Читать книгу The Heart of Asia - Sir E. Denison Ross - Страница 14

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In A.H. 120 (737)162 Asad died, and was succeeded by Nasr ibn Sayyār, one of the ablest rulers and generals ever sent to the East in Mohammedan times. He was as generous as he was strong, and seems to have won the affection of those under him. During the nine years of his governorship his position was by no means an easy one, for he had to contend with the growing influence of the `Abbāsid faction,163 and to support, with a loyalty worthy of a better cause, the last degenerate representatives of the house of Umayya. His first care on assuming the supreme command was to subjugate the Khākān of the Turks, whose name was Kūrsūl, against whom he led three successive expeditions. The first two seem to have been without result, but in the last, which was directed against Shāsh, the Khākān fell into his hands and was put to death.164

In the same year Nasr renewed his attempt to subject Shāsh to the Moslem yoke. The campaign was a bloodless one. He received the submission of Ushrūsana, and concluded an advantageous peace with the king of Shāsh.165 He thereupon appointed a Mohammedan governor of Farghāna.

In the year A.H. 123 (740) this judicious ruler established order throughout Transoxiana, Khorāsān, and Farghāna.166 But he had other difficulties to meet which were not of his own making. The star of the Umayyads was in the descendent, and the `Abbāsid party were daily adding to the number of their adherents. And, apart from dynastic struggles, the whole of Islām was rent with the dissensions of the rival sects of the Khārijites and the Shi`ites. The sectarian zeal of the latter, which to this day remains the cause of bitter discord in the realm of Islām, began now to make itself felt in Persia and in Central Asia.

In A.H. 125 (742) Hishām, the last Umayyad Caliph of any distinction, died. The dynasty lasted seven years longer, and in that short period no less than four Caliphs167 attempted to restore the fading glory of their house. While such disorders reigned at headquarters there was small hope of quelling sedition in the outlying provinces. The `Abbāsid pretender, Ibrāhīm, thanks to the efforts of his father’s168 emissaries, had now a powerful and rapidly increasing faction in Merv. But Nasr still held command in Khorāsān, and his personal influence was still great enough to avert open rebellion. It failed; and the fierce tribal jealousy which always smouldered in Arab breasts burst into civil war. The two rival factions were the Yemenites and the Modharites. Nasr ibn Sayyār belonged to the tribe of Modhar, and bestowed the highest offices on his clansmen. In fact, all the towns of Khorāsān were governed by members of one or the other of the three principal branches of the tribe, Asad, Temīm, or Kināna. Now, there was a man of the tribe of Azd called, after his birthplace, Juday` El-Kirmānī, who, before the promotion of Nasr, had held a higher position, and retained some authority among his own people. To him came the Beni Rabī`a with complaints of the partiality of Nasr. He promised his intercession with the governor. On attempting remonstrance he raised Nasr’s ire, and was cast into prison, whence escaping169 he rejoined his own people. All efforts at reconciliation proving fruitless, the rival parties had recourse to armed strength. In A.H. 127 (744) Hārith ibn Surayj, who was permitted to return to Khorāsān from his captivity in Fārāb, set up his standard at Merv, and, gathering many followers around it, openly revolted against Nasr. In the following year Nasr called upon him to swear allegiance to the Caliph Merwān, but Hārith refused, and boasted that he was “the man with the black flag”170 who was to overthrow the Umayyad dynasty. Hostilities thereupon commenced between Nasr and Hārith, in which the latter was worsted. He fled to the camp of El-Kirmānī, whom Nasr had meanwhile been vainly endeavouring to conciliate.

Their combined forces now marched against Nasr, whom they defeated in a pitched battle. Nasr fled to Nīshāpūr, while the allies occupied Merv, where, however, dissensions arose between them which cost Hārith his life, A.H. 128 (745).171

