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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books The Role of Aishah in the History of Islam (volume 2) Part Three : the Myth of 'abd Allah Ibn Saba' Our sources in the description of the topics have about the battle of al-Jamal have been the traditions and narrations which are considered reliable by all historians.

In this survey we have selected the topics from such books and quotations by the narrators and biographers whose statements have been confirmed by those who are well acquainted with such great personalities.

As against these genuine narrations and reliable history books, which we have adopted, there exist narrations which have been forged by a single person, a person whom all biographers have called non-religious and heretical, and yet his false narrations have been quoted by writers and historians in their books. To be more explicit, all these stories and narrations have been fabricated by a man named Sayf ibn 'Umar at-Tamimi al-Kufi who is said to have died about the year 170 of the Hijrah.

During his life he had fabricated many false myths and fables entering them into historical books. One of these myths is Sayf's creation of an imaginary character that he has clothed in the garment of a real person to whom he has given the name of 'Abd Allah ibn Saba'.

This imaginary character was no more than a myth, since such a man had never existed in the world, but he was fabricated by Sayf ibn 'Umar so that he could propagate all kinds of falsehood in 'Abd Allah's name and have a free hand in such forgeries. Thus he made up all kinds of strange stories and fables and placed them at the disposal of the Muslims in the name of his fictitious character.

One of his fables briefly says that a man of Sanaa of Yemen, named 'Abd Allah ibn Saba', also called Ibn as-Sawda', apparently embraced Islam in the caliphate of 'Uthman, but he was in fact a very fanatical Jew, and a mysterious, cunning person who wanted to cause riot and sedition among the Muslims and divide them and destroy their unity. It was to this end that he embraced Islam and showed himself a true and devout Muslim in order to deceive them.

He began to carry out his plan in the following way: He began to travel to important Islamic centers and cities and visit Medina, Egypt, ash-Sham, Kufah and Basra, and in these places he presented himself as a missionary, giving the Muslims the good tidings of the resurrection of the Prophet and his return among the people.