Qarmatians

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The Qarmatians, Arabic qarāmita قرامطة (also spelled "Carmathians", "Qarmathians", "Karmathians" etc.) were an extremist (ghulāt) Ismā'īlī Muslim sect centered in eastern Arabia, particularly the historical region of Bahrain, where they established a utopian community in 899 CE. They are most famed for their revolt against the Abbasid Caliphate, which caused major disruptions and turmoil, particularly with their seizure of the Black Stone from Mecca and desecrating the Well of Zamzam with Muslim corpses during the Hajj season of 930 CE.

[edit] History

The Qarmatians split off from the Fātimid Ismā'īlī when its founder, ˤAbdu l-Lāhu l-Mahdī bil-Lāh, claimed the Imāmate of the expected Sevener Mahdi, Ismā'īl ibn Jaˤfar. They take their name from Hamdan Qarmat, who accepted Sevener teachings Seveners from Husaynu l-Ahwāz, a missionary of Ahmad, son of the Persian Abdallah ibn Maimtin.

Pre-Islamic Persian religious influence on the Qarāmita was significant. The conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter, which happens every 960 years, produced millenarian excitement among Persians. The date of the conjunction, 27 October 928 CE, produced a messianic fervour that the Qarāmita interpreted in light of Islamic revelation. They interpreted this new period as a return of Persian dominance.

In the light of this cyclical Mazdean return to power, the conjunction was followed by the sack of Mecca during Hajj, removal of the Black Stone to Bahrain and an announcement of the arrival of the Qarmatian Mahdi-Caliph, a Persian from Isfahan who abolished Sharīˤa law. The new Mahdi also changed the qibla of prayer from Mecca to that of fire, a specifically Zoroastrian practice.

The Qarmatians faded under internal strife and military conflict with the Fātimids over the next twenty years; they returned the Black Stone 22 years later as part of a peace treaty and it was replaced in its place in Mecca.

The last contemporary mention of the Qarmatians is that of Nasir ibn Khosrau, who visited them in 1050.

[edit] References

Kathryn Babayan 2002: Mystics, Monarchs, and Messiahs: Cultural Landscapes of Early Modern Iran, ISBN 0-932885-28-4
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.