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And The Of: Kitcib Al-Ma Drif, Ed. Wiistenfeld, "BN Wddhih Qui Dicitur Al-Ju Qubi Histmiae, Ed. Houtsma
And The Of: Kitcib Al-Ma Drif, Ed. Wiistenfeld, "BN Wddhih Qui Dicitur Al-Ju Qubi Histmiae, Ed. Houtsma
ABBASID REVOLT
Especially by Wellhausen, J., Das arabische Reich und sein Sturr, Berlin 1902.
English translation with index, Calcutta 1927. References are made to the English
translation.
pOnly the Turkish edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islam, article Ebh Muslim,
ciiz 29,1945, 39,has the following: Many historians agree that he served a chief of
the tribe of Ajl, Maqil ibn Idris, one of the notables of Kufa. Idris gave him, as a
resent, to- Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Abdallah ibnAbbas, and the latter entrusted
Eim to his son and succemr Ibrghim. Abfi Muslim married a daughter of Abiil
Najm UmrHn ibn IsmPil, a relative of IbrHhim. This marriage must have
strengthened his position as leader of the AbbHsids in Khurasan. I have been un-
able to find the sources for every statement above, but some are found in Ibn
Khallikan and Ibn Qutaibas Kitcib al-Madrif, ed. Wiistenfeld, F.,Girttingen 1850,
214-5.
bn Wddhih qui dicitur al-Juqubi Histmiae, ed. Houtsma, M., Leiden 1883,
II.123,4.
28
ABU MUSLIM 49
=Ibn Abi Taifilr, Cod. Mus. Brit. Add 7473, foll. 6Oa (unavailable). quoted by
Rosen. op. cit.. 156.
Dinawari, KiMb al-Akhbdr aI-Tiwdl, ed. V . Guirgass, Leiden 1888,560.3.
Kitdb al-Aghdni of al-IsfahPni, Bulaq 1868, IV 93,21. Cf. G. von Griinebaum.
Paaiache Wiirter in arabischen Gedichten, Le Monde Orientale 31,1937,ZQ.
Tabari 11, 1964, 3; 2001, 11; Tarikh-i-Bardmihuh by M i d Abd al-Aairn
Gurgani ,Tehran 1313/1935,19,23 of introduction.
1Narshakhi. Tarikh-i-Bukhdrd. ed. C. Schefer, Paris 1892, 8, last line.
Wf. Houtsma, M. T., Bib afrid, WZKM, Vienna 1889,111, 30-7.
30 T H E MOSLEM WORLD
- Ibn Khdlikb, Op. cit. 11, 100. His name was Abd al-Rabmln.
The enthusiasm and devotion of the non-Arab Muslims for AbO Muslim were
unbounded, while the Arabs were lukewarm and uncertain. Browne, E. G., op. cit.,
243.1.
D. C. Dennett Jr., Manuan ibn Muhammad, the passing of the Umayyad
Caliphate, unpublished PhD thesis, Harvard U. 1939, proposes that Arab tribal
problems, the assertion of their essential spirit of independence among the Arabs,
and the hatred of Umayyad discipline by the Arabs, brought about the fall of the
Umayyad caliphate, while the Iranian mawdli blindly followed their Arab masters.
Religion and the Iranians, however, did play a part, and an important one, in the
downfall of the Umayyads. Dennett is probably right in his opinion that the
Umayyads were overthrown by events in lraq and Syria more than by the revolt in
Khurasan, but could the Abbbidu have succeeded without the army of Khurasan?
Probably not. While the army of Khurasan may have had many Arab leaders, when
it defeated MarwPn on the Z2b river banks, it was predominantly an army of
I m i a ~The
. role of the Iranians may have been emphasized too much by aome
scholars of the last century, but the pendulum should not swing far to the other
side, to the Arab. Both elements were important.
34 THE MOSLEM WORLD
Mawdli were active in government service under the Umayyads as well as the
'AbbBsids: cf. Goldziher, op. cit. I, 214-5.
Wellhausen, op. cit., 498-6.
a The people of Balkh, Tirmidh, and TukhPristan united with the Mudarito
and fought a ainst Abfi Daiid, lieutenant of Abii Muslim on several occasions.
Tabari 11, 1 9 8 , 11.
'Tabari 11, 1967, 15.
*Oabari 11, 1956,6, and 1995, 18; Ibn al-Athir, ed. C. J. Tornberg V, 281, 11-18.
A B u MUSLIM 55
T o return to the subject of the nature of the Abbisid
mission; an interesting letter from Ibrihim, the Abbisid
Imam, to Abii Muslim was intercepted by the Umayyads.
Tabari tells the story:81Nax wrote to Marwin, informing
him of the news of Abii Muslim, of his appearance and
strength, and how he preached on behalf of Ibrihim ibn
Muhammad. Then Marwin came upon (another) letter, for
a messenger of Abii Muslim to Ibrihim came to him (Mar-
wan). He was returning from Ibrihim, and had a letter from
Ibriihim for Abii Muslim, an answer to his (Abii Muslims)
letter. In it he cursed Abii Muslim and slandered him, since
he did not take advantage of Nasr and al-Karmini when they
offered him the opportunity. He ordered him (Abii Muslim)
not to let any Arab remain alive in Khurasan. This last sen-
tence repeats a command of Ibrahim, who earlier said to Abfi
Muslim, Kill anyone whom you suspect, and who is suspi-
cious in his affiir. You can see to it that there is not left in
Khurasan a speaker of Arabic.S2This was repeated by later
Muslim authors as evidence of the anti-Arab sentiment of the
Abbisid movement.88Van Vloten accepts this and other evi-
dence, such as the verses of Nasr ibn Sayyir to Marwin, to
show that the Abbisid movement was anti-Arab and meant
death to the ArabsSs4This is certainly not true, whatever
some Iranian followers of the Abbisids,or the Umayyad par-
tisans may have thought. The authenticity of the order of
Ibrihim to Abii Muslim to kill all Arabs is to be doubted. It
indicates the feeling of later Arab writers in regard to the
Shuiibiya, i.e., the sentiments of non-Arab Muslims to gain
equal, if not superior, status to the Arab Muslims. It seems
that the true contents of this letter of Ibrihim to Abii Mus-
lim were more in accord with the story in the Juwimi aZ-
H i R i y i t of Muhammad Aufi, which tells of the precaution
ofthe Imim Ibrihim in ordering Abii Muslim to kill aEZ pos-
-
Tabari 11, 1974, 5-11. It is repeated III,25,3-5.
Tabari 11, 1937, 13.
Cf. Iqd al-Farid of lbn Abi Rabbihi, op. cit. 11, 278, 8-9. Dinawari, op. cit.,
358,14.5.
*Van Vloten, G., De Opkomst der Abbasidsn in Chorasan, Leiden 1890, 103,
where references to Arabic sources are given. Cf. also Wellhausen, op. cit., 534.
36 T H E MOSLEM WORLD