all that he says about the Qarmatians, and so the books of the Druses
in their references to the Nusayri prove that they hold very much the
same doctrines as the Ismaʿilians. It is supposed that the Nusayri sect
is a survival of an ancient pagan community (cf. René Dussand: _Hist.
et religion des Nosairis_, _Paris_, 1900). This fits in with the advice
given to the missionaries that Manichaean converts may be admitted to a
higher grade without hesitation.
After this rather confused account of the foundation of the sect of
Qarmatians we find ourselves on surer ground. It is clear that Hamdan
surnamed the Qarmati was the convert chosen to act as head of the branch
founded near Kufa, and he seems to have been diligent in sending out
missionaries throughout the whole district of Sawad, where success was
easy as the oppressed Nabataean villagers were still groaning under the
tyranny of the Arab colonists of the two camp-cities, Kufa and Basra.
Not only were the peasants won over in large numbers, but many of the
dissatisfied Arab tribes were also gained: these, it will be understood,
were those tribes which had had no share in the wealth acquired by the
Khalif and his followers. At first Hamdan required each proselyte to
pay a piece of silver, corresponding to the _fitr_ or legal alms which
Muslims are expected to pay at the end of Ramadan. Then he exacted a
piece of gold from each person on attaining the age of reason, a tribute
which he called _hijra_ or “flight,” perhaps because intended for the
maintenance of a place of refuge called the “house of flight.” Later
again he demanded seven pieces of gold which he termed _bulgha_ or
“livelihood.” He prepared a choice banquet, and gave a small portion
to each of those who gave him the seven pieces of gold, saying that it
was the food of the dwellers in paradise sent down to the Imam. He next
levied a fifth of all their possessions, basing his claim on the words
of the Qurʾan, “And know ye, that when ye have taken any booty, a fifth
part belongeth to God and to His Apostle” (Qur. 8, 42). Next he required
them to deposit all their goods in a common fund, a reminiscence of the
communism taught in pre-Islamic times by the Persian prophet Mazdak, and
justified this by the passages, “Remember God’s goodness towards you, how
that when ye were enemies, He united your hearts, and by His favour ye
became brethren” (Qur. 3, 98), and “Hadst thou spent all the riches of
the earth, thou couldst not have united their hearts; but God hath united
them, for He is Mighty, Wise” (Qur. 8, 64). He told them that they had
no need of money because everything on earth belonged to them, but he
exhorted them to procure arms. All this took place in the year 276.
The _daʿi_ chose in each village a man worthy of confidence, and in
his charge they placed the property of the inhabitants. By this means
clothes were provided for those who were without, and all had their
needs supplied so that there was no more poverty. All worked diligently,
for rank was made to depend on a man’s utility to the community; no
one possessed any private property save sword and arms. Then it is
said the _daʿi_ assembled men and women together on a certain night,
and encouraged them to indulge in promiscuous intercourse. After this,
assured of their absolute obedience, he began to teach them the more
secret doctrines of the sect, and so deprived them of all belief in
religion, and discouraged the observance of external rites such as
prayer, fasting, and the like. This was the distinctive mark of the
Qarmatian branch: the initiated were no longer a small minority living in
the midst of their fellow sectarians who still adhered to the external
forms of Islam, but amongst the Qarmatians all were initiated to the
fullest extent in all the teachings of the sect. Before long they began
to steal and to commit murders, so that they produced a reign of terror
in the vicinity. Then the _daʿis_ felt that the time was ripe for open
revolt, and selected a village in the Sawad called Mahimabad, near the
river Euphrates, and within the royal domain as their rallying place or
“house of flight”: thither they carried large stones, and in a short time
surrounded it with a strong wall and erected a building in the midst, in
which a great many persons could be assembled and where goods could be
stored. This took place in 277.
