When Marwan II won the civil war that led to his ascension as Caliph in 744, the Abbasids sensed their moment. Ibrahim sent Abu Muslim a black flag signaling the start of a revolt. The revolt began in June 747 in Merv, a city center of the Khorasan region. A rebel army 2,000 unleashed their discontent in revolution and their drove out the governor of the region Nasr bin Sayyar into hiding in Wasit, Iraq.
As the revolution raged, the Umayyads imprisoned Ibrahim, where he would die in his cell years later. But even with the imprisonment of the head of the Abbasid cause, the revolt spread growing into a revolution against the Caliphate. In 747, they captured Herat and wrestled for the control of Persia. In 748, they advanced to Iraq capturing Kufa. Other major cities fell such as Istafan and Reyy. By the late months 749, Abu Muslim and the Abbasid revolutionaries controlled Persia and Mesopotamia. In November 749, with Ibrahim dead in prison in the same year, Abu Muslim and the revolution appointed the new head of the Abbasids, Abu al-Abbas, as Amir al-Muminin or commander of the faithful and Caliph.
In 750, the Abbasids faced a threat from the Caliph Marwan II himself marching his army against the rebels. The Abbasid and the Umayyad armies met in the Great Zab River where the former dealt a decisive blow against the latter. The Abbasid victory forced Caliph Marwan II to flee, first to Harran, a city near the modern borders of Turkey and Iraq, and then to Egypt. In Egypt he was captured and executed by Abbasid supporters. Those responsible for Marwan II’s death sent his head, Caliphal staff and ring back to the new Abbasid Caliph Abu al-Abbas.
With the death of the Marwan II, Damascus and other Umayyad strongholds in Syria surrendered. The tombs of the Umayyad caliphs desecrated. Caliph Abu al-Abbas, however, believed his position as precarious as long as other Umayyad princes remained.Tales recounted al-Abbas ended the threat through a banquet. A banquet where he invited the family members of the Umayyad. Then, he treacherously ordered the killings of the members while he enjoyed the food of the feast. The act cemented his nickname As-Saffah – the Blood-shedder. But 1 Umayyad prince escaped the slaughter, Prince Abdul Rahman ibn Muawiya.
He fled Syria and then into North Africa before crossing the Strait of Gibraltar and into the Emirate of Cordoba. There he established a renegade Emirate and later Caliphate – the Cordoba Caliphate. Making the most western province of the Islamic Empire the last bastion of Umayyad Caliphate.
Gaurav Seth 4 years, 1 month ago
When Marwan II won the civil war that led to his ascension as Caliph in 744, the Abbasids sensed their moment. Ibrahim sent Abu Muslim a black flag signaling the start of a revolt. The revolt began in June 747 in Merv, a city center of the Khorasan region. A rebel army 2,000 unleashed their discontent in revolution and their drove out the governor of the region Nasr bin Sayyar into hiding in Wasit, Iraq.
As the revolution raged, the Umayyads imprisoned Ibrahim, where he would die in his cell years later. But even with the imprisonment of the head of the Abbasid cause, the revolt spread growing into a revolution against the Caliphate. In 747, they captured Herat and wrestled for the control of Persia. In 748, they advanced to Iraq capturing Kufa. Other major cities fell such as Istafan and Reyy. By the late months 749, Abu Muslim and the Abbasid revolutionaries controlled Persia and Mesopotamia. In November 749, with Ibrahim dead in prison in the same year, Abu Muslim and the revolution appointed the new head of the Abbasids, Abu al-Abbas, as Amir al-Muminin or commander of the faithful and Caliph.
In 750, the Abbasids faced a threat from the Caliph Marwan II himself marching his army against the rebels. The Abbasid and the Umayyad armies met in the Great Zab River where the former dealt a decisive blow against the latter. The Abbasid victory forced Caliph Marwan II to flee, first to Harran, a city near the modern borders of Turkey and Iraq, and then to Egypt. In Egypt he was captured and executed by Abbasid supporters. Those responsible for Marwan II’s death sent his head, Caliphal staff and ring back to the new Abbasid Caliph Abu al-Abbas.
With the death of the Marwan II, Damascus and other Umayyad strongholds in Syria surrendered. The tombs of the Umayyad caliphs desecrated. Caliph Abu al-Abbas, however, believed his position as precarious as long as other Umayyad princes remained.Tales recounted al-Abbas ended the threat through a banquet. A banquet where he invited the family members of the Umayyad. Then, he treacherously ordered the killings of the members while he enjoyed the food of the feast. The act cemented his nickname As-Saffah – the Blood-shedder. But 1 Umayyad prince escaped the slaughter, Prince Abdul Rahman ibn Muawiya.
He fled Syria and then into North Africa before crossing the Strait of Gibraltar and into the Emirate of Cordoba. There he established a renegade Emirate and later Caliphate – the Cordoba Caliphate. Making the most western province of the Islamic Empire the last bastion of Umayyad Caliphate.
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