The Organization Of The Abbasid Revolution Of 750

The course, Revolutions & Change in the Middle East, started with a simple message, “Revolutions are not a result of poverty, but a cause of rising expectations”, meaning that regimens that are not true to their people and bluntly discriminate against members of their community will undoubtedly lead to hatred that will lead to intolerance (Bashiriyeh). In relation to this phrase, one can see thatthe occurrences that took place prior to, during and after the Abbasid revolution, which will be discussed in this paper, show that “rising expectations” will inevitably lead to revolutionary tendencies. As one reads about the Abbasid revolution, the factors that may have caused it, and it’s organization; one can see that the phrase, “rising expectations”, appropriately defines the grounds ofthis movement. In this writing one may be able to understand how the Abbasid revolution came about and how influential religious, socio-economic, and ethnic issues can be. These factors cannot only generate adversaries, but they may also be the cause of a revolution and can be dealt with to proliferate resentment and reel in followers.
Past agreements have accepted, and taken as true, that thefirst preparations to generate the great Abbasid Revolution of 750 began with Muhammad ibn ‘Ali. Muhammad ibn ‘Ali was the son of Ali ibn ‘Abdillah, a devote Muslim, who was pursued during his time of reign for allegedly plotting against the Umayyad Dynasty. Following his fathers initial pursuits, Muhammad ibn ‘Ali kept organizing an uprising against the unjust Umayyad regime and started to professthe assertions of Abu Hashim. After the death of Abu Hashim in 716, Muhammad had the opportunity to take lead over a Shīʿite sect and a secret organization known as Hashimiyya (Shaban 1970, 150). The Hashimiyya, who descended from the fourth caliph of ʿAli, did not agree with the ideals and political ways of the Umayyads, and therefore recognized Muhammad ibn ʿAli, of the ʿAbbasid family, as theirimam; their leader. The Abbasids, other sects and different tribes around the empire highly despised the Umayyad regime because abuse of power and deliberate action to maintain inequality among its people.
The Umayyads were distinguished as a regimen that did not treat the new converts to Islam, known as mawali, and other people different to their race or party, fairly. The Umayyads deceivedfollowers with their theory that said, “all believers are equal within the brotherhood of Islam”, but they failed to act upon these supposed ideals by targeting those who they considered inferior. Irreverently, whether the mawali or other inferior groups had converted to Islam, the Umayyads would still not accept and made them “pay taxes from which the Arab Muslims were exempt; and though they werepermitted to serve in the army, they were excluded form the cavalry” (Saunders 96). As a result of this discrimination, the mawali supported the revolts and movements that were being plotted, for they “viewed it as a way to fight against the unjust Umayyad rule, the official discrimination that considered them inferior, and the heavy taxation.” (Marín-Guzmán 73). These and other reasons are themain factors that led “inferior” groups, like the mawali and the Persian dahaqin, to support the Abbasids. Muhammad ibn ‘Ali was determine to use the grievances of these previously mentioned groups, the sects he lead, and the Hashimiyya organization, as an advantageous instrument for the Abbasid party to help conspire the fall of the Umayyads.
Muhammad, very cleverly chose Khurasan and Merv, as thecentral locations to carry out the revolutionary pursuits of his undisclosed organization, Hashimiyya. One must emphasize and not forget that this movement was, “a secret movement and this secrecy was perhaps one of the important factors in its success” (Shaban 1970, 149). Vigilantly, the Hashimiyya organization, led my Muhammad ibn ‘Ali, was established in Kufa and soon after “started a...