abu muslims conquest of khurasan
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Abū Muslim's Conquest of Khurasan: Preliminaries and Strategy in a Confusing Passage of the
Akhbār Al-Dawlah Al- ʿAbbāsiyyahAuthor(s): Saleh Said AghaReviewed work(s):Source: Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 120, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 2000), pp. 333-347Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/606006 .
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ABU MUSLIM'S CONQUEST OF KHURASAN:
PRELIMINARIES AND STRATEGY IN A CONFUSING
PASSAGE OF THE AKHBARAL-DAWLAH L-CABBASIYYAH
SALEH SAID AGHA
AMERICANUNIVERSITYOFBEIRUT
The Akhbdral-dawlah al-'Abbasiyyah is a major source of information in any understandingof
the CAbbasid evolution. However, one critically important passage in it that describes the initial
eruption and the steps leading up to it has been misunderstood and has given rise to an erroneous
perceptionof the exact strategyof AbuMuslim in regard o the role Marwplayedvis-h-vis the outlying
districtsof Khurasan.Once the meaningof this key section of the text is clarified,a properappreciation
of the precise sequence of events follows and thehighly significantrole of the Iranianpopulacein this
revolt becomes quite obvious.
THE AKHBARAL-DAWLAHL-CABBASIYYAH1s probablythe most important source2 for our knowledge of the so-
called "CAbbfsid revolution" to have been discovered and
published since Tabari's Ta'rikh.3 This source, however, is
not without its own share of difficulties and shortcomings.Its most distressing flaw is the superimposition of an apo-
cryphal CAbbasidpresence on what would otherwise have
been a coherent and tenable sequence of historical events.
Once these CAbbasidinterpolations are isolated and elim-
1Anonymous, Akhbaral-dawlah al-'Abbasiyyahwa-fih akh-
bdral-CAbbaswa waladih, ed. CA.CA.al-DuriandCA. . al-Mut-
talibi (Beirut:Dar al-TaliCah, 971).2 On thedescriptionandevaluation of this uniquesource, see,
'Abd al-CAzizal-Duri, "Daw' jadid Calaal-dacwahal-CAbbasiy-
yah," Majallat Kulliyat al-ddab wa al-'ulum (Baghdad, 1957),2: 64-82; idem, his editorial introduction n the Akhbar,7-20;
FaroukOmar,TheCAbbasid aliphate,132/750-170/786 (Bagh-dad: The National Printing and Publishing Co., 1969), 16-19;Moshe Sharon,"TheCAbbasid aCwaRe-examinedon the Basis
of the Discovery of a New Source," n Arabic and Islamic Stud-
ies, ed. J. Mansour (Ramat Gan, 1973), xxi-xli; idem, Black
Banners from the East (Jerusalem: The Hebrew University;Leiden: E. J.
Brill, 1983), 233-37; Elton Daniel, "The Anony-mous 'History of the Abbasid Family' and its Place in Islamic
Historiography,"nternationalJournal of Middle Eastern Stud-
ies 14 (1982): 419-34; Saleh Said Agha, "The Agents and
ForcesthatToppled he UmmayadCaliphate" Ph.D. diss., Univ.
of Toronto,1993), 19-22, et passim.3 Abu JacfarMuhammadb. Jariral-Tabari,Ta'rikhal-rusul
wa al-muluk, ed. M. J. de Goeje et al. (Leiden:E. J. Brill, 1879-
1901).
inated, however, the fundamental veracity of the histor-
ical material is restored, and the material it contains can,
henceforth, be subjected to the rigorous standards of the
historical-critical method.4
Other difficulties, which exist in many classical Arabic
historical texts, also exist in the Akhbdr-such diffi-
culties may stem from digressions; from erroneous in-
clusions, omissions, or misplacements of segments of a
text by careless or confused scribes; and from syntacti-cal subtleties, awkwardnesses, and potentially confusing
pronominal or implied and interpretable references. Nat-
urally, difficulties of this kind always call for extremecaution in reading and interpreting such texts, but no-
where more so than in instances where a specific passageis employed as a cornerstone in the understanding, and in
the reconstruction of a coherent sequence, of historical
events whose significance goes beyond the minute de-
tails of the specific text. One such instance is the focal
point of this article.
I
The historical juncture on which the passage in ques-tion reports is the first eruption of the revolt, as it passed
from its clandestine into its open phase. As a conse-quence, a correct or an incorrect reading of the text in this
4 Moreover,the segment of the historicalaccount with which
we will be dealing here is, as far as this CAbbasidonnection is
concerned, intrinsically neutraland, therefore,this general flaw
is of little particularconcern to us in the present context. See
furtherAgha, "The Agents," 19-22, et passim.
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Journal of the American Oriental Society 120.3 (2000)
instancetends to shape,over and above ourunderstandingof the sequenceof events, the fundamentalunderstandingof Abi Muslim al-Khurasani'ssuccessful strategy-a
strategywhich,by virtue of thefact that t was successful,
reflectsthe true
demographicandscapeof the revolution-
ary forces it was designed to respondto and on whose
geographicalconfigurationt capitalized.An errantreading of the subject text shaped Moshe
Sharon'sreconstructionof the events reported n it,5and
contributedo his missingthecruxof AbuiMuslim'sstrat-
egy, and led to erroneousconclusionsregarding he com-
positionof therevolutionaryorces.Butit wasnotentirelySharon'sfault. The proper placement of this passage,within its textual environment,eluded also the careful
editors of the Akhbar, CA. CA.Al-Duri and CA. J. al-
Muttalibi,who havenot commentedon theproblemat all.
The wider textual environmentwithin which the sub-
ject text is embeddedextends over six pages.6The prob-lematic portionsthemselves (underlinedbelow), and the
mostvitalof its immediate extualenvirons,areas follows:
THE KEY PASSAGE
[p. 274: 1. 3] Wa amara-humAbi Muslim bi-liqd'iikhw&ni-him a al-biCthatilay-himli-yajtamiC'wa
yuqimu bi-mawdi'i-him ild [1. 4] dukhul al-Mu-
harram.Wakanaalladhi dacdAbdMuslim wa daci
Sulayman ld al-ijtimdcanna-hubalagha-hum[1.5]
anna Nasr qad ajma a Cali al-biCthati lay-him wa
iltiqiati-himqabla khuruji-him,wa kdna alladhi
[1.6] ashdra Calay-hi bi-dhalik Salm b. Ahwaz
fa-qdla la-hu: "bddir al-qawm wa-hum mutafar-
riqun taqwa Calay-him[1. 7] bi-jamadati-kqabla
an yata'allafu fa-tardma-humfa-yamtaniC'Calay-
k". Fa-tafarraqat al-duC't alladhin hadaru [1. 8]
raDyAbi Muslim,fa-laqiyat al-shCah, wa baCathat
al-rusul ilay-him li-yajtamiC', a-aqbala [1. 9] al-
nas ilay-himwa AbuMuslimbi-Shanfir[read:Saqi-
dunj or Saqidhanj] qaryat Sulaymdn b. Kathir
[p. 274: 1. 10-p. 275:1. 4 lists some of the partisanswho came to them in this village.]
[p. 275: 1.5] Wabalagha Nasr b. Sayydr jtimai al-
shfah wa-huwa mushtaghilbi-muhdrabatCAliyy .
5 Moshe Sharon, Revolt, the Social and Military Aspects of
the CAbbasidRevolution (Jerusalem: The Hebrew University,
1990),73-78, 88-89.6 Akhbdr,273-78. Thepartsof the immediate extualenvirons
that have been dropped in what follows are not necessarily
less important; hey simply do not weigh as heavily in the fol-
lowing textualanalysis.
al-Kirmdni 1.6]fa-jamacathiqiti-hfa-shdwara-hum
fi-md balagha-hu Canahl al-daCwah .. [11.7-16,deliberations in Nasr's council]. [1. 16] .. .fa-
inqa.daal-majlis Calddhalik wa-lam yubrimu i-hi[1.
17] ra3yan.Wabalagha md kana min
ndhiyati-himfimd aradi bi-hi Abd Muslim wa-man [1. 18]
maca-hu, a-laqiya Sulaymanb. Kathir a-shdwara-hu fi dhalik [theirdeliberationsand resolutions].
TRANSLATION:
And Abu Muslim ordered [the members of his
council] to meet their brethren[the partisans]and
to communicateto them [the instructions]to gatherand dwell in [the council members'] locality until
the advent of Muharram.Whathad motivated Abi
Muslim, and whathadmotivatedSulayman,to con-
vene the meeting was that they had learned thatNasr had resolved to crack down on them and ap-
prehend them before they revolted. The one who
had counseled [Nasr] to do so was Salm b. Ahwaz
[who] had said to him: Rush them with an assault
[now] while they are dispersed;you [would] over-
come them with your assembled troopsbefore they
assemble; [for, if you wait until then,] you [might]
want [to get] them, but they [would have become]immune from you. So the propagandists(al-duCdt)
who witnessed AbuMuslim's[deliberationsand]de-
cision, dispersed;they met [some of] the partisans,and sent
messengersto
[therest
of]them
[withthe
instructions]to come together. So people came to
them when Abi Muslim was in Saqidunj(or Saqi-
dhanj), Sulaymanb. Kathir'svillage....
