| Religion: | Islam |
| Native Name: | عُرْوَة بْن الزُّبَيْر |
| Children: | Hisham |
| Father: | Zubayr ibn al-Awwam |
| Mother: | Asma bint Abu Bakr |
| Relatives: |
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Urwa ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam al-Asadi (Arabic: عُرْوَة بْن الزُّبَيْر بْن الْعَوَّام الأَسَدِيّ|translit=ʿUrwa ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām al-ʾAsadī;) 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 Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri and his son Hisham. A large number of these traditions are reported in the hadith and historical literature. Some of his literary correspondences with the Umayyad caliphs Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan and al-Walid I have also been reported in historical works. Combined, they cover almost all important events of Muhammad's prophetic career as well as early caliphate, and are central to the historical study of Muhammad. Modern historians have debated the authenticity of the Urwa corpus of traditions. Some hold that most of the traditions reported on his authority did indeed originate with him and the core of the information contained therein is genuine, although they have been modified and colored by later transmitters to some extent. On the other hand, some hold that much of the corpus is later, retrospective attribution to Urwa.
Sources differ on Urwa's birth year, placing it in 22, 23, 26, or 29 AH. 23 AH, corresponding to 643/644 CE, is most likely. His father was al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, a senior companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and his mother was Asma, a daughter of the first caliph Abu Bakr and sister of Muhammad's wife A'isha. Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, the counter-caliph of the Second Fitna, was his full brother.
Urwa spent his early life in Medina, during the caliphate of the third caliph Uthman . After Uthman's assassination, he accompanied his father, brother, and his aunt A'isha to the southern Iraqi town of Basra, where the three elders fought against the fourth caliph Ali . Urwa was not allowed to participate in the fight due to his young age. His father was killed in the battle and Urwa returned to Medina with his aunt. His father's considerable fortune enabled Urwa to concentrate on studies, and he began collecting and studying reports on the earlier period of Islam. His main informant was A'isha. It is unclear exactly when he started the activity, but he is reported to have held regular sessions of study with his friends in the Prophet's Mosque of Medina during the later years of the reign of Mu'awiya I, the first caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, which succeeded the earlier Medina-based Rashidun Caliphate after the First Fitna (656–661). The group included among others, his half-brother Mus'ab and the future caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan. Arab historian al-Baladhuri (d. 892) narrates a report from Urwa that he spent seven years in Egypt, which according to the historian Joseph Horovitz would fall between 678 and 685, and married there. The historian Gregor Schoeler considers it unlikely that he spent seven continuous years in Egypt.
In the Second Fitna (680–692), his elder brother Abd Allah established his counter-caliphate in opposition to the Umayyads, and Urwa supported him. When the Umayyad general al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf besieged Mecca in 692 to overthrow Abd Allah, Urwa is reported to have negotiated Abd Allah's surrender with al-Hajjaj, who agreed to grant him safety. Abd Allah ultimately decided to die fighting; al-Hajjaj struck his body on a cross. Urwa escaped al-Hajjaj to Medina, where he deposited the wealth of the Zubayrid family, and then rode to Caliph Abd al-Malik in Damascus, the capital of the Umayyads, informing him of Abd Allah's death even before al-Hajjaj's messenger could reach him. The Caliph treated him with respect and granted his request to retrieve Abd Allah's body. Urwa returned to Mecca to bury Abd Allah and offered funeral prayers over him. The sources do not mention any further Damascus visits by Urwa in Abd al-Malik's time, but the two maintained correspondence, as Abd Al-Malik would consult him on the events of early Islamic period.
After the end of the civil war, Urwa settled in Medina and continued his scholarly activity. After Abd al-Malik's death in 705, Urwa traveled to Damascus to give his allegiance to the new caliph al-Walid I . During this stay, Urwa's son Muhammad died in an accident, while Urwa himself suffered from gangrene in one of his feet, which had to be amputated. In 706, he was appointed to the newly established ten-member council of (jurists) by the then governor of Medina, Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz. The council was tasked to advise the governor on legal matters. Urwa died on his estate near Rabadha, which lay 200 km east of Medina, and was buried there. The year of his death is given variously between 93 AH and 101 AH, the most likely being 94 AH, which corresponds to 712/713 CE.
