Abdullah ibn Saba'
| Abdullah ibn Saba' | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 7th-century |
| Other names |
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| Known for | Founding the Sabaʾiyya movement |
Abdullah ibn Sabaʾ al-Ḥimyarī (or Sabāʾ, also sometimes called ibn al-Sawdāʾ, ibn Wahb, or ibn Ḥarb) was a dubious 7th-century figure in Islamic history who is often associated with a group of followers called the Sabaʾiyya (Arabic: سبئية).. According to al-Askari and Muqaddas and renowned Egyptian scholar Taha Hussein, the character is a mere myth spun by narrators employed by the Umayyad Caliphate.
Modern historians differed on the historicity of Ibn Saba'. Some believe that Abdullah Ibn Saba may have actually been several figures (Hodgson), semi-legendary or legendary (Taha Hussein, Bernard Lewis, Wilferd Madelung, Leone Caetani, and Shia historians) Others such as Israel Friedlander, Sabatino Moscati, and Sunni historians affirm his existence. His Jewish origin has also been contested. Some modern historians assert that Sayf ibn Umar fabricated the episode about the killing of Uthman to "exonerate the people of Medina from participation in the caliph's murder" and the movement to support Ali as a successor to Muhammad did not exist in the time of Uthman. With the exception of Taha Hussein, most modern Sunni writers affirm the existence of Ibn Saba'. In a similar vein, Shia writers deny Ibn Saba's historical existence to rid Shia'ism of the accusation by Sunni writers that Shia'ism is originally based on Judaic doctrines.
According to Sunni and Shia sources, Abdullah bin Saba' was a Yamanite Jewish convert to Islam.M.G.S. Hodgson doubts that Ibn Saba' was a Jew, and suggests that Ibn Saba' and Ibn al-Sawada' should be considered as two separate individuals. According to Leone Caetani, Ibn Saba in origin was a purely political supporter of Ali, "around whom later generations imagined a religious conspiracy like that of the Abbasids".Taha Hussein and Ali al-Wardi maintain that Ibn Saba' was the creation of Umayyad propaganda.
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