11. Ali bin Hasan bin Hasan bin Ali~ (Mohammad Mahdi's uncle)

When Mansoor was informed of their arrest, he wrote back that along with them Mohammad bin Abdullah bin Amr bin Uthman bin Affan should also be arrested because Abdullah bin Hasan bin Hasan bin Ali's mother was also from the same line of Fatima bint Husain's children. Rabah complied with this order and imprisoned Muhammad bin Abdullah bin Amr. It was during this period that the Egyptian governor arrested Ali bin Mohammad bin Abdullah bin Hasan bin Hasan bin Ali ~ (Mohammad Mahdi's son) and sent him to Mansoor. Mansoor put him in prison. His father had sent him to Egypt for propagation and informing the people about their ideals and beliefs. Building of Baghdad and Compilation of Knowledge Saffah had made Ambar his capital and after a short time he had his palace and buildings for his government officials constructed adjacent to Ambar. This was a new colony and it was named Hashmia. Mansoor was at Hashmia when the commotion in Khorasan was going on. In 140 A.H., he wanted to build a separate capital and the foundation of the city of Baghdad was laid. The construction work continued for nine or ten years and was completed in 149 A.H. From that time on Baghdad was the capital of the Abbasids. During the same period, the scholars began the work of foundation and compilation of religious knowledge. lbn Jareeh in Makkah, Malik(.....-J 11) in Madina, lbn Abi Aruba (11 .....-J) and Hammad bin Sulamih in Basra, Mamar (11 .....-J) in Yemen, and Sufyan Thauri (..111 .....-J) in Kufa began the work of compiling the Hadith (the traditions of the Prophet). lbn Ishaq (11 .....-J) and Abu Hanifa (11 .....-J) wrote books on the military expeditions of the Prophet and Islamic law respectively. Prior to that, the traditions and the expeditions of the Prophet were based on verbal narration. This chain of writing and compilation went on developing and the courts of Baghdad and Cordova, Spain patronized the authors to the maximum. It was the most suitable time for writing the books of Hadith and having the enormous amount of material carried by memory written on paper.

The Caliphate of the Abbasids (First Phase) The killing of the Sadat The elders whom Rabah had arrested and imprisoned remained incarcerated in Madinah until the end of 144 A.H. Mansoor was constantly in search of Mohammad Mahdi and his brother Ibrahim. During this period, the brothers remained in hiding among the tribes of the Hijaz and in unknown places. They kept changing their hiding places. All of the descendants of Hasan bin Ali ~ were either imprisoned or in hiding. In Dhul Hijja 144 A.H. Mansoor went to Hajj and sent Mohammad bin Imran bin Ibrahim bin Talha and Malik bin Anas to the descendants of Hasan ~ who were in prison with a message asking them to hand over Mohammad and Ibrahim to Mansoor. Their father Abdullah bin Hasan Muthanna bin Hasan pleaded ignorance about them and sought his permission to appear before the caliph. Mansoor said," As long as Abdullah bin Hasan does not bring his sons into my presence, I will not see him." When Mansoor was coming to Iraq on his return journey from Hajj, he ordered Rabah to send the captives to him in Iraq. Rabah took all the captives yoked, handcuffed and chained and then put them on camels without saddles and sent them off to Iraq under escort. Mohammad and Ibrahim, disguised as Bedouins, met their father on the way and sought his permission to rebel. But Abdullah bin Hasan exhorted and instructed them to be patient and not to be hasty. When those captives were ushered into Mansoor' s presence, he called Mohammad bin Abdullah bin Amr bin Uthman to come before him, he abused him and gave him 150 lashes. Mansoor was hostile to him because the Syrians were his supporters and he commanded great respect there. When the prisoners were shifted to Iraq, Mohammad Mahdi sent his brother