Nasr b. Sayyar learned of the partisans'gatheringwhile he was occupied with fighting CAlib. al-Kir-
mani;so he gatheredhis confidantsandtookcounsel
with them in what he had learnedaboutthe constit-
uents of the daCwah.... The council adjournedon
that [note], andthey did not reacha resolution.Abu
Muslim learned of what came to pass [in Nasr's
council] and of theirintentionsagainsthim and his
comrades,so he met with Sulaymanb. Kathirand
took counsel with him in regardto that [matter].
Accepting the textual flow and sequence at face value
would produce an extremely confused, and confusing,
narrative.Startingwith wa kdna alladhi daci (274: 4),7
which involves in this context an undisputableArabic
7Henceforth,the references to the text of the Akhbdrwill be
bypageand ine numberspage: ine).
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AGHA:Abi Muslim'sConquestof Khurasan
counterpartof the English past perfect tense, the reader
would be lured into an exquisitely, albeit inadvertently,
camouflaged textual trap. This is buttressed by similar
usages all throughthe problematicsegment of the text:
anna-hu balagha-hum (274: 4), qad ajmaCa(274: 5),and wa kdna alladhi ashdra (274: 5-6). Combined with
a relaxed and self-confident approachto the linguistic
context, this indisputable past perfect would leave no
doubt in the mind of the readerthatthe word al-ijtimd',
i.e., "the meeting" (274: 4), refers to a meeting the
reporting about which has been concluded.8 Actually,
moreover,the Akhbar, mmediatelybefore this problem-atic segment of the text, had been reportingon a meet-
ing-probably the most strategicallypivotal meeting at
thatjuncture.Thus, a relaxed reader would be luredinto
a false sense of having understood the passage cor-
rectly. But, two considerationsmust arrest his attention:
(1) when the problematicsegmentof the text started, heongoing reportingon the supposedmeetingandits imme-
diate aftermathhas not been concluded as yet. In reality,the remainderof the narrative ontinuesto flow naturally,
immediately after the end of the problematic segment
(274: 7ff.), as if it had not existed; (2) the problematic
segment purports o explain why the meeting took placeat all, but the reasonsadvancedhave nothingto do with
the meeting being reportedon at that point in the text.
They explain why an entirelydifferentmeeting was held
later.And this raises an awkwardpoint.It soon becomes clear that something is essentially
wrong with the textual sequence. The meeting to which
the problematic segment appearsto refer cannot be the
one it actually refers to. This latter ijtimac came on the
heels of, and as a reaction to, a governmental meetingin which Salm b. Ahwaz, the chief of police in the prov-ince, had urged its governor, Nasr b. Sayyar, to attack
the revolutionaries before they got their act together.This characterizationapplies literally to the meeting be-
tween AbuiMuslim and Sulayman b. Kathir,the report
concerning which (275: 17-276: 6) comes twenty-fourlines down in the text, in naturaltextual flow, immedi-
ately after the report(275: 5-17) about the relevantgov-ernmentalmeeting to which it was a reaction. It is also
amply clear that the problematic segment of the text isintrusive-interjected between Abu Muslim's orders to
8Or, even worse, it could lead the reader to interpret jtimac
as meaning "a rather quick understanding"reached between
Abu Muslim and Sulayman (Sharon, Revolt, 75)-an under-
standingthathad actually been established priorto this point in
the textual narrative Akhbdr,272-73).
the members of his council (274: 2-3), with which the
currentmeeting culminated and with the way the mem-
bersrelayedthese orders to the partisans(274: 7-8), and
the logistics of the partisans'response (274: 8-275: 4).
Thenet
outcomeof this
ratherinvolved textual dis-
section is that, historically, we are reading here about
two separate revolutionary meetings and one govern-mental meeting that took place interim. Textually, the
threereportson the threemeetingsare woven into a flow-
ing narrativethat is subsequentlyupset by an intrusive
segment that has a potential of erasing the decisive
boundariesbetween the two revolutionarymeetings. The
otherwisecarefuleditorsof the Akhbaracceptedthispartof the text of their unique manuscriptat face value and
printedit without annotation. Moshe Sharon, in his re-
construction,also acceptedthe printedtext at face value,and thus fused the two separaterevolutionary meetings
into a single meeting,with far-reachingresults.9Over and above its being intrusive, the problematic
segmentof the text is an ill-placed and ill-conceived ex-
planatoryremark hatrepeats,redundantly, wo correctly
placed lines (the second underlinedsegment of the text,275: 17-18). I think that it could not have been the work
of the anonymousauthorof the Akhbar.It is most prob-
ably a foreign segmentthatmust have been a notationbyan owner of a manuscriptearlierthanthe unique extant
one. A careless or confused scribe copied from this pre-sumed owner's manuscript into the extant manuscript,or into a lost motherthereof, and he must have inserted
the foreign notation into the original text, and in the
worst possible place. The only way to preservethis seg-
ment(if it must be preserved)and to maintaina measure
of coherence at the same time is to relocate it to lines
17-18 on page 275 (before or after the second under-
lined segmentof the text). But I wouldpreferto readthe
text without this alien segment altogether.
With the elimination of the alien segment, there re-
mains little room for misunderstanding-save for nor-
mal syntacticaldifficulties.Events fall into sequence,and
the text becomes rathertransparent.
On the revolution-
ary front, we are clearly dealing with two distinct and
separate meetings, two resolutions, two dates, and two
sets of envoys to two constellations of districts-subur-ban andremote-with two completelydifferentmissions,
reflecting the two distinct roles assigned to Marw and
9Sharon, Revolt, 73-78, 88-89. Sharon'serroneous nterpre-
tation and its consequences will be discussed below.
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Journal of the American Oriental Society 120.3 (2000)
its suburbs,on one hand,and to the outlyingdistricts,on
the other.Understanding his situationand the dynamics
underlying t or generatedby its evolution is essential to
a proper comprehensionof the revolutionarystrategy,and of the
geographicand
demographicconfigurationsof
the antagonists to which the said strategy respondedand on which it capitalized.This is also a necessarycor-
ollary to understandingthe real ethnic identity of the
revolutionaries.
The revolutionaryorganizationhadhadthe fundamen-
tal strategyfor its clandestinephase drawnup since the
days of Bukayrb. Mahan'sandAbu Salamahal-Khallal's
non-resident eadershipof the Khurasanchapterof the
Hdshimiyyah.But now the clandestinephasewas drawingto a close, and t was timefor an"applied" trategy hatre-
spondedto the variablesof an evolving situationwithout
losing sight of the constants in the fundamentalplan-
namely, that the leadershipwas to remainin Marw(and
its suburbs) and the vast demographic reservoir to be
organized and unleashed continue to be in the outlyingdistricts.Therefore,Abi Muslim'smoves would always
reflectthe distinctionbetween these two geographiccon-
stellations, and the Akhbar'stext would almost always
pronounce on it in decisive textual parallelism, and in
accord with the natureand direction of Abu Muslim's
moves. The readerought to be able to understand learlywhich of these moves or orders was meant for, or di-
rected to, Marw (and its suburbs)only, to the outlyingdistrictsonly, or to both constellations together.
An ideally structuredexample comes from the Akh-
bdr's account of what immediately followed the resolu-
tion of the internal struggle between Abu Muslim and
Sulaymanover the leadershipof the organization:
TEXT
[Sulaymansaid to Abu Muslim:]
[Withrespectto Marw]
[a] Ibcath la al-du Catbi-Khurasdni-md hawla-kfa-
ya'tiya-ka manqadiraCaladhalik(272: 17-18),
[a] Fa-baththaAbi Muslimal-rusulfi-md yali Marw
(272: 18-273: 1).
[Withrespectto the outlying districts]
[b] wa uktub ld man i al-kuwarfa-lyata'ahhabuwa
yasta Ciddu(272: 18).
[So]
[b] wa katabaild manfi al-kuwarya'muru-humbi-al-
isti Cdadi-l-Muharram anat thalathinwa mi'ah,fa-
'in nazaCa-hum had azharuamra-humwa hdrabumanhdraba-hum 273: 1-2).
TRANSLATION
[Sulaymansaid to Abu Muslim:]
[a] Send to the duct in Khurasan, thoseof themwho [b] andwrite to those [of them]who are in the [out-
are]aroundyou[rvicinity], so thatthose [of them]who lying] districtsthatthey mustget readyandbe fully
can would come to you, prepared.
