| Died | 62AH (681-2CE) |
|---|---|
| Spouse | Husayn ibn Ali |
| Children |
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| Father | Imru' al-Qays |
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Rubāb bint Imraʾ al-Qays (Arabic:رُبَاب بِنْت ٱمْرِئ ٱلْقَيْس) was the first wife ofHusayn ibn Ali, the thirdShia Imam. After some years of remaining childless, she bore Husayn two children, namedSakina and Abd-Allah, also known asAli al-Asghar. Rubab was present atKarbala in 680CE and witnessed there themassacre of her husband and his supporters by the forces of theUmayyad caliphYazid (r. 680–683). Also killed there was Ali al-Asghar, who was at the time a young child, likely an infant. The women and children, among them Rubab, were marched toKufa and then the capitalDamascus, where they were paraded in the streets and then imprisoned. They were later released and returned to their hometown ofMedina. Rubab refused to remarry after Husayn and died about a year later in Medina. Some elegies are ascribed to her in memory of Husayn.
Rubab was the daughter of Imra' al-Qais ibn Adi, a chief of theBanu Kalb tribe. Imra' came toMedina early during thecaliphate ofUmar (r. 634–644) and was given authority over the new converts toIslam from theQuda'a, a confederation of tribes that included the Banu Kalb.[1] During that visit he was approached byAli ibn Abi Talib, the cousin and son-in-law of theIslamic prophetMuhammad (d. 632). Ali proposed to establish marriage ties with Imra', who gave one of his daughters to Ali in marriage and promised another two to Ali's sons,Hasan (d. 670) andHusayn (d. 680), who were too young at the time.[1] Of the two brothers, only Husayn fulfilled this promise and Rubab was thus his first wife, whom he married in the final years of the caliphate of Ali (r. 656–661).[1] After remaining childless for some years, Rubab gave birth toSakina, who might have also been Husayn's eldest daughter.[1] Her birthdate is not known with certainty and various reports give the years 47,[2] 49,[3] or 51AH,[2] that is, circa 671CE.[3] A short poem is ascribed to Husayn in celebration of his love for Rubab and Sakina.[1][4][5] Rubab later bore Husayn his son Abd-Allah,[1] commonly known asAli al-Asghar in Shia sources.[1][6] Husayn'skunya, Abu Abd-Allah, probably refers to this son.[1]
Husayn denounced the accession of theUmayyad caliphYazid ibn Mu'awiya in 680. When pressed by Yazid's agents to pledge his allegiance, Husayn first fled from his hometown ofMedina toMecca and later set off forKufa inIraq, accompanied by his family and a small group of supporters.[7] Among them was Rubab, according to theSunni historianIbn al-Athir (d. 1232-3) in hisThe Complete History.[8] With her were her two children, Sakina and Abd-Allah.[7][1]
The small caravan of Husayn was intercepted andmassacred in Karbala, near Kufa, by the Umayyad forces who first surrounded them for some days and cut off their access to the nearby riverEuphrates.[1] Abd-Allah was also killed during the battle by an arrow.[1][6] He was at the time a young child,[1] likely an infant, as reported by the early historianAbu al-Faraj al-Isfahani (d. 967) in his biographicalMaqatil al-Talibiyyin.[9] This is also the Shia view.[6] In the accounts of the battle presented by al-Isfahani and by theTwelver juristIbn Tawus (d. 1266), Rubab was addressed by Husayn in his parting words for his family before he left for the battlefield one last time.[10] The battle ended when Husayn was beheaded, whereupon the Umayyad soldiers pillaged his camp,[11][12] and severed the heads of Husayn and his fallen companions, which they then raised on spears for display.[12] The women and children were then taken captive and marched to Kufa and later the capitalDamascus.[11] The captives were paraded in the streets of Damascus,[13] and then imprisoned for an unknown period of time.[14] They were eventually freed by Yazid and returned to Medina.[14][15] After the death of her husband, Rubab refused to remarry.[1] She died about a year later from grief, according to the Sunni biographerIbn Sa'd (d. 845) in hisal-Tabaqat al-kubra,[8] and the Sunni historianIbn Asakir (d. 1176) in hisTarikh Dimashq,[16] among others. Rubab is said to have spent a year in grief at Husayn's grave,[1][16][5] and died in Medina in 681 or 682.[17] Some elegies are ascribed to her in memory of Husayn,[18] one of which reads as follows.
Behold him who was a light shining in the darkness, is now in Karbala slain and unburied.
You were for me a fast mountain to least upon, and you were a true friend in kinship (rahim) and faith (din).
Who is left for the orphans and the needy after him who used to provide for the destitute, and to whom every poor person would run for refuge.[19]
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