The First Dynasty of Islam: The Umayyad Caliphate ad 661-750

The Overthrow of the Umayyad Caliphate
of the organisation of the 
da‘wa
 in Kufa was given to Abu Salama.
All of these changes seem to have improved the relations between
the Khurasani Hashimiyya, the Kufan organisation, and the
‘Abbasid imam, but still the Khurasanis appeared unwilling to act
merely as the servants of others. This should not be regarded as
surprising because by this time the movement in Khurasan must
have been bigger and more important than that in Kufa. In Khurasan
it was not confined to the area of Merv, but had branches in various
other parts of the province, and we hear of a leading group of 12
nuqaba’
 (heads) and 70 
du‘at
 (propagandists) who ran it.
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 It was the
appointment of Abu Muslim as his personal representative in
Khurasan by the imam Ibrahim which finally ensured that the
Khurasani Hashimiyya would work for the ‘Abbasids.
Traditions about the origins of Abu Muslim are vague and
sometimes contradictory, and it is reported that he himself
discouraged enquiries about his antecedents, stressing that he was a
Muslim who had identified himself with Khurasan (he was probably
not born there) and that was all that was needed to be known. After
the ‘Abbasids had gained power he continued to have a large
personal following in Khurasan especially, and his breach with, and
subsequent death on the orders of, the ‘Abbasid caliph al-Mansur
meant that there were additional reasons for the further elaboration
of his image by his supporters and opponents. It is difficult,
therefore, to say anything certain about him before he came into
contact with the Hashimiyya in Kufa, attracted the attention of the
head of the propaganda there, Abu Salama, and was subsequently
taken up by the imam Ibrahim who made him his 
mawla
. It was this
last event which made it possible for Abu Muslim to be referred to as
one of ‘the family’ 
(ahl al-bayt)
.
After sending him as his personal messenger to the 
da‘wa
 in
Khurasan on a number of occasions, Ibrahim finally sent him there
to take over the leadership of the Hashimiyya in the province. The
date and circumstances are variously reported. It is not clear whether
it was in 746 or 747, whether the Khurasanis had asked Ibrahim to
send them a leader or whether Ibrahim sent him with the aim of
imposing his control over the Hashimiyya and suppressing local
tendencies to independence. At any rate it seems that Sulayman b.
Kathir, the leader of the Hashimiyya in the Merv area at that time,
was unwilling to accept Abu Muslim’s suzerainty, but the latter was
able to exploit divisions within the Hashimiyya to establish his own
position, even though Sulayman continued to be important for some

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The Overthrow of the Umayyad Caliphate
115
time; Abu Muslim was only able to deal with him finally, having him
killed, after the overthrow of the Umayyads had been achieved.
17
It was the summer of 747 that the open revolt of the Hashimiyya
began with the unfurling of the black flags which had been sent to
Khurasan by the imam Ibrahim, in the village of Sikadanj near
Merv. Sikadanj belonged to the Yemeni Khuza‘a and was the
dwelling place of the Khuza‘i Sulayman b. Kathir. It was he who led
the first prayer service on behalf of the ‘Abbasid imam, possibly on
the great feast which marks the end of the Muslim month of fasting
in Ramadan. Moving around among the villages outside Merv, Abu
Muslim was able to raise a force of some size, and we are told that
he entered their names on a new 
diwan,
 according to their place of
origin, not, as was the Umayyad practice, according to tribal
attachment. It was at this juncture that the army factions in Merv
attempted to compose their quarrel and even sent a force against the
Hashimiyya, but Abu Muslim was able to repel it without much
difficulty. Having reopened the divisions between Mudar and Yemen
in Merv by means already mentioned, and after a period in which his
support was sought by both factions, Abu Muslim came out in favour
of the Yemen and was able to enter Merv at the head of his own men.
This was most probably early in 748. On the following day Nasr b.
Sayyar abandoned the town.
Even at this late stage, it seems, the allegiance of the Hashimiyya
to the ‘Abbasids was not widely proclaimed, and the oath of
allegiance administered after the entry into Merv continued to talk
vaguely of 
al-rid
a
 min 
a
l Muhammad
. To what extent the Yemeni
faction in the town, led by ‘Ali b. Juday‘ al-Kirmani, now made
common cause with the Hashimiyya forces is not entirely clear, but
it seems that the two forces were not merged and it may be that for
some time ‘Ali al-Kirmani saw himself as making use of Abu
Muslim for his own ends. Soon, however, it was clear that Abu
Muslim was the dominant figure, and he was able to dispatch the
forces of the Hashimiyya under the command of Qahtaba b. Shabib
al-Ta’i westwards in pursuit of Nasr b. Sayyar.
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