The Revolution Which Toppled the Umayyads: Neither Arab Nor Abbasid

447 Pages·2003·13.78 MB·English

by  Salih Said Agha

THE REVOLUTION WHICH TOPPLED THE UMAYYADS
ISLAMIC HISTORY
AND CIVILIZATION
STUDIES AND TEXTS
edited by
WADAD KADI
AND
ROTRAUD WIELANDT
VOLUME 50
THE REVOLUTION WHICH
TOPPLED THE UMAYYADS
# §
Neither Arab nor Abb sid
BY
SALEH SAID AGHA
BRILL
LEIDEN •BOSTON
2003
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Agha, Salih Sa#id
The revolution which toppled the Umayyads : neither Arab nor #Abbasid /
by Saleh Sa#id Agha.
p. cm. — (Islamic history and civilization, studies and texts ; v. 50)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 90-04-12994-4
1. Islamic Empire—History—750-1258. 2. Abbasids. I. Title. II. Series.
DS38.6 .A35 2003
909'.09767101—dc21
2003052103
ISSN 0929-2403
ISBN 90 04 12994 4
© Copyright 2003 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored
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printed in the netherlands
To the memory of my father, Sa#īd; to
my mother and her brother, #Abd Allāh, and
to my siblings Naßr and Mayy
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................. xii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................. xiii
INTRODUCTION: ANTICIPATING THIS WORK ....................... xv
I. The Issues ..................................................................................... xv
II. The #Abbāsid Connection and Its Impact on the Primary Arabic
Sources—The #Abbāsid Riwāyah ....................................................... xv
II.1 The #Abbāsid Riwāyah .......................................................... xv
II. 2 The Impact of the #Abbāsid Riwāyah on the Primary
Sources........................................................................................ xxi
III. Modern Scholarship on the Issues ............................................. xxv
IV. This Book on the Issues .......................................................... xxxiii
NOTE ON CONVENTION .............................................................xxxvii

PART ONE
THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE ORGANIZATION
AND THE #ABBĀSID CONNECTION

PROLOGUE ......................................................................................... 3

Genesis: The Founding Fathers ........................................................ 4

CHAPTER ONE: BUKAYR IBN MĀHĀN—THE EVOLUTION
OF THE ORGANIZATION (Ca. 105/723—126/744) ...................... 7

I. A Personal Profile ......................................................................... 7
II. Early Involvement and the Creation of the Khurāsān Chapter .. 8
III. The Interim Leaderships of Maysarah al-Nabbāl and
Sālim al-A#mā, and Abū #Ikrimah’s Mission as the
First Resident Envoy-in-Chief in Khurāsān ..................................... 12
IV. Bukayr’s Accession as the Fourth Chief of the Organization—
First Phase: Remote Management Through Resident
Envoys (Ca.105-109/723-728) ......................................................... 14
V. The Disruption—The Khidāsh Years: Independence of the
Khurāsān Chapter (Ca. 109-118/727-737) ...................................... 16
VI. Second Phase of Bukayr’s Leadership—Regaining Control
over the Khurāsān Chapter, The ‘General Assembly’,
Restructuring .................................................................................... 20
VII. Shuttle Management and the Maturity of Bukayrism—
Asserting the Strategic Independence of the Organization and its
Uniqueness on the Proto-Shī#ite Theatre ......................................... 26
viii CONTENTS

VII.1 The Assertion of the Organization’s Independence in
the Context of Zayd ibn #Alī’s Rising .......................................... 26
VII.2 Shuttle Pattern and Frequency ......................................... 30
VII.3 Was YaÈyā ibn Zayd an Aborted Possibility
for a Suitable Ri∙ā? .................................................................... 31
VII.4 Ibrāhīm al-Imām ‘Succeeds’ His Father in the
Finest #Abbāsid Tradition ........................................................... 33
VIII. The Twilight Year and the End—Passing the Torch to
Abū Salamah .................................................................................... 35

CHAPTER TWO: ABŪ SALAMAH AL-KHALLĀL—
THE TRANSITION FROM BUKAYRISM TO
THE NEO-KHIDĀSHIST ABŪ MUSLIMISM (126/744-128/746) 39

