Building
of Baghdad and Compilation of Knowledge
Saffah had made Ambar his capital
and after a short time he had his palace and buildings for his government
officials constructed adjacent to Ambar. This was a new colony and it was named
Hashmia. Mansoor was at Hashmia when the commotion in Khorasan was going on. In
140 A.H., he wanted to build a separate capital and the foundation of the city
of Baghdad was laid. The construction work continued for nine or ten years and
was completed in 149 A.H. From that time on Baghdad was the capital of the
Abbasids. During the same period, the scholars began the work of foundation and
compilation of religious knowledge. Ibn Jareeh in Makkah, Malik in Madina, Ibn
Abi Aruba and Hammad bin Sulamih in Basra, Mamar in Yemen, and Sufyan Thauri in
Kufa began the work of compiling the Hadith (the traditions of the Prophet).
Ibn Ishaq and Abu Hanifa wrote books on the military expeditions of the Prophet
and Islamic law respectively. Prior to that, the traditions and the expeditions
of the Prophet were based on verbal narration. This chain of writing and
compilation went on developing and the courts of Baghdad and Cordova, Spain
patronized the authors to the maximum. It was the most suitable time for
writing the books of Hadith and having the enormous amount of material carried
by memory written on paper.
The
killing of the Sādāt
The elders whom Rabah had arrested
and imprisoned remained incarcerated in Madinah until the end of 144 A.H.
Mansoor was constantly in search of Mohammad Mahdi and his brother Ibrahim.
During this period, the brothers remained in hiding among the tribes of the
Hijaz and in unknown places. They kept changing their hiding places. All of the
descendants of Hasan bin Ali (رضي الله عنه)
were either imprisoned or in hiding. In Dhul Hijja 144 A.H. Mansoor went to
Hajj and sent Mohammad bin Imran bin Ibrahim bin Talha and Malik bin Anas to
the descendants of Hasan (رضي الله عنه)
who were in prison with a message asking them to hand over Mohammad and Ibrahim
to Mansoor. Their father Abdullah bin Hasan Muthanna bin Hasan pleaded
ignorance about them and sought his permission to appear before the caliph.
Mansoor said, "As long as Abdullah bin Hasan does not bring his sons into
my presence, I will not see him." When Mansoor was coming to Iraq on his
return journey from Hajj, he ordered Rabah to send the captives to him in Iraq.
Rabah took all the captives yoked, handcuffed and chained and then put them on
camels without saddles and sent them off to Iraq under escort. Mohammad and
Ibrahim, disguised as Bedouins, met their father on the way and sought his
permission to rebel. But Abdullah bin Hasan exhorted and instructed them to be
patient and not to be hasty. When those captives were ushered into Mansoor's
presence, he called Mohammad bin Abdullah bin Amr bin Uthman to come before
him, he abused him and gave him 150 lashes. Mansoor was hostile to him because
the Syrians were his supporters and he commanded great respect there.
When the prisoners were shifted to
Iraq, Mohammad Mahdi sent his brother Ibrahim to Iraq and Khorasan to propagate
to the people there and to instigate them to oppose the Abbasids. Mansoor was
sure of Mahdi's presence in the Hijaz. One of the strategies he adopted to
deceive and trace him was that he used to have letters written constantly and
sent them to those inhabitants of different cities who he supposed were Mahdi's
supporters and might know his whereabouts. Those letters contained tributes to
Mahdi and criticism of Mansoor and his shortcomings and inducements to
rebellion. By these actions, he thought that one of his spies might get access
to Mohammad Mahdi and arrest him. He did not succeed in his aim and Mohammad
Mahdi continued to get information about the letters from his friends. He could
not accurately gage the strength of his supporters and followers and he overestimated
his following. His brother Ibrahim traveled through Basra, Kerman, Isfahan,
Khorasan, Mousil and Syria, and enlisted missionaries and sympathizers. He came
to the capital, ate with Mansoor and the latter failed to recognize him. The
next time Mansoor came to inspect the construction of Baghdad, Mohammad Mahdi
was present there among Mansoor's men. His spies informed him that Ibrahim was
present there but he could not find and arrest him.
In the same wreath, despite his best
efforts to locate him in Hijaz, Rabah failed to catch him. At last, Abu Aun,
the Administrator of Khorasan sent a letter to Mansoor in 145 A.H. that secret
conspiracies were on the increase there and all the Khorasanis were awaiting a
revolt by Mohammad Mahdi. As soon as he read it, he sent for Mohammad bin
Abdullah bin Amr bin Uthman from the jail, handed him over to the executioner
and had his head chopped off and sent it to Khorasan. Along with it, he sent a
few persons who swore as witnesses that the head belonged to Mohammad bin
Abdullah and his grand mother was Fatima bint Mohammad (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم). In this way the Khorasanis were
fraudulently led to believe that Mohammad Mahdi was put to death and that it
was his head. Then he enclosed Mohammad bin Ibrahim Mahdi's cousin, alive in a
pillar of the construction. Then Abdullah bin Hasan bin Hasan bin Ali, Mahdi's
father, and Ali bin Hasan bin Hasan bin Ali, Mahdi's uncle, were killed. Then
Ibrahim bin Hasan bin Hasan bin Ali, Mahdi's uncle, and Abbas bin Hasan bin
Hasan bin Ali, Mahdi's cousin, were tortured to death. Mansoor's stone-heartedness
is very shocking. Banu Umayyah were opponents and enemies of the Alawiites and
the Abbasids were extremely intimate and allies with the Alawiites. Banu
Umayyah did not bear any close relation with the Alawiites. But they had very
close relations with the Abbasids. The Alawiites vehemently opposed Banu
Umayyah and frequently used arrows and swords against them but they did not
fight with the Banu Abbas. Taking all these things into consideration and
reflecting on the fact that Banu Umayyah never arrested and killed any Alawiite
on mere suspicion and the only Alawiites that were slain by them were those who
fought against them on the battlefield we can consider being an enemy of the
Umayyahs was safer than being an ally of the Abbasids. Mansoor killed many
innocent descendants of Hasan (رضي الله عنه)
mercilessly. Yazid bin Muawiya's killing of Husain (رضي
الله عنه) pales into insignificance if we look at the murders of the
Sādāt (members of the Prophet's family) in respect to the number of crimes
committed. Perhaps this is only an indication of the blind lust man has for
this world, which can make an intelligent man act like a murderer, to achieve
what he wants.
No comments:
Post a Comment