AComparative Study of Two Uprisings by Abdul RahmanIbnAsh'as and HarethIbnSoryj

Kurosh Salehi[1]
Javad BahramiNia[2]

Abstract

The rebellions of Abdul RahmanIbnAsh'asand HarithIbn Soryjoccurred with the aim of reacting against the irreligiousness of the Umayyads and establishment of an egalitarian society. The leaders of these two rebellions, despite their shared goals, took advantage of different stratagems to achieve their goals. IbnAsh'as, through using various strategies, succeeded at gaining advocacyof different groupsof people and by transferring theuprising to Iraq attempted to overthrow the Umayyad Caliphate.On the contrary, the rebellion made by HarithIbnSoryjwas not grounded on his opposition with the Umayyad Caliphate but aimed at reforming their economic and social policies. Although both of these rebellions were suppressed, they could weaken the Umayyads and pave the way for upcoming uprisings and theeventual collapse of the Umayyad Caliphate. In this research, we aim at making comparisons and contrasts between these two uprisings through investigating the driving forces underlying their emergence. Accordingly, understanding the similarities and differences between these rebellions is the main purpose of this study. These two uprisings, despite having common goals and outcomes in the Umayyad era, due to their different social contexts and structures, adopted different revolutionary approaches for achieving their goals.