rallied to his side. With such numbers behind him, he set about winning the favour of Qayrawān’s deputy, Harthamah ibn Aʿyan, who therefore appointed him over the district of al-Zāb, a post he administered with firm control.
Toward the end of his career, Hārūn al-Rashīd placed him in charge of the whole Maghrib; his standing grew, and the people of the region came to love him.⦗1⦘
He was eloquent—an accomplished orator and poet—devout, learned in jurisprudence, decisive, brave, and of noble bearing. He studied under al-Layth ibn Saʿd and others. He founded a city that he called al-ʿAbbāsiyyah, secured order in the Maghrib, and lived for fifty-six years.
He died in Shawwāl of the year 196 AH, after which his son ʿAbdullāh succeeded him.
- ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn ʿAlī, grandson of the Scholar of the Ummah ʿAbdullāh ibn al-ʿAbbās—himself a descendant of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib—the eminent emir, Abū Muḥammad al-Hāshimī al-ʿAbbāsī, uncle of al-Saffāḥ and al-Manṣūr.
He was born in al-Balqāʾ a few years after 100 AH. He transmitted hadith from his father, and al-Mahdī and others narrated from him.