[So]
[a]So Abu Muslim
spreadmessengersin [thevillages
and suburbs]neighboringMarw.
Consider,against the sharpdistinctionabove between
the two geographic constellations, Abu Muslim's geo-
graphicallyunilateralorders that concluded the first of
[b] andhe wroteto those who were in the [outlying]
districts,orderingthemto prepare or the monthof
Muharram f the yearone hundred hirty,andthat,
shouldany partychallenge them, they shouldblow
theirown cover, andfight those who fightthem.
the two separaterevolutionarymeetings thatmakeup the
focal point of this article:
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AGHA:Abu Muslim's Conquest of Khurasan
[ForMarw] [Forthe outlying districts]
[a] And Abi Muslim ordered[themembers of his [b] [nothing]
council] to meet their brethren the partisans]andto
communicateto them [the instructions]to gatherand
dwell in [thecouncil members'] ocality until the advent
of Muharram 274: 3-4).
The unilateralityof these orders, and the fact that theywere directed to the partisans in Marw (and its sub-
urbs)only, can hardlybe disputed. A number of textual
and contextual elements corroborate this contention,and are,by themselves, illuminating.Firstly,the govern-mental meeting (275: 5-17), which occurredin reaction
to this first of the two separate revolutionarymeetings,had not takenplace; yet neither,of course,had the second
of these two revolutionarymeetings, which, itself, came
in reactionto the governmentalmeeting.In the first(273:8-274: 2) of the two separate revolutionary meetings,Abu Muslim and his council of nuqabadand prominentducatl0 discussed where to make their first open move.
They agreed on Marw as the place. They did not have
to discuss the date because it had been previously set"
and communicated to the partisansin the outlying dis-
tricts (273: 1). The districts had their standing orders
which did not have to be alteredby the outcome of this
meeting. Furtherreportedcommunicationswith the dis-
tricts, in this textual environment, will not materialize
until later, both in the course of events and in the text.
When they do materialize:
Wa bacatha CAmrb. Acyan wa Aba Dawud ild Tu-
khdristan li-ma amara man bi-ha min al-shicah bi-al-
istiCddd la an ya'tiya-hum ra'yu-hufa-in basata ahad
ilay-himyada-hu bi-makruh mtanaCuwa qdtalu,
And he [Abu Muslim] sent CAmrb. A'yan and Abui
Dawuid o Tukharistan wing to [= pursuant o] what he
10 On the nuqabd3and the ducat, the leaders of the organiza-
tion, see, Akhbdr,213-23. Cf. Omar,CAbbasidCaliphate, 72-
74, 352-56; Sharon,Black Banners, 189-98; Elton Daniel, The
Political and Social History of KhurasanunderAbbasid Rule,747-820 (Minneapolis and Chicago: Bibliotheca Islamica,
1979), 33-36; JacobLassner,Islamic Revolutionand Historical
Memory (New Haven: American OrientalSociety, 1986), 77-
82; Agha, "The Agents,"55, 465-85.
11The date was initially set for Muharram1, 130 (September
11, 747) (Akhbar,273, 274, 277, 278). It was even said aboutthe
alleged CAbbasideader of the dacwah, Ibrahimal-Imam, the
son of Muhammadb. CAli, hat he was the one who had fixed
this date at least four years earlier(Akhbar,267-68).
had ordered those of the partisans [living] in it to stay
ready until they should hear from him, [but that] should
any party, [in the meantime], extend them a hand with
[the intent to] harm, they ought to defend themselves
and fight.12
These communications will almost literally pick upfrom where the last orders to the partisans in the districts
(which had been communicatedto them afterthe resolu-
tion of the internalstruggle and before the first of thetwo separaterevolutionarymeetingsoccurred) eft them,that is,
... to preparefor the month of Muharramof the year
130, and that, should any party challenge them, they
should blow their own cover, and fight those who fight
them. 13
What had to be communicated, pursuant to the outcome
of this first of the two separate revolutionary meetings,
strictly concerned the Marw oasis only. And so it was.
Thenuqabai
and theprominent
ducat whoparticipatedin this meeting were ordered to disseminate, personally
and via messengers, Abu Muslim's instructions to the
partisans in Marw and its immediate surroundings,to
gather and dwell (i.e., to relocate to) where Abi Muslim
was (274: 3-4), and not in their own localities.
Secondly, the natureof these instructions,and the ac-
tual logistical moves of the partisans n compliancewith
them, confirm their geographic specificity. These in-
structions echo the first half of Sulayman'sprevious ad-vice to Abu Muslim:
Send to the ducat of Khurasan n your vicinity so that
those who can would come to you.'4
and AbE Muslim's immediate implementation of it:
12Akhbar,277: 19-278: 1.
13Akhbar, 73: 1-2; supra, he second"b"elementof thestructured xample.
14Akhbdr, 272: 17-18; supra, the first "a" element of the
structured xample.
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Journal of the American Oriental Society 120.3 (2000)
So AbuMuslim preadmessengersn [thevillagesand
suburbs] eighboringMarw.15
But now that Marw itself, Abu Muslim's headquarters,was the
placechosen for the first
eruption,the
messageacquiredmore urgency and requiredfurtherspecific in-
structions which had to be morepointed:
Wa amra-humAbu Muslim bi-liqa' ikhwani-himwa al-
bicthati ilay-him li-yajtamiii wa yuqimf bi-mawdiCi-
him ild dukhulal-Muharram.
And Abti Muslim ordered hem [i.e., the membersof his
council]to meet their brethrenthepartisans] nd to
communicateo them i.e.,to thepartisans]the nstruc-
tions]to gatheranddwellin their[i.e., in the council
members']ocalityuntil he advent f Muharram.16
Moshe Sharonparaphrasedhepassageabove as follows:
Immediately fter the meeting,Abu Muslim ordered
thosewho werepresento contact heirbrethrenach n
his own region, and to advise them not to leave their
places of residenceuntil the beginningof Muharram
130/11 September747.17
This rendering s wrong on four counts: (1) Sharon dis-
countedaltogetherthe sentence li- yajtami'C("thattheyshould gather,congregate");(2) he renderedwa yuqimuas "not to leave," i.e., to stay put, instead of "[tocome in
order] to dwell," effectively, to relocate; (3) he did nottake seriously the singularform of the nounmawdic(lo-
cality, place); (4) he misconstrued he possessive pronoun
him, attached to mawdi', as referringto the partisansratherthan to "those who were present"-an errorhe
would probably not have committed had he respectedthe singularformof the possessed mawdi'.This singularmawdicwas the council's headquarters, .e., where Abu
Muslim happenedto be at the time; andthat was "Shan-
fir [read:Saqidunj],Sulaymanb. Kathir'svillage" in the
oasis of Marw (274: 9), where the partisanswould im-
mediately converge from the various quarters of the
oasis, in direct response to these very instructions(274:
8-275: 4).We may surmise, but not know definitely, which of
these four errors ed Sharonto the rest. What is certainis
that he mistook an order to the partisansof Marw to
leave their quartersand congregatearoundtheir leader-
15Akhbar,272: 18-273: 1; supra,the second "a" element of
the structuredxample.16
Akhbdr,274: 3-4.17 Sharon,Revolt, 75: 3-6 (emphasis mine).
ship as an order to the partisansof the outlying districts
to stay"puteach in his own region"and "not to leave their
places of residence."
This, and Sharon's usion of the two separaterevolu-
tionary meetingsinto
one,led him to a furthermisunder-
standing.The prominentnuqabd3and ducat whom Abu
Muslim sent later to lead the risings in the outlying dis-
tricts (Balkh, Abiward, Nasa, Marw al-Rudh...) were
mistakenby Sharonfor "messengers [who] went out to
the various centers of the Dacwah... and alertedthem to
the prescribeddate," i.e., the Muharramdate.'8Besides
the fact that this date had been set and communicated
much earlier,which makes this mission a redundantand
casts top officers of the revolution in roles not theirs,Sharon's ompoundedmisunderstandingsumblethe evo-
lution of events and preemptan accurateunderstandingof the revolutionarystrategyas anchoredin the revolu-
tion's sources of strength and as reflecting its instiga-tors' ethnic identity. The outcome is a distortion of the
sequence of Abu Muslim's deployments in the overall
context of his careful orchestrationof the contemporary
pan-Iranian ruption.
III
With the above textual difficulties cleared, the Akh-
bar's account of the events of this historicaljuncture-the eruption of the clandestine movement into the
open-acquires a greatermeasureof consistency, coher-
ence, and transparency.The following is a recount(par-
tially repetitive) of the Akhbdr'snarrative.The internalstrugglebetween Abi Muslim andSulay-
mainhadbeen somehow resolved.19The "reconciliation"
was capped with Sulayman'scounsel to Abi Muslim to
send forthe partisansn the suburbsandvillages of Marw
so that those capable should come to his headquarters,
18Sharon,Revolt,75 (emphasismine);see also p. 88 and
comparewithAkhbar, 74,277:19-278: 10. Cf. theappendix,below.
