THE HISTORY OF AL-'.fABARi AN ANN OT A TED TRAN SLA TIO N VOLUME XXVIII 'Abbasid Authority Affirmed THE EARLY YEARS OF AL-MAN~UR A.D. 753-763 /A.H. 136-145 Bibliotheca Persica Edited by Ehsan Yar-Shater The History of al-Tabari (Ta'rikh al-rusul wa'l-muliik) VOLUME XXVIII 'Abbasid Authority Affirmed translated and annotated by f ane Dammen McAuliffe University of Toronto State University of New York Press The History of al-Tabar! Editorial Board Ihsan Abbas, University of Jordan, Amman C. E. Bosworth, The University of Manchester Franz Rosenthal, Yale University Everett K. Rowson, The University of Pennsylvania Ehsan Yar-Shater, Columbia University IGeneral Editor) Estelle Whelan, Editorial Coordinator Center for Iranian Studies Columbia University SUNY SERIES IN NEAR EASTERN STUDIES Said Amir Arjomand, Editor The preparation of this volume was made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, an independent federal agency. Contents Preface I vii Abbreviations I xi Translator's Foreword I xiii The Caliphate of Abu Ja'far al-Man~ur The Events of the Year I36 (cont'd) (753-754) I;. The Events of the Year 137 (754-755) I 7 An Account of Abu Muslim's Murder and the Reason for It I 18 The Episode of Sunbadh I 44 The Events of the -Year 138 (755-756} I 48 The Reason Jahwar Turned against al-Man$iir I 49 How al-Mulabbid Came to Be Killed I 50 The Events of the Year 139 (756-757) I 54 The Arrest of <Abdallah b. <Ali I 57 The Events of the Year 140 (757-758) I 59 The Death of the Governor of Khurasan and What Brought It About I 59 x Contents The Events of the Year r4r (758-759) I 62 The Rawandiyyah Affair and How Abu Ja<far al-Mansur Dealt with Them I 62 The Events of the Year 142 (7 59-760) I 77 Why <Uyaynah b. Musa b. Ka<b Renounced His Allegiance I 77 The Affair of the Isbahbadh and the Muslims I 78 The Events of the Year r43 (760-761) I 82 The Raid on al-Daylam I 82 The Events of the Year 144 (761-762) I 84 The Reason Abu Ja<far Dismissed Muhammad b. Khalid and Appointed Riyab b. <Uthman, Having Removed Ziyad b. <Ubaydallah al-I:Iarithi at the Instance of Muhammad b. Khalid I 85 The Reason [the Descendants of I:IasanJ Were Transported to Iraq and How Matters Stood for Them at That Time I 121 The Remaining Account of Events for 144 I 138 The Reason !Abu Ja<farJ Had [the Descendants of I:Iasan) Trans· ported to Iraq I l 38 The Events of the Year 145 ·(762-763) I 142 The R~bellion of Muhammad b. <Abdallah and His Murder I 142 The Uprising of the Blacks in Medina in This Year and What In· cited It 1 23 l The Reason Abu Ja<far Built Baghdad I 237 The Reason for Ibrahim b. <Abdallah's Revolt and Murder and How It Came About I 252 Bibliography of Cited Works I 29 3 Index I 305 .