In that same year Hamzah al-Shāriʾ ravaged the district of Bādhghīs (1) in Khurasan. ʿĪsā ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿĪsā therefore advanced against ten thousand men from Hamzah’s army, killed them, and pursued Hamzah as far as Kabul and Zabulistān (2).
In the same year Abū al-Khaṣīb rebelled, gained control of Abiward, Ṭūs, and Naysābūr, laid siege to Marw, and his position grew stronger.
That year also witnessed the death of Yazīd ibn Mazyad in Bardhaʿah (3), whereupon al-Rashid appointed Yazīd’s son Asad ibn Yazid in his stead. The vizier Yaḥyā ibn Khālid then sought the caliph’s permission to perform the ʿumrah during Ramadan; leave was granted, and he remained stationed with his troops until the time of the hajj. The leader of the pilgrimage that year was Manṣūr ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbbās.
Also in that year died ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn ʿAlī (4) ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib al-Hāshimī, the uncle of al-Saffāḥ and al-Manṣūr. Born in 104 AH, he was of great stature; he never shed his first set of teeth, whose roots formed a single plate.
On one occasion he said to al-Rashid:
“Commander of the Faithful, gathered in this assembly are the uncle of the Commander of the Faithful, the uncle of his uncle, and the uncle of the uncle of his uncle. Sulaymān ibn Abī Jaʿfar is your uncle; al-ʿAbbās ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī is Sulaymān’s uncle; and ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn ʿAlī is the uncle of al-Saffāḥ. In summary, ʿAbd al-Ṣamad is the uncle of the uncle of your uncle, for he is the uncle of your grandfather.”
ʿAbd al-Ṣamad related—through his father from his grandfather ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbbās—that the Prophet ﷺ said:
“Indeed, birr and ṣilah (righteousness and the maintenance of family ties) lengthen lifespans, cause dwellings to flourish, and increase wealth, even if the people involved should be sinners.” (5)
(1) “Badhghīs” – spelled with a fatḥa on the dhāl, a kasra on the ghayn, a silent yāʾ, and a hamza-less sīn – a district comprising villages in the territories of Herāt and Merv al-Rawdh, noted for its abundant pistachio trees. Some say it was once the seat of the Hayṭila kingdom; others derive its name from the Persian bâzhīr, meaning “the rising or blowing of the wind,” in reference to its windy climate. Muʿjam al-Buldan (1/318).
(2) “Zābulistān” – after the alif a single bāʾ with ḍamma, a lām with kasra, a silent sīn, a superscript tāʾ marbūṭa, and a final nūn – a vast district whose capital lay south of Balkh and Tukharistan. It is called Zābul; the Persians (ʿajam) often add the sīn and what follows in place-names, similarly to the nisba. The name derives from Zābul, the ancestor of Rustam b. Dastan; it is the region whose main town became Ghazna, the famed great city. Muʿjam al-Buldan (3/125).
(3) “Baradha” – as narrated by Abū Saʿd with a heavy dāl and a silent ʿayn – a town at the far reaches of Azerbaijan. Hilāl b. al-Muḥsin states: “Baradha is the kasaba (administrative center) of Azerbaijan.” Ibn al-Faqīh records that Baradha is the city of Arran and marks the ultimate boundary of Azerbaijan. It was a fertile, well-watered region, richly cultivated and bearing abundant fruit; among the cities between Iraq and Khorasan, after Ray and Isfahan, none was larger, more fertile, or more pleasantly situated than the environs of Baradha. Muʿjam al-Buldan (1/379).
(4) Its biography appears in Mawlid al-ʿUlamāʾ wa Wafayātihim (p. 419); Tārīkh Baghdad (11/37); Wafayāt al-Aʿyān (3/195); Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ (9/129); al-ʿIbar (1/290); al-Tuhfa al-Laṭīfa fī Tārīkh al-Madīna al-Sharīfa (2/178).
(5) It is recorded by al-Khaṭīb in Tārīkh Baghdad (1/386) and cited by al-ʿAjlūnī in Kashf al-Khafāʾ (1/334) under entry no. 890, with the wording: =