Qarmatians قرامطة | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 899–1077 | |||||||||
 Qarmatians underAbu Tahir al-Jannabi in 930 | |||||||||
| Capital | Al-Ahsa | ||||||||
| Religion | Isma'ilism | ||||||||
| Demonym | Qarmatian | ||||||||
| Government | Theocracy | ||||||||
| Ruler | |||||||||
• 894–914 | Abu Sa'id al-Jannabi | ||||||||
• 914–944 | Abu Tahir al-Jannabi | ||||||||
• 944–970 | Ahmad Abu Tahir | ||||||||
• 968–977 | Al-Hasan al-A'sam | ||||||||
• 970–972 | Abul Kassim Sa'id | ||||||||
• 972–977 | Abu Yaqub Yousuf | ||||||||
| Historical era | Islamic Golden Age (4thIslamic century) | ||||||||
| 765 | |||||||||
| 899 | |||||||||
| 930 | |||||||||
• al-Isfahani proclaimed to be theMahdi | 931 | ||||||||
• Black Stone returned | 952 | ||||||||
• Defeated by the Abbasids | 976 | ||||||||
| 1077 | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Qarmatians | |
|---|---|
| قرامطة | |
| Founder | Abu Sa'id al-Jannabi |
| Dates of operation | 899–1077 |
| Active regions | Bahrayn,Mesopotamia,Najd,Hejaz,Levant,Egypt |
| Ideology | Isma'ilism Extremism Socialism[1] Islamic socialism[1] Utopian socialism[1] |
| Opponents | Abbasid Caliphate Fatimid Caliphate Uyunid Emirate Ghaznavid Empire Seljuk Empire |
| Battles and wars | Capture of Bahrayn (899) Battle of Hama (903) Sack of Basra (923) Hajj caravan raid (924) Invasion of Iraq (928) Sack of Mecca (930) Invasions of Egypt (971) Overthrow of the Qarmatians (1058–1077) |
TheQarmatians[a] orCarmathians[2][b] were amilitant[4][5]Isma'iliShia movement centred inAl-Ahsa inEastern Arabia, where they established areligious state in 899 CE. Its members were part of a movement that adhered to asyncretic branch ofSevenerIsmailiShia Islam,[3] and were ruled by a dynasty founded byAbu Sa'id al-Jannabi.[6][7] They rejected the claim ofFatimid CaliphAbdallah al-Mahdi Billah toimamate and clung to their belief in the coming of theMahdi, and they revolted against the Fatimid andAbbasid Caliphates.[8][3]
Mecca wassacked by a Qarmatian leader,Abu Tahir al-Jannabi,[9] outraging theMuslim world, particularly with their theft of theBlack Stone and desecration of theZamzam Well with corpses during theHajj season of 930 CE.[10] The Qarmatian leaders were ofPersian descent.[11][12]
The origin of the name "Qarmatian" is uncertain.[13] According to some sources, the name derives from the surname of the sect's founder,Hamdan Qarmat.[14][15] The nameqarmat probably comes from theAramaic for "short-legged", "red-eyed" or "secret teacher".[16][17][18] Other sources, however, say that the name comes from the Arabic verbقرمط (qarmaṭ), which means "to make the lines close together in writing" or "to walk with short steps".[10][19] The word "Qarmatian" can also refer to a type ofArabic script.[20]
The Qarāmiṭah inSawad (southernIraq) were also known as "the Greengrocers" (al-Baqliyyah) because they followed the teachings ofAbū Hātim al-Zutti, who in 908 forbadeanimal slaughter. He also forbaderadishes andalliums such as garlic, onions, and leeks. By 928, it is uncertain whether the people still held on to those teachings.[21]
Under theAbbasid Caliphate (750–1258 CE), various Shiite groups organised in secret opposition to their rule. Among them were the supporters of the proto-Ismā‘īlī community, of whom the most prominent group were called theMubārakiyyah.[22]
According to the Ismaili school of thought, ImāmJa'far al-Sadiq (702–765) designated his second son,Isma'il ibn Ja'far (c. 721–755), as heir to theImamate. However, Ismā‘īl predeceased his father. Some claimed he had gone into hiding, but the proto-Ismā‘īlī group accepted his death and therefore accordingly recognized Ismā‘īl's eldest son,Muhammad ibn Isma'il (746–809), as Imām. He remained in contact with the Mubārakiyyah group, most of whom resided inKufa.
