Abu Lu'lu'a

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Abū Luʾluʾa Fīrūz
أبو لؤلؤة فيروز‎
Shrine of Abū Luʾluʾa in Kashan, Iran
BornUnknown date
Nahavand, Iran (likely)
DiedHistorical: 644
Medina, Arabia
Legendary: after 644
Kashan, Iran
Other namesBābā Shujāʿ al-Dīn (16th century)
Fīrūz Nahāvandī (20th century)
EraEarly Islamic period
Known forAssassinating the caliph Umar

Abū Luʾluʾa Fīrūz (

Arabic: أبو لؤلؤة فیروز, from Middle Persian: Pērōz), also known in modern Persian-language sources as Abū Luʾluʾ (ابولؤلؤ) or Fīrūz Nahāvandī (فیروز نهاوندی), was a Sasanian Persian slave who assassinated Umar ibn al-Khattab (r. 634–644), the second Islamic caliph
, in November 644.

After having been captured in battle during the Arab-Muslim conquest of Persia, Abu Lu'lu'a was brought to Medina, the then-capital of the Rashidun Caliphate, which was normally off-limits to non-Arab captives. However, as a highly skilled craftsman, Abu Lu'lu'a was exceptionally allowed entrance into the city in order to work for the caliph. His motive for killing the caliph is not entirely clear, but medieval sources generally attribute it to a tax dispute. At one point, Abu Lu'lu'a is said to have asked the caliph to lift a tax imposed upon him by his Arab master, al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba. When Umar refused to lift the tax, Abu Lu'lu'a attacked him while he was leading the congregational prayer in the mosque, stabbing him with a double-bladed dagger and leaving him mortally wounded.

According to historical accounts, Abu Lu'lu'a was either captured and executed in Medina, or committed suicide there. In retaliation,

Hurmuzān (a former officer in the Sasanian army) and a Christian man from al-Hira (Iraq). However, according to later legends that were first recorded in the Safavid era, the prophet Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law Ali (later revered as the first Shi'ite Imam) saved Abu Lu'lu'a from his pursuers and miraculously transported him to the city of Kashan
(Iran), where Abu Lu'lu'a married and lived out the rest of his life.

At some point

Shi'ites consider to have been oppressive and unjust. In the context of this festival, which is called Omar Koshan
(lit. 'the killing of Umar'), Abu Lu'lu'a received the nickname Bābā Shujāʿ al-Dīn (بابا شجاع الدين, 'Father Courageous of the Faith').

Name

Abu Lu'lu'a's name highlighted in red, MS. Leiden Or. 298, dated 866 CE

Abu Lu'lu'a's given name was most likely

laqab (honorific nickname) Bābā Shujāʿ al-Dīn (lit. 'Father Courageous of the Faith'), which was associated with the annual celebrations held in his honor in early modern Iran (see below).[3] In modern Persian-language sources he is sometimes referred to by the non-historical name Fīrūz Nahāvandī (فیروز نهاوندی).[4]

Biography

Hurmuzān, and Jufayna (wrongly depicted here as a woman; the depiction of the murder weapon may also be wrong)[5]

Very little is known about his life.

Arab captives under Umar's reign, Abu Lu'lu'a was exceptionally allowed to enter the capital of the early caliphate, being sent there by al-Mughira to serve the caliph.[11]

When al-Mughira forced Abu Lu'lu'a to pay a

kharāj tax of two dirhams a day,[12] Abu Lu'lu'a turned to Umar to protest this tax. However, Umar refused to lift the tax, thus provoking Abu Lu'lu'a's rage.[13] This is the reason given by most historical accounts for Abu Lu'lu'a's assassination of Umar,[14] but Abu Lu'lu'a's true motivations are not clear.[15] According to Wilferd Madelung in his The Succession to Muhammad, Umar's biased policies against non-Arabs may have played a prominent role in creating the climate which lead to the assassination.[16]

One day when Umar was leading the congregational prayer in the

Dhu al-Hijja of the Islamic year 23, or 6 November 644 according to the Gregorian calendar), while other accounts maintain that he survived three more days.[20]

Some historical sources report that Abu Lu'lu'a was taken prisoner and executed for his assassination of Umar, while other sources claim that he committed suicide.[21] After Abu Lu'lu'a's death, his daughter was killed by Ubayd Allah ibn Umar, one of Umar's sons. Acting upon the claim of one man (either Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf or Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr) that they had been seen conspiring with Abu Lu'lu'a while he was holding the double-bladed dagger, Ubayd Allah also killed Hurmuzān (Umar's Persian military adviser), and Jufayna, a Christian man from al-Hira (Iraq) who had been taken to Medina to serve as a private tutor to a family in Medina.[22] After Ubayd Allah was detained for these murders, he threatened to kill all foreign captives residing in Medina, as well as some others. Although Ubayd Allah may have been encouraged by his sister Hafsa bint Umar to avenge their father's death, his murder of Hurmuzān and Jufayna was likely the result of a mental breakdown rather than of a true conspiracy. It was regarded by his peers as a crime rather than as a legitimate act of retaliation.[23]

