Abd Allah al-Mahd

Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib al-Hāshimī al-Qurashī (أبو محمد عبد الله بن الحسن بن الحسن بن علي بن أبي طالب الهاشمي القرشي; c. 690 – 762, better known as ʿAbd Allāh al-Maḥḍ (عبد الله المحض) and ʿAbd Allāh al-Kāmil (عبد الله الكامل), was an Islamic scholar, theologian and hadith narrator, grandson of both Hasan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali (the grandsons of the Islamic prophet Muhammad). His sons include Muhammad and Ibrahim, who rebelled against Abbasid rule, and Idris, who rebelled in the Maghreb and established the Idrisid dynasty.

Considered a martyr among the Shi'as, Abd Allah was imprisoned on the orders of Al-Mansur after he refused to reveal the hiding place of his sons, and would be assassinated three years later in prison. His tomb in the city of al-Shinafiyah, Iraq, is today the famous shrine of Abd Allah Abu Najm.

Life
Abd Allah was born in Medina c. 690. His father was Hasan al-Muthanna and his mother Fatima bint al-Husayn, both Ali's grandchildren. Abd Allah was the first child of the couple and was raised by his maternal uncle Ali ibn Husayn Zayn al-Abidin, who took charge of his education and instructed him theologically. According to the narrations of Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani, Abd Allah had a great temper, aspired to exert control over Banu Hashim, and challenged Umar II. According to other Shi'a accounts, Abd Allah came to claim the imamate for himself and issued fatwas contrary to the imams.

After the Abbasids took control of the government, Abd Allah's sons refused to recognize the new authority, sparking a crackdown on them and their followers. The Abbasids pressured Abd Allah to show them his hideout, but he refused. The first caliph al-Saffah treated Abd Allah with respect and left him alone, but nevertheless when al-Mansur came to power he imprisoned Abd Allah accusing him of being an accomplice to the rebellion by refusing to collaborate in the capture of his sons, for which remained three years in jail.

Some sources mention that Abd Allah was assassinated by order of al-Mansur in al-Hashimiyya prison, near Kufa in 762. Ibn al-Jawzi claimed that his death was on the day of al-Adha. Abd Allah owns a major shrine in Al-Qadisiyah, 9 kilometers west of the city of al-Shinafiyah and 70 kilometers south of the city of Najaf. In Cairo, there is also a shrine to Abd Allah Al-Mahd.

Children
Abd Allah al-Mahd's sons are famous for their roles in the revolutions of the time, among them Muhammad rebelled against the Abbasids in Medina, which led to his death along with many of his followers. And also Ibrahim, who promoted a revolution in Basra after the murder of his brother and to whom many Zaydis and Mu'tazilas came to support. The revolution was unsuccessful and Ibrahim and many of his supporters were massacred in the Bakhmra region in an incident known as the Bakhmra martyrdom. His other sons, Idris, Yahya and Sulayman, participated in the revolution. Idris survived the battle and went to Morocco where he established the first Shi'a state. Yahya went to Persia and resided in Daylam where he attempted to recruit people for a new rebellion against the Abbasid state, but was defeated and imprisoned by order of Harun, dying of hunger, thirst or having been buried alive around 803.

Abd Allah and the revolution
According to some sources, Abd Allah disagreed with Zayd's rebellion against the Umayyads, warning Zayd before his revolution in Kufa that he would not be fooled by the promises of the Kufans. After Zayd's death, he became convinced of the need to end Umayyad rule by force, so he prepared his sons for the revolution.

According to what was related by Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani, some of Banu Hashim did not agree with him and told him: Do not do that, because the time has not yet come. If you see that this son of yours is the Mahdi, then he is not with him and this is not his time. It was mentioned in the sources that the imam told Abd Allah that the caliphate would belong to al-Saffah and his brothers, and that Abd Allah and his sons would not have a share in it. Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani narrated that the imam asked Abd Allah to kill his two sons, Muhammad and Ibrahim.

Some scholars believe that Abd Allah's naming his son the Promised Mahdi created a dispute between the offspring of Hasan ibn Ali and the offspring of Husayn ibn Ali.

Abd Allah al-Mahd was imprisoned during the caliphate of al-Mansur, the second Abbasid caliph for not revealing the hiding place of his son Muhammad. He stayed in prison for three years after that. Al-Mansur met him in his cell during the season of Hajj in 757, and asked him again to reveal his son's hiding place in exchange for his freedom, but he refused once more.