Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of Graph Search.
Concept
Abu Muslim
Summary
Abu Muslim Abd al-Rahman ibn Muslim al-Khurasani (ابومسلم عبدالرحمان بن مسلم خراسانی; born 718/19 or 723/27, died 755) or Behzādān Pour Vandād Hormozd (بهزادان پور ونداد هرمزد) was a Persian general who led the Abbasid Revolution that toppled the Umayyad dynasty, leading to the establishment of the Abbasid Caliphate.
Little is known about Abu Muslim's origins, but by early 740s he had been in contact with Abbasid agents and in around 745 he was sent to Khurasan. In 747, Abu Muslim initiated open revolt against Umayyad rule and quickly took Merv. He gradually strengthened the Abbasid control over Khurasan, and was appointed governor of the province following the establishment of the Abbasid regime in 750. Wary of Abu Muslim's rising influence and popularity, the second Abbasid caliph al-Mansur ordered his death. He was executed before the caliph in Al-Mada'in in 755 on charges of heresy.
According to the Encyclopædia Iranica, "sources differ regarding his original name and his origin. Some make him a descendant of Gōdarz and of the vizier Bozorgmehr and call him Ebrāhīm; some name him Behzādān, son of Vendād Hormoz ( بهزادان پور ونداد هرمزد); and others relate him to the Abbasids or to the Alids. These suggestions are all doubtful". He was most likely of Persian origin, and was born in either Merv or near Isfahan. The exact date is unknown, either in 718/9 or sometime in 723/7.
He grew up at Kufa, where he served as a slave and saddler of the Banu Ijl clan. It was there that Abu Muslim came into contact with Shia Muslims.
Kufa at the time was a hotbed of social and political unrest against the ruling Umayyad dynasty, whose policies favoured Arabs over non-Arab converts to Islam (mawālī) and were thus perceived to violate the Islamic promises of equality. The luxurious lifestyles of the Umayyad caliphs and their persecution of the Alids further alienated the pious. This rallied support for the Shi'a cause of rule by a member of the family of Muhammad, who would, as a God-guided imām or mahdī, rule according to the Quran and the Sunnah and create a truly Islamic government that would bring justice and peace to the Muslim community.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.