The split among the Mubārakiyyah came with the death of Muḥammad ibn Ismā‘īl (c. 813 CE). The majority of the group denied his death; they recognized him as theMahdi. The minority believed in his death and would eventually emerge in later times as the Isma'iliFatimid Caliphate, the precursors to all modern groups.[23]
The majority Ismā‘īlī missionary movement settled inSalamiyah (now inSyria) and had great success inKhuzestan (southwesternIran), where the Ismā‘īlī leader al-Husayn al-Ahwāzī converted the Kūfan man Ḥamdān in 874 CE, who took the nameQarmaṭ after his new faith.[10] Qarmaṭ and his theologian brother-in-law 'Abdān prepared southern Iraq for the coming of the Mahdi by creating a military and religious stronghold. Other such locations grew up in Yemen, in Eastern Arabia (ArabicBahrayn) in 899, and inNorth Africa. They attracted many new Shi'i followers because of their activist and messianic teachings. The new proto-Qarmaṭī movement continued to spread into Greater Iran and then intoTransoxiana.[24]
A change in leadership in Salamiyah in 899 led to a split in the movement. The minority Ismā‘īlīs, whose leader had taken control of the Salamiyah centre, began to proclaim their teachings that Imām Muḥammadhad died and that the new leader in Salamiyah (Abdallah al-Mahdi Billah) was in fact his descendant come out of hiding and was theMahdi (aMessianic figure who will appear on Earth before theDay of Judgment and rid the world of wrongdoing, injustice and tyranny). Qarmaṭ and his brother-in-law opposed this and openly broke with the Salamiyids; when 'Abdān was assassinated, he went into hiding and subsequently repented. Qarmaṭ became a missionary of the new Imām,Abdallah al-Mahdi Billah (873–934), who founded theFatimid Caliphate in North Africa in 909.
Nonetheless, the dissident group retained the name Qarmaṭī. Its greatest stronghold remained inBahrain, which then included much of eastern Arabia as well as the islands that comprise the present state. It was under Abbasid control at the end of the ninth century, but theZanj Rebellion inBasra disrupted the power of Baghdad. The Qarmaṭians seized their opportunity under their leader,Abu Sa'id al-Jannabi, aPersian who hailed fromJannaba in coastalFars.[6][7] Eventually, from Qatar, he captured Bahrain's capital Hajr andal-Hasa in 899, which he made the capital of his state and once in control of the state he sought to set up autopian society.
The Qarmaṭians instigated what one scholar termed a "century of terror" in Kufa.[25] They considered the pilgrimage to Mecca a superstition, and once in control of the Bahrayni state, they launched raids along the pilgrim routes crossing theArabian Peninsula. In 906, they ambushed the pilgrim caravan returning from Mecca and massacred 20,000 pilgrims.[26]
Under al-Jannabi (ruled 923–944), the Qarmaṭianscame close to capturingBaghdad in 927, andsacked Mecca in 930, The Qarmatians also sacked Medina.[27] In their attack on Islam's holiest sites, the Qarmatians desecrated the Zamzam Well with corpses ofHajj pilgrims and took theBlack Stone from Mecca toAin Al Kuayba[28] in Qatif.[29][30] Holding the Black Stone to ransom, they forced the Abbasids to pay a huge sum for its return in 952. They also besieged Damascus and devastated many of the cities to the north. They took opportunity to sack Salamiyya, as well as Tiberias, before the Abbasid authorities were able to regain control.[31][32]
The revolution and desecration shocked the Muslim world and humiliated the Abbasids, but little could be done. For much of the tenth century the Qarmatians were the most powerful force in thePersian Gulf andMiddle East and controlled the coast ofOman and collecting tribute from the caliph in Baghdad as well as from a rival Isma'ili imam inCairo, the head of theFatimid Caliphate, whose power they did not recognize.[33]
The land over which they ruled was extremely wealthy with a huge slave-based economy according to academicYitzhak Nakash:
The Qarmatian state had vast fruit and grain estates both on the islands and in Hasa and Qatif.Nasir Khusraw, who visited Hasa in 1051, recounted that these estates were cultivated by some thirty thousand Ethiopian slaves. He mentions that the people of Hasa were exempt from taxes. Those impoverished or in debt could obtain a loan until they put their affairs in order. No interest was taken on loans, and token lead money was used for all local transactions. The Qarmathian state had a powerful and long-lasting legacy. This is evidenced by a coin known as Tawila, minted around 920 by one of the Qarmathian rulers, and which was still in circulation in Hasa early in the twentieth century.[34]
Some scholars have claimed that the society in which the Qarmatians lived could be described asproto-socialist orutopian socialist.[35][36][37]
