For this reason...

For this reason, the Shi‘ah numbers there increased rapidly to such an extent that, as narrated by Ya‘qubi, After the martyrdom of Zayd (ibn ‘Ali ibn al-Husayn) in 121 AH, the Shi‘ah in Khurasan were agitated and stirred up. The Shi‘ah publicized their belief. Many of the ‘Abbasid campaigners used to approach them and recount the crimes committed by the Umayyads against the progeny of the Prophet (S).

This subject and news was imparted to people in every city in Khurasan by ‘Abbasid campaigners who went there and dreams and aspirations in this regard were seen and books were taught.[^4] Mas‘udi also narrates a subject which expresses the spread and prevalence of Shi‘ism in Khurasan.

He thus writes: “In 125 AH when Yahya ibn Zayd was killed in Juzjan, the people named all the male infants born in that year were named Yahya.”[^5] The influence of the ‘Abbasids in Khurasan was greater as Abu’l-Faraj thus says while stating the profile of ‘Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib: The Khurasani Shi‘ah thought that ‘Abd Allah was his father Muhammad al-Hanafiyyah’s heir and that he was the Imam, and appointed Muhammad ibn ‘Ali ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn al-‘Abbas as his successor, and that the successor of Muhammad, Ibrahim, was the Imam from whom the Imamate extents to the ‘Abbasids through inheritance.[^6] As such, the bulk of the ‘Abbasid army was constituted by the Khurasanis.

In this regard, Muqaddasi says: As God saw the oppression and injustice of the Umayyads against the family of the Prophet (S), He gathered an army from the different parts of that Khurasan and sent it to them at the darkness of the night.