Chiliastic ideology and nativist rebellion in the early 'Abbasid period: Sunbadh and Jamasp-nama.

• Author: Anthony, Sean W.
• Position: Critical essay

I

Throughout the most successful years of the (Abbasid propaganda movement (dd'wa) in Khurasan, and subsequently during the establishment of 'Abbasid dynastic rule (dawla) throughout the eighth and ninth centuries C.E., Islamic Iran witnessed an explosion of nativist religious movements and rebellions among the Zoroastrian populace. These nativist movements--I call them nativist insofar as they often strove for some modicum of religious and/or political autonomy from their Arab-Muslim overlords--flourished especially in the half-conquered and oft-contested territories of post-Slisanid Iran. Inspired either in part or in whole by the conquered populations' experiences with the Islamic conquest polity and the multifarious religious ideologies of its divided elite, the non-Arab populations of Iran frequently rallied to support these movements. The rebels who led these movements almost invariably exhibited some intimate familiarity with the conquest elite of the early Islamic polity and thus combined their political ambitions with syncretic religious movements that fused Islamic religious ideology with newly imagined forms of Zoroastrian religiosity (in its manifold forms). Such movements, therefore, often combined Islamic religious practices and discourse with local religious beliefs and coupled their syncretic religious adaptations to the new post-conquest realities of post-Sasanid Iran. Although clearly owing a great debt to new Islamic forms of religiosity, more often than not the aspirations motivating such movements were rarely, if ever, philo-Muslim/Islamic. The aims of most were to revive Iranian religion and political dominion (however imagined) and thereby to banish Arab rule (P. dawlat-e 'arab) from the ancient territories of Eran-shahr. (1)

The aspirations harbored by these movements eventually gave rise to the Khurrram-diniyya movement of the late seventh and eighth centuries C.E. that produced a number of the most intransigent and intractable nativist rebellions to be launched against the 'Abbasid polity. (2) These movements have long been recognized by historians as essential to understanding the dynamics underlying the assimilating forces accompanying the expansion of the Islamic polity and its elite, whether in their Umayyad or (Abbasid iterations, as well as the local responses of the non-Arab Iranian population to new post-Sasanid realities. Yet one of the greatest historiographical challenges posed to historians of the region during this time period has been to balance--or at least to bring a robustly skeptical approach to--the depictions of nativist rebels and religious leaders as found in the Muslim sources, which generally speaking provide our sole window into such events insofar as Iranian and Zoroastrian sources on these events and personages are virtually non-existent. (3)

The purpose of this article is to bring to the attention of both Iranologists and Islamicists alike what I believe to be an exception to this general rule: the revolt of the Zoroastrian magnate Sunbadh against the 'Abbasids in 755 C.E. In what follows I argue that the ideology and events of Sunbadh's revolt against the 'Abbasids find profound resonances in the apocalyptic scenarios contained in the final chapters of the Pahlavi work Ayadgar I Jamaspig (The Memorial of Jamasp), a section better known as Jamasp-nama. (4) Such resonances, it will be argued, originate from the chiliastic propaganda contemporary with and instrumental to Sunbadh's revolt, which he launched initially to exact vengeance for the assassination of Aba Muslim al-Khurasani in Shacban 137/February 755 by the agents of the (Abbasid caliph Abu Ja'far al-Mansur (r. 136-158/754-775) and which evolved, eventually, into a movement with the professed aim of ending Arab dominion.

II

Scholars have hitherto primarily depended upon Muslim sources, whether in Persian or Arabic, (5) to reconstruct the basic chronological outlines and ideological motivations underpinning Sunbadh's revolt. (6) Although they often differ in minor details, the accounts of 'Abbasid-era historians are unanimous in linking Sunbadh's revolt with the assassination of the 'Abbasid det and general Abil Muslim al-Khurisani in al-Mada'in. Our sources relate that Sunbadh was, indeed, at one time fully drawn into the da'wa movement that brought the 'Abbasid dynasty to power and was instrumental in replacing its Umayyad predecessor, yet the nature of Sunbadh's relationship with the early da'wa movement and the extent of his involvement therein remain obscure. Still, what salient details do survive offer an exceedingly intriguing picture. 'Abbasid-era sources most often call Sunbadh al-majusi. 'the Magian/Zoroastrian', and focus on his prominence as an important and affluent magnate of Nishapar prior to his revolt. Rarely do any of the earliest extant Muslim sources explicitly claim that he had at any time become Muslim; his revolt is always framed as a Magian rather than a Muslim rebellion. (7) Yet our sources are also unambiguous about placing him among Abu Muslim's most loyal acolytes in the days before the famous da'i's assassination. Mostly. the sources focus on the intense bonds of friendship and mutual trust that existed between AN Muslim and Sunbadh, stating that Abu Muslim "had placed him in a position of authority (u ra bar kashida bud)." (8) According to the Muslim sources, these ties of friendship and loyalty bound Sunbadh to Abu Muslim until the final days of the latter's life. Just prior to Abu Muslim's death, Sunbadh had alighted in Hulwan where he anticipated joining Abu Muslim after the latter had defeated the 'Abbasid prince (Abd Allah b. 'Ali on al-Mansur's behalf. It was apparently from Hulwan that Sunbadh planned to meet up with and subsequently march alongside Abu Muslim eastwardly back to Khurasan. Indeed, one account even relates that Sunbadh and Abu Muslim had met in Hulwan prior to Abu Muslim returning westward for his final, fatal meeting with al-Mansur. Upon departing, this source claims, Abu Muslim appointed Sunbadh as his representative (na'ib) and entrusted him with his treasures and properties (khizana va animal) in Rayy. (9) Ultimately Sunbadh's plans to return with Abu Muslim to Khurasan were never realized because of al-Mansur's successful plot to have Abu Muslim murdered while the 'Abbasid kingmaker camped in al-Mada'in en route to the East. (10)