In early 20th-century scholarship it was sometimes supposed that Abu Lu'lu'a had really been an instrument in the hands of a conspiracy, though not a conspiracy led by Hurmuzān, but rather one led by

al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, and Talha ibn Ubayd Allah. These men, who according to the historical sources were appointed by Umar himself as members of the council who would elect the next caliph, were thought by scholars to have conspired to overthrow Umar's reign and to put Ali in his place.[24] This hypothesis, however, is rejected by more recent scholars.[25] Nevertheless, while Ubayd Allah was subsequently acquitted of his crimes by Umar's successor Uthman (r. 644–656), who considered the execution of Ubayd Allah an excessive measure in view of his father's recent assassination,[26] Ali, among others, did protest against this and vowed to apply the regular punishment for murder if he were ever to be caliph.[27]

Madelung in his

Abbasid Revolution (750 CE).[29]

Legacy

Sanctuary in Kashan

Main article: Shrine of Abu Lu'lu'a

According to later legends, Abu Lu'lu'a did not die in Medina, but was miraculously saved from his pursuers by Ali, who transported him by means of a special prayer to

Shi'ite polemicist Mirza Makhdum Sharifi (1540/41–1587),[31] but Abu Lu'lu'a's connections to Kashan seem to go back further, since already in the Mujmal al-tawārīkh wa-l-qiṣaṣ (an anonymous work written c. 1126) it is mentioned that Abu Lu'lu'a came from Fin, a village near Kashan.[32] At some point a shrine was dedicated to Abu Lu'lu'a in the vicinity of Kashan, which was said to be built over his tomb.[33] The first records of Abu Lu'lu'a's tomb in Kashan appear in the works of Ghiyath al-Din Khwandamir (c. 1475 – c. 1535) and Nur Allah al-Shushtari (1549–1610).[34]

Recently, there has been some controversy over this sanctuary, with a number of

Iranian government demolish the shrine.[35] The shrine was reportedly shut down in 2007 by Ayatollah Mohammad-Ali Taskhiri, who was known as a strong proponent of Sunni-Shi'i reconciliation.[36]

Annual celebration

Main article: Omar Koshan
Shrine of Abu Lu'lu'a in Kashan
, Iran

During the 16th-century

Dhu al-Hijja).[38] Later the celebration spread elsewhere in Iran, and was sometimes held on 9 Rabi' al-Awwal rather than on 26 Dhu al-Hijja.[39]

The festival celebrated Abu Lu'lu'a, nicknamed Bābā Shujāʿ al-Dīn (lit. 'Father Courageous of the Faith'), as a national hero who had defended the religion by killing the oppressive caliph.

effigies of Umar, accompanied by cursing and the recitation of vilifying poetry.[44]

During the

Islamic Republic of Iran.[47]

Nevertheless, the festival is still celebrated in Iran, though often secretly and indoors.

Umar ibn Sa'ad, the leader of the troops who killed Husayn at Karbala,[52]
an identification which further removes the festival from its anti-Sunni origins.

