Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya ibn Ali

Muhammad ibn Ali became known as Ibn al-Hanafiyya through his mother, Khawla bint Ja'far of Banu Hanifa. He was a son of Ali ibn Abi Talib and was born in Medina after the Prophet's death. Classical reports differ, placing his birth either during Abu Bakr's caliphate or near the end of Umar's caliphate; the often repeated 16 AH date is therefore not secure. His kunya was Abu al-Qasim. The designation Ibn al-Hanafiyya was purely genealogical: he was the son of Ali ibn Abi Talib and Khawla bint Ja'far.

He reached adulthood during Ali’s caliphate and is associated in the historical tradition with military service, especially carrying a standard and performing battlefield duties at the Battle of the Camel. Later biographical works remember him for courage, restraint, and loyalty to the house of Ali, although the details of individual reports are not uniform.

After the deaths of Hasan and Husayn, he became one of the most prominent surviving members of the Hashimite family. He did not, however, openly claim the caliphate or launch an armed bid for the imamate. During the Second Fitna his posture was generally cautious, and he sought to avoid being absorbed into the competing claims of the Hijaz and Iraq.

In 66-67 AH, al-Mukhtar al-Thaqafi presented his Kufan movement as acting for Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya and as avenging the killing of Husayn. Ibn Sa'd preserves reports that envoys questioned Ibn al-Hanafiyya about this claim, that he warned them against liars, and that al-Mukhtar circulated a letter in his name. Other reports show that aid associated with al-Mukhtar helped rescue the Hashimites from Ibn al-Zubayr's pressure. The evidence therefore supports political use of Ibn al-Hanafiyya's name, but not a clearly verified, unrestricted authorization from him.

During the rule of Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, he was pressured in Mecca to give allegiance, and reports describe detention or threats against him and his supporters. Assistance sent from Kufa helped release them from this crisis. He later had dealings with the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, but his general course remained one of avoiding open rebellion.

Reports place his death in 80, 81 or 83 AH. A family report from his son Abd Allah gives Muharram 81 AH, an age of 65, and burial in al-Baqi, making this the strongest classical death-and-burial attribution. After his death, branches of the Kaysaniyya regarded him as imam and Mahdi, while some denied that he had died and claimed that he remained in occultation at Mount Radwa. These were doctrines of later followers; the sources also preserve his rejection of exaggerated address and do not establish that he proclaimed himself the eschatological Mahdi.