UPRISING IN THE EAST; DEFEAT OF THE UMAYYADS

On June 9, 747A.D, the Abbasids raised their black flags in the Province of Khorasan near Merv after they gained support across the eastern parts of the Muslim world. They gave the promise to uphold the principles laid down by the Prophet and the early Muslims. The Abbasids armies were moved westward, towards the rest of Persia and Iraq after they seized power over Merv. They defeated the forces of the Umayyad sent down to put down the rebellion. The turmoil in Spain was also at its peak at this period but the Umayyad were more focused on consolidating and restoring their central authority in the territories the rebels have taken over than that of a faraway province.

On 2nd of September 749A.D, the Abbasids took over Kufa and on 29th of November 749A.D, Abul abbas was proclaimed as the caliph in the Mosque of Kufa. The Abbasid family moved to Kufa and started to organize the overthrow of the Umayyad government with the help of the local people. Thus, a serious threat was posed to the reign of the Umayyads. In 750A.D, the Umayyad caliph, Marwan gathered a large force to meet the Abbasids in the battle of Zab. The Abbasids defeated the Umayyad army and Marwan was later caught and killed.

The Abbasid caliph occupied Damascus although in 762A.D bringing the 89 years reign of the Umayyads to an end (661–750). The second Abbasid caliph, Mansur later founded Baghdad near the ancient city of Babylon in Iraq and moved the capital there.

When the new caliph occupied Damascus, he carried out genocide of the Umayyads, when he found out that most of the Umayyad family has gone into hiding, he announced a general amnesty and invited them to a feast, there and then, and he murdered them all in cold blood. Only one person was able to survive the genocide of the Abbasids who was the one who changed the course of history of the Umayyads. The tombs of Umayyad rulers were desecrated and leading princes were massacred. For this, Abul abbas was nicknamed As saffah which means the blood shedder.

The luckiest person who escaped among the Umayyad nobles was Abdurrahman who was a grandson of Caliph Hisham, thus, he was an Umayyad prince. He was born in 731A.D but his father died when he was six years of age. He was only 20 years old when the Umayyads vanished in the East.

What do you think will become of Abdurrahman who escaped from the Abassids? Will he be caught and killed like others or does he still have a much longer life to live?

Find out in the next episode…