EVENTS AND HAPPENINGS:

Ø   Benu Umayya:

        Marwan the Ass as he was nicknamed

Ø   Multiple revolts:  Benu Umayya toppled and Benu Abbas take over

Ø   Benu Abbas:

Al‑Saffah

Al‑Mansoor, brother of Al-Saffah

Al-Mahdi, son of Al-Mansoor

Al-Haadi, son of Al-Mahdi

Al-Rashid, son of Al-Mahdi

Ø   Baghdad the capital

Ø   The Monarchy of Benu Abbas

Ø   The use of surnames

 AL-SAFFAH  
Ruled 5 years, died: age 43

AL-SAFFAH'S BACKGROUND:

1. Al‑Saffah's mother was the previous wife of Abdul Malik son of Marwan of Benu Umayya.

2. Al-Saffah grew up in a house very resentful of Benu Umayya and a sympathizer of Ahlul Bayt in the beginning.  Al-Saffah learned:

   1. to be cautious, and not to take anything for granted.

   2. how to plan well and execute when needed.

   3. to be hardy and tough yet enduring.

3. Along with his family (Benu Abbas) Al-Saffah spent his youth devising a strategy to get rid of Benu Umayya.

4. Al-Saffah had attended many of the discourses of Imam Al-Saadiq in Medina.

THE PERSON OF AL-SAFFAH:

1. Al‑Saffah was entrusted the Khilaafah because of the success of the strategy to topple Benu Umayya, then seize power in 132H.

2. Al-Saffah established the state on the basis of all force:

   1. he set the Abbasi pattern chiefly in the sense that he slaughtered treacherously, and, according to some accounts, with gross brutality, his opponents and as many members of the Umayya family as he could lay hands on.

   2. he did not object to the digging out from the graves the remains of the Khalifas of Benu Umayya, to be burnt or thrown away.

3. Al-Khallal was an ardent supporter of Ahlul Bayt, and was the first appointed Wazir of Benu Abbas, (the second strongest man after Al-Saffah) over the country.  Al-Khallal was a highly learned person and an extremely efficient administrator. (Al-Khallal yearned for Ahlul Bayt to take the Khilaafah when Benu Umayya were toppled.  He sent three letters, one to Imam Al-Saadiq, the other to Abdullah Ibn Al-Hasan, and the third to someone else.  He urged them to accept the Khilaafah, but Al-Saadiq rejected the offer and urged the others to do likewise. See  Murooj Al-Dhahab, Al-Mas'oodi, Vol. 3, Page 253.)  Al-Khallal was killed by unidentified people, (Some say by Abu-Muslim others say by way of Al-Saffah's plan because Al-Khallal was a supporter of Ahlul Bayt).

4. Al-Saffah was a good-looking person who relished food, enjoyable company, good stories, nice narratives and anecdotes.  For nights of gaiety and pleasure he began a custom of sitting behind a curtain separating himself from the entertainers. (Murooj Al-Dhahab, Al-Mas'oodi, Vol. 3, Page 265.)

AL-SAFFAH'S ADMINISTRATION:

1. Al-Saffah built Al-Anbaar to be the capital city, in which he died.

2. He tried to consolidate power by appointing many of Benu Abbas' family members and their loyalists to all sensitive and prestigious positions in his government.

   1. He continued the Monarchy concept as had done Benu Umayya before. 

   2. His power rested less on either Iraqi or Syrian garrison-town Arabs, than on the Arab and Khurasani Persian gentry and their peasant troops, many of whom presumably wanted him to play the absolute ruler as had the Persian kings of old.

3. Al-Saffah's unconstrained use of power announced unmistakably that his regime would meet such requirements.

AHLUL BAYT AT THE TIME OF AL-SAFFAH:

1. The teaching at the Institute of Ahlul Bayt was in full force, unhampered.

2. Al-Kadhim, still very young, was actively learning at the hands of his father Imam Al-Saadiq.

3. The Institute of Ahlul Bayt along with most of the Piety-minded societies were actively teaching the Shari'ah as the ideal basis for Islamic culture.

AL-MANSOOR  
Ruled for 22 years, died: age 63

AL-MANSOOR'S BACKGROUND:

1. Al‑Mansoor's mother was Sallama, from North Africa —Berber stock.

2. Al-Mansoor grew up in the same house as that of his brother, Al-Saffah, and like him he was very resentful of Benu Umayya and a sympathizer of Ahlul Bayt in the beginning.  He learned:

   1. to be highly suspicious and cautious, and exceedingly calculating,

   2. to be very efficient in planning and cautiously executing his strategy,

   3. to be rugged and durable yet enduring.

