Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (6/214)

Siyar Aʿlām al-NubalāʾShams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi

The first to die in prison was their father, ʿAbd Allāh; next his brother Ḥasan passed away, and after him al-Dībāj. Al-Manṣūr had al-Dībāj beheaded and sent the severed head with a group of Shīʿites who paraded it through Khurāsān, swearing that it was the head of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh, son of Fāṭimah, thus leading people to believe it belonged to the son of Ḥasan whose uprising they used to read about in the books.

It is also related that al-Manṣūr said to Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Ḥasan, “Are you the Yellow Dībāj?” He answered, “Yes.” Al-Manṣūr replied, “I will surely kill you in a manner never before heard of.” He then ordered a pillar to be hollowed out, had him placed inside it, and sealed it over him while he was still alive. He was renowned for his striking beauty.

Another report states that al-Manṣūr likewise killed al-Dībāj Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh.

Mūsā ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥasan said, “While we were in prison we had no way of knowing the times of the prayers except from the portions of Qurʾān that ʿAlī ibn Ḥasan would recite.”

It is further said that al-Manṣūr killed ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥasan with poison as well.

Abū Nuʿaym narrated that ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿUmar, Ibn Abī Dhiʾb, and ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Jaʿfar came in to Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh and said, “What are you waiting for? By Allāh, we find nothing in this city more ill-omened for it than you.”

As for Rīyāḥ, he summoned Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq and his cousins to his house; but when he heard the takbīr during the night, Rīyāḥ went into hiding.

Muḥammad then appeared with two hundred and fifty supporters; mounted on a donkey, he released the prisoners on the first of Rajab in the year 145 AH, jailed Rīyāḥ along with a group of others, and delivered a sermon, saying:

“To proceed: Concerning this tyrant Abū Jaʿfar, you already know what he has done—among it his building of the Green Dome (1), which he erected in diminishment of the Kaʿbah of Allāh—and truly the people most entitled…"

(1) Located in al-Mansur’s palace in Baghdad, the dome was raised above the audience hall and stood eighty cubits high. Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi writes in his History, 1/73: “This dome was the crown of Baghdad, the city’s emblem, and one of the Abbasids’ greatest monuments.” It was erected at the very beginning of their rule and remained standing until the end of al-Wathiq’s reign, so that a little over one hundred and eighty years elapsed between its construction and its collapse.

فَأَوَّلُ مَنْ مَاتَ فِي الحَبسِ عَبْدُ اللهِ أَبُوْهُمَا، ثُمَّ مَاتَ أَخُوْهُ حَسَنٌ، ثُمَّ الدِّيْبَاجُ، فَقَطَعَ رَأْسَه، وَبَعَثَه مَعَ طَائِفَةٍ مِنَ الشِّيْعَةِ، طَافُوا بِهِ خُرَاسَانَ، يَحلِفُوْنَ أَنَّ هَذَا رَأْسُ مُحَمَّدِ بنِ عَبْدِ اللهِ ابْنِ فَاطِمَةَ، يُوْهِمُوْنَ أَنَّهُ ابْنُ حَسَنٍ الَّذِي كَانُوا يَجِدُوْنَ خُرُوْجَه فِي الكُتُبِ. وَقِيْلَ: إِنَّ المَنْصُوْرَ قَالَ لِمُحَمَّدِ بنِ إِبْرَاهِيْمَ بنِ حَسَنٍ: أَنْتَ الدِّيْبَاجُ الأَصْفَرُ؟ قَالَ: نَعَمْ. قَالَ: لأَقتُلَنَّكَ قِتْلَةً مَا سُمِعَ بِهَا. ثُمَّ أَمَرَ بِاصْطُوَانَةٍ، فَنُقِرَتْ، وَأُدخِلَ فِيْهَا، ثُمَّ سُدَّ عَلَيْهِ وَهُوَ حَيٌّ. وَكَانَ مِنَ المِلاَحِ. وَقِيْلَ: إِنَّهُ قَتَلَ الدِّيْبَاجَ مُحَمَّدَ بنَ عَبْدِ اللهِ أَيْضاً. وَعَنْ مُوْسَى بنِ عَبْدِ اللهِ بنِ حَسَنٍ، قَالَ: مَا كُنَّا نَعْرِفُ فِي الحَبْسِ أَوقَاتَ الصَّلَوَاتِ إِلاَّ بِأَجزَاءٍ يَقْرَؤُهَا عَلِيُّ بنُ حَسَنٍ. وَقِيْلَ: إِنَّ المَنْصُوْرَ قَتَلَ عَبْدَ اللهِ بنَ حَسَنٍ أَيْضاً بِالسُّمِّ. وَعَنْ أَبِي نُعَيْمٍ، قَالَ: بَلَغَنِي أَنَّ عُبَيْدَ اللهِ بنَ عُمَرَ، وَابْنَ أَبِي ذِئْبٍ، وَعَبْدَ الحَمِيْدِ بنَ جَعْفَرٍ دَخَلُوا عَلَى مُحَمَّدِ بنِ عَبْدِ اللهِ، وَقَالُوا: مَا تَنتَظِرُ! وَاللهِ مَا نَجِدُ فِي هَذَا البَلَدِ أَشْأَمَ عَلَيْهَا مِنْكَ. وَأَمَّا رِيَاحٌ، فَطَلَبَ جَعْفَراً الصَّادِقَ وَبَنِي عَمِّه إِلَى دَارِهِ، فَسَمِعَ التَّكَبِيْرَ فِي اللَّيْلِ، فَاختَفَى رِيَاحٌ. فَظَهَرَ مُحَمَّدٌ فِي مائَتَيْنِ وَخَمْسِيْنَ نَفْساً، فَأَخرَجَ أَهْلَ السِّجنِ - وَكَانَ عَلَى حِمَارٍ - فِي أَوَّلِ رَجَبٍ، سَنَةَ خَمْسٍ وَأَرْبَعِيْنَ، فَحَبَسَ رِيَاحاً، وَجَمَاعَةً، وَخَطَبَ، فَقَالَ: أَمَّا بَعْدُ: فَإِنَّهُ كَانَ مِنْ أَمرِ هَذَا الطَّاغِيَةِ أَبِي جَعْفَرٍ مَا لَمْ يَخفَ عَلَيْكُم، مِنْ بِنَائِهِ القُبَّةَ الخَضْرَاءَ (١) الَّتِي بَنَاهَا تَصْغِيْراً لِكَعْبَةِ اللهِ، وَإِنَّ أَحَقَّ النَّاسِ

(١) هي في قصر المنصور ببغداد، أقامها على إيوانه، وارتفاعها عن الأرض ثمانون ذراعا. قال الخطيب البغدادي في تاريخه ١ / ٧٣: وكانت هذه القبة تاج بغداد، وعلم البلد، ومأثرة من مآثر بني العباس عظيمة. بنيت أول ملكهم، وبقيت إلى آخر أمر الواثق فكان بين بنائها. وسقوطها مائة ونيف وثمانون سنة.