Page:Arabic Thought and Its Place in History.djvu/112

 and al-'Abbas belonged: but in the minds of many of the Shi'ites it was taken to mean the followers of Abu Hashim, the grandson of Al-Hanafiya.

Muhammad b. 'Ali died in 126 A.H. leaving three sons, Ibrahim, Abu l-Abbas, and Abu Ja'far, the first of these being recognised as his successor. About the same time Abu Muslim, who became governor of Khurasan in 129 comes into prominence. It is dubious whether he was an Arab or a native of 'Iraq (cf. Masudi. vi. 59), indeed, the claim was made that he was a descendant of Gandarz, one of the ancient kings of Persia (id.) Now Khurasan was the area most disaffected towards the 'Umayyads, and there the Hashimite missionaries had been most active and successful. Abu Muslim threw himself into this work heartily and began gathering together an armed body of men who before long numbered 200,000. Information and warning was sent to the Khalif Marwan II. but was ignored: indeed the court at Damascus took no notice until 130. Abu Muslim at length openly raised the black standard as the signal of revolt against the 'Umayyads whose official colour was white. Then all the Khalif did was to seize Muhammad b. 'Ali's son Ibrahim and put him to death. The other two sons escaped and fled to Kufa where they were sheltered and concealed by some Shi'ites, the second son Abu l-'abbas, known to history as as-Saffah "the butcher" being recognised as the Hashimite leader.

Abu Muslim's success was rapid and complete, and in 132 the 'Umayyad dynasty was overthrown and