3. Along with his family (Benu Abbas) Al-Mansoor spent his youth devising a strategy to get rid of Benu Umayya.

4. Al-Mansoor had attended many of the discourses of Imam Al-Saadiq in Medina.

5. Al-Mansoor was chased after by Benu Umayya because of his plans against them; he successfully eluded them (he used to dress as a bedouin in disguise and relocate frequently in various areas to evade the spies of Benu Umayya, who were hunting him everywhere).

THE PERSON OF AL-MANSOOR:

1. Al-Mansoor succeeded his brother (Al‑Saffah) as the Khalifa.

2. Al‑Mansoor proceeded to round out the Abbasi absolutist imperial structure:

   1. Al‑Mansoor treacherously killed Abu‑Muslim, a pivotal person who brought Benu Abbas to power. (Abu‑Muslim was the leader of the forces that eventually toppled Benu Umayya.

   2. He was the one who used the black dress and black flags as a symbol for Benu Abbas, to express their mourning for the members of Ahlul Bayt. (See  Murooj Al-Dhahab, Al-Mas'oodi, Vol. 3, Page 239.)

3. When by murder he rid himself of the most prominent Shi'is, he was by the same act ridding himself of men who had figured prominently in bringing Benu Abbas' family to power, and therefore were in a position of relative independence toward it, quite apart from ideals.

4. When he put down the rebellion of Al‑Nafs Al‑Zakiyah at Mecca and forced the U'lamaa (Scholars) to choose either hopeless opposition or accommodation with him, Al-Mansoor was at the same time asserting the independence of the monarchy from limitations on the part of any subordinate group —that is, of any sector of the privileged elements in the population.

AL-MANSOOR'S ADMINISTRATION:

1. A gifted administrator, Ibn al‑Mu'qaffa' urged Al-Mansoor that in addition to the direct military basis of his power he should: (Eventually Ibn al‑Mu'qaffa' was executed for being Zandeeq (the socially abhorred heretic).)

   1. rally the agrarian classes (in particular, conciliating those families that were still oriented to the Marwani regime and its values), and

   2. tie the religious specialists to the state by:

   3. making the Maaliki of the Piety‑minded U'lamaa into an officially established order, and

   4. capping such a priestly structure by asserting a final Khalifa authority in questions of Fiqh law.

2. Such a course was made difficult, however, by the very conditions of Abbasi vic­tory: its dependence on the Khurasani animus against the Syrians, and their betrayal of Ahlul Bayt's cause which was very popular among many of the Piety‑minded.

3. Al‑Mansoor was concerned to control his newly‑won empire through a bureaucracy capable of minute supervision over every province.

   1. He found an un­scrupulous but highly talented secretary (kaatib, scribe) to organize the whole financial structure; Al-Wazir's work was sufficiently specialized that a single head of finances such as he was seemed thenceforth usually indispensable,

   2. and the position eventually evolved into that of the all‑powerful minister, the Wazir

4. Al‑Mansoor was noted for watching the finances closely —he was ridiculed as the penny pincher.  At his death he left a full treasury.

5. Al-Mansoor also was careful to build up a network of spies and informants to:

   1. keep down any future conspiracies such as had raised his own family to power,

   2. as well as to control by their information the various officials with their widely ramifying responsibilities.

6. Al-Mansoor built Baghdad to be capital of the empire. 

7. Al-Mansoor had failed to take over Spain, where an escaping Benu Umayya royalty set up an independent emirate.

8. Al-Mansoor also failed to regain the western parts of the Maghrib after Berber rebellions sometime before. (The Venture of Islam, Marshall Hodgson, Vol. 1. Page 285-286.)

9. At one occasion Al-Mansoor gave a talk in which:

   1. he belittled Imam Al-Hasan and falsely accused him of many incorrect things.

   2. he was the first person to coin the term Sunni to describe the non-Imamah asserters.

10. Al-Mansoor, ever suspicious of Imam Al-Hasan's progeny to rise against him:

    1. arrested more than 100 of them, men of different ages,

    2. incarcerated them in the underground part of the building without any light, and treated them with such abandon that when one died his body was left to decay and reek with stench.

    3. finally the roof of the prison was made to collapse and kill the rest who were still living.

