The Rebellion of Ibrahim bin Abdullah
When Mansoor had come on a visit to
inspect the building of Baghdad, Ibrahim bin Abdullah, Mohammad Mahdi's
brother, was with him in disguise. He escaped to Kufa and Mansoor sent out
spies to hunt him down. When he thought that Ibrahim was in Basra, he sent a
spy to every house there, though Ibrahim was with Sufyan bin Hibban Qammi at
his house in Kufa. It was a well-known fact that Sufyan was a close friend of
Ibrahim. Sufyan was horrified to see how tight the surveillance was. He mapped
out a plan to allow Ibrahim to leave safely.
He went to Mansoor and said to him,
"Give me in writing a permit for free passage for me and my slaves and a
small body of soldiers so that I may arrest Ibrahim wherever we find him."
Mansoor did accordingly. Sufyan returned home he had Ibrahim put on his slave's
clothes, took him with them and left Kufa with his small force. He came to
Basra, deployed the soldiers to search each house. When the soldiers had left,
he sent him to Ahwaz and he himself went into hiding. Sufyan bin Muawiya was
the Amir of Basra at that time.
When he found out, he collected the
deployed soldiers and started searching for Ibrahim bin Abdullah and Sufyan bin
Hibban but without success. Mohammad bin Haseen was the Amir of Ahwaz. When
Ibrahim reached Ahwaz, he stayed with Hasan bin Habeeb. His spies informed the
Amir of Ahwaz that Ibrahim was in Ahwaz. He began searching for him. Ibrahim
remained hidden in Habeeb's house for a long time and continued to let people
participate in the propagation for his cause. In 145 A.H.
Yahya bin Zeyad bin Hibban Nabti
called Ibrahim to Basra and enthusiastically began to invite the people to take
the oath for Mohammad Mahdi. A large group of learned and influential people
took the oath. 4000 people were enrolled in the Basra Register as having taken
the oath. During this period, Mohammad Mahdi revolted in Madinah and wrote to
Ibrahim to revolt in Basra. Mansoor had sent a few commanders to Basra as a
precautionary measure so that they might help the Administrator of Basra,
Sufyan bin Muawiya, if there was any sign of mutiny. If Ibrahim had risen in
revolt then as Muhammad Mahdi had requested, Mansoor would have been quite
helpless and both the brothers would have gathered strength. However, at that
time, Ibrahim was sick in Basra and so he temporarily delayed his revolt.
When Mansoor sent the army to fight
with Mohammad Mahdi, Ibrahim rebelled in Basra on 1 Ramadan 145 A.H. Jafar and
Muhammad, the sons of Sulaiman bin Ali, Mansoor's cousins had been lying in
wait along with 600 men outside of Basra by the orders of Mansoor. As soon as
the brothers heard the news of Ibrahim's rebellion, they attacked and only 50
men were sent out to face those 600 men yet they defeated them and forced them
to flee. Ibrahim captured all of Basra and took the oath from the people in
general and proclaimed a general amnesty and pardon. He then withdrew two hundred
thousand dirhams from the treasury and distributed it at the rate of 50 dirhams
to each of his men.
Then he sent Mughira to Ahwaz along
with 100 soldiers. The administrator of Ahwaz, Mohammad bin Haseen, came out
with 4000 soldiers to fight the small force but they defeated the 4000 soldiers
and Mughira captured Ahwaz. Ibrahim sent Amr bin Shaddad to Persia where the
Governor Ismail bin Ali bin Abdullah bin Abbas bin Abdul Muttalib and his
brother Abdus Samad clashed with him but they suffer a defeat and Amr bin
Shaddad occupied Persia. Similarly, Haroon bin Shams Ajli was ordered to march
towards Wasit and he defeated Mansoor's Governor Haroon bin Humaid Ayadi and
captured Wasit. In short, the day Mohammad Mahdi and Isa bin Musa clashed with
each other leading to Muhammad Mahdi's martyrdom, Basra, Persia Wasit and a big
part of Iraq had gone out of Mansoor's control. Syria was soon to go out of his
hands and the Kufans had also been waiting and watching.
Mansoor's government stood no chance
of survival. Ibrahim revolted in Basra on 1 Ramadan and continued the series of
victories until the end of the month. Immediately after the end of Ramadan
Ibrahim received the news of Mohammad Mahdi's death. He offered the prayer for
the Eid at the end of Ramadan and in the sermon announced the news. When the
news was heard by those who were engaged in fighting with Mansoor's
administrator, their spirits were dampened. It encouraged Mansoor's commanders
and administrators. When the people of Basra received the news, they recognized
Ibrahim as their caliph in place of Mohammad Mahdi and were ready to show their
readiness more than they did before. There were many Kufans among Ibrahim's men
in Basra.
The people from Basra wanted Basra
to be the capital and command center for deploying troops in the surrounding
areas. But the Kufans disagreed with them and suggested that Ibrahim should
take his army towards Kufa where the inhabitants were waiting for him. Ibrahim
agreed with them and made up his mind to go to Kufa after making his son his
deputy there. When the news reached Mansoor, he was very disturbed. Immediately
he sent a messenger to Isa bin Musa asking him to come at once to him at Kufa.
He wrote to Mahdi in Khorasan and asked him to invade Persia immediately. So
all the administrators who were safe from danger were called. He asked those
who were near to Mansoor's commanders not to lose heart.
Troops from all sides began to pour
in fast until a one hundred thousand man army collected in Kufa. When he had
received the news of Ibrahim's attack, Mansoor did not change his clothes for
50 days. He often kept sitting on his prayer mat. Ibrahim bin Abdullah with a
one hundred thousand man army camped at a distance of 30 or 40 miles from Kufa,
and Isa bin Musa arrived in Kufa with his own army. Mansoor sent Isa bin Musa
to confront Ibrahim and deployed Humaid bin Qahtaba at the vanguard. Ibrahim
was advised to dig a moat around the military camp but his men said that they
were not the attacked but the attackers so no moat was needed. His men advised
Ibrahim to send soldiers to fight in divisions so that in case of the defeat of
one division of the army another fresh division might be sent in as
reinforcements.
However, Ibrahim disapproved of the
suggestion and ordered the soldiers to stand and fight by arraying themselves
according to the traditional way. Humaid bin Qahtaba fled after being defeated.
Isa tried to stop him by rebuking him but he did not stop. Isa then threw
himself into the battle. However, most of his men could not stand the pressure
and started fleeing. Isa still stood firm on the battlefield but when there was
no doubt of his imminent defeat, Jafar and Muhammad, Sulaiman bin Ali's sons,
arrived behind Ibrahim with their army. Ibrahim's soldiers grew nervous at the
fresh invasion and diverted their attention towards them. Isa regrouped his men
and attacked and the runaway soldiers rallied.
Humaid bin Qahtaba also regrouped
and attacked with his men. Ibrahim's army was between the invading armies,
which cut the battlefield in size and his soldiers were not able to fight
wholeheatedly. At last, they became disarrayed and began to flee. Finally, only
400 men were left with him. They were surrounded by Isa, Humaid, Mohammad and
Jafar. An arrow pierced Ibrahim's neck, which proved fatal. His men dismounted
him from their horses, made a circle around him and continued defending and
fighting.
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