The Chaliphate - Muir - The Search For Mecca

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A.D. 754-75] AL-MEHDI IX KHORAsAN 453
only child of his uncle, the late Caliph. He then returned
to Khorasan, where he remained for some time longer. The
Caliph went this year, as he did several other times, to
preside at the Meccan pilgrimage.
A new danger now threatened the dynasty. It was
from a descendant of Al-Hasan grandson of 'All. The head
of this family was 'All's great-grandson 'Abdallah, whose two
sons Moliammad anfl Ibrahim had for some time held
ambitious designs.^ Al-INIan.sur entertained suspicions
against them ever since his first pilgrimage, when they
failed to present themselves. As usual, he proceeded b)'
stratagem. A creature of his, by feigned communications
from Khorasan, where there ever was a strong faction for
any scion of the house of '^Ml, gained their father 'Abdallah's
confidence, and succeeded in so implicating him that with
all the family he was cast into prison. The two sons,
however, escaped to Aden and Sind, and returning secretly to
Al-'Irak, now at Medina, now among the Bedawi tribes,
were hunted everywhere by the Caliph's emissaries.
On his
pilgrimage in the present year, Al-Man.sur demanded of
the father and relatives, who were still in prison, that they
shcHild deliver up the two sons now in hiding. Failing to do
so, the family were carried off to Al-Kufa, and treated with
shocking barbarity. The son of Ibrahim, a fine youth, was
told by the cruel Al-Mansur that he would die a death worse
than any he had ever heard of; and the tyrant was as good
as his word, for he was built up alive into the prison wall.-
Of the rest, some were slain and some poisoned ;
but few
were spared. The head of one was sent round Khorasan as
that of Mohammad the elder brother, in the hope of
disheartening the party there.
These atrocities, followed by stringent measures for
the discovery of Mohammad, then in hiding at Medina,
precipitated his rebellion there, while his brother Ibrahim
canvassed for him at Al-Basra. At Medina, the city
rose, the governor was cast into prison, and the administration
proclaimed in the name of Mohammad, around
whom rallied the great body of the citizens, though man)'
'
See taljle, p. 385. This Mohammad is the one with whom Ibn
Huljeira tried to communicate when hesiej^ed in Wasit. Above, p. 440//.
- I give tlie story as I find it, thou,L;Ii hardly credible.
A.ri. 136-
158.
Mehdi
returns,
144 A.H.
761 A.r*.
Moliarnmad
and Ibialum,
desoendanis
of Ilasan,
rebel,
144 A.H.
Rising at
Medina and
Basra,
145 A.H.
762 A.I>.