Nasb-and-the-Nawasib

Probably the first indication toward this was given in the sermon of al-Saffāḥ
which he delivered in Kūfah, the hub of Shīʿism. In this sermon he alluded to the
fact that the Abbasids were from the Ahl al-Bayt. He said:
وما توفيقنا أهل البيت إل بالله
We the Ahl al-Bayt are not inspired and encouraged but by Allah.
He was pointing to the fact that they are part of all the merits and the exhortations
of Rasūl Allah H regarding the Ahl al-Bayt which the Alawids continuously
repeated. Thus, the Umayyads had technically usurped their right which Allah
E later returned to them. These were the very same claims the Alawids were
making.
In fact, he clearly stated that the Abbasids were more deserving of the Khilāfah
in the following statement:
زعمت السبئية الضالل أن غيرنا أحق بالرياسة والسياسة والخالفة منا،‏ فشاهت وجوههم
The astray Sabaʾiyyah claim that others besides us are more deserving of
leadership, politics and the Khilāfah than us. May their faces be disfigured. 1
It is obvious that he intended the Alawids when saying ‘others’, because the
Sabaʾiyyah never did see anyone else deserving of leadership.
This continued during the era of his brother, al-Manṣūr, who openly gave
preference to ʿAbbās over ʿAlī and who emphatically claimed his deservingness of
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فضلتم قريشا غير آل محمد
وغير بني مروان أهل الفضائل
You surpassed the Quraysh but not the family of Muḥammad, and not the Banū Marwān—the
people of merits.
So al-Walīd said to him, “I see you are giving preference to the family of Muḥammad over us.” He
replied, “I don’t think it’s possible any other way.” See: Tārīkh al-Khulafāʾ p. 252.
1 Tārīkh al-Ṭabarī 4/347; al-Muntaẓam 7/299; al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah 10/41; Tārīkh al-Khulafāʾ p. 257.
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