Ambition Between the Da‘wah and Personal Interests in Khurasan During the Abbasid Mission and the Establishment of the Abbasid State

Abstract

 The researcher in Abbasid history will find that personal ambition played a pivotal role in many of the movements that unfolded under the cover of the Abbasid daʿwa (propaganda) since its secret beginnings in Khurasan. This ambition drove many influential figures within the movement to act within the framework of the daʿwa, motivated by personal aspirations that shaped their paths toward achieving their own goals or interests This ambition contributed significantly to their emergence on the stage of political and military events throughout the period of the secret daʿwa and its activities in Khurasan, and later during the early formation of the Abbasid state. Some of these leading figures revealed their personal ambitions clearly through certain actions they undertook or endorsed, while others attempted to balance their organizational commitments with their personal aspirations,The most prominent of these figures—whose ambitions and roles will be examined in this study—include Khidāsh al-Dāʿiya al-ʿAbbāsī, Sulaymān ibn Kathīr al-Khuzāʿī, and Abū Muslim al-Khurāsānī.