again in deliberate opposition to them. He opened the khuṭbah with dhikr and takbīr (the proclamation “Allāhu akbar”) and concluded it with Qur’anic recitation. When the people had dispersed after the ʿĪd prayer, Abū Muslim—who had prepared a meal for them—placed the food before the congregation.

He then wrote to Naṣr ibn Sayyār a letter in which he put his own name first, saying:
“To Naṣr ibn Sayyār. In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Compassionate. To proceed:
Allah has reproached a people in His Book, saying:
‘And they swore by Allah with their most solemn oaths, “If a warner were to come to us, we would surely be better guided than any one of the nations.” Yet when a warner came to them it only increased them in aversion—behaving arrogantly in the land and plotting evil; but the evil plot engulfs none save its authors. Are they, then, awaiting anything other than the way of the former peoples? You will never find any change in Allah’s way, nor will you ever find any alteration in Allah’s way.’ [Faṭir 42–43].”

It weighed heavily upon Naṣr that Abū Muslim had placed his own name before his, and he pondered at length, saying, “This is a letter that calls for a reply.”

Ibn Jarīr (1) said: Naṣr ibn Sayyār then dispatched a large cavalry force to fight Abū Muslim, eighteen months after the latter’s public appearance. Abū Muslim sent against them Mālik ibn al-Haytham al-Khuzaʿī. When the two forces met, Mālik invited them to accept the good pleasure of the Family of the Messenger of Allah, ﷺ, but they refused. The armies faced one another from early morning until the late afternoon; reinforcements reached Mālik, strengthening him, and he gained the upper hand and routed them. This was the first engagement in which the Abbasid propagandists fought the troops of the Umayyads.

In Dhū al-Qaʿdah of that same year Khāzim ibn Khuzaymah seized Marw al-Rūdh, killing its governor appointed by Naṣr ibn Sayyār, Bishr ibn Jaʿfar al-Saʿdī, and wrote to Abū Muslim announcing the victory. At that time Abū Muslim was still a young man, chosen by Ibrāhīm for their mission because of his boldness, decisiveness, keen understanding, and sharp intellect. He hailed from the rural districts of Kūfah and had been a client (mawlā) of Idrīs ibn Maʿqil al-ʿIjlī. One of the Abbasid agents bought him for four hundred dirhams; thereafter Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī took him in, and his allegiance passed to the House of al-ʿAbbās. Ibrāhīm the Imām married him to the daughter of Abū al-Najm Ismāʿīl ibn ʿImrān, paid her dowry on his behalf, and wrote to their propagandists in Khurāsān and Iraq instructing them to listen to him. They obeyed during this period, though in the previous year they had rejected his leadership because of his youth among them. When this year arrived, the Imām reiterated his command that they support and obey him, and that proved beneficial to him and to them—“and the command of Allah is a decree determined.” [Al-Aḥzāb 33:38].

As Abū Muslim’s cause spread through Khurāsān, groups from among the Arab tribes there entered into a pact to fight him. Al-Karmānī and Shaybān did not object, for they too had risen against Naṣr, and Abū Muslim was likewise opposed to Naṣr, while also calling for the deposition of Marwān al-Ḥimār. Naṣr asked Shaybān either to join him in fighting Abū Muslim or at least to refrain from opposing him until he could finish with Abū Muslim; once Abū Muslim was killed, they could resume their mutual hostility. Shaybān agreed, and when the news reached Abū Muslim he informed al-Karmānī, who reproached Shaybān and dissuaded him.

Abū Muslim then sent al-Naḍr ibn Nuʿaym to Herat; he captured it from its governor, ʿĪsā ibn ʿAqīl al-Laythī, and wrote to Abū Muslim about it, while the deposed governor fled to Naṣr. After that, Shaybān concluded a one-year truce with Naṣr ibn Sayyār, suspending hostilities between them—a step al-Karmānī accepted only reluctantly.

The son of al-Karmānī wrote to Abū Muslim: “I am with you in fighting Naṣr.” Abū Muslim mounted to attend upon him, encamped with him, and the two met and agreed to wage war against Naṣr and oppose him. Abū Muslim then moved to a spacious location,