at his master's instigation by five hired assassins, A.H. 137 (754).

Abu Muslim was barely thirty-five years of age when It was certainly deserved, for, according he met his fall. to computations of Arabian historians, he was responsible for the slaughter of no less than 600,000 human beings. But though the monster richly merited punishment, his master, on whom he had bestowed the Empire of the East, should have been the last to inflict it; and the treachery with which Abu Muslim's fate was compassed is an additional stain on El-Mansur's memory.

CHAPTER XII

THE CALIPHATES OF EL-MANSUR, EL-HĀDI, AND HARUN ER-RASHID

4

EL-MANSUR's troubles did not end with the defeat of 'Abdullah and the murder of Abū Muslim. The rebellious Mesopotamians, under their leader Mulabbab esh-Shaybāni, more than once repulsed the troops sent against them by the Caliph, and not till A.H. I 38 (755) was order restored by Khāzim ibn Khuzayma.1 In the meantime a "Magian," or Zoroastrian of Nīshāpūr, named Sinbad,2 disgusted at the murder of his patron Abū Muslim, rose in rebellion to avenge the blood of the fallen general. He soon found himself at the head of a large following, and gained possession of Nīshāpūr, Kūmis, and Ray. In the town last mentioned the treasure which had been left there by Abu Muslim fell into his hands. Against him El-Mansur despatched Jahwar ibn Marrār el-'Ijli, at the head of 10,000 men, who encountered and put to flight the rebels between Hamadān and Ray. Sinbad escaped from the field of battle, but was overtaken and killed between Tabaristan and Ray, his revolt having lasted just seventy days.

1 Tabari, Annales, Series III. p. 122.

5

2 An account of this man may be found in the Siasset Namèh, pp. 122-23

of Schefer's text.

3 In the Arabic, Wadhālika innahu kāna min sanāyi'ihi.

In A.H. 138 (755) Jahwar was deprived of his command for having failed to deliver over to the Caliph the treasure of Abu Muslim which had fallen into his hands. He now in turn took up arms against the Caliph, who sent a force against him under Mohammad ibn el-Ash'ath. Jahwar suffered a crushing defeat and fled to Azerbāyjān, whither he was pursued and slain.

Although El-Mansur had now, A.H. 139 (756), secured comparative tranquillity and recognition of his sovereign rights in most of his dominions, the distant province of Khorāsān, yearly rising in importance, was still under the heel of the rival faction of the Hashimites and the Shi'ites, quite apart from minor sectarian movements which rendered the attempt to maintain order there almost hopeless.

In the year A.H. 140 (757) the Shi'ites broke out into open revolt, in the midst of which the then governor, Abū Da'ūd Khālid ibn Ibrāhīm, died.1 His successor, 'Abd el-Jabbar, was powerless to assert his authority, and, on learning that he was about to be dismissed from his office, turned against El-Mansūr. Khāzim ibn Khuzayma, who had already distinguished himself in Mesopotamia, accompanied by the Caliph's son and successor El-Mahdi, at once marched against 'Abd el-Jabbār and his following, A.H. 141 (758). 'Abd el-Jabbar was, however, captured by his own people and sent, mounted backwards on an ass, to the Caliph, who, after extorting from him by torture all his treasure, put him to death. The governorship of Khorāsān was now given to El-Mahdi, the Caliph's own son and successor—an appointment which

1

1 According to both versions of Tabari, he fell from a window and broke his back.

2 El-Mahdi, who was at this time about twenty years of age, had, we are told, a lieutenant to assist him in his duties as governor.

seems to indicate the growing importance of the far Eastern provinces.

In the year A.H. 141 (758) a strange sect of Persian origin styled Rāvandis caused no little trouble to the Caliph, and even placed him in imminent personal danger.1 The old chronicles have little to tell us of Khorāsān between the years A.H. 141 and 150, although during this period they have many grave events to record in other parts of the Caliph's dominion, such as the rising of Mohammad and Ibrāhīm, descendants of the martyred Hasan (A.H. 145), and the foundation of Baghdad, A.H. 145 (762). We also hear of frequent engagements in Armenia between the Caliph's troops on the one hand and the Khazars and Turks on the other. These matters, however, do not directly concern our narrative.2 We propose, therefore, to chronicle the years A.H. 150 to 180 briefly, recording only such facts as are connected with the history of Central Asia proper, and mentioning the names of those who held the governorship of Khorāsān during this period.3

In A.H. 150 (767) a serious rising took place in Khorāsān, under the leadership of a Persian named

1 The Ravandis believed in the transmigration of souls, and held that the soul of the Deity was temporarily resident in the body of the Caliph, while the souls of Adam and Gabriel were residing in the bodies of two of his generals. For accounts of this sect, see Weil, Geschichte der Khalifen, vol. ii. p. 36 et seq.; Muir, The Caliphate, p. 448; Tabari, Annales, Series III. p. 129 et seq.; and Zotenberg, Chroniques de Tabari, vol. iv. p. 137 et seq.

2 In the preceding pages undue space may appear to have been given to the history of the Caliphs, but the growing importance of Central Asia will in future render our history almost independent of events at Baghdad.

The famous Annales of Tabari (which have been our Haupt-Quelle for the history of the Arabs in Central Asia), like those of Ibn el-Athir, are arranged under the heading of each succeeding year. We make a point of giving throughout the name of each governor of Khorasan appointed by the Caliphs, for, though such details are in themselves trivial, no list of them has, to our knowledge, appeared in any European work.