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:: Volume 1, Issue 57 (spring 2025) ::
islamhistory 2025, 1(57): 18-20 Back to browse issues page
ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās as a Quasi-Prophetic Figure: Narrative Construction for ʿAbbāsid Legitimacy
Muhammad Taqavi * , Seyyed Ahmad Reza Khezri
Abstract:   (205 Views)
The representation and sacralization of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās in ʿAbbāsid historiography constituted part of the political and religious legitimation strategy of the ʿAbbāsid caliphs in their confrontation with the ʿAlids. The central question of this article is how the ʿAbbāsids, by distancing themselves from the model of testamentary succession (waṣāya) associated with Abū Hāshim ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥanafiyya, sought—through constructing analogies between ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās and the Prophet—to consolidate the genealogical and epistemic legitimacy of their caliphate via their own ancestry, while simultaneously dissociating themselves from the ʿAlid roots of their uprising. In this context, a set of narratives concerning his birth, his alleged vision of Gabriel, the Prophet’s supplication granting him knowledge of esoteric interpretation (taʾwīl), his blindness in the final years of his life, and even the manner in which his physical appearance was depicted, were transformed into instruments for fashioning a quasi-prophetic image of him. The research method is based on historical and narrative discourse analysis employing Jan Assmann’s approach to cultural memory (Assmann, 2011). On this basis, narratives found in ʿAbbāsid-era texts are examined not as objective reports but as mechanisms of collective memory aimed at reconstructing the past and stabilizing the political identity of the ʿAbbāsid family. The findings indicate that the ʿAbbāsids reconstructed ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās as a sacralized model and intermediary between prophethood and caliphate—an archetype through which, by sacralizing virtues, manipulating his age, and attributing narrative miracles to him, he was portrayed as the spiritual and epistemic forefather of the ʿAbbāsid caliphs. These representations formed part of the broader ʿAbbāsid project of transforming history into a political and legitimizing memory.
 
Keywords: Prophet, Early Islamic Historiography, ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās, ʿAbbāsid Legitimacy
Full-Text [PDF 1243 kb]   (106 Downloads)    
Type of Study: Research | Subject: Special
Received: 2024/11/26 | Accepted: 2025/02/26
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Taqavi M, Khezri S A R. ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās as a Quasi-Prophetic Figure: Narrative Construction for ʿAbbāsid Legitimacy. islamhistory 2025; 1 (57) :18-20
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Volume 1, Issue 57 (spring 2025) Back to browse issues page
پژوهش نامه تاریخ اسلام (فصلنامه انجمن ایرانی تاریخ اسلام) Quartely Research Journal of Islamic History
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