Editorial status: draft awaiting review by qualified scholars. Report corrections through the contact page.
Zayd, son of Imam Ali Zayn al-Abidin عليه السلام, was a scholar of the Qur’an who rose in Kufa against the Umayyad caliph Hisham in 122 AH and was killed. The Twelver sources honour him as a martyr who called people to the family of the Prophet ﷺ; the Zaydi Shia take their name from him.
Scholar of the household
Zayd grew up in Medina under his father and his brother Imam al-Baqir عليه السلام, and Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani records that he was called Halif al-Qur’an for his devotion to its recitation. He narrated from his father and his brother.
The rising in Kufa
Angered by Umayyad injustice and by his treatment at the court of Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, Zayd accepted the pledges of the people of Kufa and rose in Safar 122 AH. Most of those who had pledged deserted him; after two days of fighting he was struck in the forehead by an arrow and died. Al-Tabari and Abu al-Faraj record that his followers buried him secretly, that the Umayyads exhumed and crucified his body at Kunasa in Kufa, and that it was later burned.
In the words of the Imams
Al-Saduq records in Uyun Akhbar al-Rida that Imam al-Rida عليه السلام said Zayd was one of the scholars of the family of Muhammad, that he rose in anger for God and called to the one agreed upon from that family — not to himself — and that Imam al-Sadiq عليه السلام said that whoever heard his call and did not come to his aid would be ruined.
Differing reports
- Year of zahoor: 75, 78, 79 and 80 AH are all given; the year of his rising is also given as 120 or 121 AH.
Sources
- Maqatil al-Talibiyyin — Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani, Ali ibn al-Husayn (d. 356 AH / 967 CE)
- Tarikh al-Rusul wa al-Muluk — al-Tabari, Muhammad ibn Jarir (d. 310 AH / 923 CE). year 122 AH
- ‘Uyun Akhbar al-Rida — al-Saduq (d. 381 AH / 991 CE)