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‘Abd Allah Ibn al-Muqaffa’ and the ‘Abbasid Revolution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Said Amir Arjomand
Said Amir Arjomand*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, State University of New York at Stony Brook
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Extract

The life and works of ‘Abd Allah b. al-Muqaffa', probably the Abdala the Saracen with whose mention the Christian humanist Pico della Mirandola opens his great Oration on the Dignity of Man (1486), have received some attention in modern scholarship. His life and work, however, have not been systematically studied in the context of the revolution of his time—namely, the ‘Abbasid revolution. This paper will try to show that Ibn al-Muqaffa's impressive intellectual output appears in a new light when it is properly put in this context, and is seen from the perspective of the breakdown of the Umayyad state and the ensuing process of revolution.

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Articles
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Iranian Studies , Volume 27 , Issue 1-4: Religion and Society in Islamic Iran during the Pre-Modern Era , 1994 , pp. 9 - 36
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Copyright © Association For Iranian Studies, Inc 1994

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26. Judging, that is, by the large number of officials arrested after the dismissal of Khalid in 120/738 (see below).

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53. He is on record as having made several vicious remarks about Sufyan b. Mu'awiya, including the following: “O son of the wanton woman (mughtalima), by God your mother was not satisfied with the men of Iraq and could not make do with them until the men of Syria married her” (Baladhuri, Ansāb 3:221).

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59. Grignaschi, “Spécimens,” 46Google Scholar.

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61. Ibid., 59: in abtulayta bi'l-imāra (variant, sulṭān, cited by al-Fakhuri, Ibn al-Muqaffa', 66).

62. Over four-fifths of the total, according to one estimate. See Bulliet, R. W., Conversion to Islam in the Medieval Period: An Essay in Quantitative History (Harvard University Press, 1979), 23CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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69. Vajda, “Les Zindīqs” 195; Zaryab-Kho'i, ‘A., Bazmāvard (Tehran: Sokhan, 1368 Sh./1989), 75–8Google Scholar. So was, two generations later, Muhammad, son of al-Mahdi's vizier, Abu ‘Ubayd Allah (Vajda, “Les Zindīqs,” 187).

70. Bal'ami, Tārīkhnāma 2:1174Google Scholar.

71. Ess, van, Theologie und Gesellschaft 12:18Google Scholar.

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75. Tabari, Ta’rīkh 2:1835Google Scholar; English tr. Hillenbrand, C., vol. 26: The Waning of the Umayyad Caliphate (Albany: SUNY Press, 1989), 194Google Scholar.

76. Isfahani, Kitāb al-aghānī 12:231Google Scholar; Jahshiyari, Kitāb al-wuzarā', 90–92Google Scholar; Ya'qubi, Tārīkh 2:462Google Scholar.

77. Sadighi, Mouvements religieux, 90–92Google Scholar; Vajda, “Les Zindīqs,” 213; Ess, van, Theologie und Gesellschaft 2:16Google Scholar.

78. Sadighi, Mouvements religieux, 92, 99Google Scholar; Vajda, “Les Zindīqs,” 186, 203. According to Sadighi (p. 92), Izad-Ayadar is the correct from of Yazdan b. Badhan as reported by Tabari (3:549).

79. I have taken the four names from Bal'ami, Tārīkhnāma. In Tabrisi's Iḥtijāj, Ibn Abi'1-Awja', the Daysanite Abu Shakir and ‘Abd al-Malik al-Basri are mentioned instead of Salih ‘Abd al-Quddus and the Hashimite and ‘Abbāsīd scions (passage translated in Vajda, “Les Zindīqs” 224).

80. Theologie und Gesellschaft 2:29, 34–6.

81. Guidi, M., La Lotta tra Islam e il Manicheismo: Un Libro di Ibn al-Muqaffa’ contro il Corano confutato da al-Qasim b. Ibrahim (Rome: Fondazione Caetani, 1927), text 26–7; trGoogle Scholar. 61.

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83. Guidi, La Lotta tra Islam, text 28–9; tr. 65.

84. Bal'ami, Tārīkhnāma 2:1171Google Scholar.

85. Vajda, “Les Zindīqs,” 223Google Scholar, citing Tabrisi's Iḥtijāj in translation.

86. Tabari, Ta’rīkh 3:549Google Scholar; English tr Bosworth, C. E., vol. 30: The ‘Abbāsīd Caliphate in Equilibrium (Albany: SUNY, 1989), 11Google Scholar. On his name see n. 78, above.

