Table of Contents

Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1: Biographical Data of Muḥammad b. ʿAbdallāh al-Nafs al-Zakiyya
1) Birth
2) Death
3) Mother
4) Siblings
5) The Residences of the Family
6) Wives and Children
7) Education
8) Physical Traits
9) The Image of Muḥammad b. ʿAbdallāh as Portrayed by the Sources
1) The Title al-Mahdī
2) The Title al-Nafs al-Zakiyya
3) ‟Ṣāḥib al-khāl”
4) Zaydī Imām?

Chapter 2: Muḥammad b. ʿAbdallāh during the Umawī and ʿAbbāsī Periods
A) The Umawī Period
1) Traditions without Specific Dates and Names of Caliphs
2) Traditions with Dates and Names of Caliphs
3) The Period after al-Walīd b. Yazīd’s Reign (126/743–744)
B) Upon the Accession of the ʿAbbāsīs to Rule
1) The Abū Salama Affair
2) The Affair of Yazīd b. ʿUmar b. Hubayra
3) ʿAbd al-Jabbār b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Azdī
C) The Caliphate of Abū l-ʿAbbās al-Saffāḥ (r. 132–136/749–754)
1) Abū l-ʿAbbās and the ʿAlīds (mainly ʿAbdallāh b. al-Ḥasan b. al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib)
2) Muḥammad b. ʿAbdallāh during the Caliphate of al-Saffāḥ
D) The Reign of al-Manṣūr (136–158/754–775)
E) The Pre-Rebellion Phase: Propaganda and Espionage Activities
1) The ʿAbbāsī Side
2) Muḥammad b. ʿAbdallāh's Intelligence Operations

Chapter 3: On the Eve of the Rebellion
A) Medina during the Early ʿAbbāsī Caliphate
1) Abbāsī Policy towards the City
2) The ʿAbbāsīs and the Governors of Medina
3) The Governors of Medina (136–145/754–762)
B) The Imprisonment of the Ḥasanīs and Their Death
1) The Imprisonment of ʿAbdallāh b. al-Ḥasan and His Family in 140/758
2) The Imprisonment of the Ḥasanīs in 144/762
3) Conclusion
C) Propaganda and Followers of Muḥammad b. ʿAbdallāh in the Provinces
1) Egypt
2) Syria (al-Shām)
3) Al-ʿIrāq (al-Baṣra and al-Kūfa)
4) Al-Sind

Chapter 4: Revolt
Introduction
A) Entering the City and Taking Control
B) Supporters and Warriors in the First Stage of the Revolt: General Observations
1) The Size of the Army of Muḥammad b. ʿAbdallāh
2) Muḥammadʼs Commanders
C) The First Actions: The Imprisonment of the ʿAbbāsī Family in Medina
D) The Financial Sources of the Rebellion
E) Organizing Medina
1) Governors of Medina
2) The Ḥijāba
3) The Shurṭa
4) The Judiciary (al-Qaḍāʾ)
5) Dīwān al-ʿAṭāʾ
6) The Arsenal
7) The Flag-bearer
F) Appointing Governors in Arabia
1) Mecca
2) Yemen (al-Yaman)
3) Al-Ṭāʾif
4) Al-Yamāma

Chapter 5: The ʿAbbāsī Reactions
A) Al-Manṣūr’s First Response
B) The Correspondence Between al-Manṣūr and Muḥammad b. ʿAbdallāh
1) The Text and its Transmission
2) The Text of the Three Letters Recorded by Sibṭ b. al-Jawzī
3) The Problem of Authenticity: The Question of the “Fourth Letter”
4) Kitāb al-Siyar of Muḥammad b. ʿAbdallāh
5) The Letters according to Balʿamī (d. 974, or after 992?)
C) The ʿAbbāsī Army Headed by ʿĪsā b. Mūsā against Muḥammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya
1) The Ṭālibīs in ʿĪsā b. Mūsā’s Camp
2) The Advancement of ʿĪsā’s Army until Reaching Medina

Chapter 6: The ʿAbbāsī Armyʼs Campaigns Against Muḥammad b. ʿAbdallāh
A) The First Stages
1) Duel Combats
2) Assaulting and Bridging the Khandaq (Moat)
3) Taking Control of the Outskirts of Medina and Entering the City
B) The Campaign outside the City
C) The Last Battle and the Death of Muḥammad b. ʿAbdallāh
D) The Site Where Muḥammad b. ʿAbdallāh Was Killed
1) Aḥjār al-Zayt
3) Mashhad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya in the Market of Medina.
4) Bayt Rūmī (A Byzantine House [?])
5) Ghanāʾim Khashram
6) Muḥammad b. ʿAbdallāh’s Burial Place
E) The ʿAbbāsīs’ First Actions after the Suppression of the Revolt
1) Acts of Killing and Robbing by the Contingents of the ʿAbbāsī Army
2) The Persecution of Members of the Ḥasanī Family and other Supporters of the Rebellion
3) Maritime Blockade
4) The Confiscation of Banū l-Ḥasan’s and Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq’s Estates
5) The Confiscation of Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq’s Estate

