Medina fell under the control of Ibn Zubayr. During his government, the pressure and cruelty on Imam Sajjad and the Prophet’s family increased. Although Ibn Zubayr and the Umayyads were against each other for the caliphate, both hated the Ahlul-Bayt and their Shia followers. While the Umayyads followed Muawiyah’s legacy of cursing Imam Ali from the pulpit, Ibn Zubayr said that he had hidden his hatred against the Prophet’s family in his heart for 40 years. For 40 consecutive weeks, he removed the salutations to the Prophet from his Friday sermons, because he did not want Banu Hashim to feel the pride of belonging to the Prophet’s family. He imprisoned 26 of the Banu Hashim, and threatened to burn them alive if they did not pledge allegiance to him. In this situation, the Imam did not approve of Ibn Zubayr’s government, and was concerned about Ibn Zubayr’s plots against the Shias. The Imam continued his strategy to appear isolated from politics, and he did not involve himself in any activity that would benefit Ibn Zubayr, or the Umayyads.
