CARMATHIANS (QARMATHIANS, KARMATHIANS)

This article appears in Volume V05, Page 357 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: CAR-CAU

CARMATHIANS (QARMATHIANS, KARMATHIANS) , a Mahommedan sect named after Hamdan Qarmat, who accepted the teaching of the Isma'ilites (see MAHOMMEDAN RELIGION: Sects) from ITosain ul-Ahwazi, a missionary of Ahmed, son of the Persian Abdallah ibn Maimun, toward the close of the 9th century. This was in the Saw ad of Irak, which was inhabited by a people little attached to Islam. The object of Abdallah ibn Maimun had been to undermine Islam and the Arabian power by a

secret

SECRET (Lat. secretum, hidden, concealed)

society with various degrees, which offered inducements to all classes and creeds and led men on from an interpretation of Islam to a total rejection of its teaching and a strict personal submission to the head of the society. For the political history of the Carmathians, their conquests and their decay, see ARABIA: History; CALIPHATE (sect. C. 16, 17, 18, 23); and

EGYPT

EGYPT

: History (Mahommedan period).
In their religious teaching they claimed to be

Shiites

SHIITES (from Arab. shi`a, a party, and then a sect)

; i.e. they asserted that the imamate belonged by right to the descend-ants of Ali. Further, they were of the Isma`ilite branch of these, i.e. they acknowledged the claim to the imamate of Ismail the eldest son of the

sixth

SIXTH

imam. The claim of Ismail had been passed over by his father and many

Shiites

SHIITES (from Arab. shi`a, a party, and then a sect)

because he had been guilty of drinking wine. The Isma'ilites said that as the imam could do no wrong, his action only showed that wine-drinking was not sinful. Abdallah taught that from the creation of man there had always been an imam sometimes known, sometimes hidden. Ismail was the last known; a new one was to be looked for. But while the imam was hidden, his doctrines were to be taught by his missionaries (

dais

DAIS (Fr. dais, estrade, Ital. predella)

). Hamdan Qarmat was one of these, Ahmed ibn Abdallah being nominally the

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

. The adherents of this party were initiated by degrees into the secrets of its doctrines and were divided into seven (afterwards nine) classes. In the first stage the convert was taught the existence of mystery in the Koran and made to feel the necessity of a teacher who could explain it. He took an oath of complete submission and paid a sum of money. In the second stage the earlier teachers of Islam were shown to be wrong in doctrine and the imams alone were proved to be infallible. In the third it was taught that there were only seven imams and that the other sects of the Shiites were in error. In the fourth the disciple learnt that each of the seven imams had a prophet, who was to be obeyed in all things. The prophet of the last imam was Abdallah. The doctrine of Islam was that Mahomet was the last of the prophets. In the fifth stage the uselessness of tradition and the temporary nature of the precepts and practices of Mahomet were taught, while in the

sixth

SIXTH

the believer was induced to give up these practices (prayer, fasting,

pilgrimage

PILGRIMAGE (Fr. pelerinage, Lat. peregrinatio)

, &c.). At this point the Carmathian had completely ceased to be a Moslem. In the remaining degrees there was more liberty of

opinion

OPINION (Lat. opinio, from opinari, to think)

allowed and much variety of belief and teaching existed.
The last contemporary mention of the Carmathians is that of Nasir ibn Khosrau, who visited them in A.D. 1050. In Arabia they ceased to exercise influence. In Persia and Syria their

work

WORK

was taken up by the Assassins (q.v.). Their doctrines are said, however, to exist still in parts of Syria, Persia, Arabia and India, and to be still propagated in

Zanzibar

ZANZIBAR

.
See Journal asiatique (1877), vol. i. pp. 377-386. (G. W. T.) CARMAUX, a town of southern France, in the department of Tarn, on the left bank of the Cerou, 10 m. N. of Albi by rail. Pop. (1906) 8618. The town gives its name to an important coal-basin, and carries on the manufacture of glass.

End of Article: CARMATHIANS (QARMATHIANS, KARMATHIANS)

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/CAR_CAU/CARMATHIANS_QARMATHIANS_KARMAT.html">
CARMATHIANS (QARMATHIANS, KARMATHIANS)
</a>

(Previous)
CARMARTHENSHIRE

(Next)
CARMEL

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email