Nasb-and-the-Nawasib

most sincere of his cohorts and campaigners like Abū Salamah al-Khallāl 1 who
endeavoured to shift the Khilāfah to the family of ʿAlī I. 2
He ordered Abū Muslim al-Khurāsānī to penalise people based on suspicion and
also kill people merely on the basis of scepticism. 3 This kind of approach surely
implanted an impression of great fear in the hearts of people, even in the hearts
of elite scholars. 4
Nonetheless, this amiable relationship did not last for very long between the two
households, due to the Alawids’ assumption that they were most deserving of
the Khilāfah and their indignation at their failure in obtaining it. 5 This is added
to the fact that the people of Madīnah had already pledged allegiance to al-Nafs
al-Zakiyyah even before the establishment of the Abbasid dynasty. 6
Hence, as soon as al-Saffāḥ passed away and his brother Abū Jaʿfar al-Manṣūr
assumed office they started coveting the Khilāfah. They wanted to dethrone the
Abbasids due to the circumstances which the newly arising dynasty was still
grappling with, especially cementing its rule and doing away with those whose
ambitiousness it feared, like Abū Muslim al-Khurāsānī. 7 Consequently, a long
chain of Alawid rebellions ensued. It is probably enough to state that five people
revolted against Abū Jaʿfar himself. 8
1 Ḥafṣ ibn Sulaymān al-Sabīʿī, an ally to them, Abū Salamah al-Khallāl al-Kūfī (famously known as
the governor of the household of Muḥammad H). The first governor appointed by al-Saffāḥ. He
was popular for his sincerity for the campaign and for spending huge sums of money for its cause.
He was a person of stature, bravery, and administration. Al-Saffāḥ got him killed in 133 A.H. See:
Tārīkh Madīnah Dimashq 14/409; Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ 6/79; al-Wāfī bi al-Wafayāt 13/63; al-Bidāyah wa
al-Nihāyah 10/56.
2 Tārīkh Madīnah Dimashq 14/409; al-Wāfī bi al-Wafayāt 13/63; al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah 10/56.
3 Tārīkh Baghdād 10/208; al-Muntaẓam 8/8; al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah 10/69.
4 Al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah 10/52, 118.
5 Al-ʿIlāqāt bayn al-ʿAlawiyyīn wa al-ʿAbbāsiyyīn p. 85.
6 Al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah 10/80; Tārīkh Ibn Khaldūn 4/6; Simṭ al-Nujūm al-ʿAwālī 4/167.
7 Al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah 10/71.
8 Simṭ al-Nujūm al-ʿAwālī 4/167, 177, 178, 179).
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