    4. because of such brutality, numerous of Imam Al-Hasan's progeny left Medina to safety in far away areas. (Murooj Al-Dhahab, Al-Mas'oodi, Vol. 3, Page 298.)

11. Al-Mansoor suppressed revolts against him in a ruthless manner:

    1. revolt of Muhammad Al-Nafs Al-Zakiyah, and

    2. revolt of Ibrahim, brother of Al-Nafs Al-Zakiyah.

    3. Al-Mansoor put his own uncle in jail for 9 years, who was finally choked to death. (The uncle's name is Abdullah Ibn Ali, who was a leader of forces against Benu Umayya.  He revolted against the nascent Khilaafah of Al-Mansoor but failed, as a result was imprisoned for 9 years then killed by suffocation. (See Murooj Al-Dhahab, Al-Mas'oodi, Vol. 3, Page 305.)

12. Al-Mansoor continued the Monarchy concept as had done Benu Umayya before.

13. In a move to curb the influence of Ahlul Bayt, Al-Mansoor:

    1. courted Anas Ibn Malik and appointed him as the supreme religious head in Arabia, and made even the Governors of the Provinces subservient to him, and

    2. requested Ibn Malik to write his dissertation: Al-Mu'watta. (Ibn Malik had attended many of the discourses of the Institute of Ahlul Bayt.  At first he supported uprising against Al-Mansoor, then gave a verdict antagonist to the wishes of the government, therefore he was lashed to such an extent that his shoulder was dislocated.  As a result he changed and began to cooperate with the government and got their full support.  He became the head of the Maaliki school of thought and wrote Al-Mu'watta (in response to the wishes of Khalifa Al-Mansoor with the condition that he does not quote or mention Imam Ali at all).  See  Al-Saadiq and the Four Madh'habs, Vol. 1, Page 487 and 500.)

AHLUL BAYT AT THE TIME OF AL-MANSOOR:

During the first few years of the Al-Mansoor's Khilaafah:

1. The teaching at the Institute of Ahlul Bayt (Al-Howza Al-Ilmiyyah) was in full force, unhampered.

2. Al-Kadhim, a teenager by this time was an active participant in the affairs and operation of the Institute of Ahlul Bayt,

3. the Institute had reached its zenith by this period.

During later years of the Al-Mansoor's Khilaafah:

After a few years, ever distrustful and suspecting, Khalifa Al-Mansoor:

1.  utilized spies all over but in particular against the Institute of Ahlul Bayt.  This reduced the activities of the Institute to a great extent.  Al-Mansoor also:

2. summoned Imam Al-Saadiq several times to question him and be assured that Al-Saadiq had no intention to call the people against the throne of Benu Abbas.

3. put in jail Abu Hanifa, and is said to have poisoned him, because of Abu Hanifa's stand in support of Ahlul Bayt. (Abu Hanifa attended the Institute of Ahlul Bayt for 2 years.  He was a supporter of the Zaidi and Hassani uprisings against the government of Al-Mansoor.  Abu Hanifa was put in jail then poisoned causing his death at the age of 70 years because of either of the following:

   1.  his support of Ahlul Bayt (Zaid Ibn Ali and Muhammad Al-Nafs Al-Zakiyah uprisings), or

   2.  Lack of cooperation with and unacceptance of the position Al-Mansoor's government wished him to take. (See Manaaqib Al-Makki, Vol. 2, Page 27 and Al-Saadiq and the Four Madh'habs, Vol. 1, Page 319.)

4. tried to destroy (sever) the line of heritage of Ahlul Bayt after Imam Al-Saadiq had died but he did not succeed. 

5. Imam Al-Saadiq died [said of poisoning] within 10 years of Al-Mansoor's Khilaafah.

6. Al-Kadhim is the Imam.

7. Birth of Al-Ridha.

8. Khalifa Al-Mansoor did not interfere with Imam Al-Kadhim, since during the last 10 years of Al-Mansoor's life he was confident that his dominion was firm, secure, and stable.

AL-MAHDI SON OF AL-MANSOOR  
Ruled 10 years, died: age 43

THE PERSON OF AL-MAHDI son of AL-MANSOOR:

1. Khalifa Al‑Mahdi made no great attempt to recover those distant provinces (Spain and Al-Maghrib).

2. In the main Al-Mahdi continued his father's policies but not with the same frugality.

3. Al-Mahdi was popular with the general public since:

   1. he refrained from the killings his father (Al-Mansoor) and uncle (Al-Saffah) indulged in,

   2. dealt in fairness with the public, and

   3. was liberal, generous but not extravagant, exactly the opposite of what his father Al-Mansoor was.

