Abu Lu'lu'a

Abū Luʾluʾa Fīrūz
أبو لؤلؤة فيروز‎
Shrine of Abū Luʾluʾa in Kashan, Iran
Born	Unknown date Nahavand, Iran (likely)
Died	Historical: 644 Medina, Arabia Legendary: after 644 Kashan, Iran
Other names	Bābā Shujāʿ al-Dīn (16th century) Fīrūz Nahāvandī (20th century)
Era	Early Islamic period
Known for	Assassinating the caliph Umar

Abū Luʾluʾa Fīrūz (Arabic: أبو لؤلؤة فیروز, from Middle Persian: Pērōz), also known in modern Persian-language sources as Abū Luʾluʾ (ابولؤلؤ) or Fīrūz Nahāvandī (فیروز نهاوندی), was a Sasanian Persian slave who assassinated Umar ibn al-Khattab (r. 634–644), the second Islamic caliph, in November 644.

After having been captured in battle during the Arab-Muslim conquest of Persia, Abu Lu'lu'a was brought to Medina, the then-capital of the Rashidun Caliphate, which was normally off-limits to non-Arab captives. However, as a highly skilled craftsman, Abu Lu'lu'a was exceptionally allowed entrance into the city in order to work for the caliph. His motive for killing the caliph is not entirely clear, but medieval sources generally attribute it to a tax dispute. At one point, Abu Lu'lu'a is said to have asked the caliph to lift a tax imposed upon him by his Arab master, al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba. When Umar refused to lift the tax, Abu Lu'lu'a attacked him while he was leading the congregational prayer in the mosque, stabbing him with a double-bladed dagger and leaving him mortally wounded.

According to historical accounts, Abu Lu'lu'a was either captured and executed in Medina, or committed suicide there. In retaliation, Ubayd Allah ibn Umar (one of Umar's sons) killed Abu Lu'lu'a's daughter, as well as Hurmuzān (a former officer in the Sasanian army) and a Christian man from al-Hira (Iraq). However, according to later legends that were first recorded in the Safavid era, the prophet Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law Ali (later revered as the first Shi'ite Imam), saved Abu Lu'lu'a from his pursuers and miraculously transported him to the city of Kashan (Iran), where Abu Lu'lu'a married and lived out the rest of his life.

At some point a shrine was erected for Abu Lu'lu'a in Kashan. From the 16th century onward this shrine became the focus of a yearly anti-Sunni festival celebrating Abu Lu'lu'a's assassination of Umar, whose reign Shi'ites consider to have been oppressive and unjust. In the context of this festival, which is called Omar Koshan (lit. 'the killing of Umar'), Abu Lu'lu'a received the nickname Bābā Shujāʿ al-Dīn (بابا شجاع الدين, 'Father Courageous of the Faith').