Abu Bilal Mirdas

Abu Bilal Mirdas ibn Udayya al-Tamimi (Arabic: أبو بلال مرداس بن أدية التميمي, romanized: ʾAbū Bilāl Mirdās ibn ʾUdayya al-Tamīmī; died 681) was the leader of quietist Kharijites of Basra during the early years of the Umayyad Caliphate. He was the brother of Urwa ibn Udayya, one of the instigator of the Kharijite movement at the Battle of Siffin, in which Abu Bilal himself participated. After the defeat of the Kharijites at the Battle of Nahrawan in 658, he adopted political quietism and opposed the extremist Kharijites. In 680, in response to persecution by the Umayyad governor Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad, Abu Bilal rose in rebellion and was killed in 681. His piety, military exploits, and death, which was seen by many as martyrdom, immortalized him among the later Kharijite circles. He is counted among the imams of the extinct Sufrism sect of the Kharijites and is venerated in Ibadism to this day.