To the reverence and even adoration with which Abú Rebellion of Sinbádh the Magian (A.D. 755-756). Muslim was regarded by his followers we have already alluded (p. 243 supra), and his murder by the Caliph al-Manṣúr was almost immediately followed by the rebellion of Sinbádh the Magian,* who had been Abú Muslim's friend and partisan—a significant fact, as showing that the great propagandist's religious views were not sufficiently intolerant to alienate from his cause even “guebres.” Starting from Níshápúr, his native place, with the avowed intention of avenging Abú Muslim, he soon collected a numerous following, occupied Qúmis and Ray (where he took possession of the treasures which Abú Muslim had deposited in that city), and declared his intention of advancing on the Arabian province of the Ḥijáz and destroying the Ka'ba. He soon attracted to him hosts of Magians from Ṭabaristán and elsewhere, Mazdakites, Ráfiḍis (Shí'ites), and “Anthropomorphists” (Mushabbiha), whom he told that Abú Muslim was not dead, but that, being threatened with death by al-Manṣúr, he had recited the “Most Great Name” of God, and turned himself into a white dove,* which flew away. His armed followers are said to have numbered some 100,000 men, and if, as stated by al-Fakhrí, 60,000 of these were left dead on the field when he was finally, after many successes, defeated and slain by the 'Abbásid general Jahwar b. Marrár, this can be no exaggeration. This insurrection, though formidable, was short-lived, only lasting seventy days, according to the most trustworthy accounts, though the Nidhámu'l-Mulk says seven years, which is certainly an error.
Isḥáq “the Turk,” whom we have already mentioned, was another of Abú Muslim's dá'is or propagandists, who, on the Isḥáq “the Turk.” death of his master, fled into Transoxiana, and taught that Abú Muslim was not dead, but concealed in the mountains near Ray, whence he would issue forth in the fulness of time. According to the Fihrist (p. 345) he was a descendant of Zayd the 'Alid, and therefore presumably claimed himself to be the Imám, though he took advantage of Abú Muslim's popularity to recommend himself to his followers; but according to another authority cited in the same work as “well informed as to the affairs of the Muslimiyya,” he was a common and illiterate man of Transoxiana who had a familiar spirit which he used to consult, and who declared that Abú Muslim was a prophet sent by Zoroaster, and that Zoroaster was alive and had never died, but would reappear in due season to restore his religion. “Al-Balkhí,” adds our author, “and some others call the Muslimiyya (or followers of Abú Muslim) Khurram-díniyya”; “and,” adds he, “there are amongst us in Balkh a number of them at a village called …,* but they conceal themselves.”
The next manifestation of these anthropomorphic ultra- The Ráwandiyya. Shí'ites took place a year or two later (A.D. 758-9),* and is thus described by Dozy:* —
“Still more foolish were those fanatics who, inspired by Indo-
The total number of these Ráwandís who walked round the Caliph's palace at Háshimiyya (for Baghdad was not yet built) Doctrines of the Ráwandís. crying, “This is the Palace of our Lord!” was only about six hundred,* yet the sect, as Ṭabarí tells us (iii, 418), continued to exist till his own time—that is, until the beginning of the tenth century. Besides the doctrines of Incarnation and Metempsychosis, they seem to have held Mazdak's views as to the community of wives, and to have believed themselves to be possessed of miraculous powers. Some of them, we learn, cast themselves from high places, believing that they could fly, and were dashed to pieces. They were certainly, as Dínawarí says (p. 380), connected with Abú Muslim, whose death it was one of their objects to avenge. The peril in which for a short while the life of the Caliph al-Manṣúr was placed for lack of a good horse led to The Farasu'nnawba. the institution of the farasu'n-nawba (Persian, asp-i-nawbatí) or “sentry-horse,” a good horse, saddled, bridled, and equipped, which was henceforth always in readiness at the Caliph's palace in case of emergency. The same institution prevailed till much later times at the Courts of local rulers—e.g., with the Sámánid kings in the tenth century of our era.
* In the years A.D. 766-768, still in the reign of al-Manṣúr,
another Persian pseudo-prophet named Ustádhsís, rose in revolt
Ustádhsís (A.D.
766-8.)
in the districts of Herát, Bádghís, and Sístán,*
collected a following of 300,000 men, and caused
much trouble to the Government ere he was
finally defeated by Kházim b. Khuzayma. Seventy thousand
of his followers were slain, and fourteen thousand more, taken
captive, were beheaded immediately after the battle. Ustádhsís
shortly afterwards surrendered, was sent in chains to Baghdad,
and was there put to death. Thirty thousand of his followers
who surrendered with him were set at liberty. Al-Khayzurán,
the wife of al-Mahdí and mother of al-Hádí and Hárúnu'r-
About ten years later (A.D. 777-780), at the beginning of the reign of al-Mahdí, took place the much more serious rising of Al-Muqanna', “the Veiled Prophet of Khurásán,” and Yúsufu'l-Barm (A.D. 777-780). al-Muqanna', the “Veiled Prophet of Khurásán” celebrated by Moore in Lalla Rookh, by the side of which the less known and more obscure insurrection of Yúsufu'l-Barm, “whose object was naught else than to exhort men to good and turn them aside from evil,”* sinks into insignificance. Of this celebrated heresiarch al-Bírúní gives the following account in his Chronology of Ancient Nations (Sachau's translation, p. 194; text, p. 211):—
“Thereupon came forward Háshim b. Ḥakím, known by the name of al-Muqanna', in Merv, in a village called Kâwakîmardân. He Al-Bírúní's account of al-Muqanna'. used to veil himself in green silk, because he had only one eye. He maintained that he was God, and that he had incarnated himself, since before incarnation nobody could see God. He crossed the river Oxus and went to the districts of Kash and Nasaf (Nakhshab). He entered into correspondence with the Kháqán, and solicited his help. The sect of the Mubayyiḍa* and the Turks gathered round him, and the property and women (of his enemies), he delivered up to them, killing everybody who opposed him. He made obligatory for them all the laws and institutes which Mazhdak had established. He scattered the armies of al-Mahdí, and ruled during fourteen years, but finally he was besieged and killed in A.H. 169 (A.D. 785-786). Being surrounded on all sides he burned himself, that his body might be annihilated, and that, in consequence, his followers might see therein a confirmation of his claim to be God. He did not, however, succeed in annihilating his body; it was found in the oven, and his head was cut off and sent to the Caliph al-Mahdí, who was then in Aleppo. There is still a sect in Transoxiana who practise his religion, but only secretly, while in public they profess Islám. The history of al-Muqanna' I have translated from the Persian into Arabic, and the subject has been exhaustively treated in my history of the Mubayyiḍa and Carmathians.”
*