Nasb-and-the-Nawasib

Three people are very odd: an Alawid who is a Sunnī, a ḥadīth scholar who
is a Ṣufī, and a scholar who violates the commands of Allah. 1
If this was the case, then for the Khalīfah to adopt Shīʿism and express it would
only increase the prominence of the Alawids between the people, something
which their detractors like the Umayyads could never accept due to being the
most distant people from Shīʿism and its people. 2
Nonetheless, the following are the probable reasons why the Abbasid were so
keen on honouring the Alawids:
Firstly, fostering the kinship which existed between them, for they were all
from the Banū Hāshim, irrespective of whether this was on the basis of religious
obligation or on the basis of tribalism. The most outstanding in this regard was
al-Maʾmūn who was drawn toward the Alawids and was extremely kind to them, 3
even to those who revolted against him. 4
Akin to him was al-Wāthiq 5 regarding who it is said:
1 Al-Nujūm al-Zāhirah 13/164.
2 A very interesting fact in this regard is that Abū al-Faraj al-Aṣfahānī, the author of al-Aghānī was
an Umayyad by blood but a Shīʿī by dogma. This had bewildered the historians and they did not know
what to say about him. Al-Dhahabī said about him in al-ʿIbar fī Khabar man Ghabar 2/311, “It is strange
that he is a Marwānī who is a Shīʿī.” And Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Malik al-Hamadānī in Takmilah Tārīkh
al-Ṭabarī p. 200, “No Umayyad is known to be a Shīʿī besides him.”
3 Al-Kāmil fī al-Tārīkh 6/13.
4 Al-Ṣawāʿiq al-Muḥriqah 2/531.
5 Hārūn ibn Muḥammad ibn Hārūn ibn Muḥammad al-Hāshimī, Abū Jaʿfar al-Wāthiq bī Allāh. An
Abbasid Ruler. He was born in 190 A.H. Allegiance was pledged to him the day his father passed away.
He had gone out of his way in putting the people to test regarding the issue of the creation of the
Qurʾān. He had also assassinated Aḥmad ibn Naṣr al-Khuzāʿī because of that. It is claimed that he
retracted his opinion toward the end of his life. He passed away in 232 A.H. His rule lasted for five
years and nine months. See: Tārīkh Baghdād 14/15; al-Muntaẓam 11/119; Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ 10/306;
Tārīkh al-Khulafāʾ 340.
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