Abul
Abbas saffah
Abul Abbas Abdullah Saffah bin
Mohammad bin Ali bin Abdullah bin Abbas bin Abdul Muttalib bin Hashim was born
and raised at Hamimah in Balqa area in 104 A.H. He succeeded his brother. He
was younger than his brother Mansoor. Ibn Jareer says one day the Prophet said
to his uncle Abbas, "The Caliphate will come to your descendants",
the descendants of Abbas were looking forward to it ever since that time.
Abdullah Saffah enjoyed distinction
in his ability to cause bloodshed, competitive generosity and intelligence. His
Governors and Officials were also experts at spilling blood. Saffah first
deputed his uncle Dawood as Governor of Kufa and then made him the Amir of the
Hijaz, Yemen and Yamama and appointed his nephew Isa bin Musa bin Mohammad as
Governor of Kufa.
When Abu Dawood died in 133 A.H.,
Saffah made his maternal uncle Yazid bin Obaidullah bin Abdul Madan Harthi and
his cousin Mohammad bin Yazid bin Obaidullah bin Abdul Madan the Governors of
Hijaz plus Yamama and Yemen respectively. In 132 A.H., Sufyan bin Uyaina Halbi
was made the administrator of Basra and then in 133 A.H., he was deposed and
this office was given to Saffah's uncle Sulaiman bin Ali and the Sultanate of
Bahrain and Oman were also annexed to his territory. In 132 A.H. Saffah's uncle
Ismail bin Ali, another uncle Abdullah bin Ali, Abu Aun Abdul Malik bin Yazid
and Abu Muslim Khorasani were Governors of Ahwaz, Syria, Egypt and Khorasan
with Jabal respectively. Khalid bin Barmak was the Revenue Officer in Khorasan.
In 133 A.H., Abu Muslim appointed Mohammad bin Ash'ath the Governor of Persia
on his own. At the same time, Saffah sent his uncle Isa bin Ali with the
certificate of Gouvernership for Persia. Muhammad bin Ash'ath had already been
installed there. When Isa bin Ali reached there, Muhammad bin Ash'ath refused
to hand over the government of Persia to him and then took a promise from him
that he would not deliver the Friday sermon from the pulpit and not to take up
sword except to declare Jihad, then he handed over the authority of Persia to
him but in fact, he himself remained the ruler. When Mohammad Ash'ath died,
Saffah sent his uncle Ismail bin Ali as the Governor of Persia. Then he sent
Mohammad bin Sool as the Governor of Mousil. The citizens of Mousil expelled
Mohammad bin Sool.
They were against Banu Abbas.
Getting angry Saffah sent his brother Yahya bin Mohammad bin Ali with 12,000
warriors. Yahya reached Mousil and stayed at the Governor's headquarters and
sent for the inhabitants of Mousil and had them all killed through treachery.
The inhabited of Mousil were highly agitated because of this. They prepared
themselves to fight. Yahya made a proclamation, saying. "Whosoeyer enters
the Central Mosque will be granted pardon. Hearing it, they rushed towards the
Central Mosque.
Yahya had his men standing guard at
the doors of the Central Mosque. Who ever entered it was killed. In this way,
11,000 people were killed. Then a general massacre was ordered in the city.
When it was night, Yahya heard the lamentations of the women whose husbands,
fathers, brothers and sons were unjustly killed. In the morning, he ordered
even the women and children to be put to death. For three days in succession,
the killing of the citizens was declared to be legal. With this declaration,
the massacre in the city was enjoined with greater ferocity.
There were 4000 black soldiers in
Yahya's army. During the slaughter, they turned to raping the women. Thousands
of women were kidnapped. On the fourth day, Yahya came into the city on horse
back for inspection. A woman gathered her courage and caught hold of the reins
of his horse and said, "Are you not of Banu Hashim? Are you not the son of
the Prophet's uncle? Don't you know that the black soldiers have married the
Muslim women by force?" Yahya did not answer and went away. The next day,
he sent for all the black soldiers to disburse their salaries and when all of
them had assembled, he ordered them to be killed.
