Abu Sa'id al-Jannabi

Abu Sa'id Hasan ibn Bahram al-Jannabi
Abu Sa'id Hasan ibn Bahram al-Jannabi
Ruler of the Qarmatian Isma'ilism

Abu Sa'id Hasan ibn Bahram al-Jannabi (

Hajar, in 903, and extended his rule south and east into Oman. He was assassinated in 913, and succeeded by his eldest son Sa'id

.

His religious teachings and political activities are somewhat unclear, as they are reported by later and usually hostile sources, but he seems to have shared the

Isma'ili belief about the imminent return of the mahdī, hostility to conventional Islamic rites and rituals, and to have based the Qarmatian society on the principles of communal ownership and egalitarianism

, with a system of production and distribution overseen by appointed agents. The Qarmatian "republic" he founded would last until the late 11th century.

Early life

Abu Sa'id was of

furrier or flour merchant, initially in his native Jannaba, and later in the vicinity of Kufa, where he moved.^[2]

There he married into the Banu'l-Qassar family, who were prominent members of the

Sunni authorities. His treasure and stores were confiscated, but Abu Sa'id managed to escape and went into hiding, perhaps in Basra.^[2]^[3]

Conquest of Bahrayn

According to the report of

Bahrayn, a region encompassing all of eastern Arabia from the borders of Iraq to Qatar.^[4] Bahrayn is generally ignored by the historical sources of the period; the area was under Abbasid rule, but according to the Encyclopaedia of Islam, "the Arabic sources fail to tell much about its extent or effectiveness".^[5]

According to the 10th-century historian

al-Mas'udi, Abu Sa'id arrived there in 886/7, but other sources place this at different dates, from 894 to 896, or even as late as 899, by which time however he is known to have established himself as a power in the area; as a result the later dates are unlikely to be correct.^[2] Abu Sa'id initially assumed the role of a flour merchant in the town of Qatif, where he established crucial bonds with the Banu Sanbar, a Thaqafi family of some prominence: the three sons, Hasan, Ali and Hamdan, became his closest supporters, while Hasan's daughter became his wife. The family would continue to play a leading role in the Qarmatian state over the next decades.^[2] According to Ibn Hawqal and Akhu Muhsin, the Isma'ili community he founded initially consisted of the "small folk, butchers, porters, and the like".^[4] At Bahrayn he encountered another Isma'ili dā'ī, Abu Zakariya al-Tamami, who had been sent by the Yemeni dā'ī Ibn Hawshab, and who had managed to convert the Banu Kilab tribe. A certain rivalry ensued, but for long the two became reluctant partners, until Abu Sa'id finally had Abu Zakariya imprisoned and killed.^[2]^[6] Abu Sa'id nevertheless managed to gain the backing not only of the Kilab, but also of the Banu Uqayl, who became the core of his military forces.^[2]

The

blood feud. Joining Abu Sa'id's revolutionary doctrine gave them not only the prospect of booty and power, but also of redemption.^[7]

With the backing of a strong Bedouin army, Abu Sa'id began attacking towns in the area: Qatif,

Banu 'l-Ukhaidhir who ruled it at the time, and who later became allies of the Qarmatians.^[2] At some unknown point, Abu Sa'id even captured the island of Awal (modern Bahrain), and imposed tariffs on shipping there.^[2]

In 899, a major rift occurred in the Isma'ili movement, when Hamdan Qarmat and Abu Muhammad Abdan denounced the movement's secret leadership at

Sa'id ibn al-Husayn, the future founder of the Fatimid Caliphate. Shortly after that, Hamdan Qarmat disappeared, while Abu Muhammad was murdered in the same year at the instigation of Zakarawayh ibn Mihrawayh, apparently on the instructions of Salamiya.^[8]^[9] After Hamdan's disappearance, the term "Qarmatians" was retained by all Isma'ilis who refused to recognize the claims of Sa'id, and subsequently of the Fatimid dynasty.^[10] Abu Sa'id likewise rejected Sa'id's claims; apart from ideological reasons and loyalty to his masters, political considerations may also have played a role, as this was "a favourable opportunity to make himself completely independent", as Wilferd Madelung put it.^[11]^[12] It was also at that time, according to Ibn Hawqal, that he had his rival Abu Zakariya al-Tamami imprisoned and executed, as he remained loyal to Sa'id.^[2]^[13]^[12] In later decades the Fatimids launched attempts to get the Qarmatian communities to recognize their leadership, but although they were successful in some areas, throughout their existence, the Qarmatians in Bahrayn refused to do so.^[14] Neither, however, did Abu Sa'id try to coordinate his movements with the other Qarmatian groups active in the Abbasid territories, such as the rebellions launched in Syria and Iraq by Zakarawayh ibn Mihrawayh and his sons in 901–907.^[15]

