as Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad, the new governor of Kufa, killed Husayn's envoy and intimidated Kufan tribal chiefs. On their way to Kufa in 680, Husayn's small caravan was intercepted by a Kufan army under Ibn Ziyad. He was killed in the ensuing Battle of Karbala, alongside most of his male relatives and his small retinue. After the battle, the women and children in Husayn's camp were taken prisoner and marched to the Umayyad capital, Damascus. Unlike Husayn, the quiescent Ibn al-Hanafiyya is said to have pledged his allegiance to Yazid after the death of Husayn. Some sources record that Yazid sent a lengthy letter to Ibn al-Hanafiyyah requesting his allegiance, and Muhammad agreed to pledge allegiance to Yazid without meeting him in person.

Uprising of Mukhtar

After the death of Husayn, his only surviving son, Ali al-Sajjad, retired to an apolitical life in Medina. Ibn al-Hanafiyya was thus considered by many as the head of the Alids. Indeed, Mukhtar al-Thaqafi soon claimed to represent Ibn Hanafiyya in Kufa, calling to avenge the Karbala massacre. His efforts were bolstered by the defeat of the Tawwabun rebellion in 684. Mukhtar eventually seized control of Kufa in 686 from Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, who in 680 had established in Mecca an alternative caliphate that rivaled the Umayyads. The noncommittal response of Ibn al-Hanafiyya was interpreted by a Kufan delegation as an implicit endorsement of Mukhtar, which in turn strengthened the Kufans' support for the latter.

Mahdi

After Husayn's death, Mukhtar likely considered Ibn al-Hanafiyya as the rightful imam, referring to him as Ali's surviving wasi (lit. 'legatee') after Hasan and Husayn. Mukhtar also referred to Ibn Hanafiyya as the Mahdi (lit. 'the rightly-guided one'). At this point, however, this title probably did not have any messianic implications. At any rate, Ibn al-Hanafiyya is said to have avoided this title. He remained in his hometown of Medina and declined active leadership of the revolution. Perhaps an indication of his equivocal attitude towards the rebellion, Ibn al-Hanafiyya is said to have been represented in some later Hajj pilgrimages by his personal flag as the head of the Alids.

Avenging Husayn

True to his promise, Mukhtar killed several figures responsible for the Karbala massacre, including the Kufan governor Ibn Ziyad and the Umayyad commander Umar ibn Sa'd (d. 686), whose head was then sent to Ibn al-Hanafiyya by some accounts. Also killed was Shimr ibn Dhi al-Jawshan, often viewed as responsible for beheading Husayn in Karbala. Elsewhere, Murra ibn Munqidh al-Abdi survived a revenge attempt but was severely wounded. He is said to have killed Husayn's son Ali al-Akbar. Yet Asma ibn Kharija al-Fazari and Muhammad ibn al-Ash'ath al-Kindi escaped Mukhtar unharmed. The former was sought for his role in killing Muslim ibn Aqil and the latter was accused of insulting Husayn at Karbala.

Confrontation with Ibn al-Zubayr

Saying that he was waiting for communal consensus, Ibn al-Hanafiyya had refused to pledge his allegiance to Ibn al-Zubayr, the caliph in Mecca. Some have therefore suggested that Ibn al-Hanafiyya might have had his own ambitions for the high office. Perhaps it was this refusal to take the oath of allegiance and the takeover of Kufa by Mukhtar that provoked the Meccan caliph to imprison Ibn al-Hanafiyya, who now wrote to Mukhtar for help and was rescued by his military detachment(s). The rescue mission is said to have been bloodless, as Ibn al-Hanafiyya had forbidden Mukhtar's men from fighting in the sanctuary of Mecca. This appeal for help suggests that the passive attitude of Ibn al-Hanafiyya towards Mukhtar has been exaggerated. Ibn al-Hanafiyya then settled in Mina, near Mecca, and later in Ta'if.

Death of Mukhtar

Mukhtar was defeated and killed in 686–687, yet Ibn al-Hanafiyya was not compromised afterward, which perhaps indicates his weak ties with Mukhtar. Ibn al-Hanafiyya continued to withhold his support from the two rival caliphates until the fall of Ibn al-Zubayr in 692, at which point he pledged his allegiance to the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik (r. 685–705). By some accounts, he visited the caliph in Damascus in 692, who generously compensated him.

Kaysanites

The now-extinct Kaysanites were a Shia sect that traced the imamate to Ibn al-Hanafiyya and his descendants. The sect emerged from the uprising of Mukhtar, whose death did not end the propaganda in favor of Ibn al-Hanafiyya. The Kaysanites condemned the caliphs preceding Ali ibn Abi Talib as usurpers of his right to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Most of them regarded Hasan, then Husayn, and finally Ibn al-Hanafiyya as the divinely-appointed imams after Ali ibn Abi Talib. When Ibn al-Hanafiyya died in 700–701, or in 703 or 705, most Kaysanites followed his son Abu Hashim, but some thought that Ibn al-Hanafiyya had entered occultation, that is, he was providentially concealed from mankind until his reappearance by divine will. This was perhaps when the concept of the Mahdi became mainstream as the eschatological Islamic leader who would eradicate injustice and evil in the end of time. He being the last (notable) son of Ali, the death of Ibn Hanafiyya also further divided the Shia community.

It is difficult to estimate the numerical strength of the Kaysanites. Late during the Umayyad period, they likely outnumbered the Imami Shias, who followed a Husaynid line of imams through Ali al-Sajjad (Zayn al-'Abidin) and Muhammad al-Baqir. Indeed, Ibn al-Hanafiyya and later his successor Abu Hashim diverted considerable support from Ali al-Sajjad and his successor Muhammad al-Baqir, for neither of the two laid any public claim to the imamate and both were politically quiescent. The movement of Mukhtar ultimately paved the way for the overthrow of the Umayyads, as the Kaysanites provided the organizational structure for the successful rebellion of the Abbasids, who claimed descent from Muhammad's paternal uncle, Abbas. They postulated that Abu Hashim was succeeded to the imamate by the head of the Abbasid family, Muhammad ibn Ali. This was apparently the main Abbasid claim to legitimacy until they declared around 780 that the heir of the Islamic prophet Muhammad was his uncle Abbas rather than his cousin and son-in-law, Ali ibn Abi Talib. The Abbasids thus gradually turned against the mainstream Shia, carrying with themselves large numbers of the Kaysanites to Sunnism.

Family tree