Table Of ContentAMERICAN ORIENTAL SERIES
VOLUME 66
ISLAMIC REVOLUTION
AND HISTORICAL MEMORY
An Inquiry into the Art of cAbbäsid Apologetics
AMERICAN ORIENTAL
SERIES
VOLUME 66
Editor-in-Chief
ERNEST BENDER
EDITORS
PAUL W. KROLL DAVID I. OWEN JEANETTE A. WAKIN
AMERICAN ORIENTAL SOCIETY
New Haven, Connecticut
1986
ISLAMIC REVOLUTION
AND HISTORICAL MEMORY
An Inquiry into the Art of “Abbasid Apologetics
BY
JACOB LASSNER
AMERICAN ORIENTAL SOCIETY
New Haven, Connecticut
1986
Copyright © 1986
BY AMERICAN ORIENTAL SOCIETY
PHOTOTYPESET BY EISENBRAUNS
WINONA LAKE, INDIANA, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
1986
ISBN 0-940490-66-8
In M emory of Samuel M aslansky
CONTENTS
Preface ..................................................................................................................... ix
Foreword ............................................................................................................... xi
PART ONE: PROLEGOMENA
Apologetics, Historical Writing, Interpreting the Past
A. Political Alignments and Potential Challenges ........................................ 4
B. From Propaganda to History: A Hypothesis .......................................... 10
C. Problems of Interpretation ........................................................................ 13
D. Reader Response ........................................................................................ 19
E. The Stratigraphy of Historical Traditions ................................................ 30
PART TWO: CASE STUDIES
Revolutionaries and the Path to Revolution that Should Have Been
I. CA1I b. cAbdalläh b. cAbbäs and the Beginnings of
cAbbäsid Resistance: Hagiography or History ........................................ 39
A. The Disgrace of CA1T b. cAbdalläh and the First Steps
toward Rebellion ........................................................................................ 41
B. The Motivation Underlying cAlï*s Revenge ............................................. 49
II. History Cum Prophecy: Abü Häshim,
Muhammad b. cAlï and the Road to Revolution ................................... 55
A. The Future cAbbäsid Line According to al-Haytham b. cA d ï................ 55
B. Prophecy and the Geopolitics of the cAbbasid Revolt ........................... 62
PART THREE: CASE STUDIES
Revolutionaries and the Path to Revolution that Might Have Been
III. Proposed Turning Points in the History of cAbbâsid Resistance:
Ibrâhîm al-Imäm and the Pilgrimages of 125 and 126 A. h........................ 75
A. Bukayr and the Conclave of 120 a.h............................................................ 77
B. Meeting with Ibrâhîm al-Imäm ................................................................ 82
C. Developing an Agenda for Discussion ..................................................... 90
IV. The Origins of Abü Muslim al-Khurâsânï:
The Shaping of a Revolutionary Tradition ............................................. 99
A. Social Origins: Slave or Free ..................................................................... 100
B. Social Origins: Abü Muslim, the Son of Salît ........................................ 107
C. Ethnic and Geographic Origins: False Leads .......................................... 117
D. From Isfahan to Revolution: The Origins of Involvement..................... 126
vin Contents
Postscript ................................................................................................................ 135
Appendices ............................................................................................................. 137
A. The Proto-Shîcite Contenders ................................................................... 137
B. The Early cAbbäsid Caliphs........................................................................ 138
C. The Mansürid Family ................................................................................ 139
D. The Family of Muhammad b. cAlï ........................................................... 140
E. The cUmümah ............................................................................................. 141
F. The Umayyad Caliphs ................................................................................ 142
Bibliography ................................................................................................ 143
Index ............................................................................................................. 153
PREFACE
Following three decades (a.d. 718-47) of clandestine revolutionary activities, the
descendants of the Prophet’s uncle, al-cAbbas, coopted a provincial insurrection,
overthrew the regime that had displaced the Prophet’s family from power, and
established a political order that endured for half a millennium. The compelling story
of the cAbbasids and their revolution is described in rich detail by various writers
of the Middle Ages. However, the historical and belletristic texts are at best
problematic for they preserve echoes of a carefully articulated bias favoring the
new dynasts. Indeed, the portrayal of men and events is so patently tendentious that
at times it raises doubts concerning the basic historicity of specific episodes, if not the
larger events that frame them. Scholars seeking a more accurate view of the cAbbasid
ascendancy are enjoined to recognize the difficult sources and analyze them,
balancing imagination and boldness with no small measure of caution. As with other
dramatic episodes of early Islamic times, the cAbbasid revolution represents, above
all, a problem of medieval historiography.
At first, my intention was to write still another descriptive history of the
revolution, albeit a version of events that gives greater recognition to complex textual
issues. However, the total absence of archival materials with which to balance
distortion precluded any such treatment of the subject. What finally emerged was a
series of discrete but related studies. These retain the narrative mode but, I hope, less
of the tendentiousness that often marks a continuous narrative of events. Divided
into three parts, the studies consist of an introduction to the analysis of cAbbasid
historical texts, labeled prolegomena, and two segments devoted to case studies. The
first of these segments deals with the past as invented history; the second attempts to
rediscover the broad outlines of a history that might have been.
Viewed as a whole, the monograph has several foci. The main thrust of the
investigation is to demonstrate how apologists for the cAbbasid house discovered,
embellished, and often invented the past to enhance the public image of patrons
whose credentials to rule were found lacking. In this respect, Islamic Revolution and
Historical Memory is about early Islamic apologetics and the art of historical
writing. It is, however, also a work of modern historiography; for the intention is to
record the rise of the cAbbäsids in a fashion consistent with what J. H. Hexter called
“doing history”—in this case, a concern for ways of interpreting a fragmented, highly
contrived, and at times opaque record of events and persons, far removed in time and
place. Finally, there are matters of wider interest. One speaks here of the cAbbasids
and their revolution, but what is said of them may apply in some manner to other
public figures and to the events of other eras. For, more generally, this is a study of
how medieval Muslims understood historical processes and forged historical tradi
tions in a traditional and highly lettered environment.
X Preface
The skeletal structure of the investigation began with a series of papers presented
to the American Oriental Society. Some of the papers were then reworked into
articles that were subsequently “leaked” before the completion of this volume. Such
articles that have already appeared have been duly noted in the bibliography.
Needless to say, the final shape of this book reflects directly the critical discussion
generated by these earlier efforts. A number of colleagues expressed interest in this
project at various stages of its preparation. Expressing gratitude to all of them would
require a statement of unmanageable length, but I would like, nevertheless, to single
out those whose encouragement and advice were invaluable. My colleague at the
Institute for Advanced Study, T. H. Breen, of Northwestern University, was an
ideal sounding board for roughly hewn ideas during many impromptu conversations
and, as always, Moshe Sharon of the Hebrew University was a learned critic during
our many discussions of cAbbäsTyät. Leonard Tennenhouse, Kenneth Walters,
Jonathan Marwil, and Rudi Lindner read and reread various segments of the text
and offered important stylistic suggestions. Thanks are also due my secretary, Susan
Sage, who interrupted her career as a budding poet to type successive drafts of the
manuscript.
A grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities made it possible for
me to spend a fruitful year at the Institute for Advanced Study. During that time I
also enjoyed the privileges of a Visiting Research Scholar at Princeton University. I
wish to acknowledge the faculty and staff of both institutions, especially Bernard
Lewis, who went out of his way to make me feel like a true ben bayit, while extending
to me the benefit of his vast erudition. Above all, I am indebted to my wife, Phyllis,
as always, a source of encouragement and unusually good counsel.