87. As in the tract edited by Guidi, La Lotta tra Islam, 29Google Scholar.

88. Zarrinkub, ‘A.-H., “Zandaqa va zanāqida,” in Na sharqī, na gharbī, insānī (Tehran: Amir Kabir, 1353 Sh./1974), 117–18Google Scholar.

89. J. van Ess, “Some Fragments of the Mu'āraḍat al-Qur'ān attributed to Ibn al-Muqaffa',” in al-Qadi, W., ed., Studia Arabica & Islamica: Festschrift for Ihsan ‘Abbas (Beirut, 1981), 156Google Scholar.

90. Ibid., 159–60 (translation modified and emphasis added).

91. Ibn Isfandyar, Ṭārīkh-e Ṭabaristān, 12Google Scholar.

92. See Section VI, below.

93. Baladhuri, Ansāb 3:218Google Scholar.

94. Ibid., 176–7.

95. For reasons stated below, the date given by Tabari, Ramadan 139/February 757, should be rejected for an earlier date, preferably Ya'qubi's: Jumada II 137/June 755.

96. Baladhuri, Ansāb 3:91Google Scholar.

97. Pellat, Ch., “Conseilleur” du Calife (Paris: Maisonneuve et Larose, 1976), 50–51Google Scholar; Goitein, S. D., Studies in Islamic History and Institutions (Leiden: Brill, 1968), 161Google Scholar.

98. Ibid., 219–20.

99. Tabari, Ta’rīkh 3:73Google Scholar (History 27:194); Baladhuri, Ansāb 3:89Google Scholar.

100. The significance of the Risāla has been widely noted. Goitein drew attention to it in 1949, as “a turning point in the history of the Muslim state” (Studies in Islamic History, 149–67). Charles Pellat edited the tract, with a French translation, and published it in 1976 (“Conseilleur” du Calife). I am suggesting that the correct assessment of its significance requires closer attention to its neglected historical context, namely, the process of the ‘Abbasid revolution.

101. There is no evidence for this assumption except a reference to Abu'l-'Abbas as the deceased caliph. Among the modern authors who have shown reservations concerning this unsubstantiated assumption, Fakhuri considers the tract “the closest thing to a program for revolution against al-Mansur” but elaborates no further (Ibn al-Muqaffa', p. 13), and Pellat surmises that the tract was written at the instigation of ‘Isa and Sulayman “who probably did not dare address their nephew, al-Mansur, directly” (“Conseilleur” du Calife, 2).

102. He is variously reported to have been twenty-eight, thirty-one, and thirty-six (Ya'qubi, Tārīkh 2:434; Tabari, Ta’rīkh 3:88 [History 27:212]; Yazid b. Muhammad al-Azdi, Ta’rīkh al-Mawṣil, ed. ‘A. Habiba [Cairo, 1967], 160).

103. For a good overview of the period under consideration, however, see Kennedy, H., The Early Abbāsīd Caliphate (London: Croom Helm, 1981), 57–65Google Scholar.

104. Tabari, Ta’rīkh 3:99–100Google Scholar; English tr. Williams, J. A., The Early ‘Abbasi Empire (Cambridge, 1988), 1:10Google Scholar.

105. Tabari, Ta’rīkh 3:100Google Scholar (History 28:20).

106. The date is given by Ibn Hanbal as cited in Azdi, Mawṣil, 161Google Scholar. Ya'qubi says beginning (instead of end) of Muharram, which does not sit well with his own statement that the news of the caliph's death reached Abu Ja'far fifteen days later—which means two days before the end of the year. Abu Ja'far could not have completed all the alleged negotiations with Abu Muslim and traveled from the Hijaz, slowed down, and still reached Kufa in a couple of days!

107. Tabari, Ta’rīkh 3:92Google Scholar (History 28:7).

108. Ibid., 88 (History 27:212); Baladhuri, Ansāb 3:178Google Scholar; Azdi, Mawṣil, 160Google Scholar. Ya'qubi mentions Isma'il b. ‘Ali as an alternative to ‘Isa b. ‘Ali, but his account clearly shows ‘Isa as the uncle in charge of Anbar; indeed, it suggests the caliph asked his uncle to lead the prayer—on the model of Abu Bakr as successor designate to the Prophet upon his death (Tārīkh 2:434).

