Nasb-and-the-Nawasib

or the pre-Islamic era in this world and the afterlife but that ʿAbbās has
inherited him in it and has passed it on after him. 1
Al-Manṣūr would also, for the sake of argument, say that even if is accepted that
they were most deserving of the Khilāfah, as they claim, due to them being the
heirs of ʿAlī I, then too their right is long gone; because the Khilāfah of their
father ʿAlī I ended during his time out of his personal choice when he accepted
the proposal of arbitration which had resulted in him being denounced. If that
was the case then what did they inherit, for he left nothing for them? Likewise
his son, al-Ḥasan I, relinquished his rule for Muʿāwiyah I willingly and
thus nothing remained for them thereafter. 2
This dispute had pushed both of them to disrespecting ʿAbbās, 3 ʿAlī, and Ḥasan
M; whereas prior to this, the Abbasids coming into power, the Alawids are not
reported to have disrespected ʿAbbās I in any way.
The argument of al-Manṣūr regarding an uncle having preference over the
daughters was utilised by many Abbasid Rulers and their partisans after him.
Hence Abū Dulāmah 4 said the following to al-Manṣūr:
1 These are snippets from these letters. They can be studied in their entirety in Tārīkh al-Ṭabarī
4/431; al-Kāmil fī al-Tārīkh 5/151; al-Muntaẓam 8/64; Tārīkh Ibn Khaldūn 4/7.
2 Tārīkh al-Ṭabarī 4/432; al-Muntaẓam 8/66; al-Kāmil fī al-Tārīkh 5/154; Tārīkh Ibn Khaldūn 4/9; Simṭ
al-Nujūm al-ʿAwālī 4/174.
3 For example al-Nafs al-Zakiyyah said that ʿAbbās I was a captive who was freed, as appears in
his letters. The Shīʿah repeatedly raised this. Hence one of their poets, Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā ibn Abī
Murrah al-Taghlibī, said the following in a poem which he wrote as a response to the poem of Marwān
ibn Abī Ḥafṣah:
صل الطليق خمافة الصمصام
ما للطليق وللرتاث وإنام
What does the free captive have to do with inheritance? He only performed ṣalāh out of the
fear of the sword. (Al-ʿIlāqāt bayn al-ʿAlawiyyīn wa al-ʿAbbāsiyyīn p. 116).
4 Zand ibn al-Jawn al-Asadī, their client, Abū Dulāmah. An impertinent poet and a famous amuser.
He was originally from Kūfah and was an Abyssinian Muwallad (born to a mixed couple). He found the
last part of the Umayyad rule but did not gain much prominence. In the era of the Abbasids he earned
acclaim and prominence and devoted himself to al-Saffāḥ, al-Manṣūr, and al-Mahdī. He enjoyed much
prestige from al-Manṣūr due to making him laugh, rendering poetry, and lauding him. He passed
away in 163 A.H. See: Tārīkh Baghdād 8/488; Wafayāt al-Aʿyān 2/320; Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ 7/374; al-
Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah 10/134.
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