Abd Allāh ibn Masʿada al-Fazārīرضي الله عنه (Arabic: عبد الله بن مسعدة الفزاري) Born 627AD was a commander from the Arab Banu Fazara tribe who fought in the service of the Umayyad caliphs Mu'awiyah I (r. 661–680) and Yazid I (r. 680–683). He also played a political role under the caliphs Marwan I 684AD–685AD and Abd al-Malik 685 AD–689AD. According to Arab genealogical tradition, the progenitor of the Banu Fazara was Fazāra ibn Dhubyān ibn Baghīd ibn Rayth ibn Ghatafān. Thus the tribe belonged to the Dhubyan branch of the Ghatafan tribe, making the Fazara a north Arabian tribe. Its ancestral pasture grounds were in the Wadi al-Rumma region of the Najd in central Arabia.
Abd Allah was a son of the Banu Fazara tribesman Mas'ada ibn Hakama ibn Malik ibn Badr (also referred to as Mas'ada ibn Hudhayfa ibn Badr by traditional Muslim sources, who was slain in the Wadi al-Qura valley by the Muslims during a raid against the tribe by Zayd ibn al-Haritha in 627/28 AD, ordered by the Islamic Muhammad Rasulullahﷺ. Abd Allah, then a young boy, was taken captive during the raid and brought to Muhammad, who gave him to his daughter Fatimah as a slave.
She freed Abd Allah and raised him with her husband, Muhammad Rasulullahﷺ's cousin Ali. He and his brother Abd al-Rahman later settled in Damascus and formed part of the Qaysi tribal nobility of the city, along with Hammam ibn Qabisa al-Numayri.
Abd Allah fought in the army of Mu'awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan, the Islamic governor of Syria, against the forces of Ali, who had become caliph in 656, at the Battle of Siffin in the summer of 657AD during the First Muslim Civil War. In 659/60, Mu'awiya dispatched him at the head of 1,700 horsemen to collect the alms tax and oaths of allegiance to his claimed caliphate from the inhabitants of the Tayma oasis and the nomadic Arabs he should come across en route and kill anyone who refused. He was joined by many of his Fazara tribesmen.
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| Tayma Oasis location of the Tayma Fort. |
During Mu'awiyah's caliphate 661–680AD, Abd Allah served as a commander in the wars against the Byzantine Empire. According to the historian Khalifa ibn Khayyat, Abd Allah led the annual winter raid against Anatolia in 669AD/70H. The historians al-Waqidi and al-Ya'qubi hold that Abd Allah succeeded Sufyan ibn Awf as the Arabs' commander following his death in the raid of 672. According to the modern historian Marek Jankowiak, the traditional Muslim accounts of this episode indicate that the raid failed to achieve its objective and that Abd Allah "failed to extricate it [the Arab army] and bring it safely back home".
Abd Allah fought in the Battle of al-Harra and the Siege of Makkah in 683AD as a commander of the Damascus contingent in Muslim ibn Uqba's army, which was sent by Mu'awiyah's son and successor Yazid I 680–683AD to suppress opposition in Madinah and Makkah led by Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr.
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| The Fazara Tribe's ancestral land within the Wadi Al Rumman |
After the deaths of Yazid and his successor Mu'awiyah II, Umayyad rule collapsed across the Caliphate. When Marwan ibn al-Hakam, an Umayyad from a different branch of the clan forwarded his nomination for the office in Jabiya, Abd Allah gave him his allegiance, at a time when most of the Syrian Qays backed Ibn al-Zubayr. Abd Allah lived until the time of Marwan's son and successor Abd al-Malik 685–705AD. He advised Abd al-Malik to spare the life of Yahya ibn Sa'id, the brother of Abd al-Malik's kinsman Amr al-Ashdaq, who had been executed by the caliph in 689 after a failed coup; the caliph heeded Abd Allah's counsel.
Abd Allah's family thereafter disappeared from the historical record until 748 when Abd Allah's great-grandson Mughira ibn Abd Allah ibn Mughira, a Qaysi noble or dissident, served as Caliph Marwan II's governor of Egypt. Abd Allah died in 689 AD.
Ibn Asaakir narrates in Tarikh Al Damashq Chapter 12:
Mu’awiya’s slave Khadij al Hazi said that Mu’awiyau bought a fair-complexioned and beautiful slave girl and he (Khadij) undressed her and brought her before Muawiyyah while he was waving a stick in his hand and he kneeled down towards her vagina and said: ” I wish this vagina were for me; take her to Yazeed bin Muawyah.” And then said “No! Call Rabi` bin Umro Al Qarshi”. He (Rabi) was a Faqih. When he came, Muawyah asked him: “This slave girl has been brought before me naked and I have seen her here and there and I wanted to send her to Yazeed”. He said: “O Leader of the believers! Don’t do this. This is not right”. Mu’awiya said: “Your suggestion is correct”.