109. Some accounts attribute this last feat to ‘Isa b. Musa (Tabari, Ta’rīkh 3:92Google Scholar [History 28:8]). The arrival of ‘Isa b. Musa in Anbar, which was under the control of his uncle, Tsa b. ‘Ali, has caused confusion in the historical record between the two ‘Isas—namely, ‘Isa b. ‘Ali, the uncle, and Tsa b. Musa b. ‘Ali, the nephew. For instance, different traditions identify the person who declined to accompany Abu Muslim to the caliph's tent but arrived on the scene upon his murder as Tsa b. Musa (Tabari, Ta’rīkh 3:116 [History 1:23]) and ‘Isa b. ‘Ali (Abu Hanifa Ahmad b. Dawud al-Dinawari, Akhbār al-ṭiwāl, ed. ‘A. ‘Amir [Cairo, 1960], 382; Persian tr. S. Nash'at [Tehran: Bunyad-e Farhang-e Iran, 1346 Sh./1967], 399–400). This confusion is not helped by some editorial emendations with a misleading hindsight in which the nephew eclipses the uncle (e.g., those in Azdi, Mawṣil, 161)Google Scholar.

110. Dinawari, Akhbār, 378Google Scholar; Persian tr. 395.

111. Tabari, Ta’rīkh 3:100Google Scholar (History 28:21). Abu Muslim's relations with ‘Isa b. Musa were good, and Abu Ja'far used the latter to ensnare Abu Muslim to the fatal meeting in his tent a few months later (Ya'qubi, Tārīkh 2:440Google Scholar; Tabari, Ta’rīkh 3:105Google Scholar, 116 [History 28:27, 40]).

112. Al-Duri, and al-Mutallabi, Akhbār al-dawla, 148Google Scholar. The title was anachronistically ascribed to Abu'l-'Abbas in later ‘Abbāsīd historiography.

113. Abu'l-'Abbas himself is reported to have said on his deathbed that he had promised succession to his uncle (Baladhuri, Ansāb 3:179)Google Scholar.

114. Ya'qubi, Tārīkh 2:437Google Scholar.

115. The advice was given by Zafr b. ‘Asim al-Hilali (Baladhuri, Ansāb 3:105)Google Scholar.

116. Ya'qubi, Tārīkh 2:438Google Scholar.

117. Baladhuri, Ansāb 3:106Google Scholar.

118. Ibid., 107; Azdi, Mawṣil, 164Google Scholar.

119. According to one implausible report, the fighting lasted for several months (Tabari, Ta’rīkh 3:96Google Scholar [History 28:14]).

120. All the information and quotations in this paragraph are from Baladhuri's invaluable account in Ansāb 3:111.

121. Ya'qubi, Tārīkh 2:442Google Scholar; Azdi, Mawṣil, 167–70Google Scholar. ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Ali surrendered less than two weeks before the end of the year 137. This would explain the Khatib al-Baghdadi's placing of the protracted episode in 137, while Azdi reports it under 138 (Ess, van, Theologie 2:25)Google Scholar. In any event, Tabari's date for the dismissal of Sulayman b. ‘Ali, 14 Ramadan 139/9 February 757, is implausibly late (Tabari, Ta'rīkh 3:126Google Scholar [History 28:56]). Ramadan 138/January 756 would be more plausible.

122. Ya'qub al-Kulayni Abu, Ja'far Muhammad b., al-Kāfī, ed. Ghaffari, ‘A.-A (Tehran, 1377–79/1957–60), 8:212Google Scholar.

123. Crone, P., “On the Meaning of the ‘Abbāsīd Call to al-Rida” in Bosworth, C. E. et al, eds., The Islamic World: Essays in Honor of Bernard Lewis (Princeton: The Darwin Press, 1989), 95–111Google Scholar.

124. All this was, in retrospect, put in the eleventh-hour testament Abu'l-'Abbas allegedly left with ‘Isa b. Musa, conveniently substituted for ‘Isa b. ‘Ali (Tabari, Ta’rīkh 3:87Google Scholar [History 27:212], accepted at face value by Lassner, Shaping, 11); and this after overcoming his reservations about breaking his promise to ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Ali and after giving up the intention he expressed to designate his minor son, Muhammad (Baladhuri, Ansāb 3:178–9)Google Scholar.

125. Azdi, Mawṣil, 162Google Scholar.

126. Pellat, Risāla, 25Google Scholar.

127. al-Ash'ari al-Qummi, Sa'd b. ‘Abd Allah, Kitāb al-maqālāt wa'l-firaq, ed. Mashkur, M. J. (Tehran, 1963), 67Google Scholar.