19Akhbar, 270: 5-272: 17, 273: 2-6. This part of the Akh-
bar's text does not belong in this textual environment-which
I described as consistent, coherent and transparent.Actually,the accounts of the internalstruggle between Abu Muslim and
Sulaymanare as confused and self-contradictoryin the Akhbar
as they are in other sources. The deliberate confusion in these
accounts is too obvious to miss. They belong to the same breed
as otherCAbbasidnterpolationsand"disinformation"see Agha,
"The Agents," 120-23). However, what mattersin this imme-
diatecontext s thatAbuMuslimdid establish working ela-
tionship-of-sortsithSulayman,ookcharge f themovement,
and set about unleashing a chain reaction, the first move in
which was convening the first of the two subject meetings.
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AGHA: Aba Muslim'sConquest of Khurasan
and to write to the partisansin the outlying districts to
prepare or the open revolt,on Muharram1, 130/Septem-ber 11, 747.20Abi Muslimimplementedbothmeasures.21
This settled, the first of the two revolutionarymeet-
ingsin
questionwas now
held,with the sole
purposeof
determiningthe place for the first eruption.22They con-
sideredKhwarizmand Marwal-Rudh,but for soundand,as shall become evident,obvious reasonscompatiblewith
their overall strategy,Kamil b. al-Muzaffar,the prudentda'i, suggested Marw,23and they unanimously agreed(273: 8-274: 2). Concludingthis meeting, Abu Muslim
ordered the council members who were presentto com-
municate o thepartisansn the oasis of Marwthe instruc-
tions to relocate to his headquarters, orminga protectiveshield until the advent of Muharram.Subsequently, heydid exactly that (274: 3-4, 7-8, with the alien text 4-7
deleted).The partisansresponded o these instructionsby
converging on Abi Muslim's headquarters rom all thevillages of Marw, min kull wajh min rasatiq Marw (274:
8-275: 4).News of this first of the two separaterevolutionary
meetings,and of theensuing convergenceof thepartisansof Marw on Abu Muslim'sheadquartershen reached the
governorof Khurasan,Nasr b. Sayyar.Nasr held a meet-
ing to consult with his senior staff. His chief of police,Salm b. Ahwaz, counseled an attack,but 'Aqil b. Macqil,a cousin of Nasr's, advised caution. They did not settle
on a decisive course of action.24News of these deliber-
ations reached Abi Muslim, and it was then that with
Sulaymanb. Kathir he held the second of the two meet-
ings.25At the second, Abu Muslimconsulted with Sulay-man,who suggestedthatthey shouldtakethe initiative of
20Akhbar, 72: 17-18;supra,he first"a"and"b"elements
of thestructuredxample.21Akhbar, 72: 18-273: 2; supra, he second "a"and "b"
elements f thestructuredxample.22 In thephrase,"first ruption,"he word"first"houldnot
be taken n thesense of a chronologicalrder. tmust ndicatethecenter, heplaceof prime mportance,heheadquartersftheleadership,where herevolutionwouldbe proclaimed,nd
where he first ymbolicblackbannerswouldbe hoisted imul-taneouslywith theforestsof bannerswhichwould lutter vertheland,onthesame,previouslyet date.
23 Actually,hesite of first ruptionouldnothavebeenelse-where.ChoosingMarwdidnothingmore han ecognize num-berof strategicactorswhichKamilb. al-Muzaffarxpoundedin his half-metaphoric,alf-succinctway (Akhbar, 73: 18-274: 1). It hadnothing o do withthetribal actor,as SharoncontendsRevolt, 4: 16-75:23. Seealso,infra).
24Akhbar,275: 5-17.
25Akhbir, 275: 17-18.
going into the open before Nasr could attackthem, but
thatAbi Muslim should first consult his othercomrades.
Abu Muslim called a meeting, a sequel to the presentone, and they agreed "and set a date for going into the
open,the
yawmal-fitrof the
year 129,"June
15th,747.26
This change of date was certainly a vital factor that
had to be communicatedto the districts. Therefore,the
new date must have been set afterheeding the baremin-
imum of time necessary for the new orders to be com-
municated to the remoterlocations. But while they were
still makingpreliminarypreparations,an incidental fire,lit one night by some companions in a nearbyTamimite
village, was misreadby the revolutionaries as an enemybeacon. Abi Muslim ordered their own beacon fire to
be lit, and a fresh wave of partisansand otherKhuzaiitetribesmen,keen to protect their tribalhonor, convergedon Abu Muslim'scamp.When the misunderstandingwas
cleared up, Kamil b. al-Muzaffar,the sage of the move-ment, suggested that they had lost their cover, and that
it was, therefore, too late to go back. They agreed to
proceed. The next morningwas Thursday,Ramadan25,129 (June 8th, 747).27
Five precious days were thus lost for those who were
to carry the new orders to the remoter of the districts.
But it did not actually have any adverse consequences.The partisans in the districts understood the strategybehind setting one and the same date for a concerted
rising all over the province, and they knew that the
strategy took precedence over the date itself. Though
symbolically important,being the first of the ten days of
Karbala',the first of Muharramwas not tacticallysacro-sanct. Therefore,when they got news of the prematurepublic appearancein Marw,it was for them a sufficient
signal, overridingthe Muharramdate. In Talaqan,Nasa,Marwal-Rudh,Amul and its vicinity, they did not haveto wait for the coordinatingofficersor leaders commis-
sioned from the Marw headquarters o arrive with the
specific new instructions; they took matters into theirown hands and broke into the open, before the leadersfrom Marw arrivedto lead them.28After all, they werenot awaiting reinforcements from Marw; indeed, theywould soon be sending reinforcements to Marw.
Therefore,there is no
reasonto assume, as Sharondid,that these developments compelled Abu Muslim to act
swiftly.29"These developments," .e., the quick responseof the outlying districts,cannotbe expected to have sur-
prisedAbu Muslim or compelled him to do anythingin
26Akhbar,275: 18-276: 6.
27Akhbar,276: 6-277: 8.
28Akhbar,278: 8-10.
29Sharon,Revolt, 89.
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Journal of the American Oriental Society 120.3 (2000)
any direction.They were nothing more than the "devel-
opments"thathe had sent his own commandersspecifi-
cally to set in motion.30And, news of their occurrence
only added to his resolution and strength(fa-zada dhd-
lika fi quwwati-hi).31If anything, these developmentsought to have increasedhis options, or, at least, restored
the situation as originally planned by offsetting the
effects of the forced advancementof the date.
When messengers were sent out to the districts with
the Muharram-datemessage, they were nameless couri-
ers.32 t is not truethat "Abi Muslim had sent several im-
portant eaders to the centers which had to be restrained
from acting as far as possible until the beginning of the
year 130," as in Sharon'smisinterpretation.33With the
exception of al-CAla'b. Hurayth,who had earlier pro-ceeded to his vast and autonomous regional command
in Transoxania (nawahi-h allati kana yadcu bi-hi min
Khwdrizm wa Amul wa min Bukhara wa al-Sughd),34 allsuch important eaderswere only now commissioned, or
sent back to their traditionalcommands, some time be-
tween the decision to advance the date to yawm al-fitr
and the occurrence of the mixed signals which forced
the additionalfive-dayadvancement.35 nd, they had not
been sent to relay messages or to restrainthe partisans;
they were commissioned to coordinate and/or lead the
no longer postponableeruption.36
30Akhbdr,277: 20-278: 1.
31Akhbdr,278: 9.
32 Akhbar,272: 18-273: 1.
33Sharon,Revolt,88-89 (emphasismine).34Akhbar,78.Al-CAla appearsohave eftMarw ndgone
back ohis commandn thewakeof thefirst trategyession-
thefirstof the twosubjectmeetings-in whichMarwwascho-
sen as the central heateror theeruption.A resident f both
Marw,pecificallyMakhuwan,ndhis nativeSoghdia, emust
have playedan unreportedole in supportingAbu Muslim
againstSulayman. hemissionaccomplished,ndtherevolu-
tion mminent, e wentback o hiscommand.Hisearlydepar-
tures attested ythe act hat herewasnosignof him nMarw
afterwards;ut,morepertinent,n viewof thescantreporting
onhim, s Abual-Khattab'sxplicittatementhatAbual-Jahm
b. 'Atiyyah, nothermember f thepro-AbuMuslimandanti-
Sulayman roup,was sent to al-CAla'n Khwarizmwiththe
newRamada1n-datedessage.SeeTabari, a'rikh,: 1953.The
Akhbdr'sathermbiguousext 278:4-8) lendstselftothesame
reading.On al-CAla' ndthe vital Soghdian onnection, ee
Agha,"TheAgents," t.2, ch. 1,etpassim.35This s whataccruesroma careful eading f theAkhbdr,
274-78 andAbual Khattab'sccountTabari,: 1953-59);and
otheranonymousources f Tabari'sTabari,: 1964).36Seetheappendix, elow.