Chapter 7: The Social, Ethnic, Political, and Religious Character of the Revolt
Part 1: Banū Quraysh
A) The Ṭālibīs
1) Banū l-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib (table I)
2) Banū l-Ḥusayn b.ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib (table II)
3) Banū Jaʿfar b. Abī Ṭālib (table III)
4) Banū ʿUmar b. ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib (table IV)
5) Banū ʿAqīl b. Abī Ṭālib (table IV)
B) Banū Umayya al-Akbar b. ʿAbd Shams b. ʿAbd Manāf b. Quṣayy b. Kilāb b. Murra b. Kaʿb b. Luʾayy b. Ghālib b. Fihr (Quraysh) (table V)
C) Banū Nawfal b. ʿAbd Manāf b. Quṣayy b. Kilāb b. Murra b. Kaʿb b. Luʾayy b. Ghālib b. Fihr (Quraysh) (table V)
D) Banū l-Muṭṭalib b. ʿAbd Manāf b. Quṣayy b. Kilāb ... b. Ghālib b. Fihr (Quraysh) (table V)
E) Banū ʿAdī b. Kaʿb b. Luʾayy b. Ghālib b. Fihr (Quraysh) (table VI)
F) Banū Taym b. Murra b. Kaʿb b. Luʾayy b. Ghālib b. Fihr (Quraysh) (table VII)
G) Banū Makhzūm b. Yaqẓa b. Murra b. Kaʿb b. Luʾayy b. Ghālib b. Fihr (Quraysh) (table VIII)
H) Banū ʿĀmir b. Luʾayy b. Ghālib b. Fihr (Quraysh) (table IX)
I) Banū Jumaḥ b. ʿAmr b. Huṣayṣ b. Kaʿb b. Luʾayy b. Ghālib b. Fihr (Quraysh) (table X). See also Banū Kinda
J) Banū Hāshim b. ʿAbd Manāf b. Quṣayy b. Kilāb b. Murra b. Kaʿb b. Luʾayy b. Ghālib b. Fihr (Quraysh) (table X)
K) Banū Zuhra b. Quṣayy b. Kilāb b. Murra b. Kaʿb b. Luʾayy b. Ghālib b. Fihr (Quraysh) (table XI)

Chapter 7
Part 2: Banū Asad b. ʿAbd al-ʿUzzā b. Quṣayy b. Kilāb b. Murra b. Kaʿb b. Luʾay b. Fihr (Quraysh) (table XII)
A) The Family of al-Zubayr b. al-ʿAwwām
1) The Family of Muṣʿab b. al-Zubayr b. al-ʿAwwām b. Khuwaylid b. Asad
2) The Family of Jaʿfar b. Muṣʿab b. al-Zubayr
3) The Family of Khālid b. al-Zubayr b. al-ʿAwwām
4) The Family of ʿAbdallāh b. al-Zubayr
5) The Family of al-Mundhir b. al-Zubayr b. al-ʿAwwām
6) The Family of ʿUrwa b. al-Zubayr
B) The Family of ʿAbdallāh b. Khālid b. Ḥizām b. Khuwaylid b. Asad b. ʿAbd al-ʿUzzā b. Quṣayy b. Kilāb
C) Some Notes on the Zubayrīs in Early Islam
1) The political-social and especially the economic position of the Zubayrīs
2) The Relations between the Zubayrīs and the Ṭālibīs
D) ʿAbbāsīs and Zubayrīs
1) The Position and Roles of Members of the Zubayrī Family in the Early ʿAbbāsī State
2) Marriage and relations between the Zubayrīs and the ʿAbbāsīs
E) Transmissions of the Zubayrīs

Chapter 7
Part 3: The Tribal Support for/Opposition to Muḥammad b. ʿAbdallāh
A) The Anṣār
A.1) Banū Aws
A.2) Banū l-Khazraj
B) Banū Juhayna (... b. al-Ḥāfī b. Quḍāʿa)
C) Banū Muzayna (... b. al-Yās b. Muḍar)
D) Banū Sulaym (... b. Qays ʿAylān b. Muḍar)
E) Banū Ghifār b. Mulayl (... b. Kināna ... b. al-Yās b. Muḍar)
F) Banū Aslam (... b. Māzin b. al-Azd)
G) Banū Ashjaʿ (... b. Ghaṭafān b. Saʿd b. Qays ʿAylān b. Muḍar)
H) Banū Fazāra (... b. Ghaṭafān b. Saʿd b. Qays ʿAylān b. Muḍar)
I) Thaqīf (... b. Hawāzin ... b. Khṣafa b. Qays ʿAylān b. Muḍar)
J) Banū ʿĀmir b. Ṣaʿṣaʿa (... b. Hawāzin ... b. Khaṣafa b. Qays ʿAylān b. Muḍar)
K) Banū Bāhila (mawālī)
L) Banū Hawāzin (... b. Khaṣafa b. Qays ʿAylān b. Muḍar) (mawlā)
M) Banū Kinda
N) Banū Daws (al-Azd) (mawlā), or Banū Layth (Quḍāʿa) (mawlā) or Banū Ghifār (mawlā)
O) Unidentified
Conclusions

