HOW 'URWAH-IBN-UDZÎNAH GAINED A

LIVELIHOOD.

T is said that 'Urwah-ibn-Udzînah* presented him

IT

self before Hishâm-ibn-'Abd-el-Málik, complaining of poverty. Hishâm asked, "Was it not thou who saidst,

'Verily I have discovered (tho' extravagance is not one of my qualities)

That my subsistence will come of itself to me.

I strive for it, and the pursuit of it wearies me,

But I sit down, and without my pains it comes to me.'

And hast thou now come from el-Hijâz to Syria to seek a livelihood?"

He made answer, "O Commander of the Faithful! thou hast been exhorted and informed." Then he went out, and mounted his dromedary, and returned to el-Hijâz.

* Abu-'Aâmir 'Urwah-ibn-Udzînah, a man eminent for his learning and piety, was a member of the tribe of Laith, and a celebrated poet and traditionist. He died A.H. 118 (A.D. 736).

And when night came, Hishâm was resting on his bed, and he thought of 'Urwah, and said, "He is one of the Kuraish, and he spoke wisely; he came to me, and I dismissed him disappointed." So as soon as daylight appeared, he sent him a thousand dinârs.

And the messenger knocked at the door of 'Urwah's house in el-Medînah, and gave him the money. Then said 'Urwah, "Salute the Commander of the Faithful from me, and say to him, 'What thinkest thou now of my words? I worked hard, but found barren soil. When I returned home unsuccessful, and sat down in my house, my livelihood came of itself to me in my dwelling.'

THE BEGINNING OF THE ABBASSIDE
DYNASTY.

HE founder of this dynasty was Abu-Muslim, el

THE

Khurasany, and his name was 'Abd-er-Rahmánibn-Muslim. Amongst his sayings are the following lines :

Tho' they were reinforced, I obtained by vigilance and secrecy What fell away from the Kings of the Benu-Marwân.

I ceased not striving with might for their overthrow,

And the people were careless and verily the men slept. Never before had been such slumber. But with the sword I fell upon them, and from their slumber woke them. For he who sleeps while tending his flock where wild beasts roam,

Will find that the lion constitutes himself their shepherd.

The first of these Abbasside Khalifahs was Abu'Abd-Allâh, es-Saffâh.

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.

Upon the death of Hishâm, A.H. 125 (A.D. 742), el-Walîd, the son of Hishâm's brother and predecessor, Yezîd, succeeded to the throne. (See Note*, p. 222.) But so immoral was el-Walid's life, and so impious were his religious opinions,

that the people of Syria unanimously resolved to depose him the following year. They accordingly chose Yezîd, the son of el-Walîd I. (see pp. 192—194), el-Walîd's cousin-german, for their leader, and inaugurated him Khalifah. He marched against el-Walîd, dispersed his troops, besieged him in his palace, and finally slew him, after he had reigned a year and three months. Yezîd himself died of the plague at Damascus, after he had reigned six months, and was succeeded by his brother Ibrahîm. In the beginning of the year 127 (A.D. 744), however, Marwânibn-Muhammad-ibn-Marwân-ibn-el-Hâkim, who was the governor of Mesopotamia and surrounding provinces, and who had rebelled against Yezîd under pretext of avenging the murder of el-Walîd II., marched against Ibrahîm, intending to besiege Damascus, and depose the Khalifah. At Kinnafrin and Hems he was joined by many of the Khalifah's subjects, who took the oath of allegiance to him; but Sulaimân-ibn-Hishâm, Ibrahîm's general, marched against him with an army of a hundred and twenty thousand men. Sulaimân's army was, however, routed with great slaughter, and he himself was forced to fly to Damascus. Marwân released his many prisoners upon condition of their taking an oath of fidelity to el-Hâkim and 'Othmân, el-Walîd's sons, who, since the murder of their father, had remained in prison at Damascus. But Sulaimân, being well assured of Marwân's intention to place one of them upon the throne, no sooner arrived at Damascus than in concert with Ibrahîm he ordered their execution, and then made his escape from the city. El-Hâkim and ’Othmân, however, foreseeing what would happen, took care before their deaths to transfer their right to Marwân, and declared, in presence of a fellow-prisoner, that in case they should be slain, Marwân ought to be regarded by all Muslims as the lawful Khalifah and Imâm. So after Sulaimân's flight, the citizens of Damascus opened their gates to Marwân, and,

there being no other person in the empire capable of disputing his title or standing in competition with him, he was declared Khalîfah, Ibrahîm himself recognizing his authority, A.H. 127. So short indeed was Ibrahîm's reign, that many writers scarcely mention him. He died A.H. 132. But the manner of his death is uncertain: some say he was assassinated, some that he was drowned, and others that he was poisoned.

Marwân, however, though proclaimed Khalifah, did not long enjoy peace. The very same year (A.H. 127) the people of Hems rebelled against him. The Damascenes followed their example, and also the people of el-Básrah, who had proclaimed Sulaimân-ibn-Hishâm Khalifah at that place. And though Marwân was successful in, to a certain extent, quelling these insurrections, yet the partisans of the house of el-Abbâs were now beginning to grow powerful in some of the interior provinces of the empire. El-Abbâs was the Prophet's uncle; and the first of the family who made any considerable figure was his descendant in the third generation, Muhammad-ibn-'Aly, who flourished in the time of 'Omar-ibn-'Abd-el-Azîz. 'Omar succeeded Sulaimân-ibn’Abd-el-Mâlik A.H. 99 (A.D. 717). Muhammad-ibn-'Aly was nominated chief or Imâm of the house of el-Abbâs in the hundredth year of the Hijrah. He is reported to have said to the deputation sent to him on this occasion, "“I shall soon die, and my son Ibrahîm will be your leader till he shall be slain. After his death, my other son, 'Abd-Allâh, surnamed Abu-'l-'Abbâs, es-Saffâh, shall preside over you, and settle the government of the Muslims upon a solid and lasting basis." Muhammad died A.H. 125, and was succeeded in the honourable post of Imâm by his son Ibrahîm. It was Ibrahîm who two years later appointed Abu-Muslîm'Abd-er-Rahmân-ibn-Muslim, el-Khurasâny, then a youth of nineteen, to go as his representative to Khorassân. AbuMuslim is called in the text the founder or establisher of the