IV
The fusion of the two separate revolutionary meet-
ings into one which resulted from the misreading of
the text resultedin further and more
consequentialfusions. All othercases of paired tems-the duetsof res-
olutions, of dates, of sets of envoys, of missions, andof
geographicconstellationsas explainedabove-were each
fused into one. A highly significant consequence was
that the decisive functional difference between the two
distinct roles assigned in the revolutionary strategy to
Marw (and its suburbs), on the one hand, and to the
outlying districts, on the other, was all but completely
blunted, if not entirely lost. Thus the distinct strategic
(demographicand military) propertiesof each of these
two geographic constellations, which mandated the
specific role assigned to each, were also blurred.One
vitally illuminatingindicatorof the true ethnic identityof the revolutionaries was thus lost to Sharon. Little
wonderit did not temperhis eagernessto join revisionist
voices in contending that the ethnic identity of the rev-
olution was preponderantlyArab.37
The revolutionwas a mass uprising38hatconcluded a
lengthy clandestineprocess of inciting the Iranianpopu-lation. This process rested on two major efforts which
37"Revisionist" ithrespect o theworksof G. vanVloten
andJ.Wellhausen, hoseviewsregardingheIranianharacter
of therevolutionepresentedhemain tream f scholarshipn
thesubjectuntilF.Omar,M.A. ShabanTheCAbbasidevolu-
tion Cambridge:ambridgeniv.Press,1970]),M.Sharon,nd
others ried o buttressD. Dennett'shallengeo the"classical"
theoryDanielC.Dennett, MarwanbnMuhammad:hePass-
ing of the UmayyadCaliphate"Ph.D.diss., HarvardUniv.,
1939]).Cf., Agha,"TheAgents," -13, 16,et passim.38Thisis aninvolvedaspectof themain ssue.Evidence f
a massmovementervades lmostalltheprimaryourcese.g.,
Tabari,: 1962;AbuHanifahAhmad .Dawud l-Dinawari,l-
Akhbarl-tiwdl, d.V.GuirgassLeiden: .J.Brill,1888],338,
340-41, 344, 356, 359-60; Akhbdr,passim). But modem schol-
ars tayed achon theirprechartedourse.Obviously,roponentsof the"Arab"
heorywouldend o
disagreewith hemassmove-
ment theory (cf. H. A. R. Gibb, TheArab Conquestsin Central
Asia,1923[rpt.:NewYork:AMSPress,1970],94);andsome
would end o seetheeventasan eventwithinhe"garrison"-
a military coup of sorts. (Shaban[CAbbdsid evolution,152] re-
strictshemovementotheprovincialarrisonf Marw.) ropo-
nentsof theIranianheory, owever, ecognizedhecataclysm
forwhat t was(e.g.,JuliusWellhausen,heArabKingdomnd
itsFall,tr.M. G.Weir Calcutta:niv.of Calcutta, 927],498;
so did Daniel [Khurasan,51-52, 58, 86], who views the revolu-
tionas anethnicallyndeconomicallymixedmassmovement).
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AGHA: Abi Muslim's Conquest of Khurasan
the clandestine Hashimiyyah organization undertook si-
multaneously: converting the Iranian masses to Islam and
recruiting the converts in its ranks.39 At the heart of this
strategy were Bukayr b. Mahan's organizations which
confirmed theleadership
of theorganization
in Marw, but
also extended its reach to the outlying districts, and thus
streamlined the momentous but chaotic outcome of the
preceding efforts under the leadership of Khidash.40By the
time that Abui Muslim was ready to take the revolution
into the open, the organization had been married to the
Iranian masses throughout the land. In Tabari's words:
Wa baththa al-du'Ctfi aqtar Khurasanfa-dakhala al-
nds afwdjan wa kathuri wafashat al-duCati Khurasan
kulli-h.
[Abu Muslim] spread the ducat all over the districts of
Khurasan,and people joined in throngs and grew nu-
merous, and the ducat permeatedall of Khurasan.41
Almost purely Iranian, the outlying districts had be-
come defacto demographic strongholds of the revolution
before the revolution erupted.
39 Centralto the theory of an uprising en masse is also the
questionof widespread onversion to Islamby Iranians.Probably
seeing the potentially detrimentalimplications of recognizingthe phenomenon of widespread conversion, Shaban (CAbbasid
Revolution, xv, 115) consistently denied it. Bulliet explicitlyestablished the connection, and,attemptinga quantitativestudy
of the phenomenon of conversion, found for Shaban(Richard
Bulliet, Conversion to Islam in the Medieval Period: An Essayin Quantitative History [Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ.
Press, 1979], 43-44, and n. 1; for a discussion of Bulliet's
method and findings, see, Agha, "The Agents," 169ff.). Unlike
Shaban,Dennett and Sharonrecognize the phenomenonbut fail
to take stock of its potential implications (Daniel C. Dennett,
Conversion and the Poll Tax n EarlyIslam [Cambridge,Mass.:
HarvardUniv. Press, 1950], 119, 128; Sharon,Revolt,28). That
mass conversion was the orderof the times is a fact which other
scholars recognized and took stock of (Wellhausen, King-
dom, 457; Richard N. Frye, "The Role of Abu Muslim in the
CAbbasidRevolt,"Muslim World37 [1974]: 31). For a detailed
discussion of conversion and its implications, see Agha, "The
Agents,"267-316.
40 Khidash originalname,CAmmarr CUmarah) residedover
the Khurasanchapterof the organizationfor almost a decade
(109-18/727-37). His tenurewas messy in organization,prosper-ous in attractingmasses of recruits,andalluringly ax andpatchyin the ideology he preached.It ended with his crucifixionand a
temporary hatteringof the organizational tructure f the move-
ment in Khurasan.See Agha, "TheAgents,"42-47, et passim.41
Tabari,2: 1962.
On the other side of the ethnic divide, the Arab pres-
ence, overwhelmingly military in nature, was limited in
size and deployed over the entire province-a demo-
graphic archipelago in a vast Iranian sea.42 Marw was the
maingarrison city
where the bulk of the Arab commu-
nity was stationed. Moreover, this Arab Umayyad armyhad been paralyzed by internal tribal strife for almost
three years, following the insurgency of Judayc b. CAll
al-Kirmani, which erupted in 126.43
Succinctly put, the Iranian populations of the outlying
districts of Khurasan had been thoroughly indoctrinated
against the thinly spread contingents of the Arab army
dispersed in their midst. Marw, by contrast, housed two
leaderships: the revolutionary leadership supported by a
small but solidly unified army of partisans;44 and the
Umayyad Arab provincial government nominally head-
ing the main bulk of the once formidable Arab army, but
actually paralyzed by the tribal stand-off that split itsranks. It is against this macro demography, rather than
the micro demography of tribal distribution, that the
choice of Marw as the center of revolutionary eruptionmust be understood.
Our observation that the choice of Marw was a natural
result mandated by the foregoing strategic considerations
highlights Abu Muslim's grasp of the situation, which
was articulated by his spokesman, Abtu Salih Kamil b.
al-Muzaffar. For the other nuqabad and ducat who at-
tended the first of the two revolutionary meetings, Marw
42 Saleh Said Agha, "The Arab Populationin Khurasandur-
ing the Umayyad Period: Some Demographic Computations,"Arabica 46 (1999): 211-29. On the archipelago-likedispersionof the Arabs in Khurasan, ee, Agha, "The Agents," 344-46.
43 Tabari,2: 1855-66. Kirmani's nsurgency was carriedon,
after his death in 129/746-47, by his two sons, CAliand cUth-
man, who allied themselves to Abu Muslim. This three-year
insurgency overlapped with the last years of the extended in-
surgency of the Murji'ah and other tribal elements, led byal-Harith b. Surayj. The period also witnessed the Kharijiterebellion led by Shayban b. Salamah al-Haruri. See Tabari,2: 1970ff., 1984ff., 1967ff., 1888ff., 1917ff., 1995ff.; Saleh Said
Agha, "AViewpoint
of theMurji'a
in theUmayyad
Period:
Evolution throughApplication,"Journal of Islamic Studies 8.1
(1997): 22-25.44 On Dhu'l-QaCdah , 129 (July 22, 747), one month and a
half after proclaiming the revolution, Abu Muslim relocated
from Saqidunj to Makhuwan,where he ordered a trench to be
dug and a record of his soldiers to be kept. The count of his
soldiers was found to be seven thousand (Tabari,2: 1967-69).M. A. Shaban(CAbbdsid evolution, 158), oblivious to the hefty
presence outside Marw, contends that this number comprisedthe entire revolutionaryarmy.
