Thousand of innocent members from the progeny of the Prophet...

Thousand of innocent members from the progeny of the Prophet were thus killed mercilessly. Tabari; the famous Sunni historian, describes one such incident that gives us an impression of the extent of cruelty Mansoor had to practice to remain the Caliph. Tabari reports that when Mansoor was about to leave for Mecca where he had expected to retire, he called his niece and sister-in-law (Mehdi's wife) Rytha (who also was Saffah daughter), and gave her a key to the treasury.

Then he sought a promise from her that she would open theireasury only in presence of her husband the new Caliph, after Mansoor's death. Accordingly, after Mansoor's death, Rytha, accompanied by her husband, Mehdi, the new Caliph, went into this room of secrecy.

To their shock, the Caliph and the Queen witnessed "a chamber of horrors." In the long chamber of treasury was a collection of the corpses of the great grandchildren of Hazrat Abu Talib, and in their ears were tags on which were written their genealogies. Mehdi ordered that the corpses be buried, and the treasury be pulled down. • Abu Salma: His position was "the Vizier of the Ahlul Bayt." He invited Imam Sadiq (A. S) to accept the Caliphate.

He might have been genuine in this offer and might have truly wished to see Imam Sadiq (A.S) be the Caliph. However, he overestimated his strength and underestimate the treachery and evilness of Saffah and Mansoor. Hardly did he guess that Saffah, Mansoor and Abu Muslim, who outwardly treated him with honor and respect, were behind his back, planning to kill him. Tabari records vividly the plot that was being hatched to kill Abu Salma.

Saffah wrote secretly to Abu Muslim of his fears pertaining to Abu Salma ind instructed him to get rid of Abu Salma. Saffah invited Abu Salma to his palace and kept him occupied till late at night and then let him go. On his way home, Abu Salma was attacked by Abu Mulsim's hit-man and killed. The depth of Abu Salma was then blamed on the Khwarjees. Imagine what would have been the position of Imam sadiq (A.S) had he accepted Caliphate on the strength of the word to Abu Salma.