Alid Revolt ( 762 – 763 ) The Alid Revolt of 762 – 763 or Revolt of Muhammad the Pure Soul was an uprising by the Hasanid branch of the Alids against the newly established Abbasid Caliphate . The Hasanids , led by the brothers Muhammad ( called " the Pure Soul " ) and Ibrahim , rejected the legitimacy of the Abbasid family ' s claim to power . Reacting to mounting persecution by the Abbasid regime , in 762 they launched a rebellion , with Muhammad raising in revolt Medina in September and Ibrahim following in Basra in November . The lack of co - ordination and organization , as well as the lukewarm support of their followers , allowed the Abbasids under Caliph al - Mansur to react swiftly . The Caliph contained Muhammad ' s rebellion in the Hejaz and crushed it only two weeks after Ibrahim ' s uprising , before turning his forces against the latter . Ibrahim ' s rebellion had achieved some initial successes in southern Iraq , but his camp was riven by dissent among rival Shi ' a groups as to the prosecution of the war and future political objectives . In the end , Ibrahim ' s army was decisively defeated at Bakhamra in January 763 , with Ibrahim dying of his wounds shortly after . The failure of the rebellion did not mark the end of Alid unrest , but it consolidated the power of the Abbasid dynasty . Background . Following the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632 , a strong body of opinion within the nascent Muslim community — the antecedents of the Shi ' a — held the Family of Muhammad ( " Al Muhammad " ) to be the only rightful leaders , who would have the divine guidance necessary to rule according to the Quran and bring justice . These sentiments were fed by the in creasing discontent against the Umayyads ( 661 – 750 ) . Initially , they were expressed by a succession of failed risings — most notably the Battle of Karbala in 680 and the uprising of Zayd ibn Ali in 740 — in support of various Alid claimants , i . e . the descendants of Ali , the cousin and son - in - law of Muhammad and fourth Caliph ( r . 656 – 661 ) , whose death had marked the rise of the Umayyad family to power . Iraq and Kufa in particular became centres of pro - Alid support . It was the Abbasids , however , and their supporters , the " Hashimiyya " , who launched the revolution that overthrew the Umayyad regime . The Abbasids claimed authority based on their membership in the extended " Al Muhammad " through his uncle Abbas ibn Abd al - Muttalib ; unlike later Shi ' a doctrine , membership of the Family was not strictly limited to the Alids at that time , but encompassed the entire Banu Hashim . The Abbasids were able to exploit the weakening of the Alid cause after Zayd ' s failure in 740 , as well as the widespread anti - Umayyad sentiment and lack of pro - Alid agitation among the numerous Arabs settlers of Khurasan , to gain their backing and secure the leadership of the anti - Umayyad movement for themselves . Nevertheless , in the first stages of their uprising , they were careful not to antagonize the Alids ' supporters , and merely called for a " chosen one from the Family of Muhammad " ( " al - rida min Al Muhammad " ) to become the new Muslim leader . Following their takeover of the Caliphate , the Abbasids tried to ensure the Alids ' acquiescence through honours and pensions . However , some Alids remained opposed to Abbasid rule , going into hiding and once again trying to rouse the discontented against the new regime . Chief among them were Muhammad ibn Abdallah and his brother Ibrahim . Both had been groomed by their father as leaders since their youth , and some sources even claim that he received the " bay ' ah " ( oath of allegiance ) of the " Hashimiyya " leaders , including the future Caliph al - Mansur ( r . 754 – 775 ) , in 744 , before the Abbasid Revolution . Muhammad was often called " the Pure Soul " ( " al - Nafs al - Zakiyya " ) for his noble character , but he was also " a somewhat unworldly , even romantic , individual " ( Hugh N . Kennedy ) and apparently less capable or learned than his younger brother . When the Abbasids took power , the two brothers refused to accept what they regarded as the usurpation of their legitimate rights and went into hiding . From there they continued their work of proselytism , which reportedly brought them as far as the Sindh , although mostly they stayed in Arabia . The first Abbasid caliph , al - Saffah ( r . 750 – 754 ) , was content to mostly ignore them , but his successor al - Mansur launched a manhunt against them . In 758 , al - Mansur arrested their brother Abdallah , when he refused to reveal their whereabouts , followed in early 762 by their cousins and nephews . The captive Alids were taken to Kufa , where they were mistreated so that many of them died . Muhammad ' s revolt in Medina . As al - Mansur ' s persecution intensified , pressure began to mount on the brothers to react . Kufa , the traditional Alid base , was kept under close surveillance by the Abbasid government , and the two brothers resolved to launch a simultaneous rebellion in Basra and Medina . Although the Alids could count on a large network of sympathizers throughout the Caliphate , however , the action was rushed and lacked organization . On 25 September 762 , Muhammad declared himself at Medina , catching the Abbasid