Appendix 1: The Attitude of the ʿUlamāʾ Towards the Rebellion
1) Mālik b. Anas
2) Hishām b. ʿUrwa b. al-Zubayr
3) Sufyān b. Saʿīd b. Masrūq (known as Sufyān al-Thawrī)
4) Abū Ḥanīfa al-Nuʿmān b. Thābit
5) Hārūn b. Saʿd al-ʿIjlī

Appendix 2: Transmitters and Transmission of the Historical Events of the Revolt
A) Transmitters from the Ṭālibī Families
B) The ʿAbbāsī Family
C) Transmission from Contemporaries of the Rebellion: Eyewitnesses, Supporters, and Opponents of the Revolt
D) ʿUmar b. Shabba: Direct Transmitters
E) Some Remarks on the Transmission of Abū l-Faraj al-Iṣfahānī in Maqātil al-ṭālibiyyīn Regarding the Events Surrounding the Rebellion of Muḥammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya

Appendix 3: The Struggle for Legitimization Between the Ḥasanīs and the Ḥusaynīs as Reflected Mainly in Imāmī Literature
A) The Ḥusaynīs and Other Ṭālibī/Hāshimī Factions
A.1) Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq and Muḥammad Ibn al-Ḥanafiyya
A.2) Ḥusaynīs and Jaʿfarīs/ Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq and the Jaʿfarīs
B) The Ḥasanī and the Ḥusaynī Families: Animosity and Conflicts
1) Economic Reasons: Some Preliminary Remarks
2) The Exclusive Right of the Ḥusaynīs to the Imāma: The Struggle between Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq and ʿAbdallāh b. al-Ḥasan
C) The Symbols of Legitimacy of the Ḥusaynīs: The Inheritance of the ʿIlm of the Prophet; Holy Relics of Ādam, Moses, Joseph, and (mainly) of the Prophet Muḥammad
1) The Prophet’s Weapons
2) Holy Relics of Ādam, Moses, Joseph, and (mainly) of the Prophet Muḥammad.
3) Historical note on al-ʿIjliyya
D) Ḥusaynīs and Ḥasanīs: The Struggle between Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq and Muḥammad b. ʿAbdallāh b. al-Ḥasan
1) Historical traditions: The al-Abwāʾ meeting, Abū Salama’s affair, and other events
2) The struggle according to Imāmī traditions
E) Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq during the Rebellion and his Attitude Towards it According to Mainly Imāmī Traditions
F) Did Jaʿfar Regard Himself, or was he Regarded by his Adherents, as the Mahdī?
G) Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq and the ʿAbbāsīs
H) The Treatise of Condolences from Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq to the Ḥasanīs

Map of Medina
Genealogical Charts
Quraysh
I) The Ṭālibīs: Banū l-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib
II) The Ṭālibīs: Banū ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib
III) The Ṭālibīs: Banū ʿAbdallāh b. Jaʿfar b. Abī Ṭālib
IV) The Ṭālibīs: Banū ʿUmar b. ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib
V) 1) Banū Umayya al-Akbar 2) Banū Nawfal b. ʿAbd Manāf 3) Banū Rabīʿa b. ʿAbd al-ʿUzzā b. ʿAbd Shams
VI) Banū ʿAdī
1) Banū ʿAdī b. Kaʿb b. Luʾayy 2) Banū ʿUwayj b. ʿAdī. a) Banū ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb b) Banū Ibrāhīm b. ʿAbdallāh b. Muṭīʿ c) Banū Zayd b. al-Khaṭṭāb
VII) Banū Taym b. Murra
VIII) Banū Makhzūm
IX) Banū ʿĀmir b. Luʾayy
X) Banū Jumaḥ
XI) Banū Zuhra
XII) Quraysh: Banū Asad b. ʿAbd al-ʿUzzā 1) Banū l-Zubayr b. al-ʿAwwām 2) Banū Khālid b. Ḥizām
Bibliography

About the Author

Amikam Elad, Ph.D. 1987, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is Professor of Medieval Islamic History. He is particularly interested in the history of the early Abbasid Caliphate and the history of Syria and Palestine during the early Muslim period, with a special focus on Jerusalem. He is the author of numerous articles and Medieval Jerusalem and Islamic Worship, Holy Places, Ceremonies (Brill, 1995).