[Q 281] Position of Ahl us Sunnah on Mukhtar al-Saqafi

Question

What is the position of the ahl us sunnah regarding mukhtar ibn abi ubaid al saqafi?

Is there ijmaa that he claimed to receive wahi and therefore died as a murtadd or not??

Imam Nawawi in his sharh of Sahih Muslim, claimed the ulama are agreed that the kazzaab in the hadith “في ثقيف كذاب و مبير” is definitely mukhtar.

So I’m wondering whether the ikhtilaaf regarding him is between sunnis and shia only or whether there are some sunni ulama (classical ulama) who also praise him?

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

الجواب بعون الملك الوهاب اللهم هداية الحق والصواب

Answer

Mukhtar ibn Abi Ubaid Thaqafi was a Dajjal (deceiver), Kazzaab (liar), and Murtadd (apostate) who falsely claimed prophethood and met his end in Hell during the time of Hazrat Abdullah ibn Zubair (رضي الله تعالی عنه). Imam Nawawi (رحمہ اللہ تعالٰی) in Al-Minhaj Sharh Muslim correctly states this view, which is the true and correct one, and there is no disagreement among the scholars of Ahl us Sunnah regarding this.

Our master, the Imam of Ahl us Sunnah, cites the blessed Hadith of (Musnad Abu Ya’la) from Hazrat Abdullah ibn Zubair (رضي الله تعالی عنهما), the Messenger of Allah (صلی اللہ تعالی علیہ وسلم) said: “The Hour will not come until thirty liars emerge, among them Musailamah, Al-Aswad Al-Ansi, and Mukhtar Thaqafi.”

Praise be to Allah, by His grace, these three vile dogs were killed by the lions of Islam. Al-Aswad Al-Ansi was rejected in the blessed era itself, and Musailamah the accursed during the Caliphate of Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq, and Mukhtar Thaqafi the accursed during the time of Hazrat Abdullah ibn Zubair (رضي الله تعالی عنهما).

(Fatawa Rizwiyyah Sharif, Volume 15, Page 676)

Imam Nawawi (رحمہ الله تعالٰی) states regarding the Kazzaab, “We see that it means Mukhtar ibn Abi Ubaid Thaqafi, who was severely dishonest, and among the ugliest of his acts, he claimed that Gabriel (صلّى الله عليه وسلّم) visited him, and the scholars are agreed that the Kazzaab referred to here is Mukhtar ibn Abi Ubaid and the Mubir is Hajjaj ibn Yusuf.”

(Al-Minhaj Sharh Muslim, 100/16)

Answered by: Mubashir Attari (AskMufti Scholar)

Verified by: Mufti Sajid Attari 

Translated answer

Date: 12th December 2023