According toFarhad Daftary, the catalyst of the collapse of Qarmatian movement as a whole happened in the year 931, whenAbu Tahir al-Janabi, the Qarmatian leader in Bahrain, handed over the reins of the state in Bahrain toAbu'l-Fadl al-Isfahani, a young Persian man who had been believed by the Qarmatians to be theMahdi. However, Abu Tahir soon realized al-Isfahani's appointment was a disastrous mistake, after the "Mahdi" executed some nobles and insulted Muhammad and theother prophets.[38] The incident shocked the Qarmatians and the Islamic community as a whole, and Abu Tahir ordered the youth's execution.[38]
Al-Isfahani lasted as leader only 80 days before his execution but greatly weakened the credibility of Qarmatians within the Muslim community in general and heralded the beginning of the end of their revolutionary movements.[38]
After their defeat by the Abbasids in 976, the Qarmatians began to look inwards and their status was reduced to that of a local power. This had severe consequences for the Qarmatians' ability to extract tribute from the region; according to Arabist historian Curtis Larsen:
As tribute payments were progressively cut off, either by the subsequent government in Iraq or by rival Arab tribes, the Carmathian state shrank to local dimensions. Bahrain broke away in CE 1058 under the leadership ofAbu al-Bahlul al-Awwam who re-established orthodox Islam on the islands. Similar revolts removed from Carmathian control at about the same time. Deprived of all outside income and control of the coasts, the Carmathians retreated to their stronghold at the Hofuf Oasis. Their dynasty was finally dealt a final blow in 1067 by the combined forces ofAbdullah bin Ali Al Uyuni, who with the help of Seljuk army contingents from Iraq, laid siege to Hofuf for seven years and finally forced the Carmathians to surrender.[39]
In Bahrain and eastern Arabia, the Qarmatian state was replaced by theUyunid dynasty, and it is believed that by the mid-11th century, Qarmatian communities inIraq,Iran, andTransoxiana had either been integrated by Fatimid proselytism or disintegrated.[40]
By the mid-10th century, persecution forced the Qarmatians to leave what is nowEgypt andIraq and move to the city ofMultan, now inPakistan.[41] However, prejudice against the Qarmatians did not dwindle, asMahmud of Ghazni led an expedition againstMultan's Qarmatian rulerAbdul Fateh Daud in 1005. The city was surrendered, and Fateh Daud was permitted to retain control over the city with the condition that he adhere toSunnism.[42]
According to the maritime historianDionisius A. Agius, the Qarmatians finally disappeared in 1067, after they lost their fleet atBahrain Island and were expelled fromHasa near the Arabian coast by the chief of Banu Murra ibn Amir.[43]
According to Qarmatians, the number of imams was fixed, with Seven Imāms preordained by God. These groups considersMuhammad ibn Isma'il to be the messenger – prophet(Rasūl),Imāmal-Qā'im andMahdi to be preserved in hiding, which is referred to asOccultation.[44]
| Imām | Personage | Period |
| 1 | Ali ibn Abi Talib:[45] Imām | (632–661) |
| 2 | Hasan ibn Ali | (661–669) |
| 3 | Husayn ibn Ali | (669–680) |
| 4 | Ali ibn Husayn Zayn al-Abidin | (680–713) |
| 5 | Muhammad al-Baqir | (713–733) |
| 6 | Ja'far al-Sadiq | (733–765) |
| 7 | Muhammad ibn Isma'il:[45][44] Imāmal-Qā'imal-Mahdi also a messenger – prophet(Rasūl) | (775–813) |
In addition, the following Ismaili imams after Muhammad ibn Isma'il had been considered heretics of dubious origins by certain Qarmatian groups,[46] who refused to acknowledge the imamate of the Fatimids and clung to their belief in the coming of theMahdi.
Farhad Daftary writes about the fate of the successors ofAbu Tahir al-Jannabi:
It may be noted that at the time the Qarmaṭī state was still being ruled jointly by Abū Ṭāhir’s brothers. Abū Ṭāhir’s eldest son Sābūr (Shāpūr), who aspired to a ruling position and the command of the army, rebelled against his uncles in 358/969, but he was captured and executed in the same year. But the ruling sons of Abū Sa'īd al-Jannābī themselves did not survive much longer. Abū Manṣūr Aḥmad died in 359/970, probably of poisoning, and his eldest brother Abu’l-Qāsim Sa'īd died two years later. By 361/972, there remained of Abū Ṭāhir’s brothers only Abū Ya'qūb Yūsuf, who retained a position of pre-eminence in the Qarmaṭī state. Henceforth, the grandsons of Abū Sa'īd were also admitted to the ruling council. After the death of Abū Ya'qūb in 366/977, the Qarmaṭī state came to be ruled jointly by six of Abū Sa'īd’s grandsons, known collectively as al-sāda al-ru'asā'. Meanwhile, al-Ḥasan al-A'ṣam, son of Abū Manṣūr Aḥmad and a nephew of Abū Ṭāhir, had become the commander of the Qarmaṭī forces. He was usually selected for leading the Qarmaṭīs in military campaigns outside Baḥrayn, including their entanglements with the Fāṭimids.[48]
