Chapter II: Part 2

These suggestions produced doubt in the minds of many hearers, and gave the impression that the missionary had thought more deeply on the problems of religion than the ordinary teachers; and so the hearers were induced to ask the _daʿi_ to instruct them and reveal the answers to some of the problems he proposed. Forthwith he would begin a discourse dealing with some of these questions, and then suddenly check himself: the religion of God is too precious to be disclosed to those who are not worthy and who may, perhaps, treat it with contempt: God has always required a pledge of those to whom he has disclosed his mysteries. Thus we read, “And remember that we have entered into covenant with the prophets and with thee, and with Noah, and Abraham, and Moses, and Jesus the son of Mary; and we formed with them a strict covenant” (Qur., 33, 7), and again “some there were among the faithful who made good what they had promised to God” (id., 23),—“O believers, be faithful to your engagements” (Qur., 5, 1),—“be faithful in the covenant of God when ye have covenanted, and break not your oaths after ye have pledged them: for now ye have made God to stand surety for you” (Qur., 16, 93), and many similar passages. “So now,” the _daʿi_ said, “pledge yourself, putting your right hand in mine, and promise me with the most inviolable oaths and assurances that you will not betray our secret, that you will assist no-one against us, that you are laying no snare for us, that you will use the truth only in speaking with us, and that you will not join any of our enemies against us.” By this means they discovered how far the would-be proselyte was ready to be submissive and obedient, and accustomed him to act in absolute conformity with his superiors. If the proselyte readily took this pledge, the missionary next said, “Give us now an offering from your goods and first fruits which shall be a preliminary to the disclosure which we are about to make to you of our doctrine, and a pledge which you will give for it.” By this they tested how far the proselyte was prepared to make sacrifices to join the sect, and how far he could be trusted to be a loyal and devoted member. Thus the proselyte was admitted to the _First Grade_ which consisted of those who accepted the principle that the Qurʾan has both an external literal sense and an inner esoteric meaning which needs the help of an interpreter. The inner meaning was termed _batin_, or _iman_, “faith,” as distinguished from the external _islam_, and this distinction was justified by the words of Qur. 40, 14. “The Arabs of the desert say, ‘we believe.’ Say: ‘Ye believe not, but rather say, ‘we profess Islam’; for the faith has not yet found its way into your hearts.’”

The _Second Grade_. When the disciple had fully adopted the ideas taught in the first grade, and was convinced that men have fallen into error by accepting the traditional teachings of Islam, the _daʿi_ used the ordinary arguments to persuade them that there was need of an authoritative teacher, and without such a teacher men are unable to please God or obey His laws. Great stress was laid upon the unreliability of private judgment and the need of guidance and authoritative teaching.

_Third Grade._ The _daʿi_ next proceeds to point who can be accepted as the desired teacher and infallible guide, the Imam of Islam. There have been seven such Imams, as worthy of reverence by their religious characters as by their number, for the most important things in the universe, such as the planets, the heavens (Qur. 2, 29; 67, 3), the earths (id. 65, 12, of Bukhari _Sahih_ 59, 2) are invariably in sevens. He then enumerates the seven Imams, the first six being ʿAli to Jaʿfar as-Sadiq, the seventh _al-Kaʾim_, “the chief,” whom some understand to be Jaʿfar’s son Ismaʿil, others his grandson Muhammad, whilst others again regard these two as but one. He next endeavoured to show that the other Shiʿites, who regard Musa as the seventh Imam, cannot be correct as they do not limit the Imams to the sacred number seven, but continue until twelve are reckoned in all. He then was accustomed to speak against the character of Musa, the son of Jaʿfar, asserting that Ismaʿil had deep knowledge of secret things, whilst Musa possessed no such supernatural enlightenment: he told anecdotes which placed Musa in an unfavourable light, and even attributed to him grave sins, so that it was impossible to regard him as the true Imam. Moreover it was agreed that, since Husayn, the Imamate can only be passed by direct succession, so it is not possible that it could be taken from one and given to his brother. The Ismaʿilians alone have inherited the accurate knowledge of secret mysteries bequeathed by Jaʿfar as-Sadiq to his son Ismaʿil.

_Fourth Grade._ In this grade instruction was given in the history of God’s revelation. The age of the world is divided into seven stages, each under the guidance of a prophet whose teaching surpassed that of his predecessors and abrogated it. Between each pair there were but “silent” guides who did not add to nor alter the revelation of the prophet who inaugurated that age. Each of these seven prophets had a coadjutor who was his authorised exponent to mankind at large. These seven prophets and coadjutors were—

(_i._) Adam, with coadjutor Seth.
(_ii._) Noah, with coadjutor Shem.
(_iii._) Abraham, with coadjutor Ismaʿil.
(_iv._) Moses, with coadjutor, at first Aaron, then Joshua.
(_v._) Jesus, with coadjutor Simon Sifa (Cephas).
(_vi._) Muhammad, with coadjutor ʿAli.
(_vii._) al-Kaʾim, with coadjutor ʿAbdullah.

