as-Saffah 1 | Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire |
| Sex | M |
| Floruit | M VIII |
| Dates | 750 (taq) / 754 (ob.) |
| PmbZ No. | 70 |
| Variant Names | Aboulabas; Mouamed; `bd'lh 'bw 'l`bs; 'Abd Allah Abu 'l-Abbas |
| Religion | Muslim |
| Ethnicity | Arab |
| Locations | Persia (officeplace); Kufa; Kufa (residence) |
| Titles | Caliph (office) |
| Textual Sources | Chronicon Anonymi ad annum 1234 pertinens, ed. and tr. J.-B. Chabot, I = CSCO 81-82 (Paris, 1916-20), II = CSCO 109 (Louvain, 1937) (chronicle); Constantine Porphyrogenitus, De Administrando Imperio, ed. G. Moravcsik, trans. R. J. H. Jenkins (Washington, D.C., 1967) (history); Michael the Syrian, Chronicle, ed. and tr. J.-B. Chabot, La chronique de Michel le Syrien (Paris, 1899-1904) (chronicle); Theophanes Confessor, Chronographia, ed. C. de Boor, 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1883-85, repr. Hildesheim/NewYork, 1980); tr. and comm. C. Mango and R. Scott, The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor, Oxford 1997 (chronicle) |
As-Saffah 1's full name was `Abd Allah Abu -'l-`Abbas ibn Muhammad ibn Ali; he was the first Abbasid caliph and reigned from 750 to 754; on becoming caliph he was given the nickname as-Saffah; see Encyclopaedia of Islam., 2nd ed., I, p. 103. Brother of Abdullah (al-Mansour 1) (τῷ Ἀβουλαβᾶς ... τῷ ἀδελφῷ αὐτοῦ Ἀβδελᾶ), as-Saffah 1 was chosen as ruler after the overthrow of Marwan II (Marwan 2) and the end of the Umayyad dynasty; he transferred the seat of power and the treasury from Damascus to Persia: Theoph. AM 6241 (ὁ δὲ αὐτὸς Ἀβουλαβᾶς, ὁ καὶ πάντων ἐξάρχων), cf. Chron. 1234, §179 (p. 330) ("the kingdom passed from the Umayyads to the Hashimites; and the kingdom was established for `Abd Allah the son of Muhammad, who was Abu -'l-`Abbas"), Mich. Syr. II 517.
As-Saffah 1 was living in Kufa when the rebels from Khorasan under Abu Muslim 1 arrived; they named him as their ruler and he became the first caliph of the Abbasid dynasty: Chron. 1234, §§177 (p. 325), 179 (p. 328). He was a brother of the Imam Ibrahim 2, who named him to be the ruler of the family before his death in prison in Carrhae (between 743 and 750): Chron. 1234, §177 (p. 325). He was also brother of `Abd Allah `Abu Ja`far (al-Mansour 1): Chron. 1234, §§179 (p. 328), 181 (p. 332), 183 (p. 334), 184 (p. 339). He also had a brother called Yahya: Chron. 1234, §184 (p. 338). He had Sulayman 2 executed: Chron. 1234, §184 (p. 339). He died after reigning for five years and was succeeded by his brother Abdelas (i.e. Abdullah, al-Mansour 1): Theoph. AM 6246 (Μουάμεδ, ὁ καὶ Ἀβουλαβᾶς τέθνηκε ... Ἀβδελᾶς, ὁ ἀδελφὸς αὐτοῦ), cf. Mich. Syr. II 518 (`Abdullah Abu -'l-`Abbas reigned four years ten months).
In the heading to Theoph. AM 6242 he is styled Ἀράβων ἀρχηγὸς Μουάμεδ). He ordered `Abd Allah son of Ali (Abdullah 5) to assemble an army of Arabs and Persians and lead an invasion into Roman territory; however before `Abd Allah (Abdullah 5) could cross the frontier, the caliph died; the news reached the frontier on 9 June 754 (year 1065 Sel.), and added that the caliph had nominated his brother Abu Ja`far as his successor: Chron. 1234, §184 (p. 339). Abdelas is said to have succeeded Marwan 2 as ruler of the Arabs and to have ruled for twenty one years: Const. Porph., DAI 22, 56ff. The successors of Marwan 2 were the first two Abbasid caliphs, as-Saffah 1 and Al-Mansour 1, who were both called Abdullah and who have been conflated in this source.
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