When Saffah was informed of this, he
sent Ismail bin Ali to Mousil and transferred Yahya to Persia. In 133 A.H., the
Roman Emperor took Maltiya and Qaliqala from the Muslims by force. The same
year Yazid bin Obaidullah bin Abdul Madan gave an army to Ibrahim bin Hibban
Sulami and sent him from Madinah to Yamama where Muthanna bin Yazid bin Omer
bin Hubairah had been in power since his father's time. He fought Ibrahim and
was killed. The same year Shareek bin Shaikh Mehri in Bukhara revolted and
gathered 30,000 men. Abu Muslim sent Zeyad bin Saleh Khazai against Shareek who
fought and was killed. Abu Muslim sent Abu Dawood Khalid bin Ibrahim to invade
the city of Khatai in 133 A.H. Habsh bin Shibl, the king of Khatai, suffered
defeat and escaped to China via Farghana in eastern Uzbekistan. The same year
saw the war between the kings of Akhsheed, Farghana and Shash. The Chinese king
intervened and sent one hundred thousand man army against them. Abu Muslim sent
Zeyad bin Saleh to meet it. The clash with the Chinese army took place along
the river of Taraz 50,000 Chinese were killed and 20,000 were captured by the
Muslims.
In 134 A.H. Bassam bin Ibrahim
Bassam, a Khorasani Commander of repute, occupied Madain. Saffah sent Khazim
bin Khizaima to confront Bassam who lost and escaped. Then Saffah sent Khazim
to Oman to face the Khwarij. He defeated them and killed their chief. The same
year Abu Dawood Khalid bin Ibrahim invaded Kush, killed its king who was a
Dhimmi (Protected non-Muslim subject, this indicates the treachery of Abu
Muslim) and sent his head to Abu Muslim in Samarkand. He enthroned the king's
brother Tazan and returned to Balkh. At the same time he massacred the civilians
of Bukhara and after making Zeyad bin Saleh the ruler of Bukhara and Samarkand
and ordering the construction of fortifications for Samarkand, he came back to
Merv. After these happenings, Saffah got the news that Mansoor bin Jamhoor had
committed a breach of trust and revolted. Mansoor bin Jamhoor had been the
Governor of Iraq and Khorasan for two months during the reign of Yazid the
Reducer. He was one of the companions of Abdullah bin Muawiya bin Abdullah bin
Jafar. When Abdullah bin Muawiya was defeated by Dawood bin Yazid bin Umar bin
Hubairah and Ma'an bin Zaidah near Astakhar, Mansoor bin Jamhoor had fled to
Sindh. Abdullah bin Muawiya reached Herat where he was killed by its Governor
Malik bin Haithan Khazi by order of Abu Muslim as related previously. Saffah
sent his commander of the police Musa bin Kab to Sindh and deputed Musayab bin
Zuhair in his place. Musa and Mansoor clashed along the Indian border. Mansoor
had 12,000 fighters but was defeated. He escaped to the desert and died of thirst
there. Mansoor's Governor who was in Sindh marched towards the city of Khizr
along with the members of his family and belongings. That same year in Dhul
Hijja 134 A.H., Saffah visited Ambar and made it his capital.
In 135 A.H. Zeyad bin Saleh, Abu
Muslim's Governor of Samarkand and Bukhara, rebelled against him. Abu Muslim
left Merv. Abu Dawood Khalid bin Ibrahim, upon receiving this news, sent Nasr
bin Rashid to Tirmiz (city in southern Uzbekistan) to protect it from Zeyad. As
soon as he reached there, some persons came from Talqan (Iran bordering the
Caspian Sea in the north) and killed him. Abu Dawood then sent Isa bin Mahan to
pursue Nasr's killers. Isa punished Nasr's murderers. Meanwhile Abu Muslim
arrived at Amad. He was accompanied by Saba bin Noman Azdi. The caliph Saffah
entrusted the task of murdering Abu Muslim to Zeyad bin Saleh and Saba bin
Noman.
After his arrival at Amad, Abu
Muslim somehow came to know about the plot. He at once arrested Saba and giving
orders to the Governor to kill him, left for Bukhara. On the way, he came
across some of Zeyad bin Saleh's commanders who rebelled against him and were
coming to join Abu Muslim. When Abu Muslim reached Bukhara, Zeyad hid himself
in a local man's house. The local man killed him and presented his head to Abu
Muslim. Abu Muslim informed Abu Dawood of Zeyad's death. Abu Dawood was engaged
at the time on the expedition at Talqan. After becoming free from this
expedition, he returned to Kush and Isa bin Mahan went to Bassam but without
much success. That same year Isa bin Mahan had sent a few letters to Abu
Muslims' companions criticizing Abu Dawood. Abu Muslim sent those letters to
Abu Dawood. Abu Dawood had Isa beaten up and thrown into captivity. When he was
released after a few days, the soldiers mobbed and killed him. Relieved of this
situation, Abu Muslim returned to Merv.
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