Thus the seventh prophet al-Kaʾim, _i.e._, Ismaʿil or his son Muhammad, has abrogated the teaching of the Prophet Muhammad, and has given a new revelation. At this point, therefore, the convert was entirely separated from orthodox Islam which accepts Muhammad as the “seal of the prophets,” that is to say, the final completer of revelation, and was taught to regard his religion as obsolete.

_Fifth Grade._ In this grade it was taught that the traditional practices of the religion of Islam were merely temporary, a concession to the uninstructed multitude who could not yet understand the spiritual principles of _iman_: they were useful as an educative influence with the ignorant, but the Qurʾanic precepts on which some of them were based had an esoteric meaning quite other than their literal form, whilst the traditional rules which had added so much detail to the laws of the Qurʾan were baseless and negligible. The disciple was taught to replace the external precepts of Islam by inner convictions. If he was a Persian he was reproached with the servile submission which the Persians had rendered to an Arab Khalif: if he were an Arab he was instructed that the privileges of the Arabs have now been transferred to the Persians. In addition to this he was taught certain principles of geometry and the properties of numbers, all applied in a mystical manner to the claims of the Imamate. He was further informed that each prophet had twelve _hujjaj_ corresponding to the twelve signs of the zodiac, to the twelve months of the year, to the twelve tribes of Israel, and to the twelve _nugabaʾ_ whom Muhammad chose from the _ansar_ or “helpers” at Madina. These numerals “seven” and “twelve” which have been shown to possess sacred meanings, were now cited to explain why men have twelve dorsal vertebrae, seven cervical vertebrae, etc. It is as well to note that when these teachings were first put forth the other Shiʿites who followed Musa and his successors had not yet made up the number of twelve Imams.

_Sixth Grade._ The missionary did not admit the postulant to this grade until he was perfectly assured as to his discretion and secrecy. In it the teaching that the ritual precepts of Islam as generally understood, were abrogated, was carried to its logical conclusion, and the convert was instructed to abandon the observance of prayer, fasting, pilgrimage, and all the other external practices of religion; or at least to observe them only in so far as they served as a bond of social usage or as expedient as a concession to their uninstructed companions. At the same time the teacher professed the utmost veneration for the men who had established these practices, and for the wisdom which had led them to do so. The _daʿi_ then described to his pupil the doctrines of Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, and other philosophers, and exhorted them not to follow the traditions of religion which have been passed down as mere hear-say, but to test them by the methods of philosophy and to accept only those things which are endorsed by reason. Changing his former attitude, he then began to criticize the Imams unfavourably, and to contrast them with the philosophers to their disadvantage.

_Seventh Grade._ Some of the missionaries were not themselves instructed in the doctrines of the highest grades, and only a select number were able to initiate converts into this seventh stage. This serves as the probable explanation of some events in the history of the sect which appear strange at first sight such, for example, as the estrangement of the most faithful and successful missionary Abu ʿAbdullah who, no doubt, revolted when he found the difference between the actual beliefs of the Mahdi ʿUbayd allah, and the doctrine which he himself had learned and taught. In initiating a disciple into this highest grade the _daʿi_ first pointed out that there are in this world always correlatives, of which one is the cause, the other the result, as giver and recipient, teacher and taught, etc. Thus the Qurʾan tells us of God that “when he decreeth a thing he only saith ‘be’ and it ‘is’” (Qur., 3, 42), in which God, the First Cause, is the greater, the thing created only derives its being from him: and again, “all things have we created after a fixed decree” (Qur., 54, 49), and again, “he who is God in the heavens is God in earth also” (Qur., 43, 84). Hence, following a teaching of the philosophers, it is clear that from a Being who is only One, only one thing can proceed: but the world contains many things, so it cannot be the work of the One, but needs at least two Beings. Moreover, creation is not the bringing into being that which did not previously exist, but only the arrangement and disposing of things. At bottom this was intended to be a statement of the Aristotelian doctrine of the eternity of matter, and shows striking resemblances with the speculations of the Muʿtazilites. Thus Abu Hudhayl (d. circ. 226) held that before the creation the world existed, but in a state of perfect quiescence; creation was the introduction of change and movement, and this theory, in one modification or another, recurs in all the speculations of the later Muʿtazilites. Very similar is the teaching of al-Farabi (d. 339), who was himself a member of the Ismaʿilian sect, and held that the world proceeded from God in an instant of the immeasurable eternity which preceded time, but remained at rest until at creation God introduced movement and so produced time and change.

Such was the teaching of the seven grades which formed the original constitution of the sect. Later on two higher grades were added which, for the sake of completeness, we may consider here although they were no part of the original scheme.

