アリー・ブン・ムハンマドの反乱

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to clarify the real character of the “Revolt of the Zanj, ” the great rebellion in the Abbasid empire, by analyzing the backgrounds of the participants in the revolt. To study it, I divided this revolt into three periods, the beginning (863-869), the heyday (869-879), and the decline (879-883), and analyzed the participants at the beginning and the heyday, and the rebels who surrendered to the Abbasid military at the decline.In the beginning, the number of participants was small. The group consisted of townspeople and those from the upper echelons of society. The reason that participants consisted of various groups was that 'Ali b. Muhammad had not confined the scope of the rebellion to a particular social class.The heyday of this revolt began when tens of thousands of Zanj, who had been taken from East Africa to Iraq as agricultural slaves, joined the revolt in 869. Through their participation, the rebel troops swelled in number and occupied Southern Iraq in 879. During this heyday, various types of people, such as townspeople, farmers, Arab nomads and people from the upper echelons of society, participated. However, they were lacking in solidarity as they participated merely because the rebel troops were powerful militarily.The decline of this revolt began in 879 when the Abbasid military launched an attack against the rebels. The leader of the Abbasid military, Muwaffaq, while besieging the rebel stronghold of Mukhtara, called on the rebels to surrender to the Abbasid military and treated the rebels who did surrender respectfully. Therefore, the main body of the rebel troops surrendered and this revolt collapsed. The reason for this rapid collapse was that the main body of the rebel troops were people who put their own interests first, such as Zanj and townspeople.