Misam e Tammar – The Martyr

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Meytham went to Kufa and was seized and taken to Ubaydullah. Ubaydullah was told that, “This man is the most beloved of Ali.” He said, “Woe be to you! This Persian man”? He was replied in the affirmative. Then Ubaydullah asked Meytham, “Where is your Lord”? Meytham replied, “In ambush of the oppressors, while you are one of the oppressors.”

Ubaydullah said, “Even after being a Persian (non-Arab) you say what you mean (your Arabic is eloquent). Tell me then, what your Master (Imam Ali) predicted to you as to what I shall do to you”? Meytham replied, “Yes, he did tell us that I will be the tenth one whom you shall put to the gallows, and that the timber of my gallow would be the shortest, and also that I shall be closer to the ground than them.” Ubaydullah said, “By Allah! I shall do the opposite of what he said.” Meytham replied, “How can you do the opposite, when by Allah, Imam Ali (a.s.) had heard it from the Prophet (S), while he had heard it from Jibra’eel, who in turn heard it from the Al­mighty. How can you oppose them? And I even know the place in Kufa where I shall be hanged, and I shall be the first in Islam to be bridled.”

Thus Meytham was imprisoned along with Mukhtar bin Abu Ubaydah Saqafi. Meytham told Mukhtar, “You shall be freed from here and will rise to avenge the blood of Imam Husayn (a.s.), and you shall kill him who will kill us.” When Ubaydullah called for Mukhtar to be killed, a message arrived from Yazid ordering him to free Mukhtar. He released him and ordered Meytham to be crucified.

He came out of the prison and confronted a man who told him that, “Do you not have the ability to free yourself from this”? Meytham smiled and point­ing to the Palm-tree said, “I have been created for it and it has been brought up for me.”

When Meytham was hanged on the gallows, people gathered around him at the door of the house of ‘Amr bin Hurays who said, “By Allah! He often said that he would be my neighbor.” When Meytham was crucified, ‘Amr ordered his maid to sweep the ground beneath and sprinkle water and fumigate it.” Meytham then started relating the virtues of Bani Hashim on the gallows.

News reached Ubaydullah that the slave had insulted him to which he ordered that a bridle should be put in his mouth; hence Meytham was the first man in Islam to be bridled. Meytham was martyred ten days before Imam Husayn (a.s.) came to Iraq. On the third day a weapon (probably a spear) was pierced into his stomach and he exclaimed “Allaho Akbar”, and at the end of the day blood oozed from his nose and mouth. (May Allah’s Mercy and Blessing be Upon him)

Reference : Nafasul Mahmoom – Shaikh abbas Qummi (r.a.)