AL-MAHDI'S ADMINISTRATION:

1. Al-Mahdi's reign improved the strained relationship between the court and the highly dis­appointed Piety‑minded factions through both words and deeds:

2. a new but less enthusiastic attitude of the Jama’ah‑Sunni U'lamaa was that the days of Al-Khulafaa Al-Rashidoon had been a time apart, which Benu Abbas could never hope to rival.

3. Ahlul Bayt continued to be the opposition party notwithstanding the new stand of the Al-Jama’ah-Sunni U'lamaa.

4. Al-Mahdi made no attempt to soften the growing absolutism that seemed unavoidable.

5. Al-Mahdi succeeded to repel the raids on the frontiers against the Byzantine empire.

6. Al-Mahdi waged a vigorous campaign internally against the Zandeeqs (the socially abhorred Heretic).

7. By the end of Al-Mahdi's reign:

   1. the bulk of the U'lamaa of Al-Aammah (Al-Jama’ah) seem to have been reconciled to the Abbasi compromise, and thus

   2. the Abbasi Absolute Monarchy had gained the minimum institutional religious support that it needed.

AHLUL BAYT DURING KHILAAFAH OF AL-MAHDI SON OF MANSOOR:

1. In his thirties by now Imam Al-Kadhim continued his teachings but still cautiously.

2. Imam Al-Kadhim continued his stand in refusing to give the institutional support to the Monarchy of Benu Abbas.

3. Due to the prevailing conditions the size and activities of the Institute of Ahlul Bayt were very curtailed.

4. But instead, the teachings of Ahlul Bayt through their previous students were extremely active in other intellectual centers:  In Kufa, Basrah, Qum, Egypt, and now Baghdad, besides Medina and Mecca.

5. Khalifa Al-Mahdi summoned Imam Al-Kadhim to question him and be assured that there would be no attempt to topple his throne or undermine it.

6. Khalifa Al-Mahdi detained Imam Al-Kadhim in Baghdad, then released him after seeing a dream.

7. Al-Kadhim left Baghdad to continue his teachings in Medina.

8. Al-Ridha is a teenager by this time.

HAROON AL-RASHEED SON OF AL-MAHDI  
Ruled 23 years, died: age 44

THE PERSON OF HAROON AL-RASHEED:

1. Haroon Al-Rashid was tutored and cared for by the highly regarded Khalid Al-Barmaki, a convert to Islam from Buddhism.  The Barmaki family had been Buddhist priests of Balkh in Central Asia. (The Venture of Islam, Marshall Hodgson, Vol. 1, Page 295.  Also, Al-Barmaki was one of the influential men calling for the support of Benu Abbas against Benu Umayya, thus favored by Benu Abbas.  (See Murooj Al-Dhahab, Al-Mas'oodi, Vol. 3, Page 239.)

2. Al-Rashid lived a luxurious life yet emphasizing the importance of prudence, power, and the use of force if need be.

3. Khalid Al-Barmaki dissuaded Khalifa Al-Haadi (Al-Rashid’s brother) from removing Al-Rashid from the Khilaafah.  Because of this pivotal favor, Haroon Al-Rashid was extremely close to Al-Barmaki family and gave them the Wazir position for 17 years.

THE ADMINISTRATION OF HAROON AL‑RASHEED:

1. Haroon Al‑Rashid enjoyed the position of Khalifa at the peak of its splendor.

2. For a brief generation there was relatively unbroken peace and prosperity in the Khilaafah empire.

3. Al‑Rashid was recalled fondly as the great Monarch in the stories of the Thousand and One Nights.  His reign typifies, indeed, the society of classical Baghdad at its height.

4. Under the Khalifa, the government was now largely delegated to administrators, a Wazir as financial chief and generally head of government, and his secretaries in their many bureaus (diwans).

5. The Khalifa was not expected necessarily to take a personal role in government, but rather to be a court of ultimate appeal.

   1. It was to such an extent that even in matters of general policy they were left to the Wazir.

   2. Al‑Rashid tended to intervene chiefly in matters of his personal concern or special interest, such as charities.

   3. It was hoped, however, that a Khalifa would nevertheless perform two cere­monial obligations of great weight:

6. The Khalifa should lead the Friday Salat in the capital on special occasions at least. Al‑Rashid and most who followed him usually preferred, however, to leave the actual Prayer leadership to a representative, themselves simply forming a part of the body of worshippers, though safely apart in a specially partitioned area in the mosque, the maqsurah).

