Mukhtar al-Thaqafi

Al-Mukhtar ibn Abi Ubayd al-Thaqafi (Arabic: الْمُخْتَار ٱبْن أَبِي عُبَيْد الثَّقَفِيّ, romanized: al-Mukhtār ibn Abī ʿUbayd al-Thaqafī; c. 622 – 3 April 687) was a pro-Alid revolutionary based in Kufa, who led a rebellion against the Umayyad Caliphate and Zubayrid Caliphate during the Second Fitna, ruling over most of Iraq and parts of northwestern Iran for eighteen months. Born in Ta'if, Mukhtar moved to Iraq at a young age and grew up in Kufa. Following the death of Husayn, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, at the hands of the Umayyad army in the Battle of Karbala in 680, Mukhtar captured Kufa in October 685 after expelling its governor Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, and killed several figures responsible for Husayn's death, including Umar ibn Sa'd, Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad, and Shimr ibn Dhi al-Jawshan. He then allied with the rival caliph Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr in Mecca, but the alliance was short-lived. Mukhtar returned to Kufa where he declared Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya the Mahdi and the Imam, a son of Ali and brother of Husayn, and called for the establishment of an Alid caliphate. Hostile relations with Ibn al-Zubayr ultimately led to Mukhtar's death by the forces of the Zubayrid governor of Basra, Mus'ab ibn al-Zubayr, following a four-month siege.

Although Mukhtar was ultimately defeated, his movement had far-reaching consequences. After his death, his followers formed a distinct Shia sect known as the Kaysanites. It developed a number of distinctive theological doctrines and played an important role in the development of later Shia thought. Mukhtar raised the social status of mawali (non-Arab local converts to Islam) and they became an important political entity. The mawali and Kaysanites went on to play a significant role in the Abbasid Revolution sixty years later. Mukhtar was important as an early proponent of treating Arab and non-Arab Muslims on an equal footing. He is a controversial figure among Sunni Muslims; condemned by them as a false prophet, but revered by Shia Muslims because of his support for the Alids. Modern historians' views range from regarding him as an ambitious opportunist to a sincere revolutionary. His shrine in the Great Mosque of Kufa is a destination for Shia pilgrims.

Source: Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mukhtar_al-Thaqafi