This doctrine prevailed among the Shiites, so from time to time they would rise up in revolt, seeking kingship in the name of the Mahdi. When the Alawites and Abbasids first allied to fight the Umayyads, the bloody one (Al-Saffah) introduced a new theory, which was that Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah pledged allegiance to his son Abu Hashim, and that this Abu Hashim pledged allegiance to Al-Saffah, and then to Al-Mansur after him. The Alawites did not revolt against them, because they believed that their cause was easy, and that if they triumphed with them over the Umayyads, then the matter of these Abbasids would be settled. But their understanding was mistaken, for as soon as Al-Saffah took power, he persecuted both the Umayyads and the Alawites, and succeeded in establishing the Abbasid state. Al-Mansur came after him and exploited the widespread use of the word Mahdi among the people and their belief in it, so he gave his son the title of Mahdi based on this idea, and called him to him as the awaited Mahdi, to surround the Caliphate with worldly power and religious sanctity, and made him his heir. His establishment of the Abbasid state on a religious basis was by giving his son this title of Mahdi and naming the Mahdi's mother "Mother of the Caliphs," in imitation of the name "Mother of the Believers," and naming Baghdad "Dar al-Salam" (Abode of Peace), in imitation of the name of Paradise.