Yet another brother...

Yet another brother, Ibrahim, went to Basrah where he formed an army composed of men from Ahwaz, Fars among other cities, but his uprising ended in failure. (3) Although most of them were pursued by the ‘Abbasid agents and were unable to remain in one place and were later killed, their impact remained. Sometimes, their children lived in those places. For example, ‘Abd Allah, son of Muhammad Nafs az-Zakiyyah, as narrated by Mas‘udi, was not able to remain in Khurasan and thus, he went to Sind.

(4) Yet, the author of the book, Muntaqilah at-Talibiyyin , narrates that the son of ‘Abd Allah, Ibrahim, remained in Khurasan and had two sons named Qasim and Muhammad. (5) Similarly, there was a group in Transoxiana which was tracing itself back to Ibrahim ibn Muhammad Nafs az-Zakiyyah. (6) Shiite Cities during the second century AH Now, we shall survey the condition of the cities and regions in which the Shia lived in large numbers during the second century AH.

Khurasan At the beginning of the second century AH, the movement of the campaigners of Banu Hashim (7) commenced in Khurasan and many people there embraced Shi‘ism. Ya‘qubi narrates, When Zayd was martyred, the Shia in Khurasan were in the great commotion and expressed their faith in Shi‘ism. The preachers were openly stating the atrocity and tyranny of the Umayyads against the descendants of the Prophet (S).

(8) It remained so until such time that Yahya ibn Zayd went to Khurasan and lived there in disguise for some time. And when he rose up, many people gathered around him. (9) Mas‘udi narrates, “On the year when Yahya was killed, every infant that was born in Khurasan was named Yahya.” (10) Of course, due to the presence of Zaydis and ‘Abbasid campaigners, Shi‘ism of the people of Khurasan had more Zaydi and Kaysani colours.

This is particularly true in view of the fact that in the beginning, the ‘Abbasids laid the foundation of their legitimacy upon the succession of Muhammad ibn ‘Ali to Abu Hashim, son of Muhammad al-Hanafiyyah. As Abu’l-Faraj al-Isfahani writes in describing ‘Abd Allah ibn Muhammad al-Hanafiyyah: He is the same person whom the Shia of Khurasan were thinking to be the heir of his father whom they thought was the Imam.

His heir in turn was Muhammad ibn ‘Ali ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn al-‘Abbas while Muhammad ibn ‘Ali designated Ibrahim as his successor. In this manner, succession among the Abbasids was institutionalized.