Another prophecy of Imam Ali (a.s.) regarding the
Umayyad and the Abbasid dynasties

Imam Ali (a.s.) promised in another sermon to answer all the questions asked from him regarding the incidents that will occur till the Day of Resurrection. He will tell about hundred men from every group who will attain guidance and also about their leader, the place where the will descend, the people whom they will kill and those who will die their natural death.
          At the end of this sermon, Imam Ali (a.s.) said:
‘At that time (at the time of the downfall of the Umayyad dynasty by the hands of the Abbasid dynasty), the Quraysh will be willing to give away all their possessions just for the sake of seeing me once.’
          This was the prophecy made by Imam Ali (a.s.) informing about the attack of Abu Muslim e Khurasani and the men in black uniforms towards Syria and the downfall of the last caliph of the Umayyad dynasty, Marwan bin Muhammad, popularly known as Marwan e Himaar or (the donkey).
          The historians have narrated that when Marwan bin Muhammad saw Abdullah bin Ali bin Abdullah bin Abbas in the battle of Zaab standing along with the Khurasanis against him, he said: I would love to find Ali bin Abi Talib standing under this flag instead of this youngster.[1]
          Imam Ali (a.s.) said regarding the decline of the Umayyad rule:
          “Until the Almighty will suppress the disturbance caused by the Umayyad dynasty, just like skin is peeled off the meat. God will humiliate them by someone and in such manner that they will dislike it very much, and they will be compelled to bear the difficulties, they will not be face anything but swords, and will not be donned with anything but fear”.
Now, a report of the shameful fate of the Umayyad dynasty will be presented from the excerpts of the history of Yaqoobi.
          Yaqoobi says[2]: When people pledged allegiance with Abul Abbas Saffah in Kufa in the year 132 Hijri and Kufa went away from the hands of the Umayyad dynasty, Marwan bin Muhammad – the last Umayyad caliph, went towards Zaab, situated near Mosul, with the intention of fighting against the Abbasids and their supporters. Abul Abbas Saffah, the first Abbasid Caliph, sent his uncle Abdullah bin Ali to fight against Marwan in Zaab. Marwan got defeated and returned to Syria. In that condition, Marwan did not cross any city from the cities of Syria without being looted and ransacked by the people of that city. At last, Marwan reached Damascus and his intention was to confine himself in this city as it was the capital city of the Umayyad rule, but the people of Damascus, most of whom were from the Umayyad dynasty, ransacked him and the tribe of Qays attacked him.
          Abdullah bin Ali, who was pursuing Marwan, entered Damascus and killed the heir of Marwan whose name was Walid bin Mu’awiyah. Marwan evaded towards Palestine and from Palestine towards Egypt and got killed in a fight against the claimers of the Abbasid dynasty in Egypt, and his head was sent to Saffah in Haira.
          Marwan’s head was kept at a place in order to be sent towards Saffah. At that time, a cat ate away his tongue. Marwan died at the age of 64 or 68 in the month of Zil Hijjah, 132nd Hijri and the duration of his caliphate was 5 years.
          Marwan had four sons namely Abdul Malik, Abdullah, Ubaidullah and Muhammad.
          Marwan had taken most of the members of his family along with him while evading towards Egypt, specially, both his sons Abdullah and Ubaidullah and most of his wives and daughters. Both his sons took shelter in the Upper Egypt but could not survive at that place also; as the Abbasid supporters were chasing them, they chose the path towards the land of Nauba (present Sudan).   
          Yaqoobi said:[3] Along with Abdullah and Ubaidullah, a group of wives, daughters, sisters and cousins were evading without any ride and in a miserable condition until a man from Syria passed by a little girl who had fallen, he immediately recognized her as she was the six year old daughter of Marwan. He took her along with him to Abdullah bin Marwan[4].
               Marwanians reached the nation of Nauba (Sudan). The ruler of Nauba honoured them. Marwanians said: We will seek refuge in some of the palaces of Nauba in order to attain shelter from them and fight against the neighbouring enemies and invite the people to follow us. Hopefully, the Almighty will return to us a portion of what was taken away from us.
          The ruler of Nauba said to them: These rooks (black skinned men) are great in number but less in arms and uniforms. I fear that you may face a crushing defeat. Therefore, they evaded from Nauba towards Habash (Somaliya) where a group of black men battled the Marwanians in which Ubaidullah bin Marwan got killed and his companions got imprisoned.
          The men of Habash took away all their belongings and then released them in such a condition that they moved naked and bare footed in the deserts, and faced such thirst that their men used to urinate on their hands and drank their own urine and urinated again in order to mix it with sand and ate the dough, until they reached before Abdullah bin Marwan who had suffered the same difficulties and nakedness;  some of his women were naked and bare footed and their lips were torn because of constantly drinking urine, until they reached Mandab (Bab ul Mandab is located at the shore of Yemen) and stayed there for a month and the people there provided them with some utilities. Thereafter, they left for Mecca in the form of porters and dockers in unknown ships.
          As narrated, Abdullah bin Ali, Saffah’s uncle, chased the Umayyad men in Damascus until they reached the river Abu Futrus –between Palestine and Jordon. He called the Umayyad men near him and then said to them: ‘Come to me tomorrow and take back your belongings’. The next morning, eighty Umayyad men reached the place of Abdullah where he deployed two armed men over each Umayyad person. Thereafter, Abdullah bin Ali invited a poet who was present from before and said to him: Recite your poetry. The poet whose name was Abdi recited these couplets:

