The Abbasid Revolution | 750CE - 754CE | Abbasid Caliphate #01

The story of the Abbasids starts like most stories about the Caliphate, on that unfortunate summer day in 632CE when Prophet Muhammad passed away. His followers, the Muslim community, was left without a leader. During his life, Prophet Muhammad had been both a religious and a political leader. Now, he was gone. In the crisis that ensued, the community, in mourning, needed someone to guide them. The office of the Caliph was established with Abu Bakr, the Prophet's close ally and friend as the first Caliph. The Prophet's cousin and son-in-law, Ali, was not present at the time. He was busy with funeral arrangements. To this day, this has been a point of contention between different sects of Islam. Some believe that Abu Bakr was the right choice, while some believe that Ali, being a blood relative of the Prophet, should've been the Caliph. Ali eventually did become the Caliph. However, his reign was marked by a tragic civil war which saw the Muslims divided into two camps. Shiat-ul-Ali, the supporters of Ali and Shiat-ul-Muawiyah, the supporters of Muawiyah. Ali's support came from the non-Arab parts of the empire, namely Iraq and Iran while Muawiyah's support came from Syria and Egypt. A divide that, to some extent, can still be seen today. Ali was assassinated by the Kharjites. The Banu Umayyah or the Umayyads established their dynasty with Muawiyah. For the next 90 years, this dynasty ruled the Islamic empire as Caliphs. With the exception of one man, Umar II, all Umayyad Caliphs were very unpopular. During their rule, the Muslim Arabs were an elite class. The empire touched Indus in the east and Iberia in the west. People were converting to Islam in large numbers. The Arabs were becoming an increasingly smaller percentage of Muslims. These new non-Arab Muslims weren't treated the same as Arab Muslims though. At one point, the non-Arab converts even had to pay Jizya. The new Muslims were alienated and felt that this was unfair as the Prophet himself had said specifically that no Arab had any superiority over a non-Arab, neither the other way around, except for piety. This led to discontent amongst the people. Various other scandals contributed to it, including the barbaric assassination of Husayn ibn Ali, the Prophet's beloved grandson. The non-Arab Muslims now looked for another way. After the assassination of Husayn, a man named Mukhtar al-Tahaqfi had fought the Umayyads during the Second Civil War. He had advocated for Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiya, a son of Ali, to be the Caliph. Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiya was not a son of Fatima, the Prophet's daughter. So, he wasn't a descendant of the Prophet but he was still a descendant of his heir and the next head of his house, Ali. Mukhtar was defeated but his idea that Muhammad should be the Caliph resonated with quite a few people. When Muhammad died, his son, Abu Hashim, became the next icon of hope against the corrupt Umayyad regime. This movement was called the Hashimiyya movement. However, when he died, a distant cousin of his claimed that Abu Hashim had chosen him as his successor. The cousin was named Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Abdullah ibn al-Abbas, the great-grandson of the Prophet's uncle, al-Abbas. This made him a member of the Prophet's house but not his descendant. Muhammad ibn Ali had been the caretaker of a small village named Humayma in modern-day southern Jordan. However, the revolution was not born there. The revolution was born around 30 days journey away from Humayma in the province of Khorasan. Khorasan was a frontier province which comprised parts of modern-day Iran, Afghanistan and much of Central Asia. It was a vital part of the Silk Road. So, the cities such as Merv, Samarkand and Bukhara were some of the most prosperous in the world. The demographic of the region was as varied as the geography. While it already housed some people such as the nomadic Turks and Iranian to name a few, after the Muslim conquest, another group moved to the region, Muslim Arabs. Soon, in this medley of languages and cultures, a new group emerged. An Arab-Iranian elite class that ruled most of the cities and had difficult treaties with the frontier peoples. The capital of the province was Merv. This area was the most Islamized part of the Umayyad Caliphate outside of Arabia. However, it still retained an aristocracy that was very much Persian. They inherited a lot of traditions of the Sassanids and their predecessors. A lot