- Ibrāhīm al-Imām, Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Hāshimī *
He was the noble Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī, grandson of the “Scholar of the Ummah,” ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās al-Hāshimī. He resided at al-Ḥumayma in the Balqāʾ region.
His father entrusted the leadership to him, but Marwān al-Ḥimār learned of it and put him to death.
He transmitted hadith from his grandfather and from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥanafiyya. Among those who narrated from him were Mālik ibn al-Haytham, his two brothers—al-Saffāḥ and al-Manṣūr—and Abū Muslim.
Ibn Saʿd said: He died in prison in 131 AH, at the age of 48. His supporters used to visit him and correspond with him from Khurāsān, and for that reason Marwān seized him.
Al-Khaṭṭābī said: Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī appointed his son Ibrāhīm as his successor; after his father’s death he was therefore called al-Imām.
His call spread through Khurāsān, and he dispatched Abū Muslim there as governor over his propagandists. Abū Muslim gained ascendancy, summoning people to obey “the Imām” without naming him outright until the matter became public. When Marwān became aware of it, he arrested Ibrāhīm and killed him.
Ṣāliḥ ibn Sulaymān related: Abū Muslim corresponded with him. When his envoy arrived, Ibrāhīm saw that he was an eloquent Arab, and that distressed him. He therefore wrote to Abū Muslim: “Did I not forbid you to employ an Arab messenger who might uncover your affair? When he reaches you, kill him.”
The envoy sensed the danger, read the letter, and carried it to Marwān. Marwān thereupon seized Ibrāhīm and suffocated him at Ḥarrān with a cushion.
Another account states that Ibrāhīm attended the pilgrimage season with his retinue, thereby publicizing himself, and this led to his capture.
Yet another report says that an elderly Hāshimī woman came seeking assistance; he gave her a large sum of money and apologized.
It is also mentioned that Abū Muslim dyed strips of cloth black, fastened them to a spear, and people would hear—