_Eighth Grade._ In this the disciple learned that there are two Principles, the original and primary Cause, without name or attribute, the pre-existent (_as-sabiq_) who seems to be very much the same as “the first God” of Plotinus, and a Second proceeding from this First Cause, due to a thought in the pre-existent, _i.e._, as an emanation, just as the spoken word proceeds from the thought in the mind of the speaker. Of the pre-existent nothing can be stated but what is negative. The “Second” seems to be very similar to the Reason or Active Intelligence as defined by the philosophers on the basis of Alexander of Aphrodisias’ explanation of the teaching in Aristotle’s _de Anima_; not, as in the Zoroastrian system, a rival power, but an emanation which is an intermediary between the unknowable God and man. The true prophet, the _daʿi_ declared, is shown, not by working miracles which impress the vulgar, but by the establishment of political institutions which equip a stable and well disposed government, and by the teaching of spiritual doctrines which give an explanation of the phenomena of nature. Then, as Nuwairi and Maqrizi state, the Qurʾan, the resurrection, the end of the world, the last judgment, and such like doctrines of Islam are explained away as having allegorical meanings: according to the _batinite_ doctrine, all these things signify only the revolutions of the planets and of the universe in regular rotation, or the production and destruction of things according to the arrangement and combination of elements, as explained in the teachings of the philosophers.

_Ninth Grade._ In this grade the disciple was taught the doctrines of the philosophers and what they have stated about the heavens, the stars, the soul, the intelligence, and other like things: in all he was made grades which were a later addition were more definitely based on the teachings of the Greek philosophers which had been popularised in the Muslim world. At the same time the disciple learned that Abraham, Moses, and the other prophets were only founders of legal and social systems; they had received their learning from Plato, and the other philosophers who consequently are more important than the prophets commonly revered. He was especially taught to abhor the Arabs because they had been responsible for slaying Husayn, for which crime they were deprived of all rights to the Khalifate and Imamate, which were transferred to the Persians.

Maqrizi says that the members of ʿAbdullah sect who attained to the highest grade became _muʿattil_ and _ibahi_ (Maq. i. 348). Strictly speaking the former term denotes one who denies that the universe has a creator, and therefore implies that the initiated held the doctrine common to most of the Arabic “philosophers” of the eternity of matter. This teaching was one of the leading charges brought by the orthodox Muslims against Aristotle. The second term seems to mean “one who admits as (or makes) allowable,” and implies what would be described as antinomianism. Maqrizi continues that the initiated “did not any longer recognize any moral law, nor expect either punishment or future reward” (id.). The historian Nuwayri gives the same account of the Qarmatian branch of the Ismaʿilian sect. Such antinomianism is not at all unknown amongst Muslim devotees: thus Maqrizi (ii. 432) in another passage refers to the Qalandariya darwishes as a type of Sufis who disregard fasting and prayer, and have no reluctance to use any form of self-indulgence, saying that it is sufficient that their hearts are at peace with God. These darwishes were of Persian origin and appeared in Syria in the 7th cent. A.H., but their order had its beginning in the 5th cent. Antinomian ideas appear with the later Murjiʿites of the 2nd cent., and are represented in the doctrines of Jahm b. Safwan, who was put to death about 131, and was, characteristically enough, a Persian convert in rebellion against the Arab Khalif. Amongst these Murjiʿites we find the doctrine to assume the system of those who believed in the eternity of matter. Thus it will be seen the two highest _taqiya_ or “concealment,” which afterwards became common amongst the Shiʿites, the doctrine, namely, that profession of faith means only the confession of the soul to God, it being allowable that the true believer outwardly conforms to any religion.

Nuwayri also gives the form of contract proposed to a convert at the time of his initiation. This appears in two parts, to each of which the convert gives assent. They may be summarised thus:

(1) A promise before God, and before his Apostle, his prophets, angels, and envoys, to inviolable secrecy as to all the convert knows about the missionary, about the representative of the Imam in the district where he lives, as well as regarding all other members of the sect. A pledge to accept all the orthodox teachings of Islam, and to observe all its rites, both matters which, as we have seen, were required of the lower grades and disregarded by the higher ones.

(2) A pledge to loyalty towards the missionaries and the Imam, and the invocation of the curse of Iblis if this pledge is broken. “If you have any reservation, in will or thought, this oath nevertheless has full binding force upon you, and God will take no satisfaction other than the complete fulfilment of all it contains and of the agreements made between you and me.”

This oath, it will be observed, is intended for those initiated into the first grade, and so conforms to the idea of orthodox Islam, though including the Shiʿite doctrine of an Imam, but covers all that is to be taught later with a veil of secrecy. The plan was to adapt the earlier teaching to the beliefs and capacity of the proselytes, and this method is further illustrated by the _kitab as-siyasa_ or “book of policy,” a manual for the guidance of the _duʿat_, which Nuwayri describes on the authority of Abu l-Hasan.

