Nasb-and-the-Nawasib

were keen on provoking the feelings of hatred by focusing on the oppression
of the Umayyad dynasty which would hopefully earn them the support and
collaboration of every resenter no matter what the reason for his resentment be.
At the head of them were the Shīʿah.
Similarly, at that time a misleading slogan was raised which easily appealed
to every person, i.e. the slogan ‘For the Riḍā (chosen one) of the household of
Muḥammad.’ 1 This slogan did not emerge by the way, rather it was intentionally
used so that the Abbasids could exploit it for their interests very cleverly. Hence
it is narrated regarding the Abbasid propagandist Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd
Allāh that he would order some of his cohorts to call toward ‘the Riḍā of the Ahl
al-Bayt’ and not mention anyone. 2 It is obvious that the slogan a ‘Riḍā of the Ahl
al-Bayt’ included the Alawids and the Abbasids, but the first to occur to the people
when it was mentioned was the Alawids. Especially because of their insistence
on their right of rulership and their demands against the Abbasids who had not
previously chanted that sort of slogan.
According to many of the Shīʿah. 3 This Riḍā was not going to be anyone other than
a man from the Alawids. As to why did they still obey the Abbasid propagandists, it
1 The first person to use this slogan, according to my knowledge, was Mukhtār ibn ʿUbayd al-Thaqafī.
Thereafter it was excessively used by others. See: al-Fihrist 1/269; Tārīkh al-Ṭabarī 5/361; al-Muntaẓam
11/41; Tārīkh Madīnah Dimashq 58/237; al-Kāmil fī al-Tārīkh 5/38, 415; al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah 11/235.
2 Tārīkh al-Ṭabarī 4/320; al-Muntaẓam 7/297; al-Kāmil fī al-Tārīkh 5/63; Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ 6/58.
3 Al-ʿIlāqāt bayn al-ʿAlawiyyīn wa al-ʿAbbāsiyyīn 15, 42, 54. Note: Some scholars opine that the Abbasid
dynasty was from the dynasties of the Shīʿah. Al-Maʿṣūmī says in Simṭ al-Nujūm al-ʿAwālī 3/359, “This
dynasty was from the dynasties of the Shīʿah, specifically a subsect from among them which was
known as the Kaysāniyyah. The Kaysāniyyah believed in the Imāmah of Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah
after ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, thereafter his son, Abū Hāshim ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad, and thereafter ʿAlī
ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās.” But in reality the Abbasid dynasty has nothing to do with Shīʿism. Yes some
of its rulers and men had Shīʿī leanings, but in general the dynasty stood in stark contrast with the
Shīʿah. However, it is not far-fetched that the initial propagandist of the Abbasids actually subscribed
to the Kaysānī sect, or that they feigned being Shīʿah thereby winning the support of the Shīʿah and
their sympathy (this seems to be more likely). The following factors support the aforementioned
possibilities: Firstly, the immense support of the Kaysāniyyah for them. continued .....
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