governor , Riyah ibn Uthman , by surprise . The rebellion was bloodless and Muhammad quickly gained the support of the old Muslim families of Medina and Mecca ( the " Ansar " ) , but the movement had been doomed from the start : despite Medina ' s great symbolic value , it had little strategic importance , and the error of using it as the centre of a rebellion became apparent when the Abbasids immediately cut off the grain supply from Egypt that fed the city . Al - Mansur himself was relieved at the news of the uprising in such a remote location , remarking that at last he had " enticed the fox out of his hole " . Al - Mansur left Baghdad , whose construction he was supervising , for Kufa . From there he called upon Muhammad to surrender , promising an amnesty . The only fruit of this offer was an exchange of letters , which are preserved ( though doubtlessly much embellished ) by al - Tabari . In them , Muhammad reiterated his claim to leading the Muslims , and stressed his descent from Ali and Fatimah , the Prophet ' s daughter , as well as his typically Shi ' a ideals of rejecting the absolutist monarchical traditions of the Umayyads — now adopted by the Abbasids — in favour of returning to the simpler practices of early Islam . Al - Mansur countered by invoking the pre - Islamic tradition of inheritance , which gave priority to a man ' s male relatives over his daughters — implying that the Caliphate had passed to the Abbasid line by right . Isa ibn Musa , the Caliph ' s nephew , was sent against Medina with 4 , 000 men , but Muhammad he refused to abandon the city and insisted on meeting the Abbasid attack in the holy city . In the meantime , he imitated the actions of the Prophet , like restoring the famous ditch around the city . As Muhammad ' s supporters began deserting him , Isa appeared before the city . After waiting a few days before the ditch and repeatedly offering amnesty , his troops laid a few doors over it , and entered Medina , where Muhammad and his remaining 300 supporters fell fighting on 6 December 762 . Muhammad ' s corpse was beheaded and his head dispatched to the Caliph . Ibrahim ' s uprising in Basra . Due to Muhammad ' s rushed actions , Ibrahim failed to co - ordinate his own uprising with his brother ' s , and only declared himself two weeks before Muhammad ' s death , on 23 November . Ibrahim ' s revolt at first met with quick success , securing control over Ahwaz , Fars and Wasit , and his army register ( " diwan " ) was said to number 100 , 000 names . When the news of Muhammad ' s death arrived , the rebels acclaimed Ibrahim as his successor . Ibrahim now was faced with a choice : a group of dedicated Alid supporters , which had managed to escape from Kufa , urged him to march on the city , while the Basrans preferred to stay in place and reach a negotiated settlement . This dissension is indicative of the disparate nature of Ibrahim ' s supporters . The Alid cause was fractured into several competing groups with different political objectives , and Ibrahim represented the Hasanid branch only . The Husaynids refused to take part in an uprising , while Ibrahim quarrelled with the Zaydi branch on everything from political objectives and leadership to the tactics to be followed or the provisioning of their troops . Elsewhere , support for the uprising was cautious and most Alid supporters adopted a wait - and - see attitude , limiting themselves to verbal support or contributions of money . Al - Mansur in the meantime used his time more effectively : he mobilized troops in Syria and Iran and brought them to the Iraq , and recalled Isa Ibn Musa from Medina to lead them . Finally , Ibrahim decided to march on Kufa , but on the way he abandoned this plan and turned back . Instead of returning to basra , however , he encamped at Bakhamra , a location on the road between the two cities . There , on 21 January , Ibrahim with his troops , reduced by defections to some 15 , 000 men , confronted the Abbasid army under Isa ibn Musa . Isa ' s vanguard was at first beaten , but the battle ended in a crushing Abbasid victory . Ibrahim himself was heavily wounded and escaped with a handful of supporters . He died of his wounds on 14 February 763 , signalling the end of the rebellion . Aftermath . The failure and brutal of Muhammad and Ibrahim ' s revolt was followed by a large - scale reprisal campaign against the Alids , many of whom were imprisoned or killed , until the death of al - Mansur brought about another period of attempts at conciliation under al - Mahdi ( r . 775 – 785 ) , which ended after another Alid uprising in 786 . The relationship of the Abbasids with the Alids remained troubled : periods of repression , usually following pro - Alid revolts , were alternated with periods of relative tolerance . Although al - Ma ' mun ( r . 813 – 833 ) at one point nominated an Alid , Ali ibn Musa al - Rida , as his heir during the Fourth Fitna , this move was not followed up , and under Ma ' mun ' s successors , the two families became completely estranged . Of Muhammad ' s sons and brothers , many fled the Abbasid persecution to the remoter corners of the Caliphate , where they sometimes succeeded in establishing local dynasties , e . g . the Idrisids of Morocco , founded by Muhammad ' s brother , or the Alavids in Tabaristan .