According to this the teacher is told to emphasize his zeal for Shiʿite theories if he has to deal with a Shiʿite, to express sympathy with ʿAli and his two sons, and repugnance towards the Arabs who put them to death. If he has to deal with a Sabian, emphasis was laid on the reverence paid to the numeral seven. If his conversation was with a Zoroastrian, his principles are at the basis very similar to those of the Ismaʿilians, and with him the _daʿi_ may commence at the fourth grade. If his business is with a Jew, he should explain that the Mahdi Muhammad b. Ismaʿil is the Messiah expected by the Jews and speak much against the Muslims and Christians, especially about their erroneous beliefs as to the unique birth of Christ, making it plain that Joseph the carpenter was undoubtedly his father. With Christians, on the contrary, it is advised to speak ill of the Muslims and Jews, explaining that the Ismaʿilians recognise the Christian creed, but giving it an allegorical interpretation, and showing that the Paraclete is yet to come, and is the true Imam to whom they are invited to come. In dealing with dualists or Manichaeans the _daʿi_ may begin at the sixth grade of initiation, or if the convert seems worthy of confidence, the whole doctrine may be revealed at once. With one of the “philosophers” who, in true Muslim fashion, are treated as a distinct sect, emphasis is to be laid on the fact that the essential points of the Ismaʿilian faith are based on the teachings of philosophy, and the sect agrees with them in everything concerning the prophets and the eternity of the world; but some of the philosophers differ from the Ismaʿilians in admitting a Being who rules the world, though confessing that he is unknown. With “dualists,” _i.e._, Muslims of the sect so called (cf. De Sacy: _Druses_, p. lxviii., note 3), victory is sure; it is only necessary to dwell on the doctrine of the pre-existing and the second. With orthodox Sunnis the missionary is to speak with respect of the early Khalifs, avoid eulogies upon ʿAli and his sons, even mentioning some things about them which call for disapproval: great pains should be taken to secure Sunni adherents as they form most useful defenders. When dealing with a Shiʿite who accepts Musa, the son of Jaʿfar, and his descendants, great care is necessary: the _daʿi_ should dwell on the moral laws of Islam, but explain the sacred associations of the number seven. With some it is impossible to venture further and show that the religion of Muhammad is now abrogated, with others it is possible even to show that the ritual laws of the Qurʾan are obsolete, with a few he may proceed to admit that the _Kaʾim_ is really dead, that he comes back to the world only in a spiritual manner, and explain allegorically the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. Each is to be dealt with according to his beliefs, and care must be taken not to offend his religious prejudices. The _daʿi_ is advised to study the history of ancient legislators, their adventures, systems and sects, so as to have a fund of illustration which will arrest the attention of their pupils.

Such was the system formed by ʿAbdullah, probably somewhere before A.H. 250, and by him grafted on the already existing sect of Shiʿites, which upheld the claims of Ismaʿil, the son of Jaʿfar. In the reign of Maʾmun (A.H. 198-218) ʿAbdullah had joined the revolt of Ishaq b. Ibrahim at Karkh and Ispahan, and formed a close friendship with the wealthy Muhammad b. Husayn b. Jihan-Bakhtar ad-Didan, a Persian prominent for his intense hatred of the Arabs, and it was he who first supplied ʿAbdullah with funds to begin his propaganda (cf. Quatremère in _Journ. Asiat._, Aug., 1836). It is not easy to form any clear scheme of the chronology of the sect in its early days, nor to follow the details of its history: conspiracies and secret societies do not leave much in the way of documentary evidence of their first formation. That ʿAbdullah was associated with a rebellion in the reign of Maʾmun is hardly likely; it seems rather that Muhammad b. Husayn ad-Didan (Dandan, or Zaydan) was so associated, and he afterwards befriended ʿAbdullah. This Muhammad was secretary to Ahmad ibn ʿAbdu l-ʿAziz ibn Abi Dolaf, who became prince of Karaj in A.H. 265. No doubt ʿAbdullah was a younger contemporary, assisted by the old anti-Arab agitator. Certainly ʿAbdullah was established at Basra, whither he had removed from Persia, before 261 (_Fihrist_, 187), lodging there with the family of ʿAgil ibn Abi Talib. Thence he went to Syria, presumably finding suspicion aroused at Basra, and made his headquarters at Salamiya in the territory of Emessa (Maq. i., 348-9: ii., 11), and from there sent out missionaries who preached the claims of Muhammad b. Ismaʿil b. Jaʿfar as the “concealed” Imam, and of ʿAbdullah himself as the Mahdi or “guide,” who was to prepare men for the Imam’s return to earth (Maq. i., 348). At Salamiya he had a son named Ahmad, and when he died Ahmad succeeded him as head of the sect.

