Sevener Ismaili Shia group
The
Qarmatians
(
Arabic
:
??????
,
romanized
:
Qar?mi?a
;
Persian
:
???????
,
romanized
:
Qarmatiy?n
)
[a]
were a
militant
[6]
[7]
Isma'ili
Shia
movement centred in
al-Hasa
in
Eastern Arabia
, where they established a
religious
?and, as some scholars have claimed,
proto-socialist
or
utopian socialist
[8]
[9]
[10]
?state in 899 CE. Its members were part of a movement that adhered to a
syncretic
branch of
Sevener
Ismaili
Shia Islam
,
[5]
and were ruled by a dynasty founded by
Abu Sa'id al-Jannabi
, a
Persian
from
Jannaba
in coastal
Fars
.
They rejected the claim of
Fatimid
Caliph
Abdallah al-Mahdi Billah
to
imamate
and clung to their belief in the coming of the
Mahdi
, and they revolted against the Fatimid and
Abbasid Caliphates
.
[13]
[5]
Mecca
was
sacked
by a Qarmatian leader,
Abu Tahir al-Jannabi
,
[14]
outraging the
Muslim world
, particularly with their theft of the
Black Stone
and desecration of the
Zamzam Well
with corpses during the
Hajj
season of 930 CE.
[15]
Name
[
edit
]
The origin of the name "Qarmatian" is uncertain.
[16]
According to some sources, the name derives from the surname of the sect's founder,
Hamdan Qarmat
.
[17]
The name
qarmat
probably comes from the
Aramaic
for "short-legged", "red-eyed" or "secret teacher".
[19]
[21]
Other sources, however, say that the name comes from the Arabic verb
????
(
qarma?
), which means "to make the lines close together in writing" or "to walk with short steps".
[15]
[22]
The word "Qarmatian" can also refer to a type of
Arabic script
.
[23]
The Qar?mi?ah in
Sawad
(southern
Iraq
) were also known as "the Greengrocers" (
al-Baqliyyah
) because they followed the teachings of
Ab? H?tim al-Zutti
, who in 908 forbade
animal slaughter
. He also forbade
radishes
and
alliums
such as garlic, onions, and leeks. By 928, it is uncertain whether the people still held on to those teachings.
History
[
edit
]
Early developments
[
edit
]
Under the
Abbasid Caliphate
(750?1258 CE), various Shiite groups organised in secret opposition to their rule. Among them were the supporters of the proto-Ism?‘?l? community, of whom the most prominent group were called the
Mub?rakiyyah
.
[25]
According to the Ismaili school of thought, Im?m
Ja'far al-Sadiq
(702?765) designated his second son,
Isma'il ibn Ja'far
(ca. 721?755), as heir to the
Imamate
. However, Ism?‘?l predeceased his father. Some claimed he had gone into hiding, but the proto-Ism?‘?l? group accepted his death and therefore accordingly recognized Ism?‘?l's eldest son,
Muhammad ibn Isma'il
(746?809), as Im?m. He remained in contact with the Mub?rakiyyah group, most of whom resided in
Kufa
.
The split among the Mub?rakiyyah came with the death of Mu?ammad ibn Ism?‘?l (ca. 813 CE). The majority of the group denied his death; they recognized him as the
Mahdi
. The minority believed in his death and would eventually emerge in later times as the Isma'ili
Fatimid Caliphate
, the precursors to all modern groups.
[26]
The majority Ism?‘?l? missionary movement settled in
Salamiyah
(now in
Syria
) and had great success in
Khuzestan
(southwestern
Iran
), where the Ism?‘?l? leader al-Husayn al-Ahw?z? converted the K?fan man ?amd?n in 874 CE, who took the name
Qarma?
after his new faith.
[15]
Qarma? and his theologian brother-in-law ‘Abd?n 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 (Arabic
Bahrayn
) in 899, and in
North Africa
. They attracted many new Shi'i followers because of their activist and messianic teachings. The new proto-Qarma?? movement continued to spread into Greater Iran and then into
Transoxiana
.
[27]
Qarmatian Revolution
[
edit
]
A change in leadership in Salamiyah in 899 led to a split in the movement. The minority Ism?‘?l?s, whose leader had taken control of the Salamiyah centre, began to proclaim their teachings that Im?m Mu?ammad
had
died and that the new leader in Salamiyah (
Abdallah al-Mahdi Billah
) was in fact his descendant come out of hiding and was the
Mahdi
(a
Messianic figure
who will appear on Earth before the
Day of Judgment
and rid the world of wrongdoing, injustice and tyranny). Qarma? and his brother-in-law opposed this and openly broke with the Salamiyids; when ‘Abd?n was assassinated, he went into hiding and subsequently repented. Qarma? became a missionary of the new Im?m,
Abdallah al-Mahdi Billah
(873?934), who founded the
Fatimid Caliphate
in North Africa in 909.
