The sect of the Qarmatians arises in the 890s., originating from Isma’ilism (branch of Shia Islam), and is usually remembered for making opposition and revolt against the Abbasid caliphate. According to Dominique Sourdel (2008), its apparently Ismaili origin represented something that Sunni authors have called “al-da’wa al-batiniyya” (“esoteric propaganda”), although its emergence in general remains obscure.

The origin of the name is still debated among historians, however, some sources claim that the origin is due to the surname of its founder, Harman Qarmat. Initially, the name was used to designate the first converts to Isma’ilism by him, but, as his followers increased, the name began to acquire a broader concept than it previously had, as for any Ismaili group that refused to recognize the Fatimid rule in North Africa, even without any connection whatsoever with Qarmat himself.

The origin of the qarmatians marks a time of special prominence for various Shia groups that were increasingly raising in power, hastening the collapse of the Abbasid caliphate rule in the region of the provinces near Baghdad. During the period 890-906, the qarmatians were very active in the region of Iraq and in the deserts of Syria, having established a state in eastern Arabia in A.D. 894, often described as a communal and utopian place (HODGSON, 1974).

During the Abbasid caliphate, several Shia groups were part of a concealed opposition to the government. In this period, the most prominent group that supported a kind of “proto-Ismaili” community was the Mubarakiyyah. They, in turn, remained in contact with Muhammad ibn Ismail, accepting him as successor to Jafar al-Sadiq, the sixth of the 12 imams.1

After all this matter of succession to the Imamate, other disagreements would emerge after the death of Muhammad ibn Ismail2. This time, most of the Mubarakiyyah group would refuse to accept his death, even coming to recognize him as the Mahdi3. While the minority of the group would later rise to the point of becoming the famous Fatimid Dynasty, the majority would settle in the city of Salamiyah (Syria). The leader of the movement, al-Husayn al-Ahwazi would later convert in Khuzestan (Iran) the aforementioned Harman, who would add Qarmat to his name after his conversion in A.D. 874.

Still in Salamiyah, a change in leadership in the year 899 would cause Harman Qarmat to withdraw completely from the group, even coming to oppose this minority that took over the leadership, with the support of the theologian and also his brother-in-law, Abdan. Harman’s brother-in-law would be murdered, which made him regret his opposition in Salamiyah, to the point of becoming a missionary of Imam Abdullah al-Mahdi Billah, the founder of the Fatimid Caliphate.

Although Harman Qarmat regretted his opposition to the leaders of Salamiyah, the splinter group he started kepy the name of Qarmatians. His “successors” settled in Syria, while others tried to cause revolts in Iraq and Arabia, more specifically in the Bahrain region. In the year 900 (or 287 of the Hijrah), the qarmatians expanded throughout the Kufa region (Iraq), inflicting several setbacks on the central forces of the Abbasid caliphate (DOMINIQUE, 2008).

At the time when Bahrain was the main stronghold of the Qarmatians, the territory comprised the eastern part of Arabia and the small islands that today are also part of the modern state of Bahrain. In those years, the Abbasid caliphate faced several problems and confrontations other than those caused by the qarmatians, such as the Zanj slave revolt itself. With this revolt in Kufa, the Zanj disrupted the direct control of Baghdad, a perfect opportunity for the current qarmaatian leader, Abu Said al-Jannabi, to capture the capital of Bahrain in 899 (both Hajr and al-Hasa), becoming the newest capital of his “communal state”, where he tried to establish a somewhat utopian government.

During the reign of the caliph al-Muktafi (902-908), the qarmatians became increasingly threatening to the government, further evidencing the distance with the leaders of Salamiyah, future founders of the Fatimid caliphate, or even the original movement of Harman himself. Not even with their Bahrain’s rivals they had a similarity anymore.

Their uprisings against the caliphate were quickly defeated, but between 901-903 one of them achieved some success in Syria, occupying several important cities (such as Damascus itself), but would later be suppressed by the Abbasids again. Such rebels (from both Syria and Iraq) had some support from the local peasants, much depending on the support of the Bedouins as well.

