Revolts of Zayd ibn Ali


The Revolts of Zayd ibn Ali, also known as the Zaydi Revolts, were a series of revolts initially led by Zayd ibn Ali and later his son and successor Yahya ibn Zayd against the Umayyad Caliphate, which had taken over from the Rashidun Caliphate since the death of his great-grandfather, Ali.

Revolt

Unlike his brother, Muhammad al-Baqir, the fifth Imam of the Twelver and Isma'ili Shi'as, Zayd ibn Ali believed the time was ripe for renewing the rebellion against the Umayyad Caliphs in support of the claims of his own Hashemite clan. On his trip to Iraq, he was persuaded by pro-Alid faction of Kufa that he had support of 10,000 warriors and could easily drive out a few hundred Umayyad soldiers stationed there. Kufa had previously been the capital of his great-grandfather Ali. He started his propaganda in Kufa, Basra and Mosul and 15,000 people were enlisted on his army register. The Umayyad governor of Kufa, however, learned of the plot, and commanded the people to gather at the great mosque, locked them inside and began a search for Zayd. Zayd with some troops fought his way to the mosque and called on people to come out. However, in events reminiscent of Husayn ibn Ali's own abandonment by the Kufans decades earlier, most of Zayd's supporters deserted him and joined the Umayyads, leaving him with only a few dozen followers who were vastly outnumbered.
Nevertheless, Zayd continued to fight. His small band of followers was decisively defeated by the much larger Umayyad force, and Zayd was struck by an arrow that pierced his forehead. The removal of the arrow led to his death. He was secretly buried outside Kufa, but the Umayyads eventually discovered his grave. In retribution for the uprising, they exhumed Zayd's body and crucified it.
The corpse remained on the cross for three years. After the death of Caliph Hisham, his successor ordered Zayd's body to be burned, and the ashes were scattered in the Euphrates River. When the Abbasids—who, like Zayd, were Hashemites—overthrew the Umayyads in 750, they reportedly exhumed Hisham's body, crucified it, and burned it in revenge for Zayd.

Consequences

Zayd's desperate rebellion became the inspiration for the Zaydi sect, a school of Shi'a Islam that holds that any learned descendant of Ali can become an Imam by asserting and fighting for his claim as Zayd did. However, all schools of Islam, including the majority Sunnis, regard Zayd as a righteous martyr against what is regarded as the corrupt leadership of the Umayyads. It is even reported that Abu Hanifa, founder of the largest school of Sunni jurisprudence, gave financial support to Zayd's revolt and called on others to join Zayd's rebellion.
Zayd's son Yahya, who managed to escape the suppression of the revolt, tried to recruit followers in Khurasan, but in vain; once the Umayyads were alerted to his presence there, he was pursued and killed. Zayd's rebellion inspired other revolts by members of his clan, especially in the Hejaz, the most famous among these being the revolt of Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya against the Abbasids in 762. Zaydi agitation continued until 785 and re-erupted in Tabaristan under the leadership of the Zayd's son, Hasan ibn Zayd ibn Ali. His revolt attracted many supporters, among them the ruler of Rustamids, the son of Farīdūn, Abd al-Rahman ibn Rustam.
It is narrated in the Shi'a book, Uyun al-Akhbar al-Ridha it says that it is narrated from Fudhayl ibn Yasar, one of Zayd ibn Ali's companions who fought alongside him that :