Amr ibn al-Zubayr

Amr ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam al-Asadi (Arabic: عمرو بن الزبير, romanized: ʿAmr ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām al-ʾAsadī; d. 685 CE) was an Arab military commander of the Umayyad Caliphate. He is known for serving as head of Medina’s shurta and leading an Umayyad expedition against his brother Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr during the Second Fitna, where he was captured and killed.

Amr was the son of al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam and Umm Khalid Ama bint Khalid, a member of the Umayyad clan who had returned from the Migration to Abyssinia in 628.^[1] He belonged to the Banu Asad branch of the Quraysh. His siblings included Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, Mus'ab ibn al-Zubayr, Urwa ibn al-Zubayr, Hamza, Ja'far, Al-Mundhir, Khalid, and Ramla bint al-Zubayr. His paternal aunt was Aisha, wife of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He was named in honor of Amr ibn Sa'id ibn al-As, who died at the Battle of Yarmouk.^[2]

During the early reign of Yazid I, Amr refused to pledge allegiance to the caliph. In 60 AH (680 CE), the Umayyad governor of Medina, Amr ibn Sa'id al-Ashdaq, appointed him head of the city’s shurta (security forces).^[3] His mandate included enforcing Umayyad authority and suppressing supporters of his brother Abd Allah, who had refused to recognize Yazid.^[4]

Amr reportedly punished Quraysh and Ansar suspected of supporting Abd Allah with lashes, reinforcing his position as the central Umayyad enforcer in Medina.^[5]

With Umayyad authorization, Amr led an expedition of approximately 2,000 men from Medina to Mecca to suppress his brother’s rebellion. His forces encountered resistance from Zubayrid loyalists, including two opposing contingents led by Mus'ab ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Zubayr and Abd Allah ibn Safwan. Amr's troops were defeated and his commander, Unays ibn Amr al-Aslami, was killed.^[6]

Amr himself was wounded and captured. When brought before Abd Allah and asked about his bloodied condition, he reportedly replied in verse:

We are not wounded upon our heels, but upon our feet does blood drip.^[6]

Sources differ on the circumstances of his death. Al-Baladhuri reports that he died while in custody during Abd Allah’s rule^[7], whereas Julius Wellhausen states that he was captured following an ambush near Mecca and subsequently killed^[8].

• al-Tabari, Muhammad ibn Jarir (1998). The History of the Prophets and Kings: Volume 19, The Caliphate of Yazid b. Mu‘awiyah. Vol. 19. Translated by I.K.A. Howard. State University of New York Press.
• Al-Baladhuri, Ahmad ibn Yahya (1969). Ansab al-Ashraf, Vol. 5. Dar al-Fikr, Beirut.
• Tarminini, Abd al-Salam (1980). Ahdath al-Tarikh al-Islami bi-Tartib al-Sinin, Vol. 1. Dar Tlas, Damascus.
• Asad Q. Ahmed (2010). The Religious Elite of the Early Islamic Ḥijāz: Five Prosopographical Case Studies. Oxford: University of Oxford Linacre College Unit for Prosopographical Research. ISBN 978-1-900934-13-8. Archived from the original on 9 July 2020.
• Wellhausen, Julius (1927). The Arab Kingdom and Its Fall. Translated by Margaret Graham Weir. Calcutta: University of Calcutta.

• Ibn Sa'd, Muhammad (1995). Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir, Vol. 7. Translated by Aisha Bewley. Ta-Ha Publishers.
• Donner, Fred M. (2010). Muhammad and the Believers, at the Origins of Islam. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674050976.
• Mahajjah Institute (2021). "Tarikh al Islam, 'Ahd al Khulafa' al Rashidin; al Tabaqat, 3/101". Retrieved 8 November 2021.