Abu al-Saraya

Abu al-Saraya, attributed to Abu al-Saraya Sari ibn Mansur al-Shaybani, was a Shia Muslim, among the Arab commanders, and the leader of several Shia uprisings.

Founder of the sect

The founder of the sect was Abu al-Saraya Asfar, known as Abu al-Saraya, whose name was Sari ibn Mansur al-Shaybani. He claimed descent from Hani ibn Mas'ud al-Shaybani and revolted in Kufa, accompanied by Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Alawi, known as "Ibn Tabataba".

History

It has been said that Abu al-Saraya, at the beginning of his career, rented out donkeys, then became a bandit and a group gathered around him. Afterwards, he traveled to Armenia and there entered the service of Yazid ibn Mazyad al-Shaybani with three hundred cavalrymen, became one of his commanders, and aided him in the fight against the Khurramites. During the war between al-Amin al-Abbasi and al-Ma'mun al-Abbasi, he was the vanguard of Yazid ibn Mazyad's army against Harthama ibn A'yan, al-Ma'mun's commander, but later abandoned Yazid ibn Mazyad and joined Harthama. When al-Amin, the son of Harun al-Abbasi, was killed and al-Ma'mun became Caliph, Harthama reduced the wages he paid him. Abu al-Saraya rebelled with two hundred cavalrymen, besieged the governor of Ayn al-Tamr, plundered his properties, and distributed them among his companions. Then he conquered the city of Anbar and afterwards captured the city of Raqqa, and there he met Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Ismail ibn Ibrahim ibn Hasan ibn Hasan ibn Ali (peace be upon him), known as Ibn Tabataba al-Alawi, and encouraged him to rise against the Abbasids, pledged allegiance to him, and took command of his army, and in Jumada al-Thani of the year 199 AH, both of them conquered Kufa.

Hasan ibn Sahl, after hearing the news of the fall of Kufa, sent Zuhayr ibn Musayyab with ten thousand cavalrymen to fight him. Abu al-Saraya defeated his troops. Meanwhile, Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Tabataba al-Alawi died in Kufa four months after his uprising in the month of Rajab of the year 199 AH and was buried there.

It is narrated that Abu al-Saraya poisoned him, because after the defeat of Zuhayr ibn Musayyab, Muhammad ibn Ibrahim wanted to take possession of the spoils taken in this battle, but Abu al-Saraya, considering himself the main holder of power and viewing Muhammad as an obstacle to his work, poisoned him and eliminated him. Since Abu al-Saraya had risen in the name of taking the right of the Ahl al-Bayt of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his progeny) and according to his own words wanted to take the Caliphate from the Abbasids and hand it over to the Alids (peace be upon them). He decided to choose another Alavid Sayyid in place of Muhammad ibn Ibrahim, so he chose a young boy named Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Zayd ibn Ali ibn Husayn ibn Ali (peace be upon them) for the Imamate. It is clear that Muhammad's caliphate was nothing more than a name, and it was Abu al-Saraya who ruled in the name of the Ahl al-Bayt of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his progeny). At this time, Abu al-Saraya minted coins and inscribed this verse on his dirhams: Template:متن قرآن. Then Abu al-Saraya intended Basra and Wasit with an arranged army, and in Wasit he fought with Sa'id Harashi, who was the ruler of that city on behalf of Hasan ibn Sahl, but was defeated by him. After these conquests, the Alids dispersed in the cities of Iraq and Khuzestan and took control of the affairs of those lands. Then Abu al-Saraya sent Husayn ibn Hasan al-Aftas ibn Ali ibn Husayn ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon them) to Mecca and Muhammad ibn Sulayman ibn Dawud ibn Hasan ibn Hasan ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon them) to Medina. After capturing Mada'in and Wasit, Abu al-Saraya sent commanders to Yemen, Hejaz and Ahwaz.
After the defeat he suffered in Kufa from Harthama, he fled with eight hundred cavalrymen towards Shush, and there too he was defeated and wounded by the troops of Hasan ibn Ali al-Ma'muni, the ruler of Khuzestan, and he tried to reach his birthplace Ra's al-Ayn, but Hammad Kandaghash reached him in Jalula and arrested him and handed him over to Hasan ibn Sahl in Nahrawan. Hasan ordered that his head be cut off and his body be split in two and hung on both sides of the Jisr (Bridge) of Baghdad.