I. A Personal Profile, and a Socio-Economic Portrait of the Early
Leadership of the Organization ........................................................ 39
II. In Bukayr’s Shadow—The Expansion and Upgrading of the
Organizational Structure of the Khurāsān Chapter ......................... 42
II.1 A Prominent Founding Father Superficially Reported ........ 42
II.2 The Institution of the Three Regional Commands in
Khurāsān—the Journey of the Three Black Banners ................. 44
III. The Succession .......................................................................... 47
IV. Brief Hands-on Phase—Abū Salamah’s Only Trip to
Khurāsān as Leader of the Organization ......................................... 47
IV.1 Chronological Problems and Abū Muslim’s Involvement .. 47
IV.2 The General Political Situation Surrounding the Trip ....... 49
IV.3 In Khurāsān, a Flourishing Organization Ready to Be
Transformed into a Grass-roots Movement ............................... 50

CHAPTER THREE: ABŪ MUSLIM AL-KHURĀSĀNĪ—THE
HIJACKING OF THE KHURĀSĀN CHAPTER OF THE
ORGANIZATION ............................................................................... 53

I. Roots? ........................................................................................... 53
II. The Kūfan Sojourn/The #Ijlite Connection—
What Significance? ........................................................................... 57
III. The #Abbāsid Connection—A Plausible Scenario ..................... 67
Epilogue ...................................................................................... 71
IV. ‘Hijacking’ the Khurāsān Chapter ............................................. 72
V. The Revolution ........................................................................... 75
VI. The Role of Transoxania and the Battle for Balkh .................... 79

CHAPTER FOUR: REPERCUSSIONS IN KŪFAH ........................ 87

I. The Irrelevance of al-Khallāl ....................................................... 87
I.1 Pseudomanagement by Correspondence .............................. 89
I.1.1 Abū Salamah and the Eruption of the Revolution in
Khurāsān .............................................................................. 90
I.1.2 Abū Salamah and the First Phases of
QaÈãabah’s Campaign .......................................................... 92
CONTENTS ix

I.1.3 Abū Salamah and the Last Phases of
QaÈãabah’s Campaign .......................................................... 93
II. Al-Khallāl in Twilight—The Affair of MuÈammad ibn Khālid
al-Qasrī ............................................................................................ 95
III. Al-Khallāl Resurges into Supreme Relevance ........................... 99
III.1 The Regained Legitimacy—The Doctrine of al-Ri∙ā
and the Elusive Hāshimiyyah ..................................................... 100
III.2 The Effect of QaÈãabah’s Sudden Demise on the
Balance of Power ........................................................................ 106
III.3 Al-Khallāl Takes Charge ................................................... 107
III.4 The Dynamics of the Game Between Abū Muslim and
Abū Salamah .............................................................................. 113

CHAPTER FIVE: THE #ABBĀSID COUP AND
THE DEMISE OF THE ORGANIZATION ...................................... 117

I. A Methodological Interlude .......................................................... 117
II. Abū Salamah’s Search for a Ri∙ā ................................................ 120
III. The #Abbāsid Coup .................................................................... 124
III.1 The Unfolding of the Drama According to the
#Abbāsid Riwāyah ......................................................................... 124
III.2 Exposing the #Abbāsid Riwāyah and Reconstructing
a Plausible Scenario .................................................................... 129
IV. The Demise of the Organization ............................................... 135
IV.1 In the Aftermath of the Coup—A Precarious
Power-Sharing Arrangement ...................................................... 135
IV.2 The Assassination of the Marginalized Loser ..................... 138

PART TWO
THE DEMOGRAPHIC BALANCE IN THE
REVOLUTIONARY PROVINCE

CHAPTER SIX: CONVERSION IN THE PROVINCE ................... 145

I. Prelude .......................................................................................... 145
II. Conversion: Scope, Patterns and Instances ................................. 146
II.1 Early Conversion ................................................................. 146
II.2 The House of Quãbah and the Transoxanian
Connection …............................................................................. 149
II.3 Conversion South of the Oxus ............................................. 154
III. The ‘Converters’ ........................................................................ 157
IV. Conversion—A Trojan Horse ................................................... 166

CHAPTER SEVEN: THE ARABS IN THE PROVINCE ................. 173

I. Revolutionary ‘Aptitude’—A Question of Motives and
Intentions ......................................................................................... 173
II. Revolutionary Ability—A Question of Quantum ....................... 175