It was in the reign of Yezid II that the propaganda in favor of the descendants of Abbas was to be actively disseminated over the East . The Abbassid emissaries appeared in Khorasan in the garb of innocent merchants and diligently canvassed for Mohamed , who was now the head of the Abbassid branch . The Abbassid emissaries worked wherever they went , with their lives in their hands if caught they risked to the barbarous punishments . Adherents were enrolled on all side and within a short time Persia was honeycombed with secret organization to encompass the downfall of the hated family of Banu Ommeya .
The Banu Abbas were the descendants of Abbas , cousin of
Prophet Mohamed
(Pbuh) who died in 654 leaving four sons: Abdullah , Fadl , Obaidullah and Kaisan . Abdullah , better known in history and tradition as Ibn Abbas was born in Mecca in 619 , three years before the Higera . All four brothers were present at the Battle of Camel and at Siffin . Ibn Abbas , who was no less an accomplished soldier than a scholar , commanded the cavalry of Ali . He died of a broken heart at Tayef in 685 after the murder of Hussein . His son (who was named Ali after the great Caliph) followed the footsteps of his father
in his zealous attachment to the children of Fatima . When Ali died , his son Mohamed succeeded him in the headship of the family . Mohamed was a man of great ability and unbounded ambition . He was the first man to plan a project for seizing the caliphate for himself . So he started a new doctrine to justify the claims of his family to the Imamate . His doctrine held the belief that on the murder of Hussein at Karbela , the spiritual headship of
Islam
was not transmitted to his surviving son Ali Zain-ul-Arabidin but to Mohamed al Hanafia . Mohamed al Hanafia was the son of the Caliph Ali by a lady of the Hanifa tribe , whom he married after the death of Fatima that upon Hanafia's death , his office descended upon his son Abu Hashim who had assigned it to Mohamed Ibn Ali Ibn Abdullah .
Before his death , Mohamed named his sons Ibrahim Abdullah Abu Al-Abbas (surnamed As-Saffah) and Abdullah Abu Gaafar (surnamed Al-Mansur) as his successors , one after the other . The propaganda started by him was conducted after his death with lifetime .
The Abbassids prepared themselves to revolt in Khorasan and formed a strong army under the command of Abu Moslem al Khorassany who advanced westward and captured Iraq . He defeated Merwan II in
the Battle of Zab in 750 , which sealed the fate of the Ommeyade Dynasty . Merwan fled towards Mosul , but the city closed its gates upon him . He then hurried to Harran and tried to raise another army . The Abbassids were on his track . Finding no safety in Syria and Palestine , he fled to
Egypt
and was killed . Abu al Abbas Abdullah ascended the throne and founded the Abbassid Dynasty .
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