A Concise History of the Middle East

68 • 5 THE EARLY ARAB CONQUESTS

Hashim

Abd-al-Muttalib

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Abu-Talib Abdallah Abbas

(1) Ali Muhammad [Abbasid caliphs]

, I ,

I I I

(2) Hasan (3) Husayn Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiya

I i

(4) Ali Zayn al Abidin [Hashimite rebels]

I I

(5) Muhammad al-Baqir (5) Zayd

(6) Ja'far al Sadiq [Zaydi Sh'ites]

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(7) Isma'il (7) Musa al-Kazim

[Isma'ili (Seven-lman) Shi'ites] (8) Ali al-Rida

(9) Muhammad al Jawad

(10) Ali al-Hadi

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(11) Hasan al-Askari

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(12) Muhammad al-Muntazar

[Ja'fari (Twelve-lman) Shi'ites]

FIGURE 5.1 The Hashimite clan, showing Shi'i imams

provinces, even some in Syria, promised to back him. The Arab tribes fa¬

voring Qays, the northern confederation, rose up against the Umayyads,

who were linked to Kalb and hence to the southern Arabs. When the

teenaged caliph died, leaving the Umayyads with no plausible candidate,

Abdallah had only to come to Damascus to claim the caliphate there. But

he was allied with the pious descendants of Muhammad's associates living

in Medina and Mecca. They hated Damascus and everything that smacked

of Umayyad rule, so Abdallah stayed in Mecca. The oldest and most re¬

spected member of the Umayyad clan, Marwan, reluctantly agreed to