Sidi come on, who would talk of a 'shi'a reading' in this case? This is a common accusation in general made by spoiled children in yanabi.com. it is the golden era in terms of Muslim civilization and scholarship, science which is separate from the personal deeds of the majority of the Abbasids and the Ummayyads. Majority of these Muslim scholars who built technology, science, math, seminaries were eventually persecuted. But the era was still glorious. Imam Abu Hanifa built Baghdad, Kufa, Iraq pretty much. His time was glorious under the 'Abbasids. But he was also tortured by these 'Abbasids for supporting the strong Ahl al-Bayt in 'Iraq at that time. I know Shaykh Ninowy tells us about the bad deeds of majority of the Umayyads and 'Abbasids, but what do we do with this info? It is fact for sure, who had a good opinion about the majority of the 'Abbasids and the Ummayyads in the first place? People confuse glorious eras with rulers. The ruler was a tyrant, but still due to the overwhelming majority of the population being righteous and Sunni at that time (shi'a and khawarij were even tinier back then) the age was properous The Fatimids who broke from the Abbasids, and who were an Ismai'ili shi'a sect persecuted and martyred Sunni 'Ulama in Egypt, and these Sunni 'ulama included ahl al-bayt, as Egypt was full of them. But the Fatimids also built Azhar al-Shareef, established Islamic economy, trade, Sunnis prospered under them and the list goes on... another example The era of Imam 'Ali was the best of time after the time of the Prophet, though in it, it was also full of strife by the khawarij and the hypocrites. Every Islamic historian knows about most of the 'Abbasids and most of the Umayyads, their deeds. But those eras were far far better than today, and were glorious eras, it wasn't just persecuting and killing of the scholars going on. It went on in every age and even today. Ahl al-Bayt are persecuted in Saudi, Iran, Syria, even Pakistan (by people claiming to be ahl al-bayt) It wasn't just these Sunni/Mu'tazili caliphs who tortured Imam Abu Hanifa :ra: Imam Ahmad :ra: Imam Malik :ra: The Iranian Zaydis (the Buyids Daylamis) also controlled the 'Abbasids for a long time and through them perpetrated immense persecution on Sunni 'ulama and ophcourse these Sunni 'Ulama included Ahl al-Bayt. The Hamadanis in Mosul and Aleppo did the same and they were also a shi'a sect. None of these sects had anything to do with the present sect present in Iran/Iraq/northern India today Moral to learn, Allah has tested the Ahl al-Bayt al-AThaar al-Kiraam and the 'ulama of Ahl al-Sunnah wal jama'ah the most, bestowed upon them shahadah and given them unreachable ranks compared to us..
I am referring to the caliphates of the Ummayds (with the exception of Hazrat Muawiyyah and Hazrat Umar ibn Abd al Aziz) and the Abbasids which many Muslims think of as a period of Muslim greatness and brag about but when one reads their actual deeds almost all of the rulers spent most of their time persecuting/killing both the Ahlul Bayt and the righteous scholars who supported them. And this is not a 'Shia' reading of history either. It is something I only recently discovered and I am in shock!