Q. & A. 711 to 1707 with solved Papers css 1971 to date

Persecution of the Umayyads
The first concern of the Abbasid Caliph Abu’l Abbas, who had referred to himself as al-Saffah (the blood shedder) in his inaugural Khutbah was to sweep from the face of the earth the entire Umayyad race and to justify his action he had adopted such title and many members of the ruling dynasty were ruthlessly murdered. At Palestine and Basrah not a single Umayyad who could be traced was spared. Aban b. Muawiyah b. Hisham was deprived of a hand and a foot and paraded through the streets of towns and villages of Syria. Hisham’s grandson Abdah was slain. Granting an amnesty to the Umayyad members in Palestine some eighty of them were invited to a banquet at Abu-Futrus (Antipatris) and the unsuspecting guests were all put to death treacherously. Only the children of tender years escaped their fate. Even the lives of those who took shelter at Makkah and Medina were not spared. In Damascus, Qinnasrin and other places the remains of the Umayyad caliphs except those of Mu’awiyah I and Umar II were exhumed and their graves desecrated.2 The buried corpse of Sulayman was dug out from Dabiq and that of Hisham from Rusafah. Some Umayyads, however, escaped and sought refuge among the Badawi tribes, one of them being Abdur Rahman aged twenty, the grandson of Khalifah Hisham. He escaped to Spain and founded his dynastic rule there.3 Of the Umayyads in Damascus, Rusafah. Dabiq, Qinnasrin and other places nothing was left intact.
Risings
The Abbasid outrage caused hatred and indignation throughout Mesopotamia and Syria. The Governor of Qinnasrin revolted and his suit was followed at Damascus and other cities of Syria. Abdullah the Abbasid general concluding peace with the rebels of the Hauran hastened to the north and fighting vigorously dispersed 40,000 insurgents and restored order. The Syrian insurgents 60,000 in number laid siege to Hauran. The Abbasid Army still engaged in the siege of Wasit, where Ibn Hubayra had taken refuge, sent a detachment under Abu Jafar, the brother of the
Ibn Athir, Vol V P 161, Abu’l Fida. P 212-3 Imamuddin, Muslim Spain, PP, 32-45
Caliph, to the help of Harran. The insurgents after much fighting dispersed. There was also resistance at Basrah till the fall of Wasit. The adherents of the old dynasty fled to Uman where they were joined by the Kharijis.
There were wide discontentment and contempt against the Abbasid behaviour with the family of the Umayyads. But these risings had no common cause and programme. There was above all no leader to guide them and take advantage of their fiery spirit. Ibn Hubayra, in stead of hastening to the north, wasted his time by shutting himself up with the cream of the Umayyad troops in Wasit. the siege of which was, however, hard pressed by Ibn Qahtaba. The city ultimately fell due to the tribal jealousies among the garrisons after eleven months. On receiving the news of the death of Marwan, Ibn Hubayra wrote to Muhammad ibn Abdullah, a great-grandson of Hasan, son of AH with an offer to support his claim for the throne. Receiving no reply he capitulated on the promise of the protection of life and property. But the Caliph going against his solemn oath of amnesty on the advice of Abu Muslim, who was then at Merv, put him to death along with many of his followers.
The Abbasid governor was turned out of Mosul by the people declaring him to be a low-born stranger. Al-Saffah appointed his brother Yahya as the governor. On arrival he called the chief men to the mosque by promising amnesty but killed them treacherously and gave the city for three days of plunder and outrage.
There were also risings in India and Khurasan but they were put down with severity and torture. Towards the end of the Umayyad rule Sindh had been occupied by one Mansur b. Jamhur. The Abbasid governor of the frontier Muflis Abadi was defeated and killed but Mansur was defeated by Musa b. Ka’b another newly appointed Abbasid governor and fled to the desert area. Mansurah, which had been destroyed due to the Hindu risings, was rebuilt.4
The Chinese King aided the ruler of Farghanah and laid siege to Chach. The rebels of Sughd, Farghanah and Bukharah met the royal troops on the bank of Taraz but were put to fight by Ziyad b. Salih, governor of Samarqand. It is said that 30,000 of the rebels under Sharik a staunch supporter of the Alids in Khurasan were slain beyond the Oxus and 20,000 were taken prisoners. Having been disappointed with the Abbasid plan the Khurasanis had rebelled in
4 Baladhun, Futuh al-Buldan, P 449

516
Political and Cultural History of Islam

favour of the Alids. Another Khurasani rebel Amir Bassam b. Ibrahim was suppressed by Khazim ibn Khazimat.5 There were also risings of the Kharijis in Uman which were set on fire, 90 Kharijis were burnt alive and 900 of them were killed. Though the figure seems to be exaggerated it is certain that there was hardly any regard for human life.
Saffah appointed his brother Abu Ja’far Mansur governor of Azerbaijan and Armenia, his uncle Da’ud of Hijaz and Yamamah, his nephew of Kufah, other relatives of Syria and Persia and Abu Awn of Egypt. He introduced the post of wizarat and appointed the famous da’i Abu Salmah Hafs b. Sulayman. But soon he was displaced and killed as Abu Salmah had tried to transfer the rule to the House of Ali.6