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Journal of the American Oriental Society 120.3 (2000)
did not appear as the natural choice. On the contrary,
strategistsof lesser genius than Abi Muslim would have
ruled it out, since it was the centerof Umayyadpower in
the province.And, indeed, the deliberations n this meet-
ing convey such perceptions:
(1) Abu al-Najm 'Imran b. IsmaCil,Abu Muslim's
father-in-law, uggestedKhwarizmbecauseof its remote-
ness. Before the governor, Nasr b. Sayyar, would have
been able to send his soldiers,Abual-Najmreasoned,the
partisanswould have flocked to the revolutionary eader-
ship, and they would thus be able to beat the enemy.45
(2) Musa b. Kacb and Lahiz b. Qurayz suggestedMarw al-Rudh because of its intermediate location be-
tween BalkhandMarw.Malik b. al-Haytham,al-CAli' b.
Hurayth,and Talhahb. Zurayqseconded this motion be-
cause the partisanstherewere numerousand the author-
ities hadgrownweak. Sulaymfn concurred,because"our
strengththereis greater,and our enemy is weaker."46(3) But Abu Muslim was not seeking merelyan initial
victory that he may not have been able to sustain. He
turned o the silent sage, Abu Salih Kamilb. al-Muzaffar,for his view. Kamil articulatedthe sound strategywhich
Abu Muslim adopted: "If the trunk is uprooted, the
branchis doomed. If you [first]breakout into the open
anywhere other than in Marw, your ruler would free
himself to [deal with] you, and his enemy would assist
him against you."47
The proponentsof Khwarizmand Marw al-Rudhhad
presented valid reasons for their choices that reflect
a sound understandingof the revolutionaryposition in
the outlying districts-sparse Arab presence amidst anoverwhelmingly Iranianpopulation.48But this was onlya part of the overall picture. They failed to assess the
comprehensiveprovincial situationas an integralwhole
and,thus,couldnotappreciatehestrategicelements atent
in the situation n Marw.By contrastKamil b. al-Muzaffar
could and he did exactly that.
What Kamil meant was that the very circumstances
that made the revolution opportuneat the time would
disappearif the center of the plannederuptionwere to
relocate to any place outside the capital district. The
warringtribal Arabmuqatilah,the mainstayof the Arab
Umayyadestablishment,would have had time to realize
the necessity of suspending their differences and come
45 Akhbar,273: 9-12.46
Akhbar,273: 12-17.
47 Akhbar,273: 17-274: 2.48 Sharon (Revolt, 74-75) attemptsto find tribal reasons in
the nomination of Marw al-Rudh by two groups of nuqabd',
who belonged to two competing tribes, Tamimand Khuzacah.
to the aid of the governor.The center of the revolution
would hold only if it preventedthe centerof governmentitself fromholdingfirm. If they succeededin keepingthe
Arabs at the throats of one another,the battle for Marw
would remainessentially a political one and the real bulk
of the Umayyadforces would never have to be engaged
directly.Thejob did not requirean overwhelmingforce. What
the revolutionaries needed was an imposing presence in
this theater n the face of the three otherwarringgroups.49Moreimportantwas the ability to conductcraftymaneu-
vers and make theirpresencelook sufficientlyinviolable
but not too menacing;and be adequatelydisengaged so
as not to become any one group's priority, but also
sufficiently friendly and approachable,so as to deceive
the unwitting, whoever they might be.50Equally impor-tant was Abu Muslim's organizationalability to engulf
the entireterritory n one blaze, ragingevenly and simul-taneously,thus affordinghim the crucial opportunityfor
maneuveringat Marw. This way the real battles for ter-
ritorywould be fought elsewhere-actually all over the
province except Marw-where the partisans would be
allowed to reap quickly, in one sweep, and without in-
terference,the fruits of their uncontested supremacyin
numbers,though probablynot in pure military prowess.Such battles would be nothingmore than skirmishesbe-
tween masses of Iraniansand small and dispersedArab
contingents representing ittle more than a police force.
After these two interactive cornerstones of the revolu-
tionarystrategy-the orchestratedrising in the districts,
and the paralyzing deadlock at Marw-had worked tofull advantage, the revolution would have gained mo-
mentum,and any engagements with Umayyad forces in
the province could be won.
Therefore,in deciding where to make a debut, Kamil
and Abu Muslim must have thought that it did not
really matterthat the temporarymilitarybalance was in
their favor in Marw al-Rudh or Khwarizmand against
49 There were three main warring Arab parties: the loyal
tribes, mainly Mudarite,with the governor,Nasr b. Sayyar;the
anti-Mudar,but not anti-establishment,opposition partyof the
Azd, led by the two sons of al-Kirmani, CAlland cUthman;
and the Khawarij,led by Shayban b. Salamah and allied to a
Rabi'ah faction of the Banu Hanifah under CAllb. Macqil al-
Hanafi. Supra,note 42.
50 Abu Muslim's maneuvers, and the three parties'reactions
to them, constitute almost the entirety of events at Marw cov-
ered in the histories during the period from eruptionto capitu-
lation. See Tabari, 2: 1949-76, 1984-97; Akhbar, 278-318;
Wellhausen,Kingdom,521-39.
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AGHA:Abu Muslim's Conquest of Khurasan
them in Marw. If the Arab army were permitted to be
compact and mobile, any such precarious balance would,
in due course, become meaningless. An orchestrated ris-
ing would deteriorate into messy entanglements which,
at best,could
hope to create short-lived revolutionaryenclaves that would be eventually crushed one by one.
The foregoing depiction of Abu Muslim's strategy is
not the result of a mind-reading exercise. Two crystal-
clear texts in the Akhbar "encapsulate" the spirit and
letter of this strategy. Abu Salamah al-Khallal allegedly
wrote to Abu Muslim as follows:
When you emerge into the open, nothing should out-
weigh [your decision to] dig a trench for yourself and
your followers; this is the Imam's opinion, and in it
[lies] your strength.Nasr's enemies and those who have
been fighting him will resort to you to find strength.
Keep avoiding war for as long as you can; advance andretreat;and do not antagonize Nasr until the advent of
Muharram.51
Abu Muslim did just that. He had a trench dug at Ma-
khuwan, and
his soldiers kept growing in numberby various means;
he kept growing stronger, and people kept coming to
him; [all the while] he refrained from fighting. God
grantedhim the conquest of numerous towns [and dis-
tricts] by virtue of [his] patience, prayer,and tact (mu-
darat) for the durationof five months in which he did
not do battle.52
The stark contrast, both of chronology and manner, in
which the revolution made its sweeping territorial gainsin the outlying districts first, and in Marw last, conveysthe essence of Abu Muslim's strategy and tactics. When
this strategy started yielding its quick and successive
gains, Nasr b. Sayyar was still in Marw, holding his own
but completely paralyzed by his inability to stop the tribal
war thanks, in good part, to this very strategy. Within a
few months of first eruption, the entire territory (north,
east, and south of Marw, and the territory immediately to
the west of theoasis)
wasswept clean, leaving only
a
southwesterly corridor-the one that Nasr b. Sayyarwould soon use in his flight via the Sarakhs highway to
Tuis, Nishapur, up to the Sawah oasis.53 All the while,
Abu Muslim was conducting his political maneuvers in
51 Akhbdr,277: 15-19.52
Akhbar,281: 12-14.
53 Tabari,2: 1991; 3: 2; Akhbdr,319-20; see the map,below.
Marw. The bewildered governor described the revolu-
tionary strategy with photographic accuracy:
Talaqan, Marw al-Ruidh, Balkh, [the hamlets] on the
bank of the River [Oxus], and Abiward have encircled
us. Here is Marw,where the situation has deterioratedas
much as it did; and [now] the people of Jurjanare flock-
ing to them. It is as if you arewitnessing the ropes being
put around our necks.54
It was death-by-asphyxiation for Arab rule in Khurasan.
The besieged governor did not enumerate, in this spe-cific text, all the localities ranged against him in Marw;55
but, in a letter to the caliph, which acquires special histo-
riographical significance, he delineates the monster which
had then swallowed up the entire east, from Rayy in the
west to Sughd in the east, ma bayna al-Rayy ild al-Sughd.56
Around seven months after firsteruption
on Rama-
dan 25, 129, the capitulation of Marw came like the fall
of an over-ripe fruit. Abu Muslim, without striking a
blow, entered the city on Rabic II 7, 130 (December 15,
747).57 He had reaped the ultimate benefit of his binary
54 Akhbar,293: 6-8.55 In otherpronouncements,however, he did add to these lo-
calities Nasa, Amul, and Zamm (Akhbar, 284, 289). Most of
these localities are, aside from Nasr's pronouncements, inde-
pendently attested by Akhbdr and Tabari as having been won
over to the revolution. To them, Tabari(2: 1966) and Dinawari
(359) add Harat;and the Akhbar(278) hints at Bukhara. Thiscovers most of centraland easternKhurasanat large, includingTransoxania.Dinawari adds Samarqand,Kashsh, Nasaf, Sagh-
anyan, Khuttalan,Bushanj, and even Tis and Nishapur, to the
revolutionarymap (Dinawari, 338, 359-60). While Dinawari's
romantic sweep may, from a purely historiographicalpoint of
view, discredit the map, it should not be totally dismissed. It
does reflect the mood of the land at the time, attestedby other
reliable source material.
