Even the Sunni scholars and jurists such as Abu Hanifah...

Even the Sunni scholars and jurists such as Abu Hanifah, Muhammad ibn ‘Ajlan, the jurist of Medina, Abu Bakr ibn Abi Sabrah, ‘Abd Allah ibn Ja‘far, Hashim ibn ‘Urwah, ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Umar, Wasil ibn ‘Ata’, ‘Amru ibn ‘Ubayd, among others swore allegiance to him, attributing to him the transmitted Prophetic sayings about the uprising of al-Mahdi ( ‘a ).[^10] But his uprising during the period of the ‘Abbasids was defeated because it was launched prematurely.

In Basrah his brother Ibrahim’s uprising also ended in failure due to the treachery of the Zaydis, but his brothers were scattered and this state of affairs continued up to the time of Harun. Idris ibn ‘Abd Allah fled to Maghrib and he was accepted there by the people. Yet, he was in the end poisoned by the agents of Harun. After him, his followers installed his young child to replace him naming him “Idris ath-Thani”. For sometime, the government of the Idrisis flourished in North Africa.

Yahya, another one of Muhammad’s brother, went to Tabaristan after his death. Yet another one of Muhammad’s brother named Musa ibn ‘Abd Allah fled to the north of Iraq and Mesopotamia.

Muhammad Nafs az-Zakiyyah’s sons, named ‘Ali, ‘Abd Allah and Hasan, went to Egypt, India and Yemen, respectively, and were for some time the source of concern for the ‘Abbasid caliphate.[^11] The Uprising of Ibn Tabataba’i al-Hasani After the death of Harun and the conflict over the issue of succession between his two sons, Amin and Ma’mun, the Shi‘ah taking advantage of this opportunity staged more uprisings with the uprisings of the ‘Alawis reaching their climax at this time.

During that period, the whole of Iraq (with the exception of Baghdad), Hijaz, Yemen, and south of Iran were detached from the ‘Abbasid control owing to the existence of competent military commanders such as Abu’s-Saraya on the side of the ‘Alawis.[^12] The army of Abu’s-Saraya shattered every contingent they encountered and overrun every city they visited.

It is said that in the battle fought by Abu’s-Saraya two hundred thousand soldiers of the ‘Abbasid caliph were killed although the interval between the day of the uprising and the day when he was beheaded was not more than 10 months. Even in Basrah which was the demographic concentration of the Uthmanis, the ‘Alawis earned support such that Zayd an-Nar staged an uprising in the mentioned city.