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Musa ibn ʿUqba
Arab Historian and Traditionalist From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah ibn Abī ʿAyyāsh al-Asadi al-Miṭraqī (Arabic: موسى بن عقبة بن أبي عياش الأسدي المطرفي; d. 758/759 CE), commonly known with his honorific as Mūsā ibn ʿUqba ([/ˈmuː.saː ʔibn ʕuq.ba/]), was an early Medinan historian, Jurist and traditionalist, pupil of Zuhri, and was a freed slave of the family of Zubair. Imam Malik was his pupil in this art and was full of praise of him, and was also an expert on maghāzī, the military expeditions on Sīrah. He wrote a Maghāzī which was lost after 14th century but partially rediscovered in 2021 when a manuscript was found.
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Musa Ibn Uqba was born in Medina. He was the youngest of three brothers, the others being Muhammad and Ibrahim. His lineage is traced back to Miṭraq, a historical region in Yemen. Musa's date of birth is not explicitly mentioned in any of the biographical works. However, he is recorded to have performed Hajj in the year 68 AH / 687–688 CE. Based on this, it is estimated that he was born around 55 AH / 674–675 CE.[1][2]: 31–32 [3]
He was from the freedman (mawālī) of the family of Zubayr ibn al-Awwam. By virtue of this, Musa was affiliated with the Quraysh tribe, specifically with sub-clan of Banu Asad ibn Khuzaymah.[2]: 31
Opinions regarding the identity of the person who manumitted Musa or his family are divided. According to some, Zubayr freed Musa’s maternal grandfather, Abū Ḥabībah. Others opine that Musa was himself the freedman of Umm Khalid, the wife of Zubayr.[4]: 266 Due to him being a freedman of the family of Zubayr, he could afford proximity of Zubayr's son Urwah, and his grandson's Hishām, Yaḥyā,'Āmir, and Muḥammad ibn Ja'far, from whom he learned Sīrah.[2]: 32
His Kunya was Abu Muhammad and he also used to issue Fatwas. Musa had a high standing amongst the residents of Medina and he held own teaching circle in Prophet's Mosque. 202 Hadith are narrated from him in books of Kutub al-Sittah.[4]: 268 [2]
During the reign of Walid ibn Abd al-Malik (r. 705–715), he participated in many military expeditions against Byzantine alongside Salim ibn Abd Allah.[2]: 35 [5] He passed away in Medina, in the year 141 AH/758–759.[4]: 268
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Maghazi Musa Ibn Uqba
"The book of Musa bin 'Uqbah is sufficient for you, for he is trustworthy."
He composed one of the earliest Sīrah books, Kitāb al-maghāzī or better known as Maghazi Musa Ibn Uqba. It was praised by early Muslims including Al-Shafi'i, Malik ibn Anas, Yahya ibn Ma'in, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, as well as later Muslims such as Al-Bayhaqi, Al-Dhahabi and Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani who heavily relied upon and quoted his work.[2]: 35–36
One of the stated reasons for Musa writing his Maghāzī was his intention to prevent the portrayal of those lacking virtue as people of merit. It is reported that when Musa heard that in the Maghāzī of Shurahbīl bin Sa'd (d. 123/740), individuals who had not participated in Battles of Badr and Uhud were portrayed as if they had, he became upset with Shurahbīl's handling of the reports and began to record his own narrations related to the Maghāzī.[7]: 2
The Maghāzī of Mūsā ibn ʿUqba was transmitted through two primary narrators: his nephew Ismā'īl ibn Ibrāhīm ibn 'Uqba and his student Muḥammad ibn Fulayḥ ibn Sulaymān al-Aslamī.[7]: 15 Both transmissions became widespread and by the 12th century, both transmissions had reached Al-Andalus, one of the farthest regions of the Islamic world.[7]: 12 According to 'Alā'ī bin Kaykaldī (d. 761/1359), the two transmissions only differed in the orthography of a few words.[7]: 3 [8]
However, the entire work became extinct after the 14th century, or 17th century according to a more conservative opinion.[2]: 46 The last person known to have had access to the book was Al-Sakhawi (d. 1497). However, according to Marsden Jones, Al-Diyārabakrī (d. 1582) also had access to it, but the claim is disputed.[7]: 20–21
Partial reconstructions of the Maghāzī were attempted through earlier citations by scholars such as 'Abdu Braimah (1968), Muḥammad Bāqshīsh Abū Mālik (1994), and Ḥusayn Murādī Naṣab (2003).[9]
In September 2021, the book was rediscovered when a manuscript (currently catalogued as A-MSS-14033) was found in the National Library of Tunisia according to the transmission of Ismā'īl ibn Ibrāhīm ibn 'Uqba.[2]: 46 [10] It contains approximately two-thirds of the book, beginning from change in Qibla to Farewell Pilgrimage. The rest of the work still remains lost. In 2023, the book was published for the first time by Bashīr Bin'aṭiyyah Publications in Fez, Morocco. An English Translation was published in 2024.[2]: 46
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