128. Pellat, Risāla, 21Google Scholar.

129. At one point (ibid., 44–5, para. 37), the imperative tone is so impertinent that Pellat decides to render the verb in the passive (I suspect wrongly). In the first section (pp. 22–3, para. 8), Ibn al-Muqaffa’ makes clear that the proposals are in earnest and no flattery is intended.

130. Pellat, Risāla, 25Google Scholar. The image is used with different wording in the so-called Adab al-kabīr (‘Ali, Kurd, Rasā'il, 65)Google Scholar.

131. Ibid., 39.

132. Ibid., 36–7, para. 30.

133. Ibid., 38–9, para. 31. Here Ibn al-Muqaffa’ is clearly promoting the interest of his own class, the Basran administrative elite protected by Sulayman b. ‘Ali, and their Kufan counterpart.

134. Ibid., 46–9. Ibn al-Muqaffa” s statement (p. 49, para. 42) that if the Syrians “are treated with justice—which has not been the case—they are perfectly capable of not engaging in commotion and violence” is unlikely to have been made after they rose in support of ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Ali.

135. Ibid., 60–61.

136. Ibid., 38–41.

137. As Pellat points out, the term nasab (noble birth) is only used once whereas hasab (ḥasab) occurs five times (ibid., 11).

138. Ibid., 65.

139. Ibid., 32–7.

140. Ibid., 22–5.

141. Ibid., 36–7, 58–61.

142. Ibid., 24–7 (paras. 12–16), 32–3 (para. 22).

143. Ibid., 29.

144. Ibid., 28–31.

145. Ibid., 42–3, 46–7 (para. 40).

146. Isfandyar, Ibn, Tārīkh-e Ṭabaristān, 18Google Scholar.

147. Schacht, J., The Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1950), 58–9, 102–3Google Scholar.

148. Tabari, Ta'rīkh 3:122Google Scholar (History 28:49).

149. The text of the amān is preserved in Azdi, Mawṣil, 168–70Google Scholar.

150. Abu'l-'Abbas had begun the construction of a new capital near Anbar. It was named Hashimiyya, to commemorate the victory of the Hashimite revolution, and was to be the City of Peace. Abu Ja'far decided on a different location for the City of Peace and built Baghdad.

151. Azdi, Mawṣil, 168–9Google Scholar. The Muslims are once referred to as the ahl al-qibla in the Risāla, 39.

152. Azdi', Mawṣil, 169–70Google Scholar.

153. al-Murtada, Sayyid, Amālī 1:94Google Scholar.

154. Baladhuri, Ansāb 3:222Google Scholar.

155. Jahshiyari, Kitāb al-wuzarā', 103–7Google Scholar; translated extensively into French by Sourdel, “Biographie,” 314–16Google Scholar; Persian tr. 141–6.

156. al-Qummi, Ash'ari, Maqālāt, 67Google Scholar. This account identifies ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Ali as Ibn al-Muqaffa“s patron.

157. Safadi, however, gives 137 as the year of Ibn al-Muqaffa“s death (Gabrieli, “Opera,” 247Google Scholar, n.5).

158. Baladhuri, Ansāb 3:222–3Google Scholar.

159. Ibid., 236–7. Zarrinkub states (without citing his source) that Ibn al-Muqaffa” s son had been among the Manichaeans arrested and paraded in the Mada'in (“Zandaqa va zanādiqa,” 112–13).

160. Sourdel, D., he Vizirat ‘Abbaside de 749 a 936 (Damascus, 1959), 1:179Google Scholar.

161. The Basran poet was Aban b. ‘Abd al-Hamid al-Lahiqi (d. 200/815–16). See Vajda, “Les Zindīqs,” 207–208; Bosworth, C. E., “The Persian Impact on Arabic Literature,” Cambridge History of the Arabic Literature at the End of the Umayyad Period, 490Google Scholar.

162. ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Abd al-'Aziz al-Baghdadi, Kitāb al-kuttāb, ed. D. Sourdel as “Le Livre des secrétaires de ‘Abdallah al-Baghdadi,” Bulletin des Études Orientates 14 (1952–54): 149, cited in al-Qadi, Wadad, “Early State Letters: the Question of Authenticity,” in Cameron, A. and Conrad, L. I., eds., The Byzantine and Early Islamic Near East (Princeton, N.J.: Darwin Press, 1993), 237Google Scholar.

163. Cited in Pellat, Jahiz, 21 A; I have modified “Testament” (of Ardashir) to “Covenant.“