Account of Abū al-ʿAbbās ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās, nicknamed al-Saffāḥ, securing the caliphate and the commendable policies he pursued during his reign.

We have already noted that the first oath of allegiance to him as caliph was given in Kūfah on Friday, the twelfth of Rabīʿ al-Ākhir; some say it was on the first day of that same year, 132 AH. He then dispatched his armies against Marwān [al-Ḥimār]; they drove him from the realm, expelled him entirely, and pursued him until they killed him at Būṣīr in Upper Egypt during the last ten days of Dhū al-Ḥijjah of that year, as related earlier. Only then did al-Saffāḥ stand alone as caliph, and his authority became firmly established over Iraq, Khurāsān, the Ḥijāz, Syria, and the Egyptian provinces. He did not, however, rule al-Andalus or the Maghrib, for his sovereignty never reached those lands; certain Umayyads who had entered them seized control and ruled there, as will be explained later.

In that very year several factions rebelled against al-Saffāḥ. Among them were the people of Qinnasrīn who, after pledging allegiance to him through his uncle ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAlī, remained under their governor, Abū al-Ward Majzaʾah ibn al-Kawthar ibn Zufar ibn al-Ḥārith al-Kilābī, a former companion and commander of Marwān. Abū al-Ward deposed al-Saffāḥ, donned white, and compelled the townsfolk to follow suit, and they complied. Al-Saffāḥ was then in al-Ḥīrah, while ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAlī was occupied in the Balqāʾ, fighting Ḥabīb ibn Murrah al-Murrī (1) together with those of the Balqāʾ, al-Bathaniyyah (2), and Ḥawrān who had joined him in renouncing al-Saffāḥ. When news of the actions of the people of Qinnasrīn reached him, he made peace with Ḥabīb ibn Murrah and set out for Qinnasrīn.

Passing through Damascus—where his family and baggage were—he appointed Abū Ghānim ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Ribʿī al-Kinānī, at the head of four thousand men, as his deputy there. Once he had departed and reached Ḥimṣ, the Damascenes rose up with a man named ʿUthmān ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā ibn Surāqah. They repudiated al-Saffāḥ and adopted white, killed the governor Abū Ghānim along with a number of his followers, plundered ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAlī’s baggage and stores, yet did not harm his family.

Matters now became grave for ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAlī. The people of Qinnasrīn corresponded with those of Ḥimṣ and Tadmur and united behind Abū Muḥammad al-Sufyānī—Abū Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān—pledging allegiance to him as caliph. About forty thousand men rallied to him. ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAlī marched against them, and they met at Marj al-Akhram. He sent forward his brother ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn ʿAlī with ten thousand cavalry to engage al-Sufyānī’s vanguard, which was under the command of Abū al-Ward. A fierce battle broke out; they routed ʿAbd al-Ṣamad and thousands were killed on both sides. ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAlī then advanced against them with