56 Akhbar,293: 14; from a letter by Nasr to MarwanII, urg-
ing him to order the governor of Jurjan o crack down on Abu
CAwnCAbd l-Malik b. Yazid, the "hiding snake"(hayyahmun-
tawiyah) who spoiled the territory or Umayyad rule. Historio-
graphical significance accrues from the Akhbdr'sclaim that theletter itself was found amongst Marwan II's documents that
were capturedwhen he was killed.57
Wellhausen, Kingdom,491; Akhbar, 315; Tabari'sanony-mous source, 2: 1993; Mada'ini dates the event to Rabic II, 7
or 9, while Abu al-Khattabdelays it one or two full months, to
Jumada I or II, 9 (Tabari, 2: 1990, 1987, 1984); Baladhuri
advances it to Rabic I (Ahmad b. Yahya al-Baladhuri, Ansdb
al-ashrdf, vol. 3, ed. CA. A. al-Duri [Wiesbaden:FranzSteiner
Verlag, 1978], 130).
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Journal of the American Oriental Society 120.3 (2000)
strategy of perpetuating a deadlock at Marw through po-
litical maneuvering, and of overpowering the Arab
forces in the outlying districts.
The course of Abu Muslim's conquest of Khurasan
displays three features that further corroborate the fore-
going interpretation of his strategy. Firstly, his com-
missioned commanders and coordinating officers did not
march with any armies from Marw. The Marw revolu-
tionary resources could only sustain the show of force
Abu Muslim needed right there. It took around a month
and a half, or probably more, for his forces in Marw to
total 7,000 men.58 The only reinforcements he ever sent
out, before the entire province became completely his,
were the contingent of slaves he sent to Musa b. KaCb n
Abiward and Nasa.59 And that was neither because
Musa needed the reinforcements, nor because Abu Mus-
lim could spare them. The slaves' presence in Abui Mus-
lim's ranks in Marw, where the battle was primarily oneof politics and propaganda, was becoming increasingly
costly politically,60 and Abiward was the closest city, in
case he needed to retrieve them. Actually, reinforce-
ments soon started to flow in the reverse direction, from
the oversaturated districts to starved Marw. Abui Mus-
lim frequently asked for and received reinforcements
from these districts, especially from Tukharistan: Ta-
laqan, Balkh, and Marw al-Rudh.61 These commanders
simply traveled to their armies, which had always been
stationed where the soldiers were born. Abu Muslim's
conquest of Khurasan was not achieved by marching
armies, but by local eruptions. The only real march was
Qahtabah's, and it was to the heart of the Umayyad
domain, from an already-won Khurasan.
Secondly, the massacres and atrocities which oc-
curred, or which were rumored to have occurred, espe-
cially in the outlying districts, served to promote the
"mob" psychology that was one of Abu Muslim's prin-
cipal weapons.62 Whether or not atrocities were actually
58Tabari,2: 1969.
59 Akhbar, 281; Tabari,2: 1968-69.60
Akhbar,280-81, 284.61
Akhbar,280, 297, 299.62Accordingto Khalifah,afterQahtabahhad defeated Nuba-
tah b. Hanzalah in Jurjan, such atrocities did occur. Kalifah
reportsas follows: "Abui l-Dhayyal said: 'the people of Khur-
asan and the people of Jurjankilled that day those of the Banu
Tamim and the people of the mosques (ahl al-masdjid) who
were there'"(Abul AmrKhalifahb. KhayyiatShababal-CUsfuri,
Ta'rikhKhalifahb. Khayyat,ed. A. D. al-'Umari [Najaf: 1967],
2: 413). Ibrahimb. Maymumal-Sa'igh, himself later killed by
Abu Muslim, is reportedby Dhahabi to have said: ".. God
perpetrated, the mere rumors gave vivid credence to one
of the movement's weapons of propaganda: yasir al-ruCb
bayna aydi-him ("fright is their vanguard").63
inflictedAbu Muslim on the [Arabs] ... " and he comments:"I
said: 'Abu Muslim was a great affliction on the Arabs of
Khurasan;he exterminated them by the edge of the sword"'
(qult: KanaAbu Muslimbald'an CazimanCaldCArabKhurasan,
fa-inna-hu abdda-humbi-haddal-sayf). (Muhammadb. Ahmad
Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi, Siyar aclam al-nubalda, ed. Sh. al-
Arn'uit et al. [Beirut:Mu'assasat al-Risalah, 1981-85], 6: 53).
Ibn CAsakir elates that AbuiMuslim had the slaves kill their
masters (Abu al-Qasim Thiqat al-Din Ibn CAsakir,al-Ta'rikh
al-Kabir [Damascus: 1909], 2: 131; see Daniel, Khurasan, 70,
n. 154). The same allegation is also made by Theophanes
(Wellhausen,Kingdom,534).
More pertinentare Nasr b. Sayyar'sclaims, and the accusa-tions made against Abu Muslim by Nasr'sdelegation to him re-
gardingthe atrocitiesthatthe partisanshad committed in Nasa,
Talaqan,Marw al-Rudh, Amul, and Zamm (Akhbar,284: 2-7,
289: 9). To these specific accusations, Abu Muslim answered:
wa ammdahl Nasa wa Talaqan wa Amul a-inna alladhi kdna
min-hum am yakun Canra~yi-nawa Id bi-amri-na wa lakinna-
hum ummahurida zulmu-humwa safk dimdai-him a-imtana'Ci
fa-la hujjata'alay-him (Akhbar,284: 10-11).
The text must translate as follows: "As for the people of
Nasa, Talaqan,and Amul, what they did was not instigated by
counsel of ours nor authorizedby us. However, as they are a
communitythat was targetedfor oppressionand bloodshed, so
they defendedthemselves,and therefore hey cannotbe blamed."
There is no room for Daniel's misunderstanding hat "Abu
Muslim disavowed these [excesses], saying thatthey were com-
mitted not by true partisansbut by people who wanted only to
do evil and shed blood" (Daniel, Khurasan, 54). What Abu
Muslim actually said was that the deeds were not authorizedby
his command. He disavowed the policy although he admitted
the occurrencesand thathis truepartisanswere the agents of it.
The resulting paradox he explained by saying that the perpe-
trators were justified in that they did what they did in self-
defense. Abfi Muslim's verdict on the whole affair is that the
victims have no cause and there is no case against the perpe-
trators.Beware,
Abu Muslim means tosay-especially
to the
Marwites who were then talking to him-the same may be
repeated,with all the unintendedconsequences.
63 Akhbdr,207. At least two such events are authentic,even
though the magnitude may have been exaggerated. Amul and
Zamm must have been prime revolutionarytargets:as the two
vital crossings on the Oxus, they must have been as heavily
guardedas they were strongly coveted. There is no doubt that,
if the local partisans' trengthwas not enough to overwhelm the
Umayyad forces there, then these crossings must have been
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AGHA:Abi Muslim's Conquest of Khurasan
Thirdly,in the various accounts of how all of Khura-
san fell to the revolutionaries,with the exception of two
cases, we do not hear of majorbattles of the sort that
occur between armies,not even in Marw. Save for Balkh
and Tus, two battles which had their ownlogic,
the
conquest was almost always a matter of killing or
expelling the government's man in a given district.64
The multitudesmustusually have engulfed the compara-
tively tiny garrisons;or the garrisons simply disbanded
and melted away, or fled to the largerregionalUmayyad
strongholds.The only two battles in which Khurasanite
Umayyad forces were engaged were last-stand battles
made by such remnantswho converged on two main lo-
cationsfrom scatteredandstampededdetachments. n the
east, the vanquishedremnantsof the garrisonsof Trans-
oxania and eastern Tukharistanconverged on Tirmidh,and thus occurredthe battle for Balkh.65 n the west, af-
ter the fall of Marw,the remnantsfrom Sarakhs, Nasa,Abiward,and the rest of central and western Khurasan,in additionto the bulk of the Marwgarrison, convergedon Tis (and Jurjan). In Tis the Arabs of Khurasan
fought their last battle.66
HISTORIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Most of the basic historiographicalbuilding blocks
that contributeto the depiction above have been knownto scholars since the publicationof Tabari.It is true that
the Akhbar provides a wealth of previously unknown
details, but it also reinforces the basic veracity of the
historiographicaltraditionwhich was hithertothe main-
stay of Umayyad studies. What accrues from a careful
probeof the account in theAkhbardoes not structurallyalterwhatderives fromTabari.All the variantaccountsinboth sources, and in many others, testify to an orches-
taken by revolutionaryforces advancing from the right bank,
i.e., from Transoxania.On the left bank, they were surrounded
by desert. The revolutionariesmust have been especially ruth-
less in order to secure these two crucial posts at a very early
stage. Effectively swept off the face of the Soghdianterrain,and
the two crossings thuscaptured,Umayyadforces and theirlocalallies had only one place to gc to, that is, Tirmidh,where theywould be next encountered.