Ahmad, like his father, sent out missionaries, and one of these was instrumental in founding the important branch known as the _Qarmatians_, a branch so important and prominent that some, e.g., Jamal ad-Din, have regarded the Ismaʿilians as their off-shoot. The fact seems to be that there were at first members of one body, then circumstances gave the Qarmatians a political opening in Syria and ʿIraq, and, in a position of independence, they developed their doctrines more openly than the rest of the sect and, being drawn from the peasant class, these assumed a grosser form: whilst the other or parent community found a career in Africa but, as they became there a ruling minority with a subject majority of orthodox type, they were induced to observe some semblance of orthodoxy.

ʿAbdullah was succeeded as head of the Ismaʿilian sect by his son Ahmad. According to the _Fihrist_ he was succeeded first by his son Muhammad, then by a second son Ahmad, the latter being also described as the son of Muhammad, and so grandson of ʿAbdullah (_Fihrist_, p. 137). This Ahmad may be the one who was at Basra for some time, then at Kufa, whence in 266 or thereabouts he sent missionaries to Yemen; possibly he was the Ahmad al-Qaiyal who wrote a book on the Imamate, which was refuted by Razi (d. 320).

After Ahmad came his son Husayn, who died not long afterwards, leaving a son named Saʿid, who subsequently took the name of ʿUbayd Allah, and was the Mahdi who established the Fatimid State in North Africa, dying in A.H. 323 (= A.D. 934). That he was originally called Saʿid is generally admitted, but he appears variously as Saʿid son of Husayn son of Ahmad, and Saʿid son of Ahmad, and Saʿid son of Abu Shalaghlagh. The explanation given for these different names is that Ahmad had two sons, of whom the elder, Husayn, died whilst Saʿid was still young, and the son was adopted by his uncle Muhammad, the second son of Ahmad, who was also known as Abu Shalaghlagh.

There is a story that Saʿid or ʿUbayd Allah was the son of an obscure Jewish smith, whose widow was married to Husayn, son of Ahmad, and that he was adopted by his step-father. This is one of the three forms of what we may call the “Jewish legend,” the attempt to trace the Fatimid dynasty to a Jewish source. These three attempts are: (i.) that Maymun b. Daysan the oculist was a Jew; (ii.) that ʿUbayd Allah was really the son of a Jewish smith; and (iii.) that he was killed in prison at Sijilmassa, and afterwards personated by a Jewish slave. Probably the “Jewish legend” was associated with the fact that the renegade Jew, Ibn Killis, was the one who encouraged the Fatimids to invade Egypt and did most to organise their government there, and with the undoubted favouritism which the early Fatimids showed the Jews.

A new development in the teaching of the sect took place under Husayn, or possibly commenced under his father Ahmad. ʿAbdullah had been content to describe himself as the “Mahdi” or guide, who was to lead men to the Imam, who was Ismaʿil, or his son Muhammad; he made no claim to be himself a descendant of the Imam. Probably it was a later theory that the Imam was “concealed” only in the sense that he had to hide himself from the ʿAbbasid Khalif. Later still, when a Fatimid Khalif was actually ruling in Cairo, the claim to descent from ʿAli through ʿAbdullah and his family became a matter of heated controversy.

Historians differ very much as to how far the Fatimids succeeded in proving their ʿAlid descent, and contemporary opinion was quite as varied. Abu l-Hasan Muhammad Masawi, commonly known as Radi, born at Baghdad in 359 and dying in 406, was himself an undoubted descendant of Husayn the son of ʿAli, and was official keeper of the records of ʿAlid genealogy. As Abu l-Feda notes (_Ann. Mosl._, ii. 309) he, in one of his poems, fully admits the legitimate descent of the Fatimids of Egypt from ʿAli, and the actual passage is extant (cf. _Diwan_ of Radi, Beirut, p. 972): but in 402 this same Radi joined with other ʿAlids and certain canonists in a proclamation denouncing the Fatimids and declaring their claimed genealogy as baseless. It is natural to suppose that in this he was actuated by fear or complaisance, and this difficulty meets us throughout; the whole question was so much a matter of current political controversy that it was practically impossible to get anything like an unbiassed opinion. Maqrizi, the leading Egyptian authority of a later age, was strongly pro-Fatimid, but he claims the noble rank of _sayyid_ on the ground of descent from ʿAli through the Fatimids, and so is prejudiced in their favour. He argues that the ʿAlid descent of the Fatimids was never attacked by the acknowledged ʿAlids who then existed in considerable numbers (Maq. i., 349), an argument which is far from being true.