At this time the Khalifate was weak, and this favoured the lawless
movements of the villagers who now came to be known as Qarmatians from
their leader. Their head, Hamdan the Qarmati, meanwhile kept up constant
correspondence with the leaders of the sect at Salamiya. After the death
of Ahmad his son and successor wrote a letter to Hamdan, but he was
not satisfied with its contents: he observed that this letter differed
considerably in expression from those which he had previously received,
and contained matters which did not seem to agree with the teaching he
had received, so he concluded that the responsible heads had changed
their policy. To make sure he sent a trusty follower named Abdan to
Salamiya to find out how matters stood. Abdan arrived there, learned
about the death of Ahmad and the succession of his son Husayn, and had
an interview with this latter. In that interview he asked who was the
Imam to whom they owed obedience, and Husayn replied by the counter
question, “Who then is the Imam?” Abdan replied, “It is Muhammad the son
of Ismaʿil the son of Jaʿfar, the master of the world, to whose obedience
your father called men, and whose _hujja_ he was.” Husayn showed some
annoyance at this reply, and said: “Muhammad the son of Ismaʿil has no
rights in all this; there has never been any other Imam than my father
who was descended from Maymun b. Daysan, and to-day I take his place.”
By this reply Abdan discovered the real nature of the sect, or at least
its present policy. He then returned to the Qarmati and told him what he
had discovered, and by his orders all the _duʿat_ were called together
and informed of what Abdan had discovered and advised to stop their
propaganda. As a result the preaching came to an end in the districts
about Kufa, but they were not able to check it in remoter parts, and they
ceased all correspondence with the leaders at Salamiya.
Then one of the sons of Ahmad who had been on a visit to Talakan tried
to see the Qarmati on his return journey, but was unable to find him. He
therefore called on Abdan and reproached him for ceasing to correspond
with Salamiya. Abdan replied that he had left off preaching and desired
to sever his connection with the sect as he had discovered that they
were not really loyal to the house of ʿAli, but were supporting an Imam
of the family of Maymun: he only asked God’s pardon for what he had
previously done in error. When the visitor saw that he had nothing to
hope from Abdan, he turned to another _daʿi_ named Zaqruya b. Mahruya and
discussed with him Abdan’s attitude. Zaqruya received him well, and it
was agreed that he should be established as chief _daʿi_ in the district
and, in return would resume the former relations with Salamiya. To this
Zaqruya assented, but objected that, so long as Abdan was alive all
efforts would be fruitless, as all revered him as a leader. They agreed
therefore to get rid of Abdan. For this end Zaqruya collected a number of
his neighbours, informed them that the _hujja_ or earthly representative
of the Imam was dead, and that his son was now occupying his place.
The people expressed the greatest respect towards the new _hujja_, and
declared their readiness to carry out his commands. He told them that
they were to kill Abdan as he had proved to be a rebel and apostate.
Next night Abdan was killed. When, however, it came to be known that it
was Zaqruya who had brought about his death the Qarmates were indignant,
and Zaqruya had to flee for his life and hide himself, and advised the
representative from Salamiya who seems to have remained with him, to
leave the neighbourhood. This took place in 286.
During the rest of that year, and the year following, the Qarmatians were
busy hunting for Zaqruya who was compelled to move from place to place,
and finally retired to a subterranean retreat. When he went into the
village near his hiding place a woman who lived in the house used to make
bread on the stone which covered the entrance to the concealed cave so as
to disarm suspicion.
In 288 the search seemed to be relaxed, and then Zaqruya sent his son
Hasan to Syria with a companion named Hasan b. Ahmad, and told them to
preach to the Arabs of the B. Kalb tribe, inviting them to recognise
Muhammad b. Ismaʿil as the Imam. These two envoys obtained many
followers. The envoy who had made plans with Zaqruya had meanwhile gone
back to Talakan, and now, annoyed at Zaqruya’s silence, went to the Sawad
and discovered his place of concealment. When Zaqruya told him of the
success of his mission to the Arabs he was delighted and determined to
join the envoys himself. Zaqruya approved this plan and sent with him
his nephew Isa b. Mahwayh, surnamed Mudatthar, and another young man
surnamed Mutawwak, at the same time writing a letter to his son bidding
him render obedience to the leader of these new comers whom he termed
_Sahib al-Nakat_. When they reached the B. Kalb they were welcomed and
received with every profession of loyalty, and the tribe prepared for
war. This took place in 289. The resulting conflict with the authorities
was, however, unsuccessful: the sectaries were not able to repeat their
brigandage which the weakness of the central authority had been unable
to prevent about the Sawad, and the leader, the kinsman of the Mahdi at
Salamiya, was killed, and the Arabs scattered.
