The Martyrdom of a group of

respected Muslims by the Jews or their sons

     Muslims had to face such severe and extreme miseries because of the Umayyad rulers and the governors who favored the Christian and Jewish ideologies, that often resulted in their martyrdom by the hands of these Jewish and Christian puppets.

          Using the Umayyad name and the label of Islam, they assassinated the Muslim leaders and made use of all sorts of brutal and merciless killings. One of the most brutal and inhuman assassinations reported by the history of mankind is the martyrdom of Muhammad bin Abi Bakr, who was killed by a Jew named Mu’awiyah bin Hudaij e Kindi.

          Although Muhammad Bin Abi Bakr was the son of Abu Bakr, but because he was the supporter of Imam Ali (a.s.) and his governor for Egypt, he faced such a brutal death that after he was martyred by the hands of a Jew, his corpse was wrapped inside the skin of a donkey and burned. To know more about this incident, we will report an account of his battle against Amr bin Aas and Mu’awiyah bin Hudaij:

          Ibn e Abil Hadeed writes:

“Amr bin Aas left for Egypt. Mohammad bin Abi Bakr stood before the people and addressed them after praising Allah:

          ‘O Muslims and believers! Indeed, those who disrespect the sanctity of people and have fallen into grave darkness and have created a havoc with brutality and oppression, have joined hands against you and are coming towards you with their armies. Whoever seeks paradise and forgiveness should stand against them and get ready for Jihad in the way of Allah. May God shower his mercy upon you! Immediately move forward with Kanaana bin Bushr.

          About 2000 men moved along with Kanaana bin Bushr, and Mohammad bin Abi Bakr moved ahead with another army of 2000 soldiers behind them, and halted at their post for a while. Amr bin Aas positioned his army to fight against Kanaana bin Bushr, who was the leading commander of Muhammad bin Abi Bakr. Immediately after he reached near Kanaana, he sent troop after troop to fight against him, but every troop that faced Kanaana, faced such a retaliation from him and his army that they fled back to Amr bin Aas; and this happened several times.

          When Amr bin Aas saw this condition, he wrote a letter to Mu’awiyah bin Hudaij, who then came for his help with an enormous army. When Kanaana saw this army, he came down his horse, and so did his army men. He began to strike his sword on them and kept reciting this verse: “No soul can ever die except by Allah’s leave and at a term appointed”[1], and he fought bravely until he attained martyrdom. May God bless him!

          Ibrahim e Thaqafi says: Mohammad Ibn e Abdullah narrates from Mada’ini who narrates from Muhammad bin Yusuf that when Kanaana was killed, Amr bin Aas went after Mohammad bin Abi Bakr and as Mohammad’s companions had scattered away from him, he came out quietly and went on his way towards a ruin and took shelter at that place. Amr bin Aas came and entered the city of Fustaat[2] and Mu’awiyah bin Hudaij came after him and went towards the outskirts to find Muhammad bin Abi Bakr. He came across a few non- Muslims and asked them if they had seen a stranger pass by them.

          At first, they replied: ‘No’, then one of them said, ‘I had gone inside these ruins and saw a man sitting there’.

Muawiah bin Hudaij said: “By the Lord of the Kabah, it is none but him. They went running towards Mohammad bin Abi Bakr and forced him outside while he was about to die out of thirst. They brought him to Fustaat. At that time, Abdur Rahman, the brother of Mohammad bin Abi bakr, stood up and said, ‘I swear by the Lord that my brother should not be assassinated. Send a message to Mu’awiyah bin Hudaij and stop him from this act.’    

          Amr bin Aas wrote to Mu’awiyah and asked him to bring Muhammad near him.

Muawiah said: You assassinated my cousin Kanaana bin Bushr and are asking me to release Mohammad? Never. “Are you disbelievers better than those, or have you some immunity in the scriptures?”[3]

                Mohammad said: “Give me a drop of water to drink”.

Muawiah said: “May God keep me thirsty if I give you even a drop of water to drink. You did not let Othman drink water and killed him in the state of fasting and God made him drink the tasty water of heaven! I swear to God, O son of Abu Bakr, I will kill you in the state of thirst and God will quench your thirst with the boiling and blood filled water of hell!

          Mohammad said to him: O son of indecent Jewish mother. It is in God’s hand to quench his friends and keep his enemies thirsty and it is you and the likes of you, and those whom you love and the ones who love you. By God! If I had my sword in my hand, you would never be able to come near me this way.

Mu’awiyah bin Hudaij asked him, ‘Do you know what I am going to do with you?’ ‘I will place you inside the stomach of this dead donkey and will burn you down’.

          Muhammad replied: ‘If you act against me this way, a lot of these acts have been done with the dear slaves of Allah. I swear to Allah that I am hopeful from him to cool down the fire that you are threatening me with, just like he did it with his friend Abraham, and I hope that he burns you and your friends with this fire, just like Namrood and his companions were burnt and I am also hopeful that Allah burns you, your leader Mu’awiyah, and this man (indicating towards Amr bin Aas), in the hellfire. “Whenever it abateth, We increase the flame for them”.[4]

          Mu’awiyah bin Hudaij said: I am not killing you unjustly but this is the revenge of the death of Othman bin Affan.

Muhammad replied: ‘What have you to do with Othman? A man who committed oppression, altered the laws of Allah and the Holy Quran, and Allah (s.w.t.) had said: “Those who do not judge by what Allah has sent down, it is they who are the faithless; it is they who are the wrongdoers; it is they who are the transgressors”[5]. We showed aggression against him because of the unaccepted acts he performed. We wanted him to dissociate himself with the post of Caliphate, he did not accept it and a group of people killed him.

          Mu’awiyah bin Hudaij became outraged, he came forward and beheaded him and thereafter, placed his body inside the stomach of the dead donkey and burned it. 

          When this news reached Ayesha, she expressed extreme sadness and mourned excessively for him and she used to regularly curse Mu’awiyah bin Abi Sufiyan, Amr bin Aas and Mu’awiyah bin Hudaij after every prayer. She took the guardianship of her brother’s family and Qasim bin Muhammad was also along with them.

It is said that Mu’awiyah bin Hudaij was a filthy and cursed person who used to abuse Ali bin Abi Talib (a.s.).

Ibrahim e Thaqafi says: Amr bin Hamad bin Talha Qanad narrates from Ali bin Hashim, from Ali bin Hashim, from his father, who narrates from Daood bin Abi Awf that Mu’awiyah bin Hudaij entered the Medina Mosque while Imam Hasan bin Ali (a.s.) was present there.

Imam Hasan (a.s.) said to him:

“O Mu’awiyah! Curse be upon you! You are the one who abuses Ali bin Abi Talib (a.s.), the leader of the faithful! I swear to God that if you see him on the day of resurrection, and I don’t think you will be able to see him, you will find him in such a condition that he will be barefooted, striking on the face of the likes of you and steering them away from the spring (Kauthar), like the unknown camels are driven away”.[6]