Elsewhere Maqrizi defends the Fatimid claims by saying that the ʿAlids were always suspected by the ʿAbbasid Khalifs, and so “they had no resort but to conceal themselves and were scarcely known, so that Muhammad b. Ismaʿil, the Imam ancestor of ʿUbayd Allah, was called the ‘concealed’” (Maq. i., 349). But this tells the other way: it admits that the ʿAlid genealogy was not well known: and the mere fact that ʿAbdullah was sought for by the Khalif simply shows that his pretensions were known to be dangerous, as a Mahdi with a body of followers would necessarily be, and is no proof of the validity of the descent afterwards claimed by ʿAbdullah’s descendants. The obscurity of the ʿAlid genealogy afterwards favoured the Fatimid claims, but it does not seem that that claim was part of their original programme. The first idea was to support the claims of the vanished Imam, claims selected in all probability because of the convenient fact that he had vanished, and to represent ʿAbdullah and his descendants simply as Mahdis, viceroys to guide and direct the people of Islam until the day came for the concealed Imam to be revealed again.

After the Fatimid claims had been laid before the world the ʿAbbasids brought forward many calumnies (Maq. i., 349). The strongly anti-Fatimid Ibn Khallikan relates a story that when the first Fatimid Khalif to enter Egypt, al-Moʿizz, came to Cairo, the jurist, Abu Muhammad ibn Tabataba, came to meet him, supported by a number of undoubted members of ʿAli’s family, and asked to see his credentials. Al-Moʿizz then drew his sword and cried, “Here is my pedigree”: and scattering gold amongst the by-standers added, “And this is my proof.” The story is an improbable legend, and even Ibn Khallikan rejects it on the ground that when al-Moʿizz entered Cairo, Abu Muhammad the jurist (d. 348) had been many years in his grave (Ibn Khall. iii., 366).

The weakest part of the Fatimid claim, as we have remarked, lies in the great diversity of forms the claim takes in different writers. When ʿUbayd Allah or Saʿid, ʿAbdullah’s great-grandson, established himself in Africa, the genealogy began to call for serious attention, and came to be examined, not by uncritical members of the sect, but by all the historians and genealogists of the Muslim world. It then appeared in no less than nine divergent forms.

(1) Traced through Jaʿfar as-Sadiq the sixth Imam, then through his son Ismaʿil, his son Muhammad “the concealed,” then Jaʿfar al-Musaddiq—Muhammad al-Habib—and then ʿUbayd Allah. Thus Maqrizi and Ibn Khaldun. According to this ʿAbdullah and Ahmad do not appear in the descent at all.

(2) Traced through Jaʿfar to Muhammad “the concealed” as in the preceding, then ʿAbdullah ar-Rida (the accepted of God),—Ahmad al-Wafi (the perfect),—al-Husayn at-Taki (the pious),—and ʿUbayd Allah the Mahdi. This appears in Ibn Khallikan and Ibn Khaldun, and seems to have been more or less the official version. According to this ʿAbdullah, the father of Ahmad, was the son of Mohammad “the concealed,” not of Maymun. Similarly the pro-Fatimid author of the _Dastur al-Munajjimin_ (MS. of M. Schefer, cited by de Goeje, _Qarmates_, pp. 8-9), who says that Muhammad b. Ismaʿil took refuge in India; he had six sons, Jaʿfar, Ismaʿil, Ahmad, Husayn, ʿAli, and ʿAbdu r-Rahman, but does not mention ʿAbdullah nor say which of these sons was the Imam: he then refers to the three “mysterious ones” as succeeding Muhammad. Tabari (iii., 2218, 12) says that Muhammad b. Ismaʿil had no son named ʿAbdullah.

(3) As before, but Maymun as son of Muhammad “the concealed,” then ʿAbdullah—Muhammad—Ubayd Allah; thus in Abu l-Feda. Maymun is made the son of the seventh Imam (which is impossible), and the Mahdi is represented as ʿAbdullah’s grandson (see below).

(4) Ismaʿil, son of Jaʿfar,—Muhammad “the concealed,”—Ismaʿil,—Ahmad,—Ubayd Allah. This also occurs in Abu l-Feda, and in ʿUbayd Allah’s “Genealogy of the ʿAlids” (MS. Leiden, 686—cited by de Goeje, _Qarmates_, p. 9) Muhammad had three sons, Ismaʿil II, Jaʿfar, and Yahya; Ismaʿil had a son named Ahmad, who dwelt in the Maghrab.

(5) Ismaʿil—Muhammad “the concealed,”—Ismaʿil II,—Muhammad,—Ahmad,—ʿAbdullah,—Muhammad,—Husayn,—Ahmad or ʿAbdullah,—Ubayd Allah the Mahdi. This is the genealogy given in the sacred books of the Druses, and rests on the theory that there must have been seven “concealed Imams” intervening between Jaʿfar as-Sadiq and the Mahdi. It is merely an instance of the mystic value attached to the sacred numeral. Like (3) it gives Muhammad for Ahmad which is a permissible variant.

