Killing of the Sayabija Treasury Guards
قتل السيايجة حراس بيت المال
A body of Sayabija — forty or four hundred — stood watch over Basra's treasury; when Talha and al-Zubayr came to Basra, held for Ali by Uthman ibn Hunayf (may God be pleased with him), they refused to surrender the treasury till Ali's arrival — so they were fallen upon at dawn and killed, Abdallah ibn al-Zubayr leading that party; over the Sayabija then was Abu Salama al-Zutti, a righteous man.
At a glance
- Era
- The Rashidun Caliphate
- Review
- Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it
In space
Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph
Overview
What happened
Talha ibn Ubayd Allah and al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam (may God be pleased with him) came to Basra, where Ali ibn Abi Talib had appointed Uthman ibn Hunayf al-Ansari as governor. The Sayabija refused to hand over the treasury until Ali came. The others came upon them in the early hours and killed them, and Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr was in charge of the affair with a group with him. 1
Their leader
The leader of the Sayabija at the time was Abu Salama al-Zatti. Al-Baladhuri describes him as a righteous man. 1
The numbers differ in the account itself, and no firm date is given in the data for this page; this needs an additional source.
Connections
- Had participant
- the Sayabija
- Occurred at
- Basra
People and things also explored
Great Mosque of Basra· Qasr Qubadh / the Hajjaj palace at Basra· The Asawira's Settlement at Basra· The Basra Bathhouse Permissions· The Basrans' Cry to Abdallah ibn Ali· Building of al-Mughitha· The Bukharans' Settlement at Basra· The Basra Dar al-Imara Saga
Sources
- Futuh al-Buldan — al-Baladhuri (Mu'assasat al-Ma'arif edition)
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Killing of the Sayabija Treasury Guards”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/sayabija-treasury-killing/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-10-17.