Urwah ibn Zubayr (644–713)
Born 644 CE, died 713 CE.
Urwa ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam al-Asadi (Arabic: عُرْوَة بْن الزُّبَيْر بْن الْعَوَّام الأَسَدِيّ, romanized: ʿUrwa ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām al-ʾAsadī; c. 644–713) was an early Muslim traditionist, widely regarded as a founding figure in the field of historical study among the Muslims. He was a son of Muhammad's close aide al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, and a nephew of his wife A'isha. He spent much of his life in Medina, witnessed the First Fitna (656–661) as a youth, and supported his elder brother Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr in his failed attempt to establish his caliphate in the Second Fitna (680–692). After Abd Allah's elimination by his Syria-based Umayyad rivals, Urwa reconciled with the Umayyads, whom he paid occasional visits and maintained a literary correspondence with. Urwa's relations with important early Islamic figures gave him access to first-hand accounts on the early Islamic period, which he collected from his father, his aunt, and a number of companions of Muhammad, passing these on to his students, above all his son Hisham and Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri, as well as Abu al-Aswad Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman (d. 132/750).
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