Abu Ḥuṣayn said: “ʿUbaydah instructed that al-Aswad ibn Yazīd should lead the funeral prayer for him. Al-Aswad therefore said, ‘Hurry with him before the liar arrives’—meaning al-Mukhtār. (1)
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Salām al-Tamīmī narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Muʿizz ibn Muḥammad narrated to us; Tamīm ibn Abī Saʿīd narrated to us; Abū Saʿd Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad narrated to us; Abū Yaʿlā narrated to us; al-Qawārīrī narrated to us; Ḥammād narrated to us, from Ayyūb, from Muḥammad, from ʿUbaydah, who said:
“ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him, spoke about the people of Nahrawān and said, ‘Among them is a man whose hand is stubbed, or withered, or deformed. Were it not that you might grow conceited, I would tell you what Allah has promised those who kill him (3) as conveyed on the tongue of Muḥammad—peace and blessings be upon him.’ (2)
I asked, ‘Did you hear that from him yourself?’
He replied, ‘Yes, by the Lord of the Kaʿbah.’
This is a sound hadith.
It was also transmitted by Ibn ʿUlayyah from Ayyūb al-Sakhtiyānī, and by Ibn Abī ʿAdī from Ibn ʿAwn from Ibn Sīrīn. It is recorded by Muslim and Abū Dāwūd. (4)
Concerning the date of ʿUbaydah’s death there are several opinions, the soundest being that he died in 72 AH.
(1) Al-Mukhtar b. Abi Ubayd al-Thaqafi: Ubayd Allah b. Ziyad jailed him for turning against him after the killing of Husayn, then banished him. Al-Mukhtar pledged allegiance to Ibn al-Zubayr in Mecca, only to abandon him later. He next proclaimed the imamate of Ibn al-Hanafiyya, claiming to be his deputy, and many people swore loyalty to him. With their support he revolted, gained considerable power, and hunted down Husayn’s murderers; he is the one who sent Ibn al-Ashtar to fight and kill Ibn Ziyad. When Musab was governor of Basra clashes broke out; Musab besieged al-Mukhtar in the Kufan palace and killed him in 67 AH. The author of al-Mizan rules that nothing should be transmitted from him, for he was a misguided innovator who alleged that the angel Jibril brought him revelation; he was worse than, or at least equal to, al-Hajjaj.
(2) Muslim, Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah and Ahmad record the word mathdun, while Ahmad alone (1/83) has the variant mathdan. The expressions mukhdaj al-yad and mawdan al-yad mean “a hand that is malformed and short,” whereas mathdan or mathdun al-yad signifies “a small, contracted hand.”
(3) Thus in the present manuscript; Muslim and other sources read: “they will kill them.”
(4) Reported by Muslim, Sahih, no. 1066 (155), Book of Zakat, chapter on urging the killing of the Khawarij.