my hand. I then dismounted and stayed with him for three days; during that time he asked me nothing. On the fourth day he questioned me, and I told him what had happened.

He said, “So it was Abū Salamah who did this? I will spare you the trouble of dealing with him.”

He summoned Marrār ibn Anas al-Ḍabbī and ordered, “Go to Kūfah and kill Abū Salamah wherever you find him.” Marrār carried out the order after the night prayer. Abū Salamah had been known as “the vizier of the House of Muḥammad.”

When Abū Jaʿfar saw the stature Abū Muslim had attained and how readily he shed blood, he returned and said to al-Saffāḥ, “You are no caliph so long as you leave Abū Muslim alive.”

Al-Saffāḥ asked, “Why?”

He replied, “He does nothing but what he himself wants.”

Al-Saffāḥ said, “Be silent—and keep that to yourself.”

As for Ibn Hubayrah, Ibn Qaḥṭabah continued to besiege him in Wāsiṭ for eleven months. When they were certain that Marwān had perished, the garrison surrendered under a promise of safety, yet they killed Ibn Hubayrah, betrayed him, and executed several of his commanders.

In 133 AH Sharik al-Mahri rebelled against Abū Muslim in Bukhārā, protesting the multitude of killings and saying, “It was not for this that we followed the House of Muḥammad.” Thirty thousand men joined him. Abū Muslim’s army advanced, the two forces met, and Sharik was slain.

In 135 AH Ziyād ibn Ṣāliḥ al-Khuzaʿī, one of Abū Muslim’s leading officers, rose against him and encamped Beyond the River. He had received a writ from al-Saffāḥ appointing him governor of Khurāsān and instructing him to assassinate Abū Muslim if he could. Abū Muslim captured al-Saffāḥ’s envoy and killed him; Ziyād’s troops then melted away and joined Abū Muslim. Ziyād sought refuge with a dihqān, but Abū Muslim had him murdered in secret and his head was brought to him.

In 136 AH Abū Muslim wrote to al-Saffāḥ requesting permission to present himself. The caliph granted it and installed Khālid ibn Ibrāhīm as his deputy over Khurāsān. Abū Muslim arrived in great splendour and sought leave to perform the ḥajj. Al-Saffāḥ said, “Had my brother not already performed the pilgrimage, I would have put you in charge of the season.”

Abū Jaʿfar kept saying to al-Saffāḥ, “Commander of the Faithful, listen to me and kill Abū Muslim,”