Nonetheless, the dissident group retained the name Qarma??. Its greatest stronghold remained in
Bahrain
, 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 the
Zanj Rebellion
in
Basra
disrupted the power of Baghdad. The Qarma?ians seized their opportunity under their leader,
Abu Sa'id al-Jannabi
, a
Persian
who hailed from
Jannaba
in coastal
Fars
.
Eventually, from Qatar, he captured Bahrain's capital Hajr and
al-Hasa
in 899, which he made the capital of his state and once in control of the state he sought to set up a
utopian society.
The Qarma?ians instigated what one scholar termed a "century of terror" in Kufa.
[28]
They considered the pilgrimage to Mecca a superstition, and once in control of the Bahrayni state, they launched raids along the pilgrim routes crossing the
Arabian Peninsula
. In 906, they ambushed the pilgrim caravan returning from Mecca and massacred 20,000 pilgrims.
[29]
Under al-Jannabi (ruled 923?944), the Qarma?ians
came close to capturing
Baghdad
in 927, and
sacked Mecca
in 930. In their attack on Islam's holiest sites, the Qarmatians desecrated the Zamzam Well with corpses of
Hajj
pilgrims and took the Black Stone from Mecca to
Ain Al Kuayba
[30]
in Qatif.
[31]
[32]
Holding the Black Stone to ransom, they forced the Abbasids to pay a huge sum for its return in 952.
[33]
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 the
Persian Gulf
and
Middle East
and controlled the coast of
Oman
and collecting tribute from the caliph in Baghdad as well as from a rival Isma'ili imam in
Cairo
, the head of the
Fatimid Caliphate
, whose power they did not recognize.
[34]
Qarmatian society
[
edit
]
The land over which they ruled was extremely wealthy with a huge slave-based economy according to academic Yitzhak 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.
[35]
Collapse
[
edit
]
According to
Farhad Daftary
, the catalyst of the collapse of Qarmatian movement as a whole happened in the year 931, when
Abu Tahir al-Janabi
, the Qarmatian leader in Bahrain, handed over the reins of the state in Bahrain to
Abu'l-Fadl al-Isfahani
, a young Persian man who had been believed by the Qarmatians to be the
Mahdi
. However, Abu Tahir soon realized al-Isfahani's appointment was a disastrous mistake, after the "Mahdi" executed some nobles and insulted Muhammad and the
other prophets
.
The incident shocked the Qarmatians and the Islamic community as a whole, and Abu Tahir ordered the youth's execution.
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.
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 of
Abu 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 of
Abdullah 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.
[37]
In Bahrain and eastern Arabia, the Qarmatian state was replaced by the
Uyunid dynasty
, and it is believed that by the mid-11th century, Qarmatian communities in
Iraq
,
Iran
, and
Transoxiana
had either been integrated by Fatimid proselytism or disintegrated.
[38]
By the mid-10th century, persecution forced the Qarmatians to leave what is now
Egypt
and
Iraq
and move to the city of
Multan
, now in
Pakistan
.
[39]
However, prejudice against the Qarmatians did not dwindle, as
Mahmud of Ghazni
led an expedition against
Multan
's Qarmatian ruler
Abdul 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 to
Sunnism
.
[40]
According to the maritime historian
Dionisius A. Agius
, the Qarmatians finally disappeared in 1067, after they lost their fleet at
Bahrain Island
and were expelled from
Hasa
near the Arabian coast by the chief of Banu, Murra ibn Amir.
Imamate of Seven Imams
[
edit
]
According to Qarmatians, the number of imams was fixed, with Seven Im?ms preordained by God. These groups considers
Muhammad ibn Isma'il
to be the messenger ? prophet
(
Ras?l
),
Im?m
al-Q?'im
and
Mahdi
to be preserved in hiding, which is referred to as
Occultation
.
[42]
Ismaili imams not accepted as legitimate by Qarmatians
[
edit
]
In addition, the following Ismaili imams after Muhammad ibn Isma'il had been considered heretics of dubious origins by certain Qarmatian groups,
[44]
who refused to acknowledge the imamate of the Fatimids and clung to their belief in the coming of the
Mahdi
.
