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The revolt of ‘Abdallāh b. Mu‘āwiya, AH 127–130: a reconsideration through the coinage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2006

TERESA BERNHEIMER
TERESA BERNHEIMER
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
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Abstract

‘Abdallāh b. Mu‘āwiya b. ‘Abdallam h b. Ja‘far b. Abī Tālib, great-grandson of ‘Alī's brother Ja‘far, rose up in Kufa in Muharram of 127/October 744. He was defeated by Umayyad forces in 130 (747–748), and killed by Abū Muslim in Khurāsaān. During the two years of his uprising, Ibn Mu‘āwiya established himself in the Jibāl and Fārs, where he appointed governors, collected taxes and struck his own coins. Ibn Mu‘āwiya's coinage is an important source for the revolt, which is among the most important uprisings of the late Umayyad period. It presents evidence for a strong and unified movement, and corroborates the interpretation of a ‘dress rehearsal’ for the ‘Abbāsid Revolution. This article suggests some alternatives regarding the chronology and geography of Ibn Mu‘āwiya's revolt through a re-examination of textual sources and new coinage, and shows the usefulness of numismatics for the historical study of early Islam.

Type
Articles
Information
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 69 , Issue 3 , October 2006 , pp. 381 - 393
Copyright
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 2006

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Footnotes

Versions of this paper were delivered at a symposium on Classical Islamic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania in March 2003, and at the American Numismatic Society in August 2004. I am grateful to Chase Robinson, Tamima Bayhom-Daou, Luke Treadwell, Michael Bates and Patricia Crone for their comments on earlier versions.