Ibrahim to Iraq and Khorasan to propagate to the people there and to instigate them to oppose the Abbasids. Mansoor was sure of Mahdi's presence in the Hijaz. One of the strategies he adopted to deceive and trace him was that he used to have letters written constantly and sent them to those inhabitants of different cities who he supposed were Mahdi's supporters and might know his whereabouts. Those letters contained tributes to Mahdi and criticism of Mansoor and his shortcoming and inducements to rebellion. By these actions, The History of Islam he thought that one of his spies might get access to Mohammad Mahdi and arrest him. He did not succeed in his aim and Mohammad Mahdi continued to get information about the letters from his friends. He could not accurately gage the strength of his supporters and followers and he overestimated his following. His brother Ibrahim traveled through Basra, Kerman, Isfahan, Khorasan, Mousil and Syria, and enlisted missionaries and sympathizers. He came to the capital, ate with Mansoor and the latter failed to recognize him. The next time Mansoor came to inspect the construction of Baghdad, Mohammad Mahdi was present there among Mansoor' s men. His spies informed him that Ibrahim was present there but he could not find and arrest him. In the same way, despite his best efforts to locate him in Hijaz, Rabah failed to catch him. At last, Abu Aun, the Administrator of Khorasan sent a letter to Mansoor in 145 A.H. that secret conspiracies were on the increase there and all the Khorasanis were awaiting a revolt by Mohammad Mahdi. As soon as he read it, he sent for Mohammad bin Abdullah bin Amr bin Uthman from the jail, handed him over to the executioner and had his head chopped off and sent it to Khorasan. Along with it, he sent a few persons who swore as witnesses that the head belonged to Mohammad bin Abdullah and his grand mother was Fatima bint Mohammad ~ - In this way the Khorasanis were fraudulently led to believe that Mohammad Mahdi was put to death and that it· was his head. Then he enclosed Mohammad bin Ibrahim Mahdi's cousin, alive in a pillar of the construction. Then Abdullah bin Hasan bin Hasan bin Ali, Mahdi's father, and Ali bin Hasan bin Hasan bin Ali, Mahdi's uncle, were killed. Then Ibrahim bin Hasan bin Hasan bin Ali, Mahdi's uncle, and Abbas bin Hasan bin Hasan bin Ali, Mahdi's cousin, were tortured to death. Mansoor' s stoneheartedness is very shocking. Banu Umayyah were opponents and enemies of the Alawiites and the Abbasids were extremely intimate and allies with the Alawiites. Banu Umayyah did not bear any close relation with the Alawiites. But they had very close relations with the Abbasids. The Alawiites vehemently opposed Banu Umayyah and frequently used arrows and swords against them but they did not fight with the Banu Abbas. Taking all these things into consideration and reflecting on the fact that Banu Umayyah never arrested and killed any Alawiite on mere suspicion and the only Alawiites that

The Caliphate of the Abbasids (First Phase) were slain by them were those who fought against them on the battlefield we can consider being an enemy of the Umayyahs was safer than being an ally of the Abbasids. Mansoor killed many innocent descendants of Hasan ~ mercilessly. Yazid bin Muawiya's killing of Husain~ pales into insignificance if we look at the murders of the Sadat (members of the Prophet's family) in respect to the number of crimes committed. Perhaps this is only an indication of the blind lust man has for this world, which can make an intelligent man act like a murderer, to achieve what he wants. The Revolt of Mohammad Mahdi N11Fse Z3ki3b (the pure soul) When Mansoor had Abdullah bin Hasan and other descendants of Hasan ~ killed, Mohammad Mahdi, after hearing of it, did not think it honorable to wait any longer. He was confident that the masses would support him and cancel