Nuwayri says that this leader had struck money, both gold and silver, and
that the coins were inscribed on one side: “Say, the truth has come and
falsehood has disappeared” (Qur. 17, 83): and on the other: “There is no
God but God; Say, ‘for this I ask no wage of you, save the love of my
kindred’” (Qur. 42, 22).
After this leader’s death Hasan, son of Zaqruya, took command of
the Qarmatians and assumed the name of Ahmad. The general Muhammad
b. Sulayman had a great victory over him and, as he was unable to
reconstruct his forces, he left for Baghdad where, he said, he had many
followers, and put his son Kasam in charge as his deputy, promising to
write to him. This was, however, only a pretext as he intended to seek
safety in flight, but was caught by Mudatthar and Mutawwak and put to
death.
This check caused the Arabs to keep quiet for some time. Then they
received a letter from Zaqruya saying that he had heard of the death of
Hasan and Isa by revelation, and that after their death the Imam was
going to be revealed and would triumph with his followers. Kasam was now
getting anxious, and thought it well to visit his grandfather Zaqruya in
the Sawad; but Zaqruya disapproved the course of events and rebuked him
severely, sending another disciple, an ex-schoolmaster named Muhammad b.
Abdullah, to replace him. At first this new commander met with success,
then came reverse and he was killed. At this news Zaqruya sent back
Kasam to collect the remnants of the party which he did and brought them
to ad-Derna, a village in the Sawad. Here they were joined by Zaqruya,
who was hailed by the Arabs as their _wali_, and all the Qarmatians in
the Sawad came out to join them. The rising in the Sawad was a mere
_jacquerie_ of Nabataean peasants, and the Qarmatian movement proper
never rose much above this level. At the head of his men Zaqruya attacked
the caravan of pilgrims on their way to Mecca in 294, plundered it, and
slew twenty thousand pilgrims. The Khalif then sent out forces to put
down these troublesome brigands, the Qarmatians were severely punished,
Zaqruya was taken prisoner and sent in chains to the Khalif, but died of
his wounds on the way (Abu l-Feda: _Ann. Mosl._, ii. 299).
In 295 a man named Abu Khatam founded a new sect of Qarmatians in the
Sawad, and these were known as the _Buraniyya_ after Burani, who was the
most active _daʿi_ in organising them. Abu Khatam forbade his followers
to use garlic, leeks, or radishes, and prohibited the shedding of any
animal’s blood; he made them abandon all the religious observances of
Islam, and instituted rites of an entirely new character. We shall
find these prohibitions of particular vegetables in the ordinances
of the Fatimid Khalif Hakim later on, but there justified by certain
Shiʿite theories. At the end of the year Abu Khatam drops out of sight
entirely. The movement is of interest only in showing the tendency of the
Ismaʿilians to form new schisms.
Another off-shoot of the Qarmatians established itself in the Bahrayn,
the land between the Tigris and Euphrates. In 281 Yahya, a son of the
Mahdi, whom de Sacy supposes to have been the same individual who advised
Zaqruya and who was killed near Damascus in 289, the one of whom we
have already heard as the Sahib an-Nakat, although no mention of his
real name is given in any account of Zaqruya’s rising, came to al-Katif
and lodged in the house of a Shiʿite called ʿAli b. Maʿli b. Hamdan. He
told his host that he had been sent by the Mahdi to invite the Shiʿites
to recognise him, the representative of Ismaʿil, as the Imam, and to
announce that the public appearance of the “concealed one” was near at
hand. ʿAli gathered together the Shiʿites of the locality, and showed
them the letter which Yahya had given him to be read to them: they
promised obedience and declared themselves ready to take up arms as soon
as the Mahdi’s representative appeared amongst them. Very soon all the
villagers of the Bahrayn were induced to join in these undertakings.
Yahya then went away and returned with a letter, which he stated that he
had obtained from the Mahdi authorising him to act as their leader, and
calling on them to pay him six pieces of gold and two-thirds for each
man. This they did, and then Yahya brought a new letter bidding them give
him a fifth of all their goods, and this they did also.