Before launching his revolt Sunbadh completed the journey without Abu Muslim, perhaps first returning to his native Nishapur. (11) Having gathered a substantial following soon thereafter, he succeeded in inciting an uprising among the denizens of Rayy, styling himself "Peroz the spahbed" (Ar. firuz isbahbadh; viz., "the Victorious Commander") (12) and proclaiming the imminent end of Arab rule and the restoration of Persian dominion (mulk al-furs). (13) Ostensibly Sunbadh initially launched his revolt to take vengeance for al-Mansur's perfidy toward Abu Muslim; however, our sources claim that Sunbadh also believed Abu Muslim to have cheated death by miraculously transfiguring into a white dove in order to escape his murderers' plot. While Abu Muslim's terrestrial life in a conventional sense had definitively ended, Sunbadh claimed to still be in correspondence with Abu Muslim and to have proclaimed that Abu Muslim now resided far to the east beyond the reach of the 'Abbasids in Dez-e Ruyin, the "brazen fortress" of Persian lore, alongside Mazdak and Zoroaster. (14) The 'Abbasid-era historian al-Baladhuri (d. 279/892) in particular luridly portrays Sunbadh's rebellion as brutally targeted against the Arabs, alleging that he ordered the Arab inhabitants of Rayy to be bludgeoned to death with clubs of wood (khashab) and that the rebels had even butchered a child, grilled his flesh, and forced his father to eat the meat. (15) Beyond its success in Rayy itself, the rebellion also succeeded in capturing swaths of territory in the Iranian Jibal, overtaking the settlements of Sunbadh's native Nishapur as well as Qumis.

Yet the political achievements of the uprising proved quite ephemeral. After al-Mansur dispatched his general, Jahwar b. Marrar al-'Ijli, against Rayy, the 'Abbasids mercilessly suppressed the revolt with the aid of a faction of Rayy's inhabitants, led by an ambitious butcher of Rayy named 'Umar b. 'Ala', who thereafter aided the 'Abbasids in their attempts to bring Tabaristan more securely into the dynasty's political orbit. (16) Sunbadh survived his revolt's collapse in Rayy and absconded with his life, seeking refuge in northern Tabaristan. The regions of the southern Caspian coast remained outside direct 'Abbasid and Muslim rule throughout the eighth century. and during Sunbadh's revolt Tabaristan was ruled by the autonomous Dabuyid dynast Khurshid Shah, "the Sun King." Initially Kharshid welcomed him with open arms, no doubt thanks in large part due to a gift of six million dirhams that Sunbadh allegedly sent him from the vast stores of treasure (including cattle) appropriated from Abu Muslim after his assassination. (17)

The narratives of Sunbadh's fate are patchy and diverge after the collapse of his revolt in Rayy, and, historically speaking, he therefore dies in murky circumstances. Our sources relate an array of scenarios, but the most credible and detailed account comes from the Tarikh-e Tabaristan of Ibn Isfandiyar (fl. seventh/thirteenth century), who relates that Sunbadh was murdered by a cousin of Khurshid named Tris who had been entrusted with guiding Sunbadh to the Dabuyid court but who had been offended by the rebel's haughty manner and insolent disregard for Tus's social station. Vexed by the fallout of the incident, Khurshid subsequently scrambled to cancel the planned revolt against the 'Abbasids and attempted to appease al-Mansur by sending him the heads of Sunbadh and of the rebel's brother. (18) Other accounts assert that Sunbadh was assassinated by a rival spahbed of...