Mua’wiya said, call Abdullah bin Mas’adah al Fazari the servant of Fatimah the daughter of the Messenger of Allah, for me and he was Adam Shadeed Al Udmah then Mua’wiya said (to Mas’adah) whiten your progeny with her”
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تاريخ مدينة دمشق – ج 12 – حازم بن حسين – حسام بن ضرار
خديج الخصي مولى معاوية قال: اشترى معاوية جارية بيضاء جميلة فأدخلتها عليه مجردة، وبيده قضيب، فجعل يهوي به إلى متاعها – يعني فرجها – ويقول: هذا المتاع لو كان لي متاع، اذهب بها إلى يزيد بن معاوية، ثم قال: لا! ادع لي ربيعة بن عمرو الجرشي – وكان فقيهاً – فلما دخل عليه قال: إنَّ هذه أتيت بها مجردة فرأيت منها ذاك وذاك، وإني أردت أن أبعث بها إلى يزيد، قال: لا تفعل يا أمير المؤمنين! فإنها لا تصلح له، فقال: نعم ما رأيت، قال: ثم وهبها لعبد الله بن مسعدة الفزاري مولى فَاطِمَةُ بِنْتُ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ،آدم شديد الأدمة فقال له: بيض بها ولدك، وهذا من فقه معاوية ونحريه
Ibn Katheer narrates in his book Tafseer Al Quran:
Abdullah ibn Mas’adah Al Faraazy was Aswad Shadeed Al Udmah
قال عماد الدين أبو الفداء إسماعيل بن كثير في كتابه تفسير القرآن العظيم (تفسير ابن كثير) – ج 10 عبد الله بن مساعدة الفزارى كان أسود شديد الأدمة
Ibn Katheer mentions him again in another book of his and describes the same sahabah using only the word Aswad
Ibn Katheer says in his book Al Bidaayah wa Al Nihaayah Chapter 8 page 149
Mua’wiya’s slave Khadij al Hazi said that Mua’wiya bought a fair-complexioned and beautiful slave girl and he (Khadij) undressed her and brought her before Muawiyyah while he was waving a stick in his hand and he kneeled down towards her vagina and said: ” I wish this vagina were for me; take her to Yazeed bin Muawyah.” And then said “No! Call Rabi` bin Umro Al Qarshi”. He (Rabi) was a Faqih. When he came, Muawyah asked him: “This slave girl has been brought before me naked and I have seen her here and there and I wanted to send her to Yazeed”. He said: “O Leader of the believers! Don’t do this. This is not right”. Mu’awiya said: “Your suggestion is correct”.
Mu’awiyah said, Call Abdullah bin Mas’adah Al Fazari the servant of Fatimah the daughter of the Messenger of Allah, for me and he was Aswad. Then he said (to Masa’dah) whiten your progeny with her”
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قال عماد الدين أبو الفداء إسماعيل بن كثير في كتابه البداية والنهاية
وروى ابن عساكر في ترجمة خديج الخصي مولى معاوية قال: اشترى معاوية جارية بيضاء جميلة فأدخلتها عليه مجردة، وبيده قضيب، فجعل يهوي به إلى متاعها – يعني فرجها – ويقول: هذا المتاع لو كان لي متاع، اذهب بها إلى يزيد بن معاوية، ثم قال: لا! ادع لي ربيعة بن عمرو الجرشي – وكان فقيهاً – فلما دخل عليه قال: إنَّ هذه أتيت بها مجردة فرأيت منها ذاك وذاك، وإني أردت أن أبعث بها إلى يزيد، قال: لا تفعل يا أمير المؤمنين! فإنها لا تصلح له، فقال: نعم ما رأيت، قال: ثم وهبها لعبد الله بن مسعدة الفزاري مولى فَاطِمَةُ بِنْتُ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، وكان أسود فقال له: بيض بها ولدك، وهذا من فقه معاوية ونحريه
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Conclusion
By studying the language used in the narrations and interpretations of the scholars it is evident that they understood Adam Shadeed Al Udmah to mean jet black. It is quite clear that Ibn Katheer may Allah have mercy upon him understood that Adam Shadeed Al Udmah and Aswad to mean the same thing as he used the terms interchangeably in three places of his books to describe the same person.
