Mualla b. Khunays

I was with Abi Abdillah عليه السلام in the vicinity of Makka when he said to me: O Ismail, proceed until you reach Marra or Usfan [two stations on the road between Makka and Madina] and ask [anyone you encounter on the way] – is there any incident which has occurred in Madina. He [Ismail] said: I went out until I reached Marra but did not encounter anyone. Then I proceeded until I reached Usfan but did not encounter anyone. I decided to turn around. When I began leaving Usfan I encountered a caravan carrying olives from Usfan. I said to them: Is there any incident which has occurred in Madina? They said: No, except the killing of this Iraqi called al-Mualla b. Khunays. He [Ismail] said: I returned to Abi Abdillah عليه السلام so when he saw me he said to me: O Ismail – al-Mualla b. Khunays has been killed? I said: Yes. He said: by Allah he has entered paradise.

When Dawud b. Ali [the governor of Madina] arrested al-Mualla b. Khunays, imprisoned him, and wanted to kill him – Mualla b. Khunays said to him: take me out to the people first, for I have a lot of debts and wealth which I want to declare, so he took him out to the market. When the people had gathered he [Mualla] said: O people, I am Mualla b. Khunays, whoever knows me has known me. I bear witness that what I leave of wealth, or debt, or slave-girl, or house, or less or more, then it is is for Ja`far b. Muhammad عليه السلام. He [al-Misma`i] said: then Dawud’s head of security struck him and killed him. When the news reached Aba Abdillah عليه السلام he came out dragging his cloak [on the ground – in his hurry] until he entered upon Dawud b. Ali with his son Ismail behind him and said: Dawud you killed my Mawla [client] and usurped my property?! He said: I did not kill him nor have I taken your property. He said: By Allah I am going to pray to Allah against the one who killed my Mawla and took my property! He [Dawud] said: I did not kill him – it was the head of my guards. He [the Imam] said: by your permission or without? He [Dawud] said: without my permission. He [al-Sadiq] said: O Ismail have your way with him! he [al-Mismai] said: so Ismail came out with a sword and killed him in his seating place. Hammad from al-Mismai from Muattib who said: Abu Abdillah عليه السلام remained standing in worship and in prostration the whole night. I heard him calling out near the end of the night whilst in prostration: O Allah, I ask you by your irrepressible strength, and your over-powering awe, and by your might in the face of which your creatures are abased, that you bless Muhammad and the family of Muhammad and that you take him this moment! He [Muattib] said: by Allah he [the Imam] had not raised his head from the prostration when we heard a cry and they said Dawud b. Ali has died. Abu Abdillah عليه السلام said: I supplicated against him to Allah with a supplication due to which Allah sent him an angel who struck his head with a hammer and caused his bladder to split.

Dawud b. Ali said to Abi Abdillah عليه السلام: I am not the one who killed him – that is Mualla [b. Khunays]. He [the Imam] said: then who killed him? he said: al-Sayrafi – who was the man in charge of his guards. He [the Imam] said: grant us retaliation. He [Dawud] said: I have. So when al-Sayrafi was taken and was about to be killed he began saying: O masses of the Muslims, they order me to kill people so I kill them for them then they kill me. al-Sayrafi was then executed.

Abu Ishaq [al-Sadiq] (as) arrived from Makkah and the killing of Mualla b. Khunays was mentioned to him. He [Ismail] said: So he stood up in anger – dragging his garment [on the ground i.e. moving in a hurry]. Ismail – his son – said to him: O father – where are you going? He said: even if it were a calamity [that be in front of me] – I would still head out towards it! so he went until he entered upon Dawud b. Ali [i.e. the Abbasid governor of Madina]. He [the Imam] said to him: O Dawud – you have committed a sin for which Allah will never forgive you! He [Dawud] said: and what is that sin? He said: you have killed a man from the people of Jannah – then he paused for a bit – then he added: if Allah wills. Dawud said to him: and you have also committed a sin for which Allah will never forgive you! He [the Imam] said: and what is that sin? He [Dawud] said: you married off your daughter to so and so – the Ummayad. He [the Imam] said: if I have married her off to so and so – the Umayyad – then the Messenger of Allah (sw) had given in marriage to Uthman, and I have in the Messenger of Allah an example [to follow]. He [Dawud] said: it is not me who killed him. He [the Imam] said: then who killed him? He [Dawud] said: al-Sayrafi killed him. He [the Imam] said: then retaliate on our behalf over him. So when it was the morrow – he [Dawud] came to him [al-Sayrafi] first thing in the morning – took him and had him killed. He [al-Sayrafi] began to cry out [before his execution]: O slaves of Allah! they order me to kill people for them and then they kill me!