(6) The five preceding genealogies are distinctively Ismaʿilian in character, but there are others which show adaptations of the “Twelvers” accounts, and these cannot be much more than later attempts to connect the Fatimid line with that recognised by the other Shiʿites. First we have the idea that the descent from Jaʿfar as-Sadiq was through Musa, not Ismaʿil, then following the next three Imams ʿAli ar-Rida—Muhammad al-Jawad—ʿAli al-Hadi (see above)—al-Hasan al-Askari—Ubayd Allah the Mahdi. According to this the Fatimite Mahdi in Africa was the son of the eleventh Imam of the “Twelvers,” and thus replaced Muhammad al-Muntazar.

(7) The same line as the preceding, but admitting Muhammad al-Muntazar as twelfth Imam who “disappeared” in 260, and asserting that ʿUbayd Allah who appeared in North Africa was this same Muhammad emerging from concealment, after an interval of 29 years.

(8) The same line as far as ʿAli al-Hadi, then Husayn, presumably a brother of Hasan al-Askari, and ʿUbayd Allah as son of this Husayn. This is given by Ibn Khallikan on the authority of a reference in Ibn al-Athir. All these three last genealogies must be dismissed as later suggestions since it is clear that the Ismaʿilian sect rejected the Imams of the “Twelvers” after Jaʿfar as-Sadiq: but it may be that Ahmad’s first claim was simply to be an ʿAlid, and not necessarily the son of the house of Ismaʿil.

(9) Finally we have another theory, mentioned by Ibn Khallikan, that the Mahdi was descended from Hasan, a brother of Jaʿfar as-Sadiq, and so an ʿAlid but not an Imam, and from this Hasan came ʿAbdullah, Ahmad, Hasan, and then ʿAli or ʿUbayd Allah the Mahdi. Back to ʿAbdullah this was the generally asserted genealogy of the Mahdi’s family, but Hasan, the brother of Jaʿfar, replaces Maymun.

The chief point is that there were so many alternative forms of the genealogy, and close scrutiny shows very weak points in every one of them. To the fully initiated this was a very small matter, as no importance was attached to the claim to the Imamate or to the descent from ʿAli at all. No doubt all these pedigrees served their purpose in dealing with the different types of proselytes, and their very diversity tends to prove that they were actually accepted and circulated in a sect which adapted its teachings to suit the opinions of the different classes with which it came into contact. It was not until the Fatimids became a political power that any need was felt to bring these various genealogies into any kind of agreement, and then, no doubt, the variant forms circulated by the different missionaries were a source of embarrassment.

III

THE QARMATIANS

We turn now to the formation of the important branch of the Ismaʿilian sect known as the Qarmatians, which is particularly interesting as we have detailed accounts of its formation which show how the propaganda worked, and illustrate the ease with which an armed group could set up an independent robber state in this period of the decay of the Khalifate. Of the history of their founding there are two leading narratives slightly divergent in details,—which De Goeje (pp. 13-17) calls A. and B. A. given by De Sacy (_Druses_, pp. clxvi., etc.) is that of Nuwayri, who drew his information from Akhu Muhsin, who obtained it from Ibn Razzam, and the substance, drawn from the same sources, appears in the _Fihrist_. B. (in De Sacy clxxi., etc.) is really the account given by Tabari, and is based on the description given by a person who had been present at the examination of Zaqruyah the Qarmatian by Muhammad b. Dawud b. al-Jarrah. The A. account is as follows.

One of Ahmad’s missionaries named Husayn Ahwazi was sent to labour in the district of Kufa known as the Sawad. As he was travelling he met a man named Hamdan b. Ashhath al-Qarmati, who was leading an ox with forage on its back. Husayn asked him the way to a place named Kass-Nahram, and Hamdan replied that he was going there himself. Then Husayn asked him where was a place named Dawr, and Hamdan told him that was his home. So they went on together. Then Hamdan says: “You seem to have come a long way and to be very tired: get on this ox of mine.” But Husayn declined, saying that he had not been told to do so. Hamdan remarked: “You speak as though you acted according to the orders which some one had given you.” Husayn admitted that this was so. “And who,” Hamdan asked, “it is then from whom you receive these orders and prohibitions?” Husayn replied: “It is my master and yours, the master of this world and of the world to come.” After some reflection Hamdan said: “There is only God most High who is master of all things.” “True,” replied Husayn, “but God entrusts control to whom he pleases.” Hamdan then asked, “What do you intend to do in the village to which you have asked to be directed?” “I am going,” said Husayn, “to bring to many people who dwell there a knowledge of the secrets of God. I have received orders to water the village, to enrich the inhabitants, to deliver them, and to put them in possession of their masters’ goods.” Then he began to persuade Hamdan to embrace his teaching. Hamdan said: “I beseech you in the name of God to reveal to me what you possess of this wisdom: deliver it to me, and God will deliver you.” “That,” said Husayn, “is a thing I cannot do, unless I previously get from you an undertaking and bind you in the name of God by a promise as an oath like that which God has always exacted from his prophets and apostles. After that I shall be able to tell you things which will be useful to you.” Hamdan continued to urge, and at last Husayn gave way, and as they sat by the roadside Husayn administered the oath to him and asked his name. Hamdan replied that he was commonly known as the _Qarmat_, and invited Husayn to take up his abode with him. So Husayn went to his house and gained many converts from Hamdan’s kinsmen and neighbours. There he stayed for some time, arousing in his host and others the strongest admiration of the ascetic and pious life he led, fasting by day, and watching by night. He worked as a tailor, and it was generally felt that the garments which had passed through his hands were consecrated. When the date harvest came a learned and wealthy citizen of Kufa named Abu ʿAbdullah Muhammad b. ʿUmar b. Shabab Adawi, hearing good reports of him, made him guardian of his date garden, and found him scrupulous in his attention and honesty. Husayn revealed his doctrines to this employer, but he saw through the piety which had impressed the villagers and understood that he was a conspirator. Before his death Husayn appointed Hamdan as _daʿi_ in his place. This is an outline of the narrative of the origin of the Qarmatians, so called as the followers of Hamdan the Qarmat, according to the Sherif Abu l-Hasan as reported in the history of Nuwayri.

