Nasb-and-the-Nawasib

[Continuing with the forms the clash had taken]
Secondly, the Abbasids tried to decrease the social standing of the Alawid
notables who they feared so that people are not drawn toward them. Hence, it is
reported regarding Abū Jaʿfar al-Manṣūr that he summoned Imām Abū Ḥanīfah
and told him:
يا أبا حنيفة،‏ إن الناس قد فتنوا بجعفر بن محمد فهيء له من مسائلك الصعاب
O Abū Ḥanīfah, people have become drawn toward Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad, 1
so prepare for him some of your difficult questions. 2
His motive thereby was to denigrate him by proving his inability to answer those
questions. That would result in the reverence of the people and admiration
diminishing. It is obvious that al-Manṣūr was not just fearful of the admiration of
people, rather he was fearful of the challenges that it could potentially lead him
to due to the people being drawn to him.
Thirdly, the Abbasids were very keen on learning the genuine lineages of the
Alawids in order to shut the way for any person who tried to win the sympathy
and support of the people by claiming that he was an Alawid revolutionist.
Especially when this affiliation had become a stepping stone for many ambitious
people and detractors alike. Probably this was the reason why the scholars paid
due importance to the family trees of the Alawids and recorded them, as al-
ʿAqqād said:
عظمت العناية خاصة بذرية النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم صونا للنسب الشريف ودفعا لألدعياء من طالب
الخالفة
1 Referring to Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq.
2 Tārīkh al-Islām 9/89; Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ 6/258.
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