I. Introduction
At the time of the reign of Marwan bin Muhammad, revolts began to take place all over the Muslim Empire. The simultaneous rising of various sections proved too difficult to overcome and Marwan was forced to abandon his throne and flee for his life. He ran from city to city, but everywhere the people turned away from him. Wherever he went, he was relentlessly pursued by the army of the Bani Abbas, who finally killed him in Egypt in 132 A.H. With the death of Marwan the reign of the Bani Umayyah finally came to an end and a bloody chapter of history was closed.
The first people to begin the struggle against the Bani Umayyah were the Shia and the descendants of Imam Ali (A), who were also the first to sacrifice their lives and property in their efforts to overthrow the cruel regime.
The Bani Abbas were descendants of Abbas, the uncle of the Prophet (S). They were quick to capitalise on the general feeling that the Caliphate should be restored to the members of the family of the Prophet (S), the Ahlul Bayt (A). Their slogan was "Ar-Riza min Aale Muhammad". Their slogan meant that they were fighting to restore the rights of the Ahlul Bayt (A) and thus they gained widespread support. Their leader, Saffah, sent his commanders to all the strongholds of the Bani Umayyah to hunt and destroy them. Having subdued most of the followers of the Bani Umayyah, they took over the reins of power and Saffah became the first ruler of the Bani Abbas in 132 A.H.
II The Bani Abbas Kings.
1. Abul Abbas Saffah.
Saffah spent the four years of his rule in destroying the last traces of the Bani Umayyah. He captured their friends from far and near and subjected them to torture and persecution. He was determined not to rest until he ensured that any threat from the former ruling family was eliminated. In his paranoia he began to kill even those people whose loyalty he was unsure about. Thus all over the empire people were killed on flimsy excuses. The people now began to realise that these new rulers were no less blood-thirsty then their predecessors.
Abul Abbas was given the title "Saffah" because of having shed excessive blood. He once invited 80 members of the Bani Umayyah family for a meal, saying that he wished to talk about peace. On their arrival, he ordered them to be killed, and carpets were then spread on their half-dead bodies. Saffah then began to have his meal while the people lay dying under the carpets. He declared that he had never enjoyed such a delicious meal.
There is no doubt that the Bani Umayyah deserved to be killed, but this behaviour of Saffah was not justified. It indicated the presence of a criminal and deranged mind no less evil than the Bani Umayyah.
Saffah did not kill or harm any Shia during his rule. This was not due to any love he had for them, because the Bani Abbas proved to be worse enemies of the Shia in later years than Bani Umayyah had ever been.
The reasons he did not touch the Shia were:
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In any case, during the bloody days of the transition of power from the Bani Umayyah to the Bani Abbas, Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (A) and Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq (A) were left in relative peace.
They took advantage of this opportunity to set up schools to propagate the teachings of Islam according to the Ahlul Bayt (A). As a result we have a wealth of material today on matters of religious law, philosophy, morals and commentary of the Qur'an etc., from that period.
Saffah died in 136 A.H. and was succeeded by his brother Mansoor.
2. Mansoor Dawanaqi
Mansoor is considered to have laid the foundations of the Abbaside Dynasty. The descendants of Imam Hasan (A) were dealt with terribly. Mansoor gathered many of them and imprisoned them in chains. He never asked about them again and they perished of starvation.
During the reign of Mansoor, Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq (A) advised the Shia to remain silent and obey, because of the deceitful nature of the king. This time was used by the Imam (A) to spread the teachings of Islam to a large number of students.
Mansoor was not satisfied with the silence of the Imam (A) and once remarked,
"Although I have killed more than a thousand descendants of the daughter of Muhammad, I have not yet killed their leader and chief".
He finally succeeded in his evil intentions and got the Imam (A) poisoned in 148 A.H.
Mansoor killed an untold number of Shia and enjoyed cruelty, inventing different ways to kill people. He struck whips on the eyes of people so they went blind, pulled down houses on the heads of the owners and placed them in walls and buried them alive. He finally died in 158 A.H. after having ruled for 22 years.
THE BANI ABBAS - PART 2
3. Mahdi.
After the death of Mansoor, his son Mahdi came to power. He was no less brutal than his father. Mahdi died in 169 A.H. and was succeeded by his brother Haadi.
4. Haadi
Haadi only ruled for 15 months, and was a cruel and ill-mannered man. Although Haadi's life was short, he performed enough notorious acts to have his name recorded in the register of the inhuman criminals of the Muslim nation.