The movement continued to threaten the Abbasid hegemony for a few more years, with any Shia being accused of complicity with the qarmatians, and consequently arrested or killed. However, despite everything, the caliphate was still strong enough to maintain control over the central areas of the provinces it dominated, this being the Abbasids’ last triumph over the rebels, even though they were for some time the most powerful force in the Middle East and the, even collecting taxes from Baghdad and the Fatimids.

It was precisely this power acquired by the qarmatians that was the cause of the greatest humiliation suffered by the Abbasids: the theft of the Black Stone from the Kaaba. In the year 930 CE, the qarmatians committed an act that would stain their image forever, considered unforgivable by generations and generations of Muslims.

While the qarmatian leader Abu Tahir al-Jannabi launched devastating attacks across the Arabian region, almost looting Baghdad in 927, he decided to attack Mecca during the Hajj period as well, something that was considered a “superstition” by the sect. Once there, such an attack culminated in a great massacre of pilgrims, with the bodies being thrown into the sacred well of Zamzam, a terrible desecration of one of the most important sites in Islam. The death toll is usually reported to be in thousands.

Not satisfied, they stole the Black Stone located inside the Kaaba and took it to their new capital in Bahrain, al-Hasa. Now, for the first time since the birth of Islam, one of the pillars of the faith would have to be interrupted for some time. Such a duration without the Hajj was about eight years long, as the pilgrims felt threatened and afraid of a new attack by the qarmatians, who now controlled a significant part of Arabia, bringing the Abbasids to their knees.

According to Imam al-Juwayni, the Black Stone would only be returned 23 years later, in 952 AD. The qarmatians kept the Black Stone as a kind of “ransom”, thus forcing the Abbasids to pay a huge amount so that it could be returned to its place where it belonged. The Fatimid ruler, al-Mansur, also made a formal request for it to be returned, and so it was wrapped and sent back to the place where it was stolen.

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 AD 1058 under the leadership of Abu al-Bahlul al-Awwam who re-established orthodox Islam on the islands. Similar revolts removed Qatif 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 (LARSEN, 1984, p. 64).

Replaced in Bahrain and parts of Arabia by the Uyunid dynasty and probably by the Fatimid caliphate (or simply fading away) in Iran and Iraq later, the qarmatians were no longer mentioned after the middle of the 11th century. Today they are remembered only as opponents of the Abbasid caliphate, who came to commit various desecrations in the sacred territories of Islam.

Notes

[1] Jafar al-Sadiq had named his second son, Ismail ibn Jafar, as the sucessor to the Imamate. It so happens that Ismail passed away before his father, when Muhammad ibn Ismail (eldest son of ibn Jafar) was acknowledged as Imam.

[2] At the time of Ismail ibn Jafar’s death, many also refused to accept that he had died, even considering that he was hiding himself. However, the proto-Ismaili group accepted his death, which was the moment when Muhammad ibn Ismail was acknowledged as Imam.

[3] It is worth remembering that the Mahdi is a figure accepted by both Sunnis and Shias.

Bibliography

– HODGSON, Marshall Goodwin Simms. The Venture of Islam. Vol. 1. The University of Chicago Press, 1974.

– GLASSÉ, Cyril. The New Encyclopedia of Islam. Walnut Creek CA: AltaMira Press, 2008.

– RAHMAN, Mohanned. The Qarmatians: The world’s first enduring communistic society, 2014.

– ALNOGAIDAN, Mansour. Qarmatians, Assassins, and Political Islam. Mesbar Center, 2017.

– SOURDEL, Dominique. “The Abassid Caliphate” em  HOLT, P.M.; LAMBTON, Ann K.S.; LEWIS, Bernard. The Cambridge History of Islam. Vol. 1A. Cambridge University Press, 2008.

– LARSEN, Curtis E. Life and Land Use on the Bahrain Islands: The Geoarchaeology of an Ancient Society. University Of Chicago Press, 1984.