of princes and their courts were indistinguishable from the Iranians who came before. This was, in my opinion, a clash of cultures more than anything else. The Arabs were introducing their culture to the region and there was bound to be a pushback. The Muslims of Merv weren't just influenced by various cultures that had arrived in the region, they were also well-trained in the art of war. As Khorasan was a frontier province, skirmishes were regular and the people were always prepared for war. The new Muslims, the lower classes that usually made up the bulk of these warriors, weren't really treated nicely by the Arab elites. As is the case with many modern cities, there were great disparities of wealth and status. All of these factors combined made the perfect breeding ground for a revolution. Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik died in 743CE. He would turn out to be the last powerful Umayyad Caliph. After him, his successor Al-Walid II was assassinated after a short reign of 14 months. The same year, 744CE saw a revolving door of three more Caliphs until in December of that year, Mervan II came to power. The empire never looked more unstable. The timing was perfect for the Abbasids. The Abbasids and their missionaries went to work and set up networks for communication and propaganda. Their message was purposefully vague. They claimed that a member of the Prophet's family would be made Caliph, which member, whose son, no one knew. In the summer of 747CE, there was a commotion in Merv. A large group of people, all wearing black and carrying a black banner marched through the city. Eventually, they took it over and expelled the Umayyad bureaucracy. Their leader, a man named Abu Muslim, which means father of a Muslim, would go on to lead the revolution. When the Caliph heard of this, the propaganda also reached him. He realized that members of the Prophet's family were plotting a coup. Immediately, he sent men to Umayyad to arrest and bring Ibrahim to the capital. Ibrahim was the successor of Muhammad ibn Ali and the defector head of the Abbasid family. He would later be executed. The rest of the family ran out of Hamama. They had been kept away from the revolt to make sure they were safe. In Kufa, a man named Abu Salama also joined Abu Muslim's revolution and raised the Abbasid banner. The Abbasids headed there as well. Meanwhile, after having secured Merv and Khorasan, Abu Muslim took his men and marched to Kufa as well, clearing Iran and Iraq of Umayyad loyalists. As Abu Labbas, the new head of the Abbasids, arrived in Kufa, locals swarmed around his house to swear allegiance. The new caliph, Abu Labbas, took the title of As-Saffah. This was a tradition that would continue for as long as the Abbasids did. Among the 37 caliphs that ruled till 1258, no title or laqab, as it was called, was ever repeated. As-Saffah made a speech in the mosque and addressed his people. There was no coronation. Instead, loyalty was sworn by taking the hand of the caliph. Here are some paragraphs from the first Abbasid sermon by As-Saffah and his uncle Dawud. Now are the dark nights of this world put to flight, its covering lifted. Now lights break in the earth and in the heavens, and the sun rises from the springs of the day, while the moon ascends from its appointed place. Rule has come back to where it originated, among the people of the house of the prophet. You are under the protection of God's messenger and the protection of Abbas. We will rule you according to what he has sent down and treat you in accordance with his book and act with the commoner and elite among you following the practice of God's messenger. God's punishment came upon them like a night raid when they were sleeping. They were torn all to tatters and thus may an oppressive people perish. He has made manifest among you a caliph of the house of Hashim, brightening your faces and making you to prevail over the army of Syria, transferring sovereignty and the glory of Islam to you. He has graced you with an imam whose gift is justice and granted him good government. So know that the authority is with us and will not depart from us until we surrender it to Jesus, son of Mary, at the end of the world. God's blessing be upon you. Praise be to God, Lord of the universe, for that with which he has tried us and entrusted to us. The speech highlights some key points of the Abbasid claim to power. First of all, the Abbasids were members of the house of the prophet, the house of Hashim. So, they believed that the caliphate should belong to them. Secondly, they