A Critical Review on the Book “The Rise and Fall of the Abbasids” (132‒324 AH): A Research into the Structure and Evolution of the Ideology, Economics and Military Institution

Abstract

As an enthused group in the late Umayyad period, the Abbasids sought to mobilize their resources in the engagement with the ruling dynasty by presenting a new ideology, viz. the so-called Summon System, and undertook significant actions in enticing anti-Umayyad elements to bring them under the unified patronage promoted by the slogan “al-Riza min Al-e Muhammad.” The book “The Rise and Fall of the Abbasids (132‒324 AH): A Research into the Structure and Evolution of the Ideology, Economics and Military Institution” is an authored work by Mohammad Ahmadi Manesh, published by the SAMT Publications in 2018. The author has fittingly organized the book in the two sections of “A Historical Inquiry” (consisting of eight chapters) and “A Theoretical Inquiry” (comprising two chapters), producing a worthwhile work. The present article attempts to review the volume, pinning down and examining its strengths and shortcomings. At any rate, as a result of the lack of due care and laxity, the volume suffers somewhat from occasional shortfalls, among them being the choice of the title “The Fall and Down…,” and a series of points that are made in the Introduction but are not reflected in the text, not to mention the author’s failure to address the complexities involved in the Abbasid rule and to adopt a holistic approach to their rise to power, particularly in Khorasan.