Gregory Bar Hebraeus gives a different account which appears also in Bibars Mansuri and in another part of Nuwayri who cites the authority of Ibn Athir, and this is the second account which de Goeje calls B. According to it a Persian of Khuzistan established himself in the Nahrayn or district between the rivers, near Hufa, and soon drew attention by the asceticism and piety of his life. When anyone went and sat by him he used to discourse about religion and try to induce his hearers to renounce the world; he taught that it was a matter of obligation to pray fifty times a day, and that it was his office to guide men to the true Imam whose abode he knew. Some merchants purchased the produce of the garden in which this recluse had taken up his abode, and enquired for a trustworthy watchman to look after their property. The gardener introduced the recluse to them, and they gave him charge of the produce. When they came to take away their dates they paid the watchman, and he, on his part, paid the gardener for the dates supplied to him, deducting a rebate for the stones. The merchants saw this reckoning going on, and supposed that he had been selling some of their dates, so they struck him, saying, “Is it not enough that you have eaten our dates?—is it for you also to sell the stones?” The gardener then spoke up and told them the facts, and when they perceived their error they made their apologies and conceived a very high opinion of his rectitude and probity. Some time later he fell ill, and the gardener sent for a certain villager commonly known as _Qaramita_, a word which in the Nabataean language means a man with red eyes. This villager’s real name is not given, but Tabari adds that Muhammad b. Dawud b. al-Jarrah said to someone that he was called Hamdan. He was an owner of oxen which were used to carry the produce of Sawad to the city of Kufa. He took the sick man to his house and there the devotee stayed until he was quite well, and whilst there taught the Qaramita the doctrines of the sect to which he belonged, and also instructed the villagers. From amongst his converts he chose twelve _nakibs_, in imitation of Moses and Jesus, and sent them out as missionaries. He required his followers to pray fifty times a day, and as a result the work of the villagers fell into arrears. A certain Haysam who possessed property in the village perceived this and made enquiry as to the reason; this led him into contact with the devotee who was induced to reveal to him his peculiar doctrines. Haysam perceived their subversive character and took him to Kufa where he locked him up in his house, but a female servant who was moved by the captive’s apparent piety stole the key and set him free. In the morning the room was found empty, and this was reported as a miracle. Soon afterwards the devotee re-appeared to the villagers and told them that he had been set free by angels, and then he escaped to Syria. After his departure the Qaramata continued to preach and expand the doctrines which he had learned, and in this was assisted by the other nakibs. According to Ibn Athir, cited by Nuwayri, this Qaramat or Hamdan was a man who “affected a religious life, detached from the world and mortified,” and “when anyone joined his sect Hamdan took a piece of gold from him, saying that it was for the Imam. From them (_i.e._, his followers) he chose twelve _nakibs_ whom he charged to call men to his religion, saying that they were the apostles of Isa b. Maryam.”

The A. text refers to Husayn’s death, the B. text says that he went to Syria. Tabari speaks of the devotee as coming from Khuzistan, but Akhu Muhsin says that he was sent by Ahmad from Salamiya. De Goeje (p. 18) suggests that he may have been Ahmad’s son Husayn. According to the _Kitab al-Oyun_ (MS. Berlin, 69—cited by de Goeje) Saʿid, the son of Husayn, the son of Ahmad, the son of ʿAbdullah, was born at Salamiya in 259 or 260. But evidently there is some error here. Husayn was the grandson, not the son, of Abdullah, and the head of the sect did not leave Askar Mokram before 266: probably not until after the repression of the slave rebellion in 270. No open revolt of the Qarmatians took place until 286.

In his _Chronicle_ Bar Hebraeus applies to the sect of the _Nusayri_ 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.