were talking to the people of Iraq, the people of the east, new and non-Arab Muslims who had felt left out. They specifically mentioned their triumph over the armies of Syria, pointing to the original civil war between Ali and Muawiyah, the founder of the Umayyads. When the Iraqis had sided with Ali and the Syrians had sided with Muawiyah, they made it clear that power had shifted from Damascus to Kufa which was closer to the people of Iraq, Iran and Khorasan. Marwan II, on the other side, gathered his forces and led them in person to fight the revolution. Marwan met the Abbasid army commanded by Abdullah, the caliph's uncle on the river Saab on 25th of January 750CE. The Umayyads were badly defeated and Marwan ran to Egypt where he was killed. The Umayyad caliphate was gone. Long live the House of Al-Abbas. Even though the Umayyads were gone, the revolution was far from complete. The revelation of the descendants of the prophet's uncle was a disappointment to the public who were hoping for a descendant of Ali and Fatima. The Abbasids to many seemed like impostors. Some at the time believed that Al-Abbas had never even converted to Islam so what business did his children have with the caliphate? But for now, As-Saffah was the new caliph. The Abbasids were ruthlessly cautious about any challengers. The Umayyad princes were sought after and killed on the spot. One of those princes, Abd al-Rahman, made his way to Umayyad Spain where he established the Emirate of Cordoba. A story for another time. According to some sources, over 60,000 people were killed by Abu Muslim during and after the revolution justifying As-Saffah's title which means the bloodshedder. However, potential challengers weren't just amongst the old rulers. They were hiding amongst their allies as well. Abu Salama, perhaps wanting to install the Abbasids as puppets and himself as the puppet master, wasn't happy that the Abbasids approached the public directly. He was even slow to offer his allegiance to the new caliph, As-Saffah. As-Saffah realised this. He invited him over one night to bestow honours upon him. When he left the house of the caliph, he was killed on the way back to his house. Kharjites were blamed for this. At the same time, various armies were dispatched by the caliph to secure key cities. One of the most important battles of the campaign was the Battle of Talas River where the Abbasids met the Tang Dynasty in Kazakhstan. The battle put an end to Chinese ambition of expansion into Khorasan. The empire was slowly consolidated under Abbasid control with the exception of much of North Africa and Iberian Peninsula. Abu'l-Abbas As-Saffah, the first caliph of the Abbasid dynasty, died in 754CE. He had been ill for quite a while, at least since the revolution. He had nominated his brother, Abu Ja'far as his successor but obviously, it was to be decided by bigger army diplomacy. Abu Ja'far was on pilgrimage to Mecca at the time when As-Saffah died. In Syria, his uncle Abdullah, who had led the battle of Saab against the Umayyads, thought that he deserved the caliphate more than Abu Ja'far who had led a quiet life up to this point. Abdullah put together a coalition of Syrians who had been unemployed since the revolution and needed work and Khorasanis who had fought against those very same Syrians. Not a recipe for success, I would say. The other problem was that Abu Muslim was with Abu Ja'far on the pilgrimage. Abu Ja'far practically begged Abu Muslim for his support. Abu Muslim was reluctant to put himself in the middle of a family feud but he wanted to respect As-Saffah's nomination and install Abu Ja'far on the throne. So, he joined Abu Ja'far. When the two forces met in Nisbin, the Khorasanis, seeing their leader Abu Muslim on the opposite side, began to desert Abdullah. The Syrians also left. Abdullah was left alone. Abu Ja'far decided not to execute him to preserve the sanctity of royal blood. So, he was put in house arrest. He died a few years later. The Abbasids were, to be honest, pretty powerless at this time. While the empire was secured, the power of the caliph was not. Abu Muslim was the most popular man in the empire. He had the command and loyalty of the army. Whatever the caliph was to do, he would need the support of Abu Muslim. The power of Abu Muslim, while not Abu Muslim himself, could make the caliph nothing but a figurehead. The new caliph was determined to change that. While the Abbasid dynasty was established with As-Saffah, the caliphate would be defined by Abu Ja'far al-Mansur, the second caliph. See you next time.