Qahtaba ibn Shabib al-Ta'i (died 27 August 749) was a follower of the Abbasids from Khorasan who played a leading role in the Abbasid Revolution against the Ummayad Caliphate. Qahtaba was a Khorasani, belonging to the Yemeni tribal confederation that formed the bulk of the local Muslim population. He had journeyed to Mecca, where the imam of the Hashimiyya Ibrahim ibn Muhammad appointed him as the military leader for the upcoming anti-Ummayad uprising in Khorasan. This appointment was accepted by the main Abbasid leader, Abu Muslim, and following the fall of Merv to the Abbasids and their supporters in February 748, Qahtaba was placed in command of the Abbasid forces that pursued the last Ummayad governor of Khorasan, Nasr ibn Sayyar. His army took Nishapur, where Nasr had sought refuge, d