and their abasement of you, and their monopolising of your fayʾ (public revenues) and your ṣadaqāt (alms). Therefore, you hold over us the covenant of Allah, the covenant of His Messenger, and the covenant of al-ʿAbbās that we shall judge among you by what Allah has revealed, act in accordance with the Book of Allah, and deal with both the common folk and the elite according to the conduct of the Messenger of Allah.
Woe, woe to the Banū Umayyah and the sons of Marwān! They preferred the fleeting to the everlasting, the perishing abode to the abiding one. They plunged into sin, wronged mankind, violated the sacred limits, wallowed in crime, and showed tyranny in their treatment of Allah’s servants and in their governance of the lands. In doing so they found sweetness in clothing themselves with burdens and wrapping themselves in fetters; they sported with the reins of disobedience and galloped through the fields of error—heedless of Allah’s gradual reprieve, blind to His sudden grasp, secure against His plotting. Then the punishment of Allah came upon them by night while they slept; come morning they were mere tales, torn utterly apart. Away with the wrongdoing people!
Allah has granted us ascendancy over Marwān (1). The arch-deceiver deluded him concerning Allah; the enemy of Allah was given free rein until his steed stumbled over the slack of its own bridle. The enemy of Allah imagined that no one could master him; so he summoned his faction, amassed his stratagems (2), and hurled forth his battalions (3). Yet he found before him, behind him, to his right and to his left, above him and beneath him, from the plotting, might, and vengeance of Allah that which extinguished his falsehood, obliterated his misguidance, closed the circle of evil upon him, revived our honour and our glory, and restored to us our right and our inheritance.
People! The Commander of the Faithful—may Allah grant him a mighty victory—mounted the pulpit only after the Friday prayer because he disliked to mingle any other speech with the discourse of Friday, and it was the severity of his fever alone that cut his address short. So pray to Allah for the well-being of the Commander of the Faithful. Allah has replaced for you Marwān, the enemy of the Most Merciful, the deputy of Satan, follower of the rabble who spread corruption on earth and set nothing right, with a man who relies upon Allah, follows the righteous and the virtuous—those who restored the earth after its corruption by the landmarks of guidance and the paths of piety.
He said:
The people then raised their voices in supplication for him, after which he continued: “Know, O people of Kufah, that no caliph has ascended this pulpit of yours after the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—save the Commander of the Faithful ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, and the Commander of the Faithful here,” and he pointed with his hand to al-Saffāḥ, “and know that this matter will remain with us; it will not depart from us until we hand it over to Jesus son of Mary—peace be upon him. Praise belongs to Allah, Lord of all worlds, for the trials He has placed upon us and the favours He has bestowed upon us (4).”
Abū al-ʿAbbās and Dāwūd then came down and entered the palace. The people followed to pledge allegiance until the afternoon prayer, and from after ʿAṣr until nightfall. Abū al-ʿAbbās later went out and encamped on the outskirts of Kufah, leaving his uncle Dāwūd ibn ʿAlī in charge of the city. He dispatched his uncle ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAlī to Ibn ʿAwn ibn Abī Yazīd; sent his nephew ʿĪsā ibn Mūsā to al-Ḥasan ibn Qaḥṭabah, who was then at Wāsiṭ besieging Ibn Hubayrah; dispatched Yaḥyā ibn Jaʿfar ibn Tammām ibn al-ʿAbbās to Ḥumayd ibn Qaḥṭabah in al-Madāʾin; sent Abū al-Yaqẓān ʿUthmān ibn ʿUrwah ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir to Bassām ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Bassām in Ahwāz; and sent Salamah ibn ʿAmr ibn ʿUthmān to Mālik ibn al-Ṭawāf. He remained with the army for several months; then he set out.