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Part B
Persecution of the Shia by the Umayyads

The fact that the details about the persecution against the Shia was compiled in seven volumes each of over 200 pages, under the title ‘Masa’ibush Shia’[1] goes to show the enormity of the matter. The writer/compiler was Moulana Sadat Husain Khan Sahib. The book was published by Sarfaraz Press, Luknow in 1347 AH. The book was reprinted in three volumes in May 2001. I have mostly followed the contents of the earlier edition of ‘Masa’ibush Shia’. Instead of detailing each individual persecution that would only add to the volume of this book, for brevity’s sake I have given short sketches of the persecution against the Shia during various regimes.

Be it the Umayyads or the Abbasids or any other regime for that matter, it is a historical fact that the Shia of the Ahlul Bayt alone were persecuted, tortured, banished, and killed, beginning from the moment of the Prophet’s death to the present day. In this enlightened twenty-first century, in Iraq and elsewhere, misguided persons kill hundreds of Shia with remote controlled bombs. The scenes of youngsters slitting the throats or beheading those, whom they consider as their opponents, are a slur on the religion whose founder is known as ‘Universal Mercy’. The book ‘Masa’ibush Shia’ tells the story of the persecution against the Shia throughout centuries.

The period of persecution of the Shia can conveniently be divided into the following periods

[a] Immediately after the demise of the Prophet (s) between 11 and 30 AH

[b] The period after the martyrdom of Imam Ali in the year 35 until 60 AH when Mu’awiya died

[c] The period between 61 to 132 AH when Abdullah ibn az-Zubair and the Umayyads ruled as the caliphs