Ibn al-Athir says that Yahya went to the house of Abu Saʿid al-Jannabi,
one of these Shiʿites, and that his host gave him food, and then told
his wife to go in to Yahya and not refuse him her favours. News of this,
however, came to the governor of the town, and he had Yahya beaten and
his hair and beard shorn off as a punishment for the scandal caused.
After this Abu Saʿid fled to his native town of Jannaba, and Yahya went
out to the Arab tribes of Kalab, Oqayl, and Haras, who rallied round him,
so that he found himself at the head of a considerable force in 286. It
will be noted that the desert tribes, even though the most purely Arab,
were always ready to join revolutionary movements, anti-Arab as well as
other; in fact they were simply marauders, and fell in with any plans
which offered promise of a period of successful brigandage, irrespective
of any political or religious movements involved.
Nuwayri supposes either that Abu Saʿid had previously learned Qarmatian
ideas in the Sawad, or had been initiated by Hamdan and appointed _daʿi_
for the district of al-Katif. Most of his followers were drawn from the
lowest classes, butchers, porters, and such like. The Sharif Abu l-Hasan
says that Abu Saʿid regarded the _daʿi_ Zaqruya as a rival and felt a
jealousy towards him, so that, having contrived to get Zaqruya into a
house belonging to him, he starved him to death.
When he had gathered a considerable following Abu Saʿid established
himself at the town of al-ʾAhsa, besieged Hajar, the capital of the
Bahrayn, for a matter of two years, during which his followers were
considerably increased, and finally captured the town by cutting off its
water supply. Some of the inhabitants escaped to the islands in the river
near by, others embraced Abu Saʿid’s doctrines, whilst others were put
to death. The town was pillaged and ruined, and thus al-ʾAhsa afterwards
replaced it as the capital of the Bahrayn. According to Ibn Khallikan Abu
Saʿid first appeared as _kabir_ or “great man” of the Qarmatians in 286.
In 287 they made an attempt on Basra, and though they defeated the forces
sent by the Khalif to repel them, they were unable to take the city (Ibn
Khall., i. 427).
Abu Saʿid then attempted to get possession of Oman, but was obliged to
abandon this scheme. He was slain in 301 with several other Qarmatian
leaders, and was succeeded by his son Abu l-Kasam Saʿid, who held the
leadership until his second son Abu Tahar, who had been designated
successor, was old enough to take up the task, which happened in 305. The
Qarmatian risings which take a position of considerable prominence in
later history all took place under the successors of Abu Saʿid, who may
be regarded as the founder of the Qarmatians as a revolutionary force,
although there had been an earlier beginning of the sect as an off-shoot
of the Ismaʿilians under Hamdan and his missionaries.
According to Ibn Khallikan Abu Saʿid entered Syria in 289, and in 291
he was slain in his bath by one of his eunuchs. He left six sons. It
was Abu Tahar who marched on Basra in 311, occupied it without serious
resistance, and plundered the city. But to these doings of the Qarmatians
we shall return later.
IV
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE FATIMIDS IN NORTH AFRICA
The political career of the Fatimids centres in North Africa and Egypt,
and commences with the activity of Ibn Hawshab, who himself never visited
those parts. This man, whom Maqrizi calls Abu l-Kasam Hasan b. Farash
b. Hawshab, and Abu l-Fera and Bibars Mansuri, referred to as Rustam b.
Husayn b. Hawshab b. Zadam an-Najjar (“the carpenter”), was a follower
of Ahmad whom we have seen as succeeding his father ʿAbdullah, and
accompanied him on a pilgrimage to the sacred sites of the Shiʿites,
the tombs of Hasan and Husayn and of several of the later Imams, all
in the neighbourhood of Kufa and Samarra,—ʿAli’s own tomb is not known
for certain, but is commonly believed to be at Najaf, near Kufa. Whilst
there they noticed a wealthy Shiʿite of Yemen named Muhammad himself
remarked by his tears and display of grief (Maqrizi i. 349). According
to this Yemenite’s own account he had just read the Sura of “The
Grotto” (Qur. 18), when he noticed an old man with a young companion
close at hand. The old man sat down, his companion sat near, but kept
on observing Muhammad, until at last he left the old man and drew near
him. Muhammad asked him who he was; he gave his name as Husayn, and
hearing this sacred name Muhammad could not restrain his tears. The old
man observed this very attentively, and bids the young man ask him to
join them. When Muhammad did so he asked who and what he was. The man
replied that he was a Shiʿite, and gave his name as Hasan b. Faraj b.
