THE VARIOUS RELIGIOUS SECTS

[1Sidenote: [750-945 A.D.]]

2In all times the Moslem empire had been disturbed by a variety of religious sects. Under the Abbasids the Mutazilites had promulgated a lofty faith which had exerted great influence over noble minds. There were others which had confined themselves to protesting against the license of the times and demanding social reformation, while many had been made merely the instrument of personal ambition. Among the most prominent were the Rawandis, a fanatical sect who believed that to caliphs should be accorded the worship due to divinities, and who so importuned Al-Mansur with their adoration that he caused them to be cut to pieces by his guards. More formidable were the Zendians, who boldly maintained that the holding of property was a crime, and that man should not eat the flesh of animals.

3They were mercilessly pursued and exterminated. In 781 Mokanna incited the population of Khorasan to revolt, and in 834 Babik founded in Aderbaijan the sect of the Ismailians, who professed, according to Arab historians, the most pronounced materialism, and for four years resisted all Mutasim’s efforts to put them down. Of all the sects, however, none promulgated its beliefs with such rapidity and success as that of the Karmathians, who, in the tenth century, infested Arabia and wrested from the caliphs their spiritual and temporal power over the whole eastern part of the peninsula.

4[Illustration: AN ARAB CAVALIER

5(Based on decorations in the Alhambra)]

6Karmat retained most of the doctrines of the _Koran_, recognising Ali and the seven imams as direct descendants of Mohammed, and rejecting only the theory of revelation. He had devised a system of successive degrees into which his followers were to be initiated, and the last of these, according to Nowairi and Makrizi, was atheism. It is not likely that a belief of this nature would have found many adherents had not Karmat preached at the same time abolition of slavery. Fighting in the name of liberty, his partisans overcame all opponents; but having enriched themselves by pillage they fell into the most grievous excesses and incurred general contumely.

7The series of their victories commenced under the reign of Mutadid, when after defeating one of his generals they advanced on Cufa, and reduced and pillaged it. During the reign of Muktafi they carried their arms as far as Palestine, and even threatened Damascus. Their ablest chief, Abu Tahir, conducted them on another expedition against Cufa, as a result of which the city was totally destroyed; then drawing near to Baghdad he repulsed the attack of an army of thirty thousand men. “Are your master’s soldiers as devoted as mine?” asked Abu Tahir of one of the Moslem generals. He then commanded one of his men to plunge a sword into his own breast, another to leap into the Tigris, and a third to precipitate himself from the top of a high cliff; all of which commands were immediately obeyed.

8Some years previously (930) the Karmathians had besieged Mecca and massacred two thousand persons; they also destroyed the temple of the Kaaba, carried off the famous Black Stone, and choked up the well of Zemzem. In the Hamdanites and Ikhshidites they finally met adversaries who were their match; and after suffering defeat in several encounters they retired permanently to the deserts of Syria and Bahrain.

9In addition to the powerful reformers who aimed at nothing less than the destruction of both the temporal and spiritual authority of the caliphs, there were numerous philosophers and ascetics who created schisms in the very heart of Islam. The most important of these minor sects was that of the Sufis, whose aim was to hold the soul in constant communication with God by destroying all natural sentiment and affection. Though frequently persecuted by the caliphs, the apostles of Sufism succeeded in spreading their doctrines through all Persia, thus hastening the extinction of Islam, which was every day losing more ground. The existence of the Shiites and the Sunnites was a further check on the growth of the Moslem faith; and the first Abbasids having failed to establish religious unity, the troubles resulting from such a confusion of creeds were constantly on the increase. Born enemies of the Omayyads though they were, the Abbasids, fearing to let the Alids or Shiites gain too much power, were avowedly on the side of the Sunnites and persecuted all who opposed their views.

10[Sidenote: [900-1020 A.D.]]

11After many vain attempts to gain the throne the Alids sought to found a dominion for themselves in some of the dismembered provinces. One of their number was for a short time ruler of Tabaristan, but was unable to maintain his supremacy. In Africa they were more fortunate, the Edrisites succeeding in establishing themselves in Mauretania, while in 908 Obaid Allah, who assumed the title of imam, rallied the whole Maghreb to his cause and overthrew the dynasty of the Aghlabites. Gradually extending his dominion further along the coast, he laid the foundations of the Fatimite rule in Kairwan and Mahdiya, and was already stretching out his hand toward Egypt when death cut short his plans.

