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. 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; Hurmuzān, an ex-Sassanid military officer; and Jufayna, a Christian man from al-Hira (Iraq) who worked as a private tutor for a family in Medina.
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 him there, which from the 16th century onward became the focus of a yearly anti-Sunni festival celebrating Abu Lu’lu’a’s assassination of Umar (whom Shi’ites consider to be the most oppressive early caliph), called Omar Koshan (lit. ’the killing of Umar’).
