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

The ‘Abbasids and the Hashimiyya
Al-‘Abbas was an uncle of the Prophet Muhammad and a
descendant of Hashim, the twin brother of the Umayyads’ ancestor
‘Abd Shams. Traditions about al-‘Abbas are of questionable
historical value since there were obvious reasons why proponents
and opponents of his descendants’ dynasty should want to put
stories about him, for or against, into circulation. His son ‘Abd Allah
is a major figure in the sphere of Muslim tradition, where he is
frequently cited as an authority on the interpretation of the Koran
and legal questions. Again, it is virtually impossible to get a clear
impression of an historical figure, but he is said to have been a
supporter of ‘Ali against Mu‘awiya although after the former’s
death he became more neutral, even tolerant of Umayyad rule. It was
not until after the death of ‘Abd Allah b. al-‘Abbas, in 687–8, that
the ‘Abbasid family appears to have developed political ambitions
of its own.
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Around the end of the seventh century the family moved away
from their home in the Hijaz to Syria and acquired an estate at
Humayma in Jordan south of the Dead Sea. It may be that the move

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The Overthrow of the Umayyad Caliphate
was connected with developing political ambitions, but tradition
says that ‘Abd Allah b. al-‘Abbas, who had ordered the move before
his death, advised his son to give allegiance to the Umayyad caliph,
and it seems that the family was on reasonable terms with the
Umayyads for some time after the move. In the Hijaz, it is reported,
the ‘Abbasids had been close to Muhammad b. al-Hanafiyya, that
son of ‘Ali who, perhaps unwittingly, became the focus of the hopes
of Mukhtar and his followers in Kufa during the second civil war.
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Whether or not this was true, it is certainly the case that the
‘Abbasids later justified their own title to the imamate by the claim
that it had been given to them by Muhammad b. al-Hanafiyya’s son,
Abu Hashim.
According to this claim, which was the ‘Abbasids’ chief
justification for their rule until they abandoned it and substituted
another around 780, when Abu Hashim was on his deathbed in the
house of the head of the ‘Abbasid family, Muhammad b. ‘Ali, in
Humayma about 717, he named Muhammad b. ‘Ali as his successor.
It is possible that this was just a story designed to give the ambitions
of the ‘Abbasids some justification, but it does seem in fact that the
leading supporters of Abu Hashim’s claims to the imamate in
succession to his father transferred their allegiance to Muhammad b.
‘Ali after Abu Hashim’s death. The ‘Abbasids indeed took over the