12His immediate successors, Abul-Kasim (936-945) and Al-Mansur (945-953), were unable to shake the position of the adroit and valiant Ikhshid; but they placed themselves in communication with the Arabian Shiites in Hedjaz and Yemen, and gained many friends by means of largess wisely distributed. At Ikhshid’s death disputes arose as to the succession, and Muiz-lidinillah, who replaced Al-Mansur (953), penetrated into the interior of the country, received the submission of the emirs, and became the first Fatimite caliph in Egypt. From this period the Fatimites had the advantage in the spiritual struggle with the Abbasids.

13After founding Great Cairo (972) they conquered Syria and a part of Jezira, and their supremacy was acknowledged by nearly all the populations of Arabia, who hoped to find in them a defence against the Karmathians in future.

14Thus three realms, which were governed respectively by the Fatimites, the Buyids, and the Samanids, formed the whole of the Arabian empire at the close of the tenth century; and the history of that period is most interesting, since it shows how centres of civilisation may shift; not at Baghdad but at Cairo were Arabian luxury and culture henceforth to shine with their brightest lustre.

15Under the Fatimites commerce, industry, agriculture, the arts and sciences flourished in Egypt as they had flourished in Asia under the early Abbasids. Magnificent works were constructed to connect the little town of Fostat with Mesra, and splendid mosques were added to those erected by Tulun. It seemed to be the wish of the caliphs to efface from every mind the remembrance of the glories of Baghdad; and they were also most zealous in administering the government of their realm, giving their personal attention to the assessment and collection of taxes. Thanks to the remarkable fertility of the land, they were soon in receipt of a revenue nearly as large as those of Harun ar-Rashid.

16Muiz and Aziz were wise and moderate in their expenditures and just in their rule; but Hakim who succeeded them (996-1020) was like an evil genius on the throne. He reduced his subjects to a state of the most abject submission, and maintained a wonderfully organised system of police which kept him informed of the slightest occurrences, thus giving rise to the belief that he was omniscient. He was in fact worshipped as a divinity, and his sudden disappearance but confirmed the universal faith, inasmuch as it was publicly stated that he had ascended to heaven whence he would again descend to earth at a later day. One or two facts will serve to give an idea of the blind despotism of Hakim.

17He set fire to Cairo that he might enjoy the sight of the city in flames, and he tortured Jews and Christians to make them renounce their religion, then gave them permission to return to it again. Terror reigned wherever he appeared; yet he respected and encouraged learned men and caused the astronomical tables of Ibn Junis to be dedicated to him. He is supposed to have been assassinated by one of his sisters, who then assumed the regency in the name of his son Dhahir, who was still a child (1020-1036). On the death of Dhahir, Abu Temim Mustansir ascended the throne and held it for fifty-eight years.

18Being acknowledged ruler of Africa and Arabia and proclaimed their spiritual sovereign by the inhabitants of Baghdad, who were weary of the rule of Kaim-biamrillah, Mustansir was at one time on the point of re-establishing the universal caliphate; but he was shortly afterward punished for his ambitious schemes by the loss of the best part of Syria, and it was with difficulty that he could maintain his supremacy even in Palestine.

19[Sidenote: [933-1094 A.D.]]

20The Buyids, who had taken possession of Persia in 933, and were all-powerful in Irak-Arabia and Baghdad, did not continue to shine for so long a period as the Fatimites, but their era was ushered in a little earlier. During the last half of the tenth century, after the Turkish militia had been destroyed and the Hamdamites driven from Jezira and Mosul, the Buyids were without rivals in Asia, and the continuance of peace permitted them to carry on the work begun by Al-Mamun. Two of their princes, Adhud ad-Daula and Sharaf ad-Daula, revived the taste for literature by themselves becoming authors, and to them is due the credit of restoring upon a sound basis the school of Baghdad, which during their reign was to produce so many learned men.

21Adhud ad-Daula did not rest content with showering benefits on poets and scholars; he caused engineers of the highest merit to sink the bed of the river Bendemir in Persia, thus preventing the inundations which were so frequent and disastrous near Shiraz, and furnishing an improved water-way for commerce. A magnificent hospital was erected at Baghdad, and at its inauguration a festival was given which is still famous in the annals of the East.

22Unfortunately the Buyids succeeded no better than the caliphs in transmitting their power to their descendants by means of fixed laws; they actually paved the way for the dismemberment of the empire they had founded, and laid it open to revolution and disaster by the impolitic manner in which they distributed its provinces and dependencies among their children.