64 Consider the examples of Marw al-Rudh and Harat, two
majorArab garrisons:Tabari,2: 1959-60, 1966. Jurjan,where
a battle did occur between the revolutionaryarmy led by Qah-tabah b. Shabib and the Syrian armyled by Nubatah b. Hanza-
lah, is not a partof administrativeKhurasan.65 Tabari,2: 1997-2000; Agha, "The Agents," 145-55.66 Tabari,2: 2000-2003; Akhbar,323-25.
tratedrising, andthey reportthe fall of numerous cities
before Marw had capitulated. But, understandably,
they all focus on the events in the Marw oasis about
which more information was available. This politically
proportionatebut
demographicallyand
strategicallydis-
proportionatefocus is also largely reflected in modern
studies. The inevitable consequence was that the great
significance of the strategy of orchestrationas crucial
evidence of a mass Iranianuprisingwas either dilutedor
completely lost.
APPENDIX
ABU MUSLIM'S DEPLOYMENT OF NUQABA' AND OTHER
OFFICERS TO THE OUTLYING DISTRICTS
The administrativegeography of the east had been
mapped by Abu Salamah al-Khallal during Bukayr b.
Mahan's leadership of the revolutionary organization.Abu Salamahcreated three regional commands:one in
Jurjan, tself a separateUmayyad administrativeunit on
the eastern shores of the Caspiansea; another in Marw;and a third in Transoxania.67
To Jurjan,Abu Muslim sent nothing-neither officers
norinstructions.TheJurjanid artisans,however, "aggre-
gated in huge numbersto join theirbrethren n Marw,so
Abi Muslim and his comradeswerejoyous at the news"
and, of course, Nasr b. Sayyar felt the noose tightening
accordingly.68
Revolutionaryactivities in Transoxaniaare even more
severely underreported han those in Jurjan.The exactgeographicallocationof the Transoxanian egionalcom-
mand is as elusive as its commander, al-CAla> . Hur-
ayth. It couldhave been locatedanywherebetweenAmul,or probablyeven Zamm in the south, and Khwarizm in
the north,and between the Oxus in the west and Samar-
qand in the east. To al-CAla',Abu Muslim sent Abu al-
Jahm b. CAtiyyahwith the news that the date had beenadvancedto Ramadan.69Abi al-Khattabexplicitly statesthatal-CAla'was in Khwarizm,and it may well havebeenso. Accordingto Tabari's nonymoussource,Abii Muslimsent al-Nadr b. Subayh (read: Subh) and Sharik b. 'Isa
(read: CUsayy)to Amul and Bukhara, also a territory
67Akhbar, 47-48; Agha,"TheAgents," 3-85.
68Akhbar,293. The brief coverageof activities in Jurjandur-
ing this period is, however, not commensurate with its impor-tance in the formative period of the organization, or with the
importantrole the Jurjaniddivision played, under Abi CAwn
CAbdl-Malik . Yazid, n Qahtabah. Shabib'sampaignnd
beyond.69 Abu al-Khattab n Tabari,2: 1953.
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Journal of the American Oriental Society 120.3 (2000)
underal-'Ala'.70Butthis isunlikely.According
to Abilal-
Khattab, hese two leaders were sent to Marw al-Rudh.71
This discrepancy may be irresolvable, but it is not of
muchsignificance.Whoeverwas, orwere,sent to al-CAla'
and his territorywere not mere messengers. These were
men of status in the organization;and the coordination
they were supposed to provide was also, in one of its
aspects, an assertion of Abu Muslim's central author-
ity, the statusof al-CAla'as a comparativelyautonomous
ally notwithstanding.We don't know exactly what course
events took in Transoxania.We can only infer thatpurg-
ing the area of Umayyad presencewas neithera long nor
a roughtask.Thereare,however, referencesto atrocities
committedin the early sweep of Amul and Zammon theleft bank of the Oxus.72
ToTukharistan,astof theMurghab iver,AbuMuslim
sent two naqibs,Abu Dawud Khalid b. Ibrahimand CAmr
70Tabari, : 1964.71Tabari, : 1953;Maddaini as al-Nadraccompaniedy
Bassamb.IbrahimTabari,: 1959);Akhbar,78,onlyal-Nadr.72 Akhbar, 248, 289.
b. Acyan.73Abu al-Khattab s more specific and differs
slightly. He specifies Abi Dawid's and Ibn Acyan'sdes-
tinationas the areabelow Balkh,specificallyTalaqan.He
says that AbuMuslim sent AbuiCAsimread:cIsam)CAbd
al-Rahmanb. Sulaym(read:Sulayman),74 n ally of Abui
Dawiid and, later,his chief of police and successor. All
of these men were top "officers."Balkhand Khuttalwere
initially, althoughnot exclusively, Abu Dawud's areaof
activity.Ziyadb. Salih, of whose activity in this context
we hear nothing, shared the direction of propaganda n
the areawith him.75These men were sent to lead. Before
they reached their destinations,the partisans n Talaqanhad risen.76
To Marwal-Rudh,Abu Muslim sent either al-Nadrb.Subh alone or accompanied by Sharik b. CUsayy.But
according to the anonymous source of Tabari, it was
Khazim b. Khuzaymahimself who was dispatched to
73 Akhbar, 77;theanonymousourcenTabari : 1964.
74Tabari,2: 1953.75
Akhbir, 268.76
Akhbar,278.
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AGHA:Aba Muslim'sConquest of Khurasan
Marwal-Rudh.77Khazim,one of the top militarystarsof
the organization,was also its resident leader in the dis-
trict. The discrepancymay be irresolvable,but it is againof little consequence.Morepertinent s the storyof Kha-
zim's swiftcapture
of thecity.
When his own tribe tried
to preventhim, he convinced them to stand neutral,and
overnight he attacked, killed the subgovenor, and sent
to Abi Muslim news of the conquest.78Farther o the southwest, Abu Muslim sent al-Nadrb.
Nucaymto Harat,who immediatelycaptured he city and
chased off the governmentofficial.79
West of Marw,the spectacleof hoistingthe black ban-
ners did not have to wait for Abu Muslim's commander.
Usaydb. CAbdAllah in Nasa was apparentlyhe very first
to flaunt the color outside Marw;thereafterneighboringAbiward followed suit.80AbuMuslim then appointedthe
naqib Musa b. Kacbto the command of the area.8'
77 Tabari,2: 1964.78
Accordingo Mada'ini n Tabari, : 1959-60.79Mada'ini n Tabari, : 1966.80
Tabari, 2: 1972; Akhbdr, 278; CAli b. al-Husayn al-
MasC'di, Murujal-dhahab wa maCadinal-jawhar, ed. C. Bar-
bier de Meynard and A. Pavet de Courteille, rev. C. Pellat
(Beirut:Lebanese University, 1973), 4: 78; Dinawari, 359; Ba-
ladhurihas Abiwardrising first (Ansdbal-ashrdf, 3: 131).81
Akhbdr,278; Tabari,2: 1964, 1997.
According to Mada'ini, the first conquest was that
of Abiward, by Misa, followed by that of Marw al-
Rudh,by Khazim.82Accordingto the Akhbar,the "pub-lic appearancesof the people of Nasa, Talaqan, Marw
al-Rudh,and Amul and its
vicinitywere close to one
another."83 ctually the expression "public appearance,"
althougha correct translation of zuhar, is not, by itself,
adequate for the context. The act of zuhur almost im-
mediately "translated" nto its other lexical meaning of
"overcoming" (perhapswith the sole exception of Marw
itself). The hoisting of the black banners of the revolu-
tion was in most cases an instantaneousraising of the
official flag of the new regime.There can be no doubt that, while the political drama
at Marw was still unfolding, most, if not all, of the
above-named localities had capitulatedor simply fallen
into the hands of the revolutionariesearly in the period.
Thus, with the exceptions of Tirmidhand Balkh in theeast, and Sarakhs, Tis, and Nishapurin the west, where
there was no early zuhur, the revolution had won all of
Khurasan,Tukharistan, ndTransoxaniaalmost from the
moment it broke into the open with full force, and defi-
nitely before it finally won Marw.
82Tabari,2: 1952-53.
83Akhbdr,278.
347