7.  The Khalifa was also to lead the armies on the great Jihad raids into Byzantine territory, even though he left actual military decisions to the Generals. (Al-Rashid preferred to alternate between leading the caravan of the Haj to Mecca one year and the Jihad army the next.)

Finances During Al-RASHEED'S Times:

1. In managing finances and even dispensing justice the Khalifa might leave them to others, but not the common Muslim undertakings, such as the public worship and the war against the Byzantine.

2. Al‑Rashid’s son (Al-Ma'Moon), who took the duties of governing very seriously, summed up the Khalifa duties under three heads:

   1. maintenance of justice in the courts,

   2. maintenance of security in the streets and highways, and

   3. maintenance of defense on the frontiers.

3. That is, the government had no concern with positive social ordering, with actively creating conditions for the good life (this was left to family tradition or to the efforts of the U'lamaa, according to taste); the government was simply to guarantee security: security against fraud, against force by individuals, and against force by alien groups.

4. If the central resources were used for:

   1. digging wells or

   2. even for building cities, this was looked on as private benevolence by the Khalifa or the Wazir; benevolence that is incumbent on them but as rich men rather than as officials.

5. However restricted his daily political role, in the affairs of high society the Khalifa was actively leader of all.

6. The Khalifa's family itself took first place, as in receiving, so in disbursing wealth, as patrons of the arts, of luxury, and of learning.

   1. Ibrahim al‑Mawsili (the most celebrated musician) and Abu‑Nuwas (the most celebrated poet of the time), both of whose lives were identified with wine and the gaiety of song, lived from the wealth of the court, as was to be expected.

   2. A cleverly turned poem could win a bag full of gold, a horse from the Khalifa's stables, a beautiful singing slave girl —or all three at once.

   3. On every occasion of courtly joy, liberality in giving (largesse) was scattered among the populace, rich and poor —in the form of coins tossed in abandon in the streets, of food served to all comers, or of robes of honor of luxurious silks or brocades passed out among favored courtiers.

   4. A less spectacular but more dependable way of rewarding talent or expressing favor was to grant an individual the revenue for life from a given village, or to give him lands out­right from the government's holdings .(The Venture of Islam, Marshall Hodgson, Vol. 1, Page 294.)

7. To counteract the enormous influence and popularity of Ahlul Bayt in the society, Al-Rashid appointed:

   1. Abu Yusuf Al-Qadhi to Supreme Justice, who would exclusively appoint Justices who subscribed only to the emerging Hanafi school of thought.

   2. The government's policy was now to promote the Hanafi Fiqh to the best of its ability.

(There are several anecdotes of how Abu‑Yusuf, chief Qadhi (Supreme Justice) and the most prominent legist of the Iraq after Abu‑Hanifa, solved legal puzzles for the Khalifa in such a way that pleased the Khalifa yet the letter of the Shari'ah law was maintained; whatever their genuineness.)

AHLUL BAYT DURING KHILAAFAH OF HAROON AL-RASHEED:

1. Imam Al-Kadhim continued to be Al-Marji', the Reference for matters of: Sunnah, Tafseer, Fiqh, and Ah'kaam, but above all quoting the Hadith.

2.  The scope of the Institute of Ahlul Bayt was restricted because of the antagonistic stand of the Khalifa and his government.

3. By this period of time the teachings of Ahlul Bayt had followers all over, widely spread apart in the nation.  There were representatives for Al-Kadhim in Iraq, Egypt, Persia, Arabia, among others, collecting Zakat and Khums money.  It had become an imposing power within the Empire.

4. The Institute of Ahlul Bayt continued to be the Islamicly non-bending and pure, without backing or support from the ruling class; it was standing on its own.  Its power was considered more of a grave threat to the throne than ever before.

5. Highly incensed, and fearful for his power's sake, Khalifa Haroon Al-Rashid had devised a plan:

6. While he was on his way from Mecca, he stopped at Medina and very unexpectedly gave orders to immediately arrest Imam Al-Kadhim and incarcerate him.

7. At the time Imam Al-Kadhim was 51 years old,

8. Imam Al-Kadhim was incarcerated for 4 years, and he died in imprisonment at the age of 55 years.