References

Citations

  1. ^ Most sources that specify his given name mention "Fīrūz"; see Ishkevari & Nejad 2008; Pellat 1983–2011 ("Fērōz", an alternative transliteration of the same). Calmard 1996, p. 161 and Fischer 1980, p. 16 refer to him as "Firuz", while Madelung 1997, p. 75 gives his fuller name as "Abū Luʾluʾa Fayrūz" (as found in al-Tabari, Tārīkh al-Ṭabarī, ed. De Goeje 1:2632 = ed. Cairo 4:136, quote: "Lammā qudima bi-saby Nihāwand ilā al-Madīna, jaʿala Abū Luʾluʾa Fīrūz ghulām al-Mughīra ibn Shuʿba lā yalqā minhum ṣaghīran illā masaḥa raʾasahu wa-bakā wa-qāla [...]"). On the Parthian and Middle Persian origin of the name, see Chkeidze 2001–2012; on its meaning "Victorious", see Rezakhani 2017, p. 78.
  2. ^ Cf. the usage in Levi Della Vida & Bonner 1960–2007; Pellat 1983–2011; Madelung 1997, pp. 68–70, 75, 346; El-Hibri 2010, pp. 107–114 et pass. In modern Persian this becomes Abō Loʾloʾ or Abū Luʾluʾ (see Ishkevari 1994–2020), a usage sometimes also adopted elsewhere (e.g., by Torab 2007 or Ishkevari & Nejad 2008).
  3. ^ Johnson 1994, p. 127, note 23; Calmard 1996, p. 161.
  4. ^ For example in Assemi 1964, p. 153; Joudat 1973, pp. 10, 15; Anonymous 1975, p. 537; Taqi Mustafavi 1982, p. 432; Bastani Parizi 1983, p. 274; Hatim 2004, p. 9; Sha'bani 2006, p. 102. More recently, the form Pīrūz Nahāvandī (پیروز نهاوندی) has also become popular, for example on the Persian-language Wikipedia.
  5. ^ Madelung 1997, p. 404 refers to Jufayna as "al-Naṣrānī", indicating that he was a man. Moreover, while the murder weapon seems to be depicted here as a split-blade sword (like Zulfiqar), El-Hibri 2010, p. 109 describes it as "a unique dagger", having "two pointed sharp edges, with a handle in the middle". The picture is taken from Tārīkhunā bi-uslūb qaṣaṣī ('Our History in a Narrative style'), a popular history book first published in Iraq in 1935.
  6. ^ Ishkevari & Nejad 2008.
  7. ^ Pellat 1983–2011. Modern authors also take different views: Levi Della Vida & Bonner 1960–2007 merely state that he was a Christian slave, whereas Madelung 1997, p. 75, note 67 finds the sources claiming he was Christian unreliable. Ishkevari & Nejad 2008 mention that according to the Mujmal al-tawārīkh wa-l-qiṣaṣ, an anonymous work written c. 1126 CE, Abu Lu'lu'a came from Fin, a village near Kashan.
  8. ^ Pellat 1983–2011.
  9. ^ This is the view of Madelung 1997, p. 75, note 67.
  10. ^ See the sources cited by El-Hibri 2010, pp. 108–109 (cf. also p. 112).
  11. ^ Pellat 1983–2011; cf. Madelung 1997, p. 75, note 64.
  12. ^ Other sources speak of three dirhams a month; see Pellat 1983–2011.
  13. ^ Pellat 1983–2011; Levi Della Vida & Bonner 1960–2007. As pointed out by Pellat 1983–2011, other accounts rather maintain that Abu Lu'lu'a's was angry about the caliph's raising a kharāj tax on his master al-Mughira.
  14. ^ Levi Della Vida & Bonner 1960–2007.
  15. ^ Pellat 1983–2011.
  16. ^ Madelung 1997, p. 75.
  17. ^ El-Hibri 2010, p. 109 describes the dagger as "unique", having "two pointed sharp edges, with a handle in the middle".
  18. ISBN 978-0-7914-1293-0. Cf. El-Hibri 2010, p. 109. See also Caetani 1905–1926, vol. V, p. 216
    .
  19. ^ El-Hibri 2010, p. 109.
  20. ^ Levi Della Vida & Bonner 1960–2007; Pellat 1983–2011.
  21. ^ Pellat 1983–2011.
  22. ^ Madelung 1997, p. 69 (cf. p. 404, where Madelung refers to him as "Jufayna al-Naṣrānī").
  23. ^ Madelung 1997, p. 69.
  24. ^ Caetani 1905–1926, vol. V, pp. 40–51, as reported by Madelung 1997, pp. 68–70.
  25. ^ Madelung 1997, pp. 68–70; Levi Della Vida & Bonner 1960–2007; Pellat 1983–2011.
  26. ^ Madelung 1997, p. 70.
  27. ^ Madelung 1997, pp. 69–70.
  28. ^ Madelung 1997, p. 75.
  29. ^ El-Hibri 2010, pp. 107–108, cf. pp. 90–92.
  30. ^ Fischer 1980, p. 16; Johnson 1994, p. 127, note 23.
  31. ^ In his al-Nawāqiḍ li-bunyān al-rawāfiḍ, written in 1580: see Johnson 1994, p. 127, note 23; on Sharifi, see Ghereghlou 2016–2019.
  32. ^ Ishkevari & Nejad 2008.
  33. ^ Algar 1990; Johnson 1994, p. 127, note 23.
  34. ^ Ishkevari & Nejad 2008.
  35. ^ Ismail 2016, p. 93, who also refers to the Al Arabiya news report by Isma'il 2007.
  36. ^ Mavani 2016, p. 137.
  37. ^ Algar 1990; Torab 2007, p. 196.
  38. ^ Johnson 1994, p. 127, note 23; cf. Algar 1990. The festival is also mentioned by Mirza Makhdum Sharifi (1540/41–1587) in his al-Nawāqiḍ li-bunyān al-rawāfiḍ (written 1580).
  39. ^ Calmard 1996, p. 161; Algar 1990.
  40. ^ Calmard 1996, p. 161; Johnson 1994, p. 127, note 23; Torab 2007, p. 196.
  41. ^ Torab 2007, p. 195.
  42. ^ Stewart 1996, p. 47; Mavani 2016, p. 137.
  43. ^ Algar 1990.
  44. ^ Algar 1990; Torab 2007, p. 194. An example of such vilifying poetry is cited by Stewart 1996, p. 47.
  45. ^ Algar 1990.
  46. ^ Algar 1990.
  47. ^ Torab 2007, pp. 194–195.
  48. ^ Torab 2007, p. 195.
  49. ^ Torab 2007, p. 198.
  50. ^ Torab 2007, p. 194.
  51. ^ Algar 1990.
  52. ^ Torab 2007, p. 197.

Sources

Other writings referred to
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