It was in the midst of these disorders that Abū Muslim, the virtual founder of the `Abbasid dynasty, raised the black banner in Khorāsān. The advent of the `Abbāsids to the Caliphate was an event of such moment for the future of Central Asia that it is necessary in this place to give a brief account of the rise of the new dynasty. The fall of the Umayyads was the death-knell of unity in Islām. In spite of numberless rebellions in all parts of their conquered provinces the Umayyads had never recognised independent rulers, but with the establishment of the house of `Abbās there set in a general dismemberment of the empire of the Caliphs. The origin of the dispute between the Hāshimites (or `Abbāsids) and the Umayyads dates back to a period anterior to the birth of Mohammed. It was a rivalry between the two chief stocks of the house of Koraysh.172 We have seen above that, although Mohammed, on first declaring his mission, met with opposition from his own tribe, after the conquest of Mekka they temporarily reconciled the conflicting interests. So after the Prophet’s death discussions again arose between `Alī and the Caliph Mo`āwiya. The Khārijites, who demanded a purely theocratic rule, were also continually in a ferment. After the tragic death of Husayn, the son of `Alī, at Kerbelā, a party arose devoted to the house of `Alī, and claiming the succession of his family to the Caliphate, who called themselves the Shī`a (or faction), and who are known to Europeans as the Shi`ites.

In the reign of Hishām (A.H. 105), Mohammed, the great-grandson of the Prophet’s uncle, `Abbās, who was living in retreat in the south of Palestine, began to advance his claims to the Caliphate. Emissaries and secret deputations were sent to all the principal towns of Persia, `Irāk, and Khorāsān, and, in spite of the severe measures taken to check the movement, the cause of the Hāshimites began rapidly to spread. The Shi`ites and the Khārijites were induced to make common cause with the Hāshimites, on the plea that the only object of the movement was to secure the Caliphate for a member of the Prophet’s own family.

In the year A.H. 125 (742) Mohammed visited Mekka, and in the same year Abū Muslim was taken there on a pilgrimage by a party of the Hāshimite faction. This Abū Muslim, whose real name was `Abd er-Rahmān ibn Muslim, was a native of Khorāsān, and had been a saddler in the service of a distinguished Arabian family.173 While residing at Mekka he attracted the attention of the `Abbāsid claimant, who at once singled him out as a youth of great promise,174 and prophesied that Abū Muslim would be greatly instrumental in bringing the `Abbāsids to power. He spent the two following years in journeys between Khorāsān and Homayma, in order to promote the cause and report its progress. By means of an active propaganda the Hāshimites had been most successful in winning over large numbers of adherents, and Abū Muslim was only watching for a suitable moment to raise the flag of revolt. In A.H. 129 (746), on the death of Hārith ibn Surayj, Nasr ibn Sayyār sent a small force from Nīshāpūr against El-Kirmānī, which was repelled, and Nasr now moved on to Merv with all the troops he could command. Abū Muslim, deeming the moment favourable for his designs, unfurled the black standard175 of the `Abbāsids. Ere a month had elapsed contingents began to pour in from all quarters. Nasr, finding himself unable to check the movement, implored reinforcements from Merwān, the governor of `Irāk, and pointed out that the loss of Khorāsān would be fatal to the house of Umayya.

But no help arrived, and Abū Muslim, conscious of his foe’s weakness, invited El-Kirmānī to join with him against Nasr; the latter, foreseeing this contingency, caused El-Kirmānī to be killed by one of his soldiers, and sent his head to the Caliph. The Yemenites and the two sons of El-Kirmānī attached themselves to Abū Muslim. In despair Nasr sent to Merwān a despatch in verse,176 in which he pointed out the perils surrounding his situation, and asked whether the house of Umayya was asleep or awake.

In the year A.H. 130 (747) Abū Muslim made his entry into Merv, and ordered public prayers to be offered for the `Abbāsid claimant as Caliph. Nasr, who had abandoned the struggle for power and was living in retirement at Merv, withdrew on his approach to Nīshāpūr by way of Sarakhs.177 In his flight he was joined by such of his troops as remained faithful, but near Nīshāpūr he was overtaken and defeated by Kahtaba ibn Shebīb, who had been despatched by Abū Muslim in pursuit. Nasr now fled farther westward, and on reaching Jurjān was joined by the Syrian troops from `Irāk; but they came too late. Kahtaba again overtook the fugitive and inflicted a final defeat. Nasr fled towards Hamadān, but he died worn out by years and toil at Sāva at the age of eighty-five. With this faithful viceroy perished the last hopes of the Umayyads, A.H. 131 (748).