He resided outside the town with the Khorasanian troops, and
with them went first to Hira, then to Hashimiya, which he caused to be
built in the neighbourhood of Anbar. For their real sympathies, he knew,
were with the house of Ali, and Abu Salama their leader, who had
reluctantly taken the oath of allegiance, did not conceal his
disappointment. Abu Jahm, the vizier (q.v.; also MAHOMMEDAN
INSTITUTIONS), or "helper," of Abu Moslim, advised that Abu Ja'far, the
caliph's brother, should be sent to Khorasan to consult Abu Moslim. The
result was that Abu Salama was assassinated, and at the same time
Suleiman b. Kathir, who had been the head of the propaganda in Khorasan,
and had also expected that the Mahdi would belong to the house of Ali.
It is said that Abu Ja'far, whilst in Khorasan, was so impressed by the
unlimited power of Abu Moslim, and saw so clearly that, though he called
his brother and himself his masters, he considered them as his
creatures, that he vowed his death at the first opportunity.

The ruin of the Omayyad empire and the rise of the new dynasty did not
take place without mighty convulsions. In Bathaniya and the Hauran, in
the north of Syria, in Mesopotamia and Irak Khorasan insurrections had
to be put down with fire and sword. The new caliph then distributed the
provinces among the principal members of his family and his generals. To
his brother Abu Ja'far he gave Mesopotamia, Azerbaijan and Armenia; to
his uncle Abdallah b. Ali, Syria; to his uncle Da'ud, Hejaz, Yemen and
Yamama (Yemama); to his cousin 'Isa b. Musa, the province of Kufa.
Another uncle, Suleiman b. Ali, received the government of Basra with
Bahrein and Oman; Isma 'il b. Ali that of Ahwaz; Abu Moslim, Khorasan
and Transoxiana; Mahommed b. Ash'ath, Fars; Abu 'Aun, Egypt. In Sind the
Omayyad governor, Mansur b. Jomhur, had succeeded in maintaining
himself, but was defeated by an army sent against him under Musa b.
Ka'b, and the black standard of the Abbasids was raised over the city of
Mansura. Africa and Spain are omitted from this catalogue, because the
Abbasids never gained any real footing in Spain, while Africa remained,
at least in the first years, in only nominal subjection to the new
dynasty. In 754 Abu Moslim came to Irak to visit Abu'l-Abbas and to ask
his permission to make the pilgrimage to Mecca. He was received with
great honour, but the caliph said that he was sorry not to be able to
give him the leadership of the pilgrimage