5. Haroon ar-Rashid
Haadi was succeeded by his brother Haroon ar-Rashid, who ruled from 170 A.H. to 193 A.H. Haroon became the most famous of the Bani Abbas kings, and anecdotes from his life have been recorded in the stories of the "Arabian Nights". He acquired his reputation due to the great advancement of learning, art and culture during his time.
Haroon administered the affairs of the state well and built mosques, schools, hospitals, houses, bridges, roads and canals throughout the empire. Much of the famous architecture of this period was due to the skills of the Bermecids, who served Haroon for 17 years. In the end, their own merits caused their downfall at the hands of the jealous Haroon.
In spite of his contribution towards improving the general standard of life of the Muslims, the policy of Haroon towards the descendants of Imam Ali (A) showed his great hatred for them. His outward appearance was one of a considerate king, while behind the scenes he set about destroying all traces of the descendants of Imam Ali (A).
The Bani Abbas had recently begun to claim that they were nearer relatives of the Prophet (S), because their link was through a male, while the Ahlul Bayt (A) were related through a female.
Haroon also caused the imprisonment of Imam Musa al-Kazim (A). He transferred him from one prison to another and finally poisoned him through Sindi bin Shahak in Baghdad.
Haroon's rule finally ended after 23 years and he died in Toos after ordering that allegiance be given to his son Amin.
6. Amin
Amin ruled for 4 years during which he was too busy leading a life of pleasure to cause much trouble to the descendants of Imam Ali (A). However, he could not resist the ambitious plans of his younger brother Ma'mun. A war broke out between the two brothers and Amin was killed.
7. Ma'mun.
During the rule of Ma'mun, the Shia faith became firmly rooted in most of the Islamic cities and many of his own ministers were Shia. Ma'mun realised that the former persecution of the Shia had not wiped them out but had instead resulted in the increased determination of the Shia to preserve their faith.
Ma'mun recognised that the Shia were a powerful force and in order to keep them quiet, he deceitfully declared himself to be a Shia. Ma'mun knew that Imam Ali ar-Riza (A) was held in the greatest esteem by the Shia, so he ordered the Imam (A) to come to Baghdad and forced him to accept the position of heir to the throne.
Ma'mun was no less evil than his father, because he ultimately managed to kill Imam Ali ar-Riza (A). Ma'mun died in 210 A.H., and after him the oath of allegiance was taken for Mu'tasim Billah.
8. Mu'tasim Billah
Mu'tasim ruled for 8 years. He imprisoned Imam Muhammad at-Taqi (A) but then released him and allowed him to go to Madina. However, a few years later he had him recalled to Baghdad where he got the Imam's (A) wife Ummul Fazl, daughter of Ma'mun, to poison him.
9. Wathiq.
After the death of Mu'tasim, Wathiq came to power and he ruled for 5 years. It has been said that Wathiq honoured the descendants of Imam Ali (A), behaved kindly towards them and gave them wealth. Wathiq died in 232 A.H.
10. Mutawakkil.
After the death of Wathiq the oath of allegiance was given to his brother Mutawakkil who ruled for 14 years. Mutawakkil was a cruel man who became notorious for his free living, immodesty and intoxication. He threw parties of pleasure, drink and vain talk. During the rule of Mutawakkil the state of the Islamic Empire began to deteriorate, as corruption and evil behaviour became widespread.
Mutawakkil did not content himself with torturing those who were alive but also showed disrespect to the dead. He demolished the tomb of Imam Husain (A) and the extension around it, and restrained people from performing Ziyarat. Whoever attempted to do so was either imprisoned or killed.
Mutawakkil was finally killed by his own son Muntasir who could not stand and watch the evil acts of his father. The main reason he killed Mutawakkil was because the man used to abuse Bibi Fatima (A).
The power of the Abbaside Dynasty began to decline after Mutawakkil, who was the last king of any influence. Other factions then rose in the world of Islam, amongst them the Buwayyad, the Hamadani and the Fatimid Dynasties.
As a consequence of this development, the Shia were able to breathe in peace. During these later periods many great Shia scholars were able to contribute to our present day knowledge of Islam.
In all there were 37 kings of Bani Abbas, and their reign lasted till 656 A.H. The kings who ruled after Mutawakkil upto the time of Ghaybat (Concealment) of our 12th Imam (A) are:
11. Muntasir. Till 247 A.H. (9 months).
12. Mustain. Till 252 A.H. (5 years).
13. Mu'taz. Till 255 A.H. (3 years).
Mu'taz caused the death of our 10th Imam (A).
14. Mu'tadi. Till 256 A.H. (1 year).
15. Mu'tamad. Till 279 A.H. (21 years).
Mu'tamad caused the death of our 11th Imam (A).