Abu'l-Saraya proclaimed Ibn Tabataba as commander of the faithful on 27 December 814 (26 January 815 according to al-Tabari[4]), and declared the principles of the uprising in a Friday sermon.
[3][5] Indeed, modern scholars suggest that Abu'l-Saraya was not motivated by pro-Alid zeal, but merely saw the Alids as a tool to gain power.
[6] The uprising was initially successful, and on 14 February 815, the rebels defeated the Abbasid troops that Caliph al-Ma'mun's governor of Iraq, al-Hasan ibn Sahl, had sent against them.
[3][7] Some accounts have Ibn Tabataba fighting and being wounded outside the walls of Kufa, while al-Tabari claims that Abu'l-Saraya poisoned him.
[3] His brother, al-Qasim al-Rassi, was the progenitor of the Rassid dynasty of Zaydi imams, who ruled large parts of Yemen until the 20th century.