 امّا الدعاة الی الجنان فھاشم                      و بنو امیّة من کلاب النار

 ‘Verily, the ones invited towards the paradise are the Hashemites and the Umayyad sons are the dogs of hell’.

          Noman, the son of Yazid bin Abdul Malik – the Umayyad Caliph, was sitting beside Abdullah bin Ali. He became furious over the poet and said: ‘O son of stinking woman! You have lied!’ Abdullah bin Ali said to the poet: ‘Albeit you said it rightly, continue your poetry’.
          Thereafter, Abdullah bin Ali faced the Umayyad men and reminded them of the martyrdom of Imam Hussain (a.s.) and his family.
          Then he folded his hands and his armed soldiers beat the heads of the Umayyad men with their maces until all the eighty men fell on the floor, while some of them were almost dead, he placed all of them besides each other and unrolled a carpet over them. At that time, Abdullah bin Ali and his companions sat on the carpet until their food was served to them and eaten, while their cry could be heard from beneath the carpet and Abdullah bin Ali used to say: A day like the day of Hussain, but unlike it[5]…
          The shameful fate and the disgraceful end of the Umayyad dynasty can be written as a ‘Mathnawi’ itself. This was the prophecy of Imam Ali (a.s.) regarding the fate of the Umayyad rule. Thus, the intellectuals should learn from it.[6]

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[1] To know more about this report, see ‘Kamil ut-Tawareekh’: 4/334 - 337
[2]Anchor Tareekh e Yaqoobi: 2/324 -325
[3]Anchor Tareekh e Yaqoobi: 1/326
[4]Anchor Abul Faraj, Ali bin al-Hasan al-Isfahani, author of ‘Al Aghani’ and ‘Maqatilut Talibeen’, is from the lineage of Abdullah bin Marwan. In his book ‘Maqatil’, he cursed upon the Umayyad dynasty even though he is also a part of it.
[5]Anchor Tareekh e Yaqoobi: 2/336-338
      In the fourth volume of the book ‘Al Aghani’, Abul Faraj e Isfahani brings narrations regarding the killing of another group of men from the Umayyad dynasty, who had sought refuge from Saffah, and says, “Zubair bin Bakaar narrates from his uncle that Saffah was once sitting in his court while a group of Umayyad men were sitting near him. A poet read out couplets praising Saffah, he turned towards the Umayyad men and said, “These couplets are incomparable to the ones in which you are praised”.
                None of them has praised you like Ibn e Qays al-Ruqayyat has praised us, and that poetry is this: “We do not dislike anything regarding the Umayyad men except that they show patience even at the time of anger; they are surely the mines of kings and the Arabs will attain peace only with their help”.
                Saffah became furious and said: O so and so, bite your mother! It seems you still have the desire of caliphate inside you. Then he ordered his soldiers to suppress them. His soldiers killed all the Umayyad men present in that court with their weapons. Then Abul Abbas e Saffah ordered for food and they opened a carpet over their bodies and Saffah sat over it and ate, while some of them were still alive and weeping. When they finished eating, Saffah said: I don’t remember eating any meal better than this one. Then he ordered his soldiers to pull the legs of the dead and drag them out of the castle and leave them in the alleys.
                The reporter of this report says: We saw ourselves that dogs were biting their legs and pulling them here and there while they had their expensive clothes on their bodies. At last, they began to stink and were buried in a trench (Jalwa e Tareekh dar Sharh e Nehjul Balagha, Ibn e Abil Hadeed: 3/394).
[6]Anchor Peshgoyi haaye Amir ul-Momineen (a.s.): 203