Abu Abdallah Ishaq ibn Ibrahim al-Mu’ayyad bi-l-Barahin
Biographies of Zaydi Scholars, Hadith Narrators & Quran Exegetes
Abu Abdallah Ishaq ibn Ibrahim, al-Mu’ayyad bi-l-Barahin
A long-lived sayyid of firm standing among elite and commoner alike, whose Zaydi conviction drew the enmity of the Abbasid caliph al-Radi — and who left Baghdad for the East rather than bend.
Among the notable figures of the Zaydiyya is Abu Abdallah Ishaq ibn Ibrahim, known as al-Mu’ayyad bi-l-Barahin, “the one strengthened with proofs.”
He lived a hundred and twenty years and stood so firmly in the hearts of the people of Baghdad that the reigning Abbasid caliph, al-Radi, felt compelled to drive him from the city.
Lineage
Abu Abdallah Ishaq
peace be upon them all
The genealogist Ibn Abi al-Futuh al-Musawi al-Hindi al-Sufi said: “Ishaq, the one strengthened with proofs (al-Mu’ayyad bi-l-Barahin), whose kunya was Abu al-Ma’ali, was long-lived; he lived one hundred and twenty years. He was the most excellent of the people of his time in knowledge and deeds, and had firm standing in the hearts of both the elite and the common people. He held the view of the Zaydiyya.”
So Muhammad al-Radi the caliph — son of Ja’far al-Muqtadir, son of al-Mu’tadid — troubled him in the year 328 AH.
The exchange between al-Radi and al-Mu’ayyad
Al-Radi said
“No single land shall hold me and you together. If you love yourself, O Ishaq — you are al-Mu’ayyad bi-l-Barahin and I am al-Radi — then which of us has the loftier title and the firmer place in the hearts of the elite and the commoners? By God, O family of Abi Talib, we do not deny your merit; but by the Lord of the House, were al-Abbas — meaning his ancestor — to be raised from the dead and contend with me, I would fight him. And if you wrong yourself, O Ishaq, then stay where you are.”
Abu al-Ma’ali answered him, saying
“By the Lord of the House, were I to stand my ground for three months, you would see a wonder. But the earth belongs to God; He bequeaths it to whom He wills. O Radi, if you do not show kindness to the ties of kinship, you shall surely depart to the barzakh before the completion of the appointed term and the attainment of hope.”
al-Nafha al-‘Anbariyya fi Ansab Khayr al-Bariyya: 80
His departure from Baghdad, and the end of al-Radi
“So al-Mu’ayyad departed from Baghdad on the Saturday of that mentioned year. The scholars of Baghdad escorted him in farewell, and forty thousand of the servants of the Abbasid state came out to him to pledge allegiance to him in place of al-Radi’s seat of authority. He said: ‘Glory be to God — I will not take it on prematurely.’ Then al-Radi perished ten days after al-Mu’ayyad’s departure. And al-Mu’ayyad set out for Balkh and settled there.”
al-Nafha al-‘Anbariyya fi Ansab Khayr al-Bariyya: 80
Then it appears he settled in Aba, or Awa — it may also be rendered Sawa — one of the lands of the East (al-Mashriq).
“But the earth belongs to God; He bequeaths it to whom He wills.” — Abu al-Ma’ali Ishaq ibn Ibrahim, al-Mu’ayyad bi-l-Barahin
May God grant you happiness.
O God, bless and grant peace upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad.