Imam Yahya Ibn Umar Al Alawi
Imam Yaḥyā ibn ʿUmar al-ʿAlawī
Peace Be Upon Him
Imam Abū al-Ḥusayn Yaḥyā ibn ʿUmar ibn Yaḥyā ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Zayd ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Sibṭ (peace be upon them). His rising was in the year 248 AH. This Imam was killed in Kufa during the days of al-Mustaʿīn the ʿAbbāsid.
How much blood they shed of the Imams of the family of Muḥammad — those who are the upholders of justice on earth! Nothing impelled the People of the House to this course but zeal for the religion of God and answering the call of the Book of God. The blessings and peace of God be upon them.
ʿAlī ibn al-ʿAbbās al-Rūmī, the client (mawlā) of the Banū al-ʿAbbās, elegised him in an ode1 exceeding one hundred verses, of which the following is preserved:
Peace, and sweet basil, and rest, and mercy be upon you —
and an outspread, gently cool shade of shadow.2
Before you — so look at which of your two paths you tread —
two divergent roads, one straight and one crooked.
O you people, your blindness has long persisted
regarding the family of the Messenger of God; so fear, or hope.
Is it that on every day, belonging to the Prophet Muḥammad —
there is a pure slain one, drenched in blood?
— ʿAlī ibn al-ʿAbbās al-Rūmī
Scholarly References & Annotations
Imam al-Manṣūr Billāh ʿAbdullāh ibn Ḥamzah (peace be upon him) mentioned it in his book Al-Shāfī (1/808), Maktabat Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them) edition. Its opening is: “Before you — so look at which of your two paths you tread — two divergent roads, one straight and one crooked. O you people, your blindness has long persisted regarding the family of the Messenger of God; so fear, or hope. Is it that on every day, belonging to the Prophet Muḥammad — there is a pure slain one, drenched in blood?”
Al-sajsaj: the cool air or shade — noted by the Author (peace be upon him).