ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books The Life of Imam Musa Bin Ja'far Al-kazim Chapter Ix During the Time of al-Mansur Al-Mansur had no previous convictions, nor had he any achievement, that he might deserve the caliphate that was the greatest office in Islam. He had neither humanitarian tendency nor honest quality that would qualify him to undertake the affairs of the Muslims. The historians have unanimously agreed that he was ignoble, miserly, mean, low, treacherous, and murderous.

They have said that he ruled the Muslims with the policy of him who did not believe in Allah and the hereafter, that he spread among them fear and exhaustion and deprived them of their economic requirements. To the extent that they wished the return and the days of the Umayyad government though they were full of severity and torture.

One of those who lived through the two states has said: Would that the tyranny of the Banu Merwan lasted for us; and would that the justice of the Banu 'Abbas be in the fire! The great revolutionary, Muhammed Dhu al-Nafs al-Zakiya, has said in his talk he stated concerning the tyranny and oppression of the 'Abbasids: "We had took vengeance on the Umayyads, but the 'Abbasids are less in fear of Allah than them.

The argument against the 'Abbasids is more obligatory than it is against them; the people (the Umayyads) had noble deeds and favors Abu Ja'far (al-Mansur) did not have."[1] Abu Ja'far al-Mansur went too far in shedding blood, to the extent that none can describe it. He killed (people) for suspicion and accusation, turned away from all the people even his family when he annihilated its members and cut off their heads; that is ascribed to his malice and recklessness.

He has been described by professor al-Sayyid Meer, who has said: "Al-Mansur was deceptive; he did not hesitate at all in shedding blood; his severity is ascribed to his excessive malice, whereas his successor did not kill anybody except after much reflection and scrutiny.

Generally speaking, Abu Ja'far was careless of his violence and reckless of his assassination; his treatment towards 'Ali's children is regarded as the worst page in the history of the 'Abbasids." Al-Seyuti has said: "Al-Mansur was the first to find the gap of the difference between the 'Abbasids and the 'Alawids, while they had been as one bloc."[2] Ibn Hubayra,[3] one of al-Mansur's contemporaries, has described him, saying: "I [1] Abu al-Farajj al-Asfahani, al-Aghani, vol. 10, p. 106.