ʿAbd Allāh b. Muʿāwiya b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Jaʿfar b. Abī Ṭālib (d. 130/747 or 748), a member of the Hāshimid clan who claimed both the imamate and the caliphate for himself, and rose up in revolt against the Umayyads. The origins of some branches of the ghulāt (extremists) and the ḥulūliyya (incarnationists) are traced back to him.

In order to have a clear picture of the later period of the Umayyad caliphate in Damascus, one needs to present a precise and thorough historical account of all the movements and revolts, mostly ʿAlid, in the Marwānid dominions. The triumph of the ʿAbbāsid mission (daʿwa)…