Zayd bin Ali Zaynul Aabideen bin Al-Hussein

In parallel with the events that were going on, we find another important personality emerge from all of this chaos.  Zayd bin Ali Zaynul Aabideen bin Al-Hussein, the great grandson of Ali bin Abi Talib, declared war against the Umayyad establishment in 122 Hijri ruled during that time by Hisham bin Abdul Malik.  You might recall that Ali bin Abdullah bin Abbas also died during his reign.

Hisham bin Abdul Malik ordered his governor, Yusuf Ath-Thaqafi of Iraq to stop this uprising and was successful in suppressing this rebellion and executed Zayd bin Ali.  The general Shia public was enraged by this brazen act and their hatred towards the Umayyads increased which was successfully exploited by the Abbasids to further their anti-Umayyad interests.

The Umayyads were not ready to let go of this bloodshed and imprisoned Zayd bin Ali’s son, Yahya who managed to escape but was recaptured and executed.  The Abbasids increased their secret war propaganda against the Umayyads and used these two tragic events to highlight the “apparent” hatred the Umayyads had against the family of the Prophet’s descendants.

Here we find the apparent difference in the way how the Abbasids operated in constrast to the opponents to the Umayyad establishment and apparent supporters of the descendants of Ali and their causes.  The Abbasids clearly did not allow any of their supporters to openly oppose or engage the Umayyad establishment in order not to arouse suspicion.  The opponents to the Umayyad establishment and apparent supporters of the descendants of Ali and their causes would openly declare their intentions and fail miserably shortly thereafter.

Wallahu Alam 

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