Abu Awn Abd al - Malik ibn Yazid Abū ʿAwn ʿAbd al - Malik ibn Yazīd al - Khurasānī ( ) was an early supporter of the Abbasids from Jurjan , who participated in the campaigns of the Abbasid Revolution and served as governor of Egypt and Khurasan . Biography . Abd al - Malik was a native Persian from Jurjan , who had become a " mawla " of the tribe of Huna ' a ( a part of the Azd i group ) . According to Patricia Crone , despite his support of the Abbasids , his " his names reveal a pro - Umayyad background " . He was the leader of the Abbasid missionary movement ( the " Da ' wa " ) in his native Jurjan ( along with Amir ibn Isma ' il and Khalid ibn Barmak ) , and one of the senior members of the movement in Khurasan in general . Indeed , he was the first recipient of the black banners which came to symbolize the Abbasid dynasty . When the Abbasid Revolution broke out in June 747 , he was namedas the commander of a unit recruited from Jurjan , and sent to suppress the Kharijites in the region , a task which he carried out with success . He participated in the westwards campaign against the Umayyads under Qahtaba ibn Shabib al - Ta ' i , and reached with him the borders of Iraq . There Qahtaba sent him north to Shahrazur to counter an Umayyad army under Uthman ibn Sufyan threatening his right flank . Abu Awn joined forces with another Abbasid force under Amir ibn Isma ' il , and a local tribal chieftain , but his forces , some 4 , 000 men , remained inferior to the Umayyad army . Nevertheless , he decided to attack , and on 10 August 749 , his army routed the forces of Uthman ( who according to some accounts fell in the battle ) and captured the district of Shahrazur . Despite the presence of Caliph Marwan II with the main Umayyad army nearby in the Jazira , Abu Awn was not molested by the Umayyads , and was able to join the new Abbasid general , Abdallah ibn Ali , in the decisive Battle of the Zab on 25 January 750 , which resulted in the defeat and flight of Marwan II and the capitulation of the Umayyad heartland , Syria . While Abdallah ibn Ali remained in Palestine , he dispatched his brother , Salih ibn Ali , along with Abu Awn to continue the pursuit of Marwan II , who fled to Egypt in May / June 750 . Salih and Abu Awn invaded the country , and in August 750 the last Umayyad resistance was crushed at Busir , with Marwan II and many of his followers being killed . Salih became the new governor of Egypt , and was succeeded by Abu Awn in 751 . Abu Awn served as governor until 753 , when Salih returned to the post , and again in 755 – 758 . Abu Awn re - appears in 766 / 767 , when he participated in the suppression of the revolt of Ustadhsis in Khurasan . When Ustadhsis , hard - pressed by the armies of Khazim ibn Khuzayma al - Tamimi , decided to surrender , he chose to submit himself and his followers to the arbitration of Abu Awn ( whom some sources suggest he personally knew , perhaps from the time of the Abbasid Revolution ) . Abu Awn ordered the arrest and deportation of Ustadhsis and his family to Baghdad , but let the remainder of his followers , some 30 , 000 men , to go free . He was named governor of Khurasan in 775 / 6 , but was dismissed the following year for failing to suppress the rebellion of al - Muqanna , and replaced by Mu ' adh ibn Muslim . According to Hugh N . Kennedy , he died ca . 784 / 785 .