1. Holding Islam’s Holiest Artifact for Ransom
The Qarmatians took the Black Stone back to their republic, and smashed it to pieces. Cementing their awful reputation in Muslim eyes, they held the stone’s shards for a huge ransom. It was paid by the Abbasid Caliphate, who reassembled the bits and restored them to the Kaaba. Pilgrimage ceased for nearly a decade. It only resumed after the Qarmatians were paid protection money by the region’s states, the Abbasid and Fatimid Caliphates, to refrain from attacking the holy cities. The tribute payments continued until a defeat in 976 to the Abbasids sent the Qarmatians’ fortunes into a decline. Their radicalism waned along with their power, and by 1058 they had abandoned the beliefs deemed heretical by mainstream Muslims and reverted to orthodox Islam. A decade later, the Seljuk Turks inflicted a decisive and final defeat upon the Qarmatians, and brought their republic to an end.
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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading
Ayoub, Mahmoud – The Crisis of Muslim History: Religion and Politics in Early Islam (2005)
Crone, Patricia – God’s Rule: Government and Islam (2004)
Daftary, Farhad – Medieval Isma’ili History and Thought (2001)
Encyclopedia Britannica – Al Mutanabbi
Encyclopedia Britannica – Kharijite
Encyclopedia Britannica – Sicarii
Encyclopedia Iranica – Abu Said Jannabi
History Collection – Assassins: The Medieval Murder Cult that Terrorized the Middle East
Inside Arabia – Al Mutanabbi and the Arrogance Within
Josephus – The Wars of the Jews
Madelung, Wilferd – The Succession to Muhammad: A Study of the Early Caliphate (1997)
Past & Present Society No. 167 (May, 2000) – Ninth-Century Muslim Anarchists
Smallwood, Edith Mary – The Jews Under Roman Rule: From Pompey to Diocletian (1976)