The sources describe Urwa as a person with upright character who avoided discord and lived a pious life. He is regarded as one of the 'Seven of Medina'. They were, according to the sources, the most prominent of a number of Medinan jurists who played a significant part in the development of the Medinan school of (Islamic jurisprudence). In the view of Joseph Schacht, a scholar of Islamic Law, none of them actually held to the legal doctrines of the Medinan school, since the doctrines developed only later and were ascribed to them in retrospect. Urwa is reported to have written books on law, but these have not survived. According to a report by his son Hisham (d. 763/764), Urwa destroyed them on the day of the Battle of al-Harra (August 683), when the army of the second Umayyad caliph Yazid I stormed Medina to quell the rebellion there. The scholars of the early period of Islam would write books for private use, destroying them before their deaths out of fear that they might fall into others' hands and compete with the Qur'an. Urwa destroyed the books anticipating his death in the battle. He later used to express deep regret for this loss.
Urwa serves as a source for two types of materials on the early Islamic period: hadith and letters. His situation in an important early Islamic family enabled him to obtain first hand information on the period. He would gather accounts from his father, mother, as well as his aunt, but also reported from other authorities such as Abd Allah ibn Abbas, Abu Hurayra, Abd Allah ibn Amr ibn al-As, Usama ibn Zayd, and Abu Dharr al-Ghifari.
Urwa narrated a number of hadiths (traditions about the sayings and deeds attributed to Muhammad as well as early Muslims) which are transmitted through his son Hisham and his student Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri (d. 742). These have been reported in hadith collections—Musnad of Ibn Hanbal (d. 855), and the canonical compilations of al-Bukhari (d. 870) and Muslim (d. 875) among others—legal works like Muwatta of Malik ibn Anas (d. 795), historical works (Ibn Ishaq, al-Tabari, al-Baladhuri), and the exegetical works (e.g. Tafsir al-Tabari). The hadiths cover all events of significance on early Islam, but his reports concerning the life of Muhammad are of central importance. According to Schoeler, these are taken as the starting point for any historical study of Muhammad's life. They include subjects like the beginning of Muhammad's prophecy, Meccan persecution, the emigration of the Muslims to Medina (hijra), campaigns against the Jewish tribes of Qaynuqa and Qurayza, the battles of the Trench and Hunayn, the treaty of al-Hudaybiya, Muhammad's letters to various people, as well as his last days. He also narrated short reports on the Rashidun period such as the Ridda wars, campaigns in Syria, the claims of Abbas, Fatima, and Muhammad's wives to his inheritance, battles of the Yarmuk, Qadisiyya, and of the Camel, and Umar's journey to Jerusalem. However, some of these are no more than passing references.
In addition to historical data, he transmitted hadiths on legal issues concerning laws (such as those on property, marriage, divorce, the status of women and slaves) and rituals, such as ablution, prayer, and pilgrimage. Many of his transmitted hadiths give explanations for various Qur'anic passages and provide historical background to their origin. This would later become a standard practice in Qur'anic exegesis to explain verses in terms of Muhammad's life.
In the traditional Muslim hadith criticism, Urwa is considered a trustworthy transmitter and is praised for his piety and depth of his knowledge. In some of his hadith narrations, Urwa did not specify the authorities from whom he got these traditions, whereas in others, his do not fulfil the requirements of criticism as they developed later on. In his day, the use of was somewhat customary but was nevertheless flexible, and rules of reliability had not yet fully developed (e.g. it was not required to stretch the back to a companion of Muhammad). Two-thirds of his hadiths are transmitted on the authority of A'isha, although in some of these her name might have been inserted later. The historian Montgomery Watt assumes that all of the in his traditions that go beyond him are likely later insertions based on conjecture, which may or may not be correct. In some reports, his sources were written documents, such as Muhammad's letter to the residents of the East Arabian town of Hajar.