and, by Allah, treachery surely lurks in that man’s mind.”
His brother replied, “Brother, you know the hardships he has borne and all that he has accomplished,” yet Abū Jaʿfar kept urging him.
Not long afterwards Abū Jaʿfar and Abū Muslim performed the ḥajj together. On their way home they were met with the news that al-Saffāḥ had died of smallpox, and Abū Jaʿfar assumed the caliphate.
His uncle ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAlī rose against him in Syria, calling people to pledge allegiance to himself. He produced witnesses testifying that he had been al-Saffāḥ’s designated heir, that he had marched to fight Marwān, defeated him, and wiped him out.
Al-Manṣūr then took Abū Muslim aside and said, “The matter now rests between you and me; march against my uncle ʿAbd Allāh.” Abū Muslim set out from al-Anbār with his troops, while ʿAbd Allāh advanced to confront him. Fearing that the Khurāsānīs might defect, ʿAbd Allāh executed about thirteen thousand of them in cold blood, and then encamped at Naṣībīn.
As Abū Muslim approached he wrote to ʿAbd Allāh: “I have not been ordered to fight you. The Commander of the Faithful has appointed me over Syria, and that is the province I seek.”
This was one of Abū Muslim’s stratagems, meant to sap the resolve of the Syrians.
The Syrian soldiers said to ʿAbd Allāh, “How can we stand by you while this man enters our land, slaughtering and taking captives? We must keep him out of our country.”
He answered, “He is not aiming for Syria; but if you remain here he will most certainly turn on you.”
A battle between the two armies then dragged on for five months. The Syrians had more cavalry and better equipment. Over ʿAbd Allāh’s right wing was Prince Bakkār ibn Muslim al-ʿUqaylī, and over his left, Prince Ḥabīb ibn Suwayd al-Asadī.
Abū Muslim’s right wing was commanded by al-Ḥasan ibn Qaḥṭabah, and his left by Ḥāzim ibn Khuzaymah.
The fighting was protracted; more than once the Syrians gained the upper hand, and Abū Muslim’s forces nearly broke. He steadied them, chanting:
“Whoever yearns for his family—let him not return!
He fled from death, yet into death he fell.”
He then reinforced his right wing, and they charged ʿAbd Allāh’s left, tearing it apart.
ʿAbd Allāh said