To this end...

To this end, the ‘Abbasids hired spies and set up rewards for the capture of such individuals.[^3] For instance, when ‘Isa ibn Zayd passed away secretly, Harun arrested and imprisoned his son, Ahmad ibn ‘Isa merely on the basis of suspicion. ^4 Of course, the distinguished men among the Banu al-Hasan who were regarded as leaders of uprisings did not follow the Zaydi way and modus operandi and were not much attached to Zaydiyyah fundamental beliefs.

For this reason, when conditions during battles became unfavorable and defeat seemed probable, the Zaydis would abandon their leaders in the battle arena and ending their uprisings in failure (similar to what happened to Yahya ibn ‘Abd Allah). Idris, Yahya’s brother, was the only one among them who was able to achieve relative victory[^5] and that was because he fled to Africa which was far from the ‘Abbasids’ reach.

He campaigned against the Abbasids there and succeeded in forming a government.[^6] Among the leaders of the uprisings who did not accept the fundamentals of the Zaydi belief and follow the way and method of the ( ‘a ) was Yahya ibn ‘Abd Allah, brother of Muhammad Nafs az-Zakiyyah, who went to Khurasan after Muhammad’s defeat and from there he headed toward the land of Daylam— present day Gilan and Mazandaran—but the ruler there, who was not a Muslim yet, wanted to arrest Yahya and turn him over to the agents of Harun on account of his threats.

At the time, Yahya was compelled to seek the protection of Fadhl Barmaki, Harun’s vizier. Fadhl also offered him protection, but instead of protection and security, he was imprisoned in Baghdad until his death.[^7] He was one of the students trained by Imam as-Sadiq ( ‘a ) and whenever narrating a hadith from the Imam, he would say: “My dear Ja‘far ibn Muhammad thus said…” ^8 Finally, since he was following the way and method of the ( ‘a ) in terms of jurisprudence { fiqh }, the Zaydis opposed him and distanced themselves from him.

So, he was forced to surrender himself to Fadhl ibn Yahya, Harun’s vizier.[^9] The Uprising of Muhammad Nafs az-Zakiyyah The zenith of the ‘Alawi uprising was during the second century AH. One of the most noted of these uprisings was during the time of the ‘Abbasid caliph Mansur which was led by Muhammad Nafs az-Zakiyyah. His activity had started prior to the victory of the ‘Abbasids and with the exception of Imam as-Sadiq ( ‘a ), the Banu Hashim generally pledged allegiance to him.