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Abdullah Ibn Saba (Part I) Enemies of Islam whose goal were/are to split the Muslims, in their effort to explain the emergence of Shia, claim that the Shia are a sect which wasoriginated by Abdullah Ibn Saba, a Jew who embraced Islam during the reign of Uthman Ibn Affan, the third caliph.

They further state that Abdullah Ibn Saba traveled in Muslim cities and towns, from Damascus to Kufa to Egypt, propagating among Muslims that Ali is the Prophet's successor. He provoked Muslims to kill Uthman since he believed Uthman had occupied the seat of Imam Ali.

He also made mischief in the armies of Ali and his opponents in the battle of Camel.

He was also responsible for all the false ideas of the Shia forward.

These mercenary writers believe that Abdullah Ibn Saba is the ORIGIN of Shia; and since he himself was a hypocrite and a falsifier of tales, then all the knowledge and beliefs of the Shia are also false.

In fact, Abdullah Ibn Saba is the best scapegoat for all the claims of some Sunnis.

While the existence of a person in the name of Abdullah Ibn Saba in the early history of Islam is seriously under question, what is clear after extensively researching this topic is that even if a poor man with such name ever existed at that time, the stories propagated about this person are legendary, false, fabricated, and fictitious, and there exists no proof for the validity of these stories attached to him.
This point will be studied in this discussion, by the willing of Allah.

Introduction

The fabricated stories around the character of Abdullah Ibn Saba are the malicious production of one of the disciples of the devil, namely Sayf Ibn Umar al-Tamimi.

He was a story teller, lived in the second century after Hijrah, who shaped his stories by some primary facts he found in the documented history of Islam available at that time.

Sayf wrote a novel much the same as what Salman Rushdi did in Satanic Verses with similar motives, but with the difference that the role of Satan in this case was given to poor Abdullah Ibn Saba.

Sayf Ibn Umar distorted the biographies of the companions of the Holy Prophet (PBUH&HF) to please the government of his time, and to distort the history of Shia and to ridicule Islam.

Sayf was a staunch advocate of the Umayads, who were known throughout history to be one of the worst enemies of Ahlul-Bayt, and as such, it was in his best interest to invent such stories to degrade the Shia.

In his stories however he followed many other goals one of which was to cleverly elevate the status of his tribe over others by inventing some imaginary companions form his tribe.

However many Sunni scholars found numerous unjustifiable heresies in his reports which was not limited to the issue of Abdullah Ibn Saba, and consequently they abandoned his reports, and accuse him as a man of forgery and lies.

Yet Sayf's works enjoyed the support of a minority of Sunnis to this date.

Here, later on, I give the sayings of several leading Sunni scholars, who all confirmed that Sayf Ibn Umar was an untrustworthy person and his stories are void.

Ideological studies indicate that most of those who hate the Shi'ite school of thought (a lot of whom being the enemies of Islam anyway) justify their enmity on this obvious heresy which they would exploit to backup their attack on Shia.

The approach which resembles the one adopted by Sayf Ibn Umar himself.

The Origin of The Tale

The tale of Abdullah Ibn Saba is over twelve centuries old.

Historians and writers, one after the other recorded it, adding more and more to it.

With a glance at the chain of transmitters of this story, you will find the name of Sayf sitting in there.

The following historians recorded directly from Sayf:

(1) Tabari.

(2) Dhahabi.

He has also cited from Tabari(1).

(3) Ibn Abi Bakir.

He has also recorded from Ibn Athir(15), who has recorded from Tabari(1).

(4) Ibn Asakir.

The following have recorded indirectly from Sayf:

(5) Nicholson from Tabari(1).

(6) Encyclopedia of Islam from Tabari(1).

(7) Van Floton from Tabari(1).

(8) Wellhauzen from Tabari(1).

(9) Mirkhand from Tabari(1).

(10) Ahmad Amin from Tabari(1), and from Wellhauzen(8).

(11) Farid Wajdi from Tabari(1).

(12) Hasan Ibrahim from Tabari(1).

(13) Saeed Afghani from Tabari(1), and from Ibn Abi Bakir(3), Ibn Asakir(4), and Ibn Badran(21).

(14) Ibn Khaldoon from Tabari(1).

(15) Ibn Athir from Tabari(1).

(16) Ibn Kathir from Tabari(1).

(17) Donaldson from Nicholson(5), and from Encyclopedia(6).

(18) Ghiath al-Din from Mirkhand(9).

(19) Abul Fida from Ibn Athir(15).

(20) Rashid Ridha from Ibn Athir(15).

(21) Ibn Badran from Ibn Asakir(4).

(22) Bostani from Ibn Kathir(16).

The above list gives evidence to the fact that the fictitious stories around the character of Abdullah Ibn Saba has been started by Sayf and cited next by Tabari directly from Sayf's book as Tabari mentioned himself (See the chain of narrators of traditions related to Abdullah Ibn Saba, inside the History of Tabari.

For instance, see the index of Vol.

15, English version, under the name of Sayf Ibn Umar or Abdullah Ibn Saba).

Therefore, Sayf's character and his history should be studied and analyzed with a great care.

Who Is Sayf?

Sayf Ibn Umar al-Dhabbi al-Usayyidi al-Tamimi lived in the second century of the Muslim era (8th century AD) and died after the year 170 AH (750 AD).

al-Dhahabi said that Sayf died during the rule of Haroon al-Rashid in Baghdad (Iraq).

During his life, Sayf wrote the following two books which were available even during the reign of Umayad:

1.
al-Fotooh wa al-Riddah which is the history of the period before the death of the Prophet (PBUH&HF) until the third Caliph Uthman resumed office as the ruler of Muslim world.

2.
al-Jamal wa Maseeri Aisha wa Ali which is the history from the murder of Uthman to the battle of Jamal (the fight that happened between Imam Ali and some companions).

These books are now lost but survived for a number of centuries after Sayf's own lifetime.

Based on what we found, the last person who had said that he had possessed Sayf's books was Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (d.
852 AH).

These two books of Sayf contained more action than truth, some forged stories, and some true events which, intentionally, have been recorded in a ridiculing manner.

Since Sayf spoke about some of the companions of the Prophet (PBUH&HF) and also invented some companions with strange names, his stories have affected the history of early Islam.

Some biographers such as the authors of Usdul Ghabah, Isti'ab and Isabah and geographers such as the authors of Mu'jamul Boldan and al-Rawzul mi'tar have written the life of some companions of the Prophet, and named places which exist only in the books written by Sayf.

Because of this, the life and character of Sayf and his credibility should be carefully investigated.

What Do Sunni Scholars Say About Sayf?

The following leading Sunni scholars confirm that Sayf Ibn Umar was a well- known liar and untrustworthy:

(1) al-Hakim (d.
405 AH) wrote: Sayf is accused of being a heretic.

His narrations are abandoned.

(2) al-Nisa'i (d.
303 AH) wrote: Sayf's narrations are weak and they should be disregarded because he was unreliable and untrustworthy.

(3) Yahya Ibn Mueen (d.
233 AH) wrote: Sayf's narrations are weak and useless.

(4) Abu Hatam (d.
277 AH) wrote: Sayf's Hadith is rejected.