‘AbdAllah al-Saffah ibn Muhammad (Abu al-‘Abbas al-Saffah) was the founder of the Abbasid state. He came to power following the Abbasid defeat of the Umayyads in 132 AH/ 750 AD. They ruled for eight centuries, to the extent that it was the Abbasids who represented political legitimacy for the Muslims. The Abbasid Empire was one of the largest, with Kufa in Iraq initially serving as the capital. Later, the caliph Abu Ja’far al-Mansur founded the city of Baghdad and moved the capital there
