Preface
Abbreviations
Translator's Foreword
The Caliphate of Abu Ja`far al-Mansur
The Events of the Year 136 (cont'd) (753-754)
The Events of the Year 137 (754-755)
An Account of Abu Muslim's Murder and the Reason for It
The Episode of Sunbadh
The Events of The Year 138 (755-756)
The Reason Jahwar Turned against al-Mansur
How al-Mulabbid Came to Be Killed
The Events of the Year 139 (756-757)
The Arrest of `Abdallah b. `Ali
The Events of the Year 140 (757-758)
The Death of the Governor of Khurasan and What Brought It About
The Events of the Year 141 (758-759)
The Rawandiyyah Affair and How Abu Ja`far al-Mansur Dealt with Them
The Events of the Year 142 (759-760)
Why `Uyaynah b. Musa b. Ka`b Renounced His Allegiance
The Affair of the Isbahbadh and the Muslims
The Events of the Year 143 (760-761)
The Raid on al-Daylam
The Events of the Year 144 (761-762)
The Reason Abu Ja`far Dismissed Muhammad b. Khalid and Appointed Riyah b. `Uthman, Having Removed Ziyad b. `Ubaydallah al-Harithi at the Instance of Muhammad b. Khalid
The Reason [the Descendants of Hasan] Were Transported to Iraq and How Matters Stood for Them at That Time
The Remaining Account of Events for 144
The Reason [Abu Ja`far] Had [the Descendants of Hasan] Transported to Iraq
The Events of the Year 145 (762-763)
The Rebellion of Muhammad b. `Abdallah and His Murder
The Uprising of the Blacks in Medina in This Year and What Incited It
The Reason Abu Ja`far Built Baghdad
The Reason for Ibrahim b. `Abdallah's Revolt and Murder and How It Came About
Bibliography of Cited Works
Index

The initial years (126-145) of al-Man¿ur's reign presented several significant challenges to nascent ¿Abbasid hegemony, and the resulting confrontations constitute the central focus of this section of ¿abari's Tarikh. After Abu Jafar succeeded his brother Abu Al-¿abbas as caliph, the second of the ¿Abbasid dynasty, he moved against his recalcitrant uncle, ¿Abd Allah ibn ¿Ali, and against the potential threat that he perceived in the person of the commander in Khurasan, Abu Muslim. Eliminating the latter and containing the former freed the caliph to address a series of other onslaughts and insurrections.
Starting with the year 144, however, ¿abari turned to this volume's principal preoccupation, to which half of the book is devoted. Judging by the attention given to it, he clearly perceived the Hasanid rebellions of Muhammad b. Abdallah (the Pure Soul) and of his brother Ibrahim to be the most substantial attack on Abbasid authority to arise in the first years of that dynasty. ¿abari's description of the prolonged search for Muhammad and Ibrahim and of the caliphal vengeance visited upon their father and family provides an extended prelude to the vivid battle and death scenes in Medina and Bakhamra. Yet, elaboration of these events does not eclipse mention of all other Abbasid activity. To bridge the account of Muhammad's defeat and that of Ibrahim's uprising, ¿abari inserted a narrative interlude depicting the site selection and preliminary construction of al-Man¿ur's most celebrated achievement, the City of Peace, Baghdad.