By 899, Abu Sa'id's followers controlled most of Bahrayn, except for the regional capital

pillaging that followed.^[1]^[2]

Despite the destruction visited upon it, Hajar remained the chief city and capital of Bahrayn. Abu Sa'id, however, established his own palatial residence at al-Ahsa oasis,[2] where he ruled in the traditional manner of an Arab prince.^[16] From Bahrayn, the Qarmatians launched a series of raids against the vicinities of Basra, both to capture slaves and in retaliation for the participation of the local Zabba tribe in the 900 campaign against them.^[2] The most notable of these raids occurred in July/August 912, but although the local Abbasid governor was reportedly unable to confront it, the sources report that the force involved was very small, barely 30 men.^[2]^[18]

Governance and doctrine

As the founder of the Qarmatian "

guilds,^[19] and a council, the al-ʿIqdāniyya, comprising representatives of leading families and senior officials, was also established in an advisory capacity.^[20] Some modern commentators have described this system as a "kind of socialism",^[21] the Qarmatians as the "Bolsheviks of Islam",^[22] and their state as the "only communist society to control a large territory, and to endure for more than a generation, before the twentieth century".^[23]

His religious teachings are less clear, as the Qarmatians of Bahrayn left no testimonies of their own; what is known about them is reported by few, foreign, and usually heavily hostile sources.

Abdallah ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah, whose appearance was expected in 912, the year 300 of the Hijri calendar, but this information is of dubious reliability.^[2] When the date passed without incident—in the meantime Sa'id had declared himself as the mahdī and founded the Fatimid Caliphate in Ifriqiya—the failure of the prophecy is said to have caused considerable embarrassment to the Qarmatian regime.^[24]

Following Isma'ili expectations that the mahdī would reveal the "hidden" or "inner" (bāṭin) truths of the religion to his followers, thus ushering an "age of pure spiritual knowledge" and making religious laws and customs obsolete,^[25] Abu Sa'id abolished numerous Islamic rites, such as prayer and fasting.^[2]

Death and succession

Al-Mas'udi reports that Abu Sa'id was murdered in June/July 913 while taking his bath in his palace by two

ṣaqlabī eunuch slaves. Several of his higher-ranking officers and followers were killed at the same time, including Ali and Hamdan ibn Sanbar. However, the death was not reported in Baghdad until the summer of 914, perhaps indicating that it was kept secret until then.^[1]^[2] The reason for his murder is unknown, but Heinz Halm suggests it may be linked to the failed prophecy on the appearance of the mahdī the previous year.^[24]

He left seven [1] or six^[24] sons, who due to their youth were at first under the tutelage of their uncle Hasan, the last of the three Banu Sanbar brothers.^[24] Power was likely nominally invested among all of Abu Sa'id's sons,^[26] as a response composed soon after Abu Sa'id's death to a letter from the Abbasid vizier was written on behalf of all sons.^[24] Among his sons, the oldest, Abu'l-Qasim Sa'id al-Jannabi, was at first the pre-eminent, but his reign was brief; he was replaced by the youngest son, Abu Tahir al-Jannabi, at the latest by 923.^[27]^[28] The reason and manner of the transition is unclear. Most Arabic sources agree that Abu Sa'id had appointed him as his heir, but that he was deposed in 923 by Abu Tahir. Another tradition, by the Kufan anti-Isma'ili polemicist Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Rizam al-Ta'i, reports that Abu Sa'id had always intended for Abu Tahir to succeed him, and had named Sa'id only as regent, and that Sa'id voluntarily relinquished power to his brother in 917/918.^[27]