86 DESTINY DISRUPTED
their feet, but too late: the doors had all been locked. The soldiers pro-
ceeded to club the Umayyads to death. From that time on, Abbas went by
a new title, al-Saffah, which means "the slaughterer." Apparently, he took
some pride in what he had done.
Little good it did him, however, for he soon died of smallpox and his
brother al-Mansur took over. Mansur had to tussle with rivals a bit, but
Abu Muslim stepped in and secured the throne for him, then returned to
Khorasan. Abu Muslim made no bid for the khalifate on his own behalf,
even though he had the military power to take what he wanted. He
seemed to accept the legitimacy of Abbasid rule. Perhaps he really was a
principled idealist.
And yet there was something Mansur just didn't like about this man,
Abu Muslim. Well, perhaps it was one particular thing: Abu Muslim was
popular. All right, two things: he was popular, and he had soldiers of his
own. A ruler can never trust a popular man with soldiers of his own. One
day, Mansur invited Abu Muslim to come visit him and share a hearty
meal. What happened next illustrates the maxim that when an Abbasid
ruler invites you to dinner, you should arrange to be busy that night. The
men got together at a pleasant riverside campsite and Mansur spent the
first day lavishly thanking Abu Muslim for all his selfless services; the next
night he had his bodyguards cut Abu Muslim's throat and dump his body
in the river.
Thus began the second dynasty of the Muslim khalifate.
Abbasid propagandists got busy creating a narrative about the mean-
ing of this transition. They called it a revolutionary new direction for the
Umma. Everything would be different now, they said. In fact, everything
remained pretty much the same, only more so, both for better and for
worse.
The Umayyads had steeped themselves in pomp and luxury, but the
Abbasids made them seem by comparison like rugged yeomen living the
simple life. Under the Umayyads, the Muslim realm had grown quite pros-
perous. Well, under the Abbasids, the economy virtually exploded with
vigor. And like the Umayyads, the Abbasids were secular rulers who used
spies, police power, and professional armies to maintain their grip.
Since the Abbasids had risen to power on a surge of Shi'ite discontent,
you might suppose that in this regard at least they would have differed