Abu Muslim

Abū Muslim , with full name ʿAbd ar-Rahmān ibn Muslim al-Churāsānī ( Arabic أبو مسلم عبد الرحمن بن مسلم الخراساني; * according to some sources around 720 in Merw , according to others in the vicinity of Isfahan ; † February 12, 755 in Kufa in Iraq ) was the leader of a religious-political movement in Khorasan , which resulted in the overthrow of the Umayyads and the rise of the Abbasids . He is considered a Persian national hero and resistance fighter.

Origin and early years

There are no reliable sources about the origin of Abu Muslim. He may have been a slave of Persian descent in the service of an Arab tribe in Kufa . However, there are also Arabic sources that optionally identify him as a member of the Abbasid family, as a Kurd , as a Yemenite , or as a descendant of the ancient Iranian aristocracy. Abu Muslim grew up in Kufa, a source of political unrest at the time. At the age of about 20 he was one of the followers of al-Mughira bin Sa'id, the founder of the extreme Shiite sect of the Mughiriyya.

His role in the Abbasid Revolution

In 741 or 742 he was released from prison in Kufa by leaders of the Abbasid movement of Khorasan. The head of the Abbasid family , Ibrahim bin Muhammad, gave him the name "Abu Muslim" and a few years later sent him to Khorasan to initiate and lead a revolt against the Umayyad caliphate through propaganda agitation. Initially, Abu Muslim was rejected by the Shiite leaders in Khorasan. At a meeting during the next pilgrimage, Ibrahim insisted on the leadership of Abu Muslim against the rebels. Abu Muslim settled in Merw and spread the Abbasid propaganda there with the help of missionaries. As a result, his following grew rapidly.

On June 15, 747, Abu Muslim hoisted the "Black Banner" and began the revolt against the Umayyads. He conquered Herat , Balkh and other cities with the help of the Arab tribe of the Yamani . At the turn of the year 747/748 he conquered Merw, the capital of the governor Nasr ibn Saiyār , who escaped and was killed after further fighting. Abu Muslim suppressed a revolt in Balkh and took power. He had the competing rebel ʿAbdallāh ibn Muʿāwiya from the descendants of Abū Tālib eliminated. From Merw from Abū Muslim general Qahtaba bin Shabib pursued the Umayyad forces in a western direction, which should lead to an end of the dynasty.

As governor in Khorasan

After as-Saffah - Ibrahim's brother - was proclaimed caliph, Abū Muslim made the oath of allegiance to the new caliph and took over the office of governor in Khorasan. In 750/751 Abu Muslim suppressed a Shiite revolt in Bukhara and let his general Abu Da'ud advance eastwards. Caliph as-Saffah was reluctant to execute the governor of Kufas due to the influence of Abu Muslim, Abu Salama. Abu Muslim, however, not only agreed with the murder, but also hired as-Saffah's murderer. His relationship with the caliph gradually deteriorated due to mutual distrust. In 754 Abū Muslim asked the caliph in writing to direct the pilgrimage to Mecca . The caliph allowed him to do so, but then changed his mind and transferred the direction of the pilgrimage to his brother Al-Mansur , who was governor of Jazira and Armenia at the time. In this way he hoped to have better control of Abu Muslim.

Confrontation with al-Mansour and assassination

When Saffāh died in June 754 after he had designated al-Mansūr as his heir to the throne, Abū Muslim and Mansūr were just returning from Hajj to Mecca. According to a report narrated by at-Tabarī , Abū Muslim was reluctant to congratulate al-Mansūr on the caliphate. However, another report narrated by at-Tabarī says that Abū Muslim al-Mansūr swore an oath of allegiance without delay and promised him to defend him against his uncle ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAlī , who also claimed the caliphate. The reports agree that Abū Muslim was subsequently sent by al-Mansūr to fight ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAlī. When the latter found out about it, he had numerous Khorasans in his army killed, as he feared that they would overflow to Abū Muslim. In November 754 Abū Muslim was able to defeat ʿAbdallāh at Nisibis .

After the victory there was a dispute between Abu Muslim and al-Mansour over the spoils of war made at Nisibis. In order to be able to better control him and to separate him from his followers, the caliph appointed Abu Muslim as governor of Egypt and Syria, but Abu Muslim refused to take over this office and went home to Khorasan. After a lengthy exchange of letters, in which the caliph ordered Abū Muslim to come to the capital under threat of death, and various attempts at mediation, Abū Muslim was finally persuaded to visit the caliph in Iraq. He was disarmed in the palace and killed by five hired murderers on the orders of and in front of the caliph's eyes.

Posthumous adoration

In the eastern provinces of the Abbasid Empire, the memory of Abū Muslim remained very much alive. Just two months after his murder, the Zoroastrian Sunbādh gathered the followers of Abu Muslim around him in Nishapur and rose up against the Abbasids. With an army of 100,000 men he moved west and threatened to destroy the Kaaba . His army was defeated 70 days later between Rey and Hamadan by a general al-Mansūrs, 30,000 of his followers are said to have been killed in the process. Various religious-political groups such as the Rāwandīya viewed Abū Muslim as an imam or divine incarnation. Abū Muslim's life was also shaped literarily in various epics, for example in the Achbār Abī Muslim ṣāḥib ad-daʿwa by Abū ʿAbdallāh Muhammad b. ʿUmrān Marzubānī and the Abū Muslim-nāma of Abū Tāhir Tarsūsī. With Abu Moslem Mashhad there is also an Iranian soccer club named after him.

literature

• Jacob Lassner: "Abū Muslim al-Khurāsānī: The emergence of a secret agent from Kurāsān, Irāq, or was ist Iṣfahān?" In Journal of the American Oriental Society 104 (1984) 165-175.
• I. Melikoff: Abū Muslim, le 'porte-hache' du Khorasan dans la tradition épique turco-iranienne. Paris 1962.
• Sabatino Moscati : Art. "Abū Muslim" in The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition , Vol. I., p. 141.
• Sabatino Moscati : “Studi su Abu Muslim” I-III, in Rendiconti dell 'Accademia nazionale dei Lincei 8/4 (1949) 323-335 and 474-495, 8/5 (1950) 89-105.
• Franz-Christoph Muth: The caliph al-Manṣūr in the beginning of his caliphate (136/754 to 145/762): from d. arab. Chronicle of aṭ-Tabarī trans. u. with histor. u. prosograph. Note provided . Frankfurt / Main 1988.
• G. H. Yūsofī: Art. “Abū Moslem Ḵorāsānī” in Encyclopædia Iranica Vol. I, pp. 341-344 online

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Holger Preißler in Biographien zur Weltgeschichte , VEB Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin 1989, p. 25
2. ↑ See Moscati.
3. ↑ Florian Illerhaus: Hashimite Propaganda. Conditions for the Success of the Abbasid Revolution . Munich. 2011. ISBN 978-3-640-80572-3
4. ↑ Cf. KV Zetterstéen: Art. "ʿAbdallāh ibn Muʿāwiya" in The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition Vol. I, pp. 48b-49a.
5. ↑ Cf. Muth 13.
6. ↑ See Muth 14.
7. ↑ Cf. Muth 2f.
8. ↑ Cf. Muth 12, 16-17.
9. ↑ See Muth 17.
10. ↑ Cf. Muth 25-28.
11. ↑ See Patricia Crone : The Nativist Prophets of Early Islamic Iran. Rural Revolt and Local Zoroastrianism . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2012. 32-40.
12. ↑ See Yūsofī on this.