23The dominion of the Samanids, after lasting for more than a century, came to an end at about the same time. Alp Tegin, a Turkish slave who had risen to a position of dignity under Abdul-Malik, failed in his attempt to get the reins of power into his own hands at the death of that monarch, and fled to Ghazni, where he gradually assumed control of public affairs, and for sixteen years successfully resisted all efforts of the Samanids to overthrow him.

24Subuktigin, the wise general and councillor who succeeded him in 995, carried the Moslem faith and arms into India, ravaging the Punjab, founding the cities of Bast and Kasdar and defending the Samanids against the Turks who were invading the Mawarannahar. He designated his youngest son, Ismail, to succeed him; but the eldest, Mahmud, at the head of an armed force, proclaimed himself an independent sovereign and became rich with the plunder of India. He defeated the Samanids without difficulty and became master of Khorasan in 1000, thus extending as far as the Caspian Sea an empire that began at the Indus and Ganges and embraced the territories known to-day as Afghanistan, Herat, and Baluchistan. Mahmud was the first of the oriental princes to assume the title of sultan.

25Ghazni was his capital, hence the name “Ghaznevid” given him by historians, and the cities of Kanaiy, Lahore, and Delhi in India, where the greatest renown was gained, paid him tribute. He further devastated the kingdom of Guzerat and destroyed the pagoda of Somnath, the magnificence of which defies description. Two thousand Brahmans were employed in the service of this temple, and its idol was formed of a single stone fifty cubits high. Immense sums were offered to Mahmud as a ransom for this idol, which was the most revered in Hindustan, but he inexorably refused them all.

26[Sidenote: [852-1055 A.D.]]

27While Mahmud’s troops were swarming over India, Mawarannahar fell into the power of the tribes of Turkestan. The sultan committed the error of allowing these enemies to remain, and himself introduced into his dominions the Seljuk Turks, who had recently been converted to Islam, and demanded grants of land in Khorasan. Masud, who succeeded his father in 1028, tried to rid himself of these formidable neighbours, but was defeated and could do no more thereafter than remain on the defensive. Toghril Beg, grandson of Seljuk, soon gained a second victory more decisive than the first over the Ghaznevids and drove them back towards India. Turning westward he invaded Khawarizm, Jorjan, Irak-Djeni, and then invaded the dominions of the Buyid princes.

28The greatest disorder reigned at Baghdad. To escape the troubles by which he was beset, the caliph Kaim had placed himself under the protection of Toghril Beg, and relinquished the temporal power over all the states of Islam to that prince, who had made great display of piety by erecting temples to Mohammed in all the conquered cities. The ceremony of the investiture took place in Baghdad. After kissing the dust before the caliph, who was clothed in the black garments of the Abbasids, Toghril Beg ascended the throne that had been especially prepared for him and received upon his head the two crowns which signified his sovereignty over the double realm of Persia and Arabia. To further cement this union of the East with the West, the sister of Toghril Beg was given to the caliph in marriage, and the title of sultan was introduced in the _khotba_, or official prayer.

29No sooner had the Turks withdrawn, however, than a general uprising took place at Baghdad, and Abu Temim Mustansir, the Fatimite ruler of Egypt, was proclaimed caliph in place of Kaim. True to his conciliatory policy the sultan came to the rescue of the imprisoned Abbasid prince and replaced him on the throne.

30While the Arab predominance was being destroyed little by little, the Greeks were making renewed efforts to regain some of the colonies they had lost. As early as 852 their fleets had carried destruction to the town of Damietta, and a century later they had penetrated as far as Aleppo and had pillaged the treasures of Saif ad-Daula, the Hamdanite prince. Two of their emperors, Nicephorus and Zimisces (963-976), had crossed the Euphrates and made Jezireh swarm with their troops, while a great many strongholds had been reconquered as well as the country Cilicia and the island of Cyprus.

31Incapable as they were of resisting the incursions of the Greeks, how were the Baghdad caliphs to check the advance of the warrior hordes of Turkestan, whom the Seljuks had gathered under their banner by the promise of spoils to be gained in the lands they were to conquer? The scattered tribes which the Samanids had easily repulsed in 893 were now united under one chief and formed a mighty force that, sweeping down all obstacles, was to subjugate the whole of western Asia and maintain its supremacy there for centuries to come.