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| Abdur Rahman ibn Muljam | |
|---|---|
| Name | Abdur Rahman ibn Muljam |
| Birth date | c. 601–610 CE |
| Birth place | Balkh? / Kufa? (disputed) |
| Death date | 661 CE |
| Death place | Kufa |
| Nationality | Arab |
| Known for | Attempted assassination of Ali ibn Abi Talib |
| Occupation | Member of the Kharijites |
Abdur Rahman ibn Muljam was a member of the Kharijites best known for the assassination of Ali ibn Abi Talib, the fourth caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate and first Shia Imam. His act occurred amid the civil conflicts following the Battle of Siffin and the subsequent arbitration between Ali and Muawiyah I, which produced deep political and theological ruptures across the early Islamic society. The killing in 661 CE became a pivotal event in the First Fitna and has been treated variably in Sunni Islam and Shia Islam sources.
Accounts place ibn Muljam as an Arab from a Banu clan active in the late Sasanian Empire–era frontier or in Iraq, with contested reports suggesting origins near Balkh or settled families in Kufa. He lived during the reigns of Abu Bakr, Umar ibn al-Khattab, Uthman ibn Affan, and Ali ibn Abi Talib amid rapid territorial expansion into Persia, Levant, and Egypt. The milieu included competing loyalties among members of the Ansar, Muhajirun, and tribal confederations such as the Banu Tamim and Banu Umayya, and theological ferment around issues raised after the Battle of the Camel and Battle of Siffin.
Ibn Muljam joined the radical faction known as the Kharijites that split from Ali's camp after the Arbitration of Adhruh or the decision following the Battle of Siffin, rejecting both Ali and Muawiyah I as illegitimate. The Kharijites advocated a rigid interpretation derived from debates over qadar and ijma in the aftermath of the arbitration and often confronted leaders such as Amr ibn al-As and 'Amr ibn al-'As's associates. Kharijite leaders and contemporaries included figures like Nafi ibn al-Azraq and later sects such as the Azariqa and Sufriya, whose puritanical doctrines inspired political violence against perceived sinners among the ruling elites, including plots against commanders and governors in Kufa and Basra.
During the congregational prayers at the Great Mosque of Kufa, ibn Muljam struck Ali ibn Abi Talib with a poisoned sword on the morning of 19 Ramadan, 661 CE, an act coordinated with fellow Kharijites who planned simultaneous attacks on Muawiyah I and Amr ibn al-As to destabilize rival centers in Syria and Egypt. Ali was taken to his house in Kufa and later died of his wounds, an event recorded alongside the contemporaneous governance struggle with Muawiyah I and military commanders such as Al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba and Ziyad ibn Abihi. The assassination occurred against the backdrop of continuing unrest after the First Fitna and the contested legacy of Uthman ibn Affan's murder.
After the attack, ibn Muljam was captured, tried by Ali's supporters, and subjected to a legal process reflecting early Islamic jurisprudential debates about retaliation (qisas) and the application of capital punishment found in precedents from the caliphates of Umar ibn al-Khattab and Uthman ibn Affan. Sources report that Ali ordered ibn Muljam's execution; some narratives describe mutilation or symbolic methods intended as recompense for Uthman ibn Affan's killing, while others emphasize a swift death by beheading, echoing practices noted in chronicles of al-Tabari, al-Baladhuri, and Ibn Sa'd. The execution took place in Kufa, and rival claimants such as Muawiyah I used the episode to consolidate power during the transition to the Umayyad Caliphate.
Primary and near-contemporary reports on ibn Muljam and the assassination are preserved in medieval historiography by authors including al-Tabari, Ibn Ishaq, al-Baladhuri, Ibn Sa'd, and Ibn Kathir, and in Shia compilations such as works by al-Kulayni and later narrators collected in Nahj al-Balagha commentaries. Sunni chronicles and hadith compendia like Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim do not center the figure but provide the milieu for evaluating reports; theological polemics appear in writings by Al-Shafi'i, Ibn Hazm, and Al-Ghazali. Modern historians such as Wilferd Madelung, Hugh N. Kennedy, and Patricia Crone analyze the sources' chains of transmission (isnad), textual variants, and sectarian bias, debating culpability, motive, and the factual matrix surrounding the assassination.
Ibn Muljam's act has been depicted variously: in Shia Islam tradition he is vilified as the murderer of the first Shia Imam and often invoked in narratives of martyrdom surrounding Ali ibn Abi Talib and Husayn ibn Ali, while some Sunni Islam accounts contextualize Kharijite extremism as a deviant offshoot akin to later sectarian movements such as the Khawarij-descended groups. Historiographical treatments range from moral exemplars used by polemicists like al-Tabari and Ibn Kathir to critical reassessments by modern scholars including Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Chibli Mallat, who examine the assassination's impact on the transition from the Rashidun Caliphate to the Umayyad Caliphate. In regional memory, the event shaped communal identities across Iraq, Iran, and the Levant, and remains a focal episode in studies of early Islamic political theology, sectarian formation, and the contested legacies of figures such as Ali ibn Abi Talib and Muawiyah I.
Category:7th-century Arab people Category:Assassins Category:Kharijites