Nasb-and-the-Nawasib

This brutality, confinement and appointing of spies and scouts against the
Alawids was not specific to the era of al-Manṣūr, rather they continued in the
eras of other rulers as well, 1 sometimes in ways which dwarfed the brutalities of
the Umayyads. Hence in the time of al-Mustaʿīn 2 when an Alawid revolted against
him he sent an army for him which defeated him and killed many of his cohorts.
A thousand houses were burnt and all the wealth of those who had revolted was
usurped. Over and above this every Alawid in Kūfah was arrested and one of the
daughters of the Alawid revolutionist was sold whereas she was free. 3
The matter had reached such proportions that they started abusing people on
the basis of the suspicion that he might have some sort of collaboration with
the Alawids who were feared. For example, Imām al-Shāfiʿī was sent from Yemen
to Baghdād shackled in chains. 4 Likewise someone had spied on Imām Aḥmad
that he gave refuge to an Alawid in his house and that this Alawid was secretly
accepting allegiances from people. This had prompted the Khalīfah to order his
deputy in Baghdād to raid his house by night. The people of the household were
unaware till they saw lanterns surrounding their house from all directions, even
on top of the roof. 5
Hence, the conflict between the Alawid and the Abbasid households had returned.
And the extent of harassment which they suffered during the Khilāfah of the
Hashimids was more than the harassment they suffered at the hands of the
1 Shadharāt al-Dhahab 1/338; Simṭ al-Nujūm al-ʿAwālī 3/360.
2 Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Hārūn ibn Muḥammad al-Hāshimī, Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Mustaʿīn bī Allāh.
An Abbasid Ruler. He was born in 221 A.H. He was appointed to office after al-Muntaṣir. The Khilāfah
sustained great defects during his era and matters went out of control. The Turkish generals had
assumed control and thus he deposed himself because of al-Muʿtaz bī Allāh after several wars and
clashes. He was imprisoned for nine months and thereafter was killed in Qādisiyyah of Sāmarrāʾ in
Ramaḍān in 252 A.H. See: Tārīkh Baghdād 5/84; Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ 12/46; Fawāt al-Wafayāt 1/177;
al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah 11/2.
3 Tārīkh al-Ṭabarī 5/395; al-Muntaẓam 12/50; al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah 11/9.
4 Ḥilyah al-Awliyāʾ 9/126; Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ 1/86; Ṭabaqāt al-Shāfiʿiyyah al-Kubrā 2/121.
5 Sīrah al-Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal of Ṣāliḥ ibn Aḥmad p. 94; al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah 10/337.
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