Mukanna Uprising

an antifeudal and anti-Arab popular rebellion in Middle Asia in the 770’s and 780’s, also known as the movement of the “people in white clothing.” Al-Mukanna, the leader of the uprising, advocated a doctrine based on Mazdakism and called for an active struggle against political and economic inequality and the rule of the Arab (Abbasid) Caliphate. The Mukanna Uprising was primarily supported by the laboring peasantry of Mavera-un-nahr (Transoxiana), although initially it was also supported by small-scale local landowners. Nomadic Turkic tribes aided the insurgents. The main centers of the uprising were the settlement of Narshakh (near Bukhara), Samarkand, and the mountain fortress of Sanam in the vicinity of Kesh. By concentrating enormous military forces, the Arabs routed these centers one by one between 776 and 783 and, after a struggle of many years, suppressed the Mukanna Uprising circa 783–85. To avoid being taken prisoner, al-Mukanna committed suicide. The traditions of the Mukanna Uprising and the movement of “people in white clothing” were preserved among the Tadzhik people until the 12th century.