Nasb-and-the-Nawasib

ولست بقاتل رجال يصلي
له سلطانه وعلي إثمي
أأقتل مسلما في غير شيء
على سلطان آخر من قريش
معاذ الله من جهل وطيش
فليس بنافعي ما عشت عيشي
I am not one to kill a person who performs Ṣalāh, over the kingdom of
another individual of the Quraysh.
For him will be his kingdom but upon me will be my sin. I seek the refuge
of Allah from ignorance and rage.
Should I kill a Muslim for no valid reason? In that case my life would be of
no benefit to me as long as I live. 1
Nonetheless, few matters allude to this fact:
Firstly, the Umayyads are not recorded to have ill-treated the Alawids in general.
Rather they are only known to have offended those amongst them who coveted
rulership, which is evidence of the fact that the clash revolved around worldly
issues. Had it been because of the Alawids themselves, or because of the offender
being a heretic, for example, then it would have implicated every ʿAlawī. A
phenomenon which we find occurred in the revolt of the leader of the Zanj, 2 who
falsely claimed to be an Alawid; 3 this man would bargain an Alawid lady for two
to three silver coins, as a result of which some of the Zanj would have ten Alawid
1 Al-Ṭabaqāt al-Kubrā 6/38; In Qutaybah: al-Maʿārif p. 340; al-Thiqāt 4/47; Tārīkh Madīnah Dimashq
10/43.
2 Referring to a famous event which was known as the Fitnah of the Zanj (black people). There
emerged in 255 A.H a person who claimed that he was ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī ibn
ʿĪsā ibn al-Shahīd Zayd ibn ʿAlī. He campaigned and thus the first people to be drawn toward him
were the black slaves of the people of Basrah, which is why it was dubbed ‘the Fitnah of the Zanj’.
Likewise many mischievous people had joined him. In due time he gained a lot of strength. He thus
defeated the armies of the Khalīfah, looted Basrah and other places and done many heinous actions.
His accursed days extended till 270 A.H. wherein he died. See: al-ʿIbar fī Khabar man Ghabar 2/14.
3 He would go by the name: ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad al-ʿAbqasī. See: al-ʿIbar fī Khabar man Ghabar 2/47.
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