84 DESTINY DISRUPTED
imagine that such a figure was waiting in the wings, anonymous for the
moment only for security reasons.
Daring, ruthless, and charismatic, Abu Muslim quickly outgrew his
role as anybody's agent and emerged as the leader of the Abbasid revolu-
tion (so named for its putative leader, Abu al-Abbas.) There in Khorasan,
Abu Muslim recruited a revolutionary cadre, trained them to fight, and
steeped them in Hashimite doctrines. His recruits could be recognized by
the black clothes they wore and the black banners they carried. They even
dyed their weapons black. The Umayyad army, incidentally, adopted white
as its color. Lest you think this color coding strange for a cult that
preached an apocalyptic showdown between good and evil, you should
know that in Persia white was regarded as the color of mourning, the color
of death. (The recent revolutionary Afghan Muslims called the Taliban fa-
vored black clothing as a uniform.)
In the year 125 AH (747 CE) Abu Muslim and his black-suited war-
riors began moving west. They encountered little resistance passing
through Persian territory, where most people were eager to help topple the
arrogant Umayyads. In fact, they gained recruits and momentum as they
marched along.
In 750 CE, the armies of white and black clashed on the banks of the
Great Zab River in Iraq. Although outnumbered, the men in black routed
the emperor's forces, and the last Umayyad khalifa had to run for his life,
south into Egypt; within the year, Abbasid agents hunted him down there
and killed him.
The Hashimites proclaimed Abbas the new khalifa of Islam. Nobody
really commented on the process that had just taken place: it wasn't an in-
evitable God-shaped outcome, nor an election, nor even a decision made
by a council of wise men. No, the new khalifa was placed in power by one
man with a tightly organized gang of enforcers. It didn't matter. Leadership
was (phew!) back where it belonged at last, in the hands of a member of
the Prophet's family. Now, finally, the Muslim social project could get back
on course.
That was probably the happiest year of Abu Muslim's life, the year his
life's work came to fruition at last! Perhaps he really thought that toppling
the Umayyads would restore the quest for the lost community. Disillu-
sionment soon set in, however. For one thing, the puppet did not, it