had fought him, then overpowered him; one day he was brought before Marwān, who drew him close, wrapped a kerchief round his own finger, and pressed it into his eye until it burst. He then did the same to the other eye. Yet Yazīd did not utter a word; he bore it with patience—may Allah grant us well-being.
It is also said that Marwān al-Ḥimār’s mother was a Kurdish woman named Lubābah, formerly a slave-girl of Ibrāhīm ibn al-Ashṭar. Muḥammad captured her from Ibrāhīm’s camp, and she bore him Marwān, Manṣūr, and ʿAbd Allāh.
When Marwān was slain, his sons ʿAbd Allāh and ʿUbayd Allāh fled to Abyssinia. The Abyssinians killed ʿUbayd Allāh, while ʿAbd Allāh escaped; after some time al-Manṣūr captured him and imprisoned him.
18 – al-Saffāḥ ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-ʿAbbāsī
The Caliph, Abū al-ʿAbbās ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī, grandson of the scholar of the ummah ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib ibn Hāshim ibn ʿAbd Manāf—the Qurashī, Hāshimite, ʿAbbāsid—was the first caliph from the House of al-ʿAbbās.
He was a young man, handsome and imposing: fair-skinned, tall, and dignified.
Al-Saffāḥ and his household fled from the army of Marwān al-Ḥimār and reached Kūfa when their situation in Khurāsān became desperate. He received the oath of allegiance on the third of Rabīʿ al-Awwal in 132 AH. He then dispatched his uncle ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAlī with an army, and he and Marwān al-Ḥimār met at Kushāf. A mighty engagement ensued, after which Marwān’s forces were broken and his fortunes eclipsed.
Yet al-Saffāḥ’s days were few: he died in Dhū al-Ḥijjah 136 AH, having lived, according to one report, twenty-eight years.