Ali was a son of Sulayman ibn Ali, an early Abbasid personage who had held the governorship of Basra for several years in the aftermath of the Abbasid Revolution. He himself was an extended relative of the ruling dynasty, being a first cousin of the first two Abbasid caliphs al-Saffah (r. 750–754) and al-Mansur (r. 754–775).[1]