Abu al-Hasan al-Hadhdhaʾ said, “Abu Jaʿfar compelled the people to wear black; I used to see some of them even dyeing their clothes with ink. He then began imprisoning—or killing—everyone he suspected.
In Kufa the oath of allegiance to Ibrahim was being administered in secret.
At Mosul there were two thousand men posted because of the Kharijites. Al-Mansur summoned them, but partisans of Ibrahim attacked them and five hundred were killed.
On the first of Ramadan Ibrahim rode to the cemetery of Banu Yashkur with a little over ten horsemen. He led the dawn prayer in the congregational mosque, whereupon Basra’s deputy governor barricaded himself against him.
The deputy kept wavering until Ibrahim had the city firmly in hand. He then descended to Ibrahim under a guarantee of safety; Ibrahim placed only a light fetter on him and pardoned the rank-and-file soldiers. Jaʿfar ibn Sulayman and his brother Muhammad volunteered to fight him with six hundred horsemen. Ibrahim sent Madaʾ against them with fifty fighters; Madaʾ routed them and Muhammad ibn Sulayman was wounded.
Ibrahim found six hundred thousand in the public treasury and distributed it among his army—fifty each.
Next he dispatched al-Mughira with fifty combatants. When al-Mughira reached Ahwaz about two hundred men had gathered around him; he defeated the governor, Muhammad ibn Husayn, and seized the province.
Ibrahim then resolved to march on Kufa. He sent out several detachments who took control of the province of Fars, and he appointed Harun al-ʿIjli governor of Wasit.
Al-Mansur mustered five thousand men to fight him, and a series of engagements followed until both armies were exhausted. Ibrahim spent the rest of Ramadan sending his agents through the provinces and fighting; al-Mansur drew back, was bewildered, and even considered flight.
When word reached him from Medina of the death of Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allah, al-Mansur’s spirits revived, while the news sapped Ibrahim’s strength; he was stunned. He led the people in the ʿId prayer in the open prayer-ground, and sorrow was clearly visible on him (1).
It is also reported that al-Mansur said, “I do not know what to do. I have only about two thousand horsemen, whereas with…"