their oaths to Mansoor. He consulted his friends in Madinah concerning the revolt. On the day of the revolt by chance, the administrator of Madinah, Rabah had been informed by his spies that Mohammad Mahdi was going to revolt on that day. He sent for Jafar bin Mohammad bin Husain and Husain bin Ali bin Husain and a few of the Quraish and said to them, "If Mohammad Mahdi rebels, I shall kill you." As the talk was going on, they heard the call of Allahu Akbar (God is the Greatest) and they immediately knew that Mohammad Mahdi had revolted. In the beginning, he had only 150 supporters. He first went to the jail and freed Mohammad bin Khalid bin Abdullah Qasri and his nephew Nazir bin Yazid bin Khalid and the others were was locked up with them. Then he went to the Governor's headquarter and arrested Ra bah and his brother Abbas and Ibn Muslim bin Oqba. Then he came to the mosque and delivered a sermon in which he highlighted Mansoor's bad habits and his criminal activities and promised to do justice with the people and asked for their co-operation. After that he deputed Uthman bin Mohammad bin Khalid bin Zuhair to the post of chief justice, Abdul Aziz bin Muttalib bin Abdullah Makhzumi to the arsenal, Uthman bin Obaidullah bin Abdullah bin Omar bin Khattab to the post of chief of police. He then sent a , The History of Islam representative with a message to Mohammad bin Abdul Aziz asking him why he sat inside the house hidden. Mohammad bin Abdul Aziz promised to extend co-operation to him. Ismail bin Abdullah bin Jafar did not take the oath for Mohammad Mahdi. A few others also evaded the oath. Mansoor received the news nine days after the rebellion of Mohammad Mahdi and the imprisonment of Rabah. He was extremely worried and he rushed to Kufa and sent a letter as a promise of amnesty in the name of Mohammad Mahdi. He wrote as follows: <~)\ ~~:ii JJ1 r) 1/1' "~ ~i \~ 0i 1;c:j ~~~\ -i0~.J ;j ;.,,~Jill\ 0;}~ ::,;,Ji :1~ LJ1) ~~I 0 ~j-:f ~ ~; ~~~\ ~ \~ ~( ~(1/ ~ ~~ij ~,½i ~ ~( 0i 1~u r ~:i~ 1_,~~ 0i ~ ~ 1;_t.; ::.,;,u1 '1! o ~ ~1~ (,,,:-'-11 _j, ~J (~ ~~};,all In the Name of Allah, The Most gracious, The Most Merciful. The recompense of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger and do mischief in the land is only that they shall be killed or crucified or their hands and their feet be cut off from opposite sides, or be exiled from the land. That is their disgrace in this world, and a great torment is theirs in the Hereafter. Except for those who (having fled away and then) came back (as Muslims) with repentance before they fall into your power; in that case, k1tow that Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (Q. 5:33-34) In between, you and me stand Allah and His Prophet's contract and obligation. I give you safety and pardon for yourself, your family and your followers in respect of life, money and goods. Furthermore, whatever blood you have shed or people's money you have usurped, you are forgiven. I grant you 100,000 dirhams additional. Besides these things, all your wants will be met and your wishes fulfilled. You will be allowed to live in the city you like. Those of your followers who are once granted safety and pardon will never be charged or

The Caliphate of the Abbasids (First Phase) punished. If you want to be satisfied on these points, you may send your agent to me and have a contract written by me and be confident in all respects." When the letter was received by Mohammad Mahdi, he wrote in reply: •. ;1 '.:_ i -·- . - - , -- • -,,·;-_ .i!· 0 . , ; ,:,,: , -- ·.,;_ 0 __ 1, \. i ~ 0""-'4 cl y }.J '-5"" y I,.,; :/- ~ r ~ I )-:"'~ I u4I ~ rF . . - ' '•" ' • ~ ··,l1,' · •.- . , t.:.:..; 1·.i".!"1::..· -·~1 · tt_ ' •. •.~ I O -. ' ~· ~-½~~ "-"-::"a· , __ ~ ~J~J ..1, uyr,u. u~y_ ~~I~~ 0i L./J o ::r-~1 ~ 0LS Gl ~~ F~ ~~! -·~1 -·~· --. ,--i· o · ·(i1~·· ·-· ,· w1:__:1:.;..";- -·~1 · 1'··-~·1 L.J"J ~ ~J ...r.:)J y