Qarmatian rulers in Eastern Arabia
[
edit
]
Substitution after Abu Tahir al-Jannabi
[
edit
]
Farhad Daftary
writes about the fate of the successors of
Abu Tahir al-Jannabi
:
It may be noted that at the time the Qarma?? state was still being ruled jointly by Ab? ??hir’s brothers. Ab? ??hir’s eldest son S?b?r (Sh?p?r), 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 Ab? Sa'?d al-Jann?b? themselves did not survive much longer. Ab? Man??r A?mad died in 359/970, probably of poisoning, and his eldest brother Abu’l-Q?sim Sa'?d died two years later. By 361/972, there remained of Ab? ??hir’s brothers only Ab? Ya'q?b Y?suf, who retained a position of pre-eminence in the Qarma?? state. Henceforth, the grandsons of Ab? Sa'?d were also admitted to the ruling council. After the death of Ab? Ya'q?b in 366/977, the Qarma?? state came to be ruled jointly by six of Ab? Sa'?d’s grandsons, known collectively as al-s?da al-ru'as?'. Meanwhile, al-?asan al-A'?am, son of Ab? Man??r A?mad and a nephew of Ab? ??hir, had become the commander of the Qarma?? forces. He was usually selected for leading the Qarma??s in military campaigns outside Ba?rayn, including their entanglements with the F??imids.
[46]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Also transliterated Carmathians, Qarmathians, Karmathians, Karmatian, or Kalmati, Karmathian, Qarmat?, Qar?mi?ah
[5]
- ^
a
b
c
Fahes, Fadi (2018).
ASocial utopia in tenth century Islam the Qarmatian experiment
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- ^
Goitein, S. D. (1967).
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ISBN
978-0-520-22162-8
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- ^
Nadvi, Syed Habibul Haq (1982).
The Dynamics of Islam: An Analysis of Islamic Dynamism which Has Been Operating in the Structure of Islamic Belief, Its Religio-political, Socio-economic Framework and Cultural Legacies
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ISBN
978-0-620-05712-7
.
- ^
Rahman, Fazlur (2020).
Islam
. University of Chicago Press. p. 176.
ISBN
9780226773377
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Qarmatian | Meaning, Attack, Beliefs, & History"
.
Encyclopedia Britannica
. Retrieved
1 July
2021
.
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Mumayiz, Ibrahim A. (2006).
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ISBN
978-90-441-1888-9
.
- ^
Jr, Everett Jenkins (11 November 2010).
The Muslim Diaspora (Volume 1, 570-1500): A Comprehensive Chronology of the Spread of Islam in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas
. McFarland. p. 98.
ISBN
978-0-7864-4713-8
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- ^
Clark, Malcolm (9 August 2019).
Islam For Dummies
. John Wiley & Sons.
ISBN
978-1-119-64304-3
.
- ^
Thompson, Andrew David (31 October 2019).
Christianity in Oman: Ibadism, Religious Freedom, and the Church
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ISBN
978-3-030-30398-3
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Corm, Georges (2020).
Arab Political Thought: Past and Present
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de Blois, Francois (1986).
"THE 'ABU SA?IDIS OR SO-CALLED "QARMATIANS" OF BAHRAYN"
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a
b
c
Glasse, Cyril. 2008.
The New Encyclopedia of Islam
. Walnut Creek CA: AltaMira Press p. 369
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Akbar, Faiza. "The secular roots of religious dissidence in early Islam: the case of the Qaramita of Sawad Al?K?fa", Journal Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs, 12.2 (1991): 376?390.
- ^
Madelung, Wilferd.
"?amd?n Qarmat"
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- ^
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- ^
Heinz Halm
(1996).
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- ^
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- ^
Sheikh Ihsan, Ilahi Zahir (2023).
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Gulamadov, Shaftolu (2018).
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- ^
Farhad, Daftary (1998).
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- ^
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{{
cite web
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- ^
"Image 56 of Persian Gulf states : country studies"
.
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
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- ^
Yitzhak Nakash,
Reaching for Power: The Shi'a in the Modern Arab World
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- ^
Larsen, Curtis E (1984),
Life and Land Use on the Bahrain Islands: The Geoarchaeology of an Ancient Society
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University of Chicago Press
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, IB Tauris, 1994, p. 20
- ^
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"
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"The Qarmatians in Bahrain"
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ismaili.net
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Hodgson, M. G. S.
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Lewis, B.
;
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&
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The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition
. Volume II: C?G
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OCLC
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978-1850439509
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(1978).
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- Kathryn Babayan 2002:
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ISBN
0932885284
External links
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