ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb and the Abbasids

Abstract


 
 
 This article explores the possibility of mutual legitimation between Sunni religious foundations and Abbasid political interests. The main argument centers on anecdotes that elevate the images of al-ʿAbbās as imam and of his son Ibn ʿAbbās as the expert (even founder) of the science of hadith (through close interactions with ʿUmar on topics of learning, and through the collection of hadith in general). It shows the overall relation between historical and religious anecdotes, and how the medieval reader could not accept the authority of hadith collections from their first student, Ibn ʿAbbās, without accepting the political primacy of the Abbasid family from the early days of Islam.