In Basra, the Alavid person who had conquered that city on his behalf was named Zayd ibn Musa ibn Ja'far (peace be upon them) and a group of Alids were with him. He was called Zayd al-Nar due to excessive strictness and severity in killing and burning people's houses. After the killing of Abu al-Saraya, Hasan ibn Sahl sent Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Zayd to Al-Ma'mun in Merv; al-Ma'mun initially granted him amnesty and pardoned his sin, but after forty days ordered that he be killed with a poisonous drink. In the year 200 AH, Ibrahim ibn Musa ibn Ja'far (peace be upon them) rose in Yemen and supported Abu al-Saraya's movement in Iraq and called the people to the Imamate of Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Ismail Tabataba and went from Mecca with a group of Ahl al-Bayt and Alids to Yemen. Ibrahim remained dominant over Yemen and massacred the people, such that the people of Yemen called him Ibrahim al-Jazzar, meaning Ibrahim the Butcher and Camel-Slayer. But Husayn ibn Hasan Aftas continued to plunder Mecca and tore the cover of the Kaaba and stripped the House of God, and after a while covered it with two garments of thin silk that he had received from Abu al-Saraya along with a letter from him. The translation of that letter is as follows: This garment was covered on the House of God by the order of Asfar ibn Asfar Abu al-Saraya, the summoner of the Al-Muhammad, to remove the black garment that the Banu al-Abbas had covered on the Kaaba, and to purify it from their garment, and this letter was written in the year 199 AH. The people of Mecca were greatly afraid of him until a large group of wealthy people fled from that city.

Husayn Aftas even plundered the thin gold that had been carved with great difficulty and placed on top of the columns of the Masjid al-Haram, and tore out the irons that were on the window of the Zamzam Well along with the teak woods that were from that mosque and sold them all along with other objects for a small amount, and when he heard that Abu al-Saraya had been expelled from Kufa and killed, out of fear for his life he went to a Sayyid named Muhammad ibn Ja'far ibn Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Husayn, who was a popular, knowledgeable and respected old man.

Husayn Aftas deceived his son Ali ibn Muhammad and told him to compel his father to accept the Caliphate, and they tempted him so much until Muhammad ibn Ja'far agreed. The people of Mecca pledged allegiance to him for the Caliphate on Friday, the sixth of Rabi' al-Thani, after performing the Friday prayer, and removed the allegiance of the Al-Abbas from themselves and called him Amir al-Mu'minin. Muhammad ibn Ja'far was not a competent man and did not deserve this work; after a while nothing remained of the Caliphate for him except a name, and all affairs were managed by his son Ali and Husayn ibn Aftas. Muhammad ibn Ja'far was forced to abdicate the Caliphate after some incidents and said: I abdicate myself from the allegiance that you have made with me and I surrender the right to the owner of the right, who is the Caliph of God, Amir al-Mu'minin Abdullah al-Ma'mun ibn Harun.

But Ibrahim ibn Musa ibn Ja'far ibn Muhammad, who had risen in Yemen, was finally defeated by the army that al-Ma'mun had sent to that land, and they captured him and brought him to Iraq in shackles and chains, and the Caliph granted him amnesty and pardoned his sin.

See also

• یمن
• حجاز
• عراق
• مکه

References

• Muhammad ibn Abi Ya'qub Ya'qubi, Tarikh-e Ya'qubi, Beirut, Dar Sader Publications, Vol. 2, p. 445, Entry date: n.d., Access date: 16 Dey 1404 SH.

• Mohammad-Javad Mashkur, Farhang-e Feraq-e Eslami, Mashhad, Astane Quds Razavi Publications, Year 1372 SH, 2nd ed., Entry date: n.d., Access date: 16 Dey 1404 SH.