Hawshab. The old man said that he knew his father, and that he was a
“Twelver.” Did the son hold the same views? Hasan replied that he always
had held them, but that of late he had felt much discouragement (cf.
extract in Quatremère, _Journal asiatique_, for Aug., 1836). From this a
conversation commenced, and as a result Hasan was converted to acceptance
of the Ismaʿilian creed. Further, Ahmad drew the conclusion that Yemen
would offer a promising field for Shiʿite propaganda, and decided to
send Ibn Hawshab to act as _daʿi_ in Yemen, and about A.H. 270 (= A.D.
883) he appears there as settled in the district of the B. Musa tribe at
Sana (Maq. i. 349). At first he claimed to be simply a merchant, but his
neighbours soon penetrated his disguise and urged him to act openly as a
Shiʿite missionary who, they assured him, would be in every way welcome
(Bibars Mansuri). Thus encouraged he declared himself a Shiʿite agent,
and soon gathered a considerable band of followers drawn, not only from
the immediate vicinity, but also from the Qarmatians of Mesopotamia. As
soon as they were strong enough Ibn Hawshab’s companions took up arms and
began raids upon neighbours who had not accepted the Shiʿite creed and
met with much success in obtaining plunder.
From the earliest period of Muslim history North Africa has been the
favourite field of exploitation of every sect and political party which
found itself in opposition to the official Khalifate, and there has
always been very close intercourse between that area and South Arabia;
indeed, there are even common peculiarities of dialect between the two.
Thus we find that as soon as the new Ismaʿilian sect was established in
Yemen, Ibn Hawshab sent two missionaries, Hulwani and Abu Sufyan (Maq.
ii. 10) to preach in the province of Ifrikiya, the modern Tripoli and
Tunis, where their work seems to have lain particularly amongst the
aboriginal Berber population, for the Berbers were always more disposed
to any heresy or rebellion which would give them a good pretext for
making war against the ruling Arabs. Nothing is known of the subsequent
history of these two missionaries save that after a brief career during
which they seem to have made a deep impression, especially on the Katama
tribe, they died. This Katama tribe lived in the broken territory
north-west of the town of Constantine, in what would now be north-east
Algeria.
As we shall have to refer more than once to the geography of North Africa
it will be convenient here to make a brief statement of its political
divisions and condition in the fourth century A.H. By North Africa we
understand the whole territory lying between the land of Egypt on the
east and the Atlantic on the west, bounded by the Mediterranean on the
north and by the great desert on the south. Previous to the Arab invasion
this land was inhabited by the Berbers or Libyans, the same who, under
the name of _Lebu_, had constantly threatened Egypt in the days of the
Pharaohs. As a race these Berbers seem to have progressed little since
neo-lithic times, and were still in the condition of nomadic tribes like
the Arabs of the pre-Islamic period. Their language was not Semitic,
but it has many very marked Semitic affinities and, although language
transmission is often quite distinct from racial descent, it seems quite
probable that in this case the race bore a parallel relation to the Arab
stock. This would be best explained by the supposition that both were
derived from a neo-lithic race, which at one time spread along the whole
of the southern coast of the Mediterranean and across into Western Asia,
but that some cause, perhaps the early development of civilization in
the Nile valley, had cut off the eastern wing from the rest, and this
segregated portion developed the distinctive characteristics which we
term Semitic.
Along the coast there had been a series of colonies, Greek, Punic,
Roman, and Visigothic, but these left no permanent mark on the Berber
population, language, or culture. Although at the time of the Arab
invasion the country was theoretically under the rule of Byzantium, and
the invaders had to meet the resistance of a Greek army, the early defeat
of the Greeks brought an immediate end to Greek influence in the country,
and left the Arabs face to face with the Berber tribes.