The Qarmatians of Bahrain

Goeje, M[ichael] J[an] de. Mémoire sur les Carmathes du Bahrain et les Fatimides.

Leiden, E. J. Brill, 1886.

8vo. 1 bl. f., (6), 232 pp. Original front printed wrapper cover bound within contemporary red half morocco with marbled boards and giltstamped spine. Marbled endpapers.

 3.000,00

Mémoires d'Histoire et de Géographie Orientales, No. 1, second edition (first published in 1862). Standard work on a medieval Shi'a Ismaili group, the Qarmatians of Bahrain, which at this period included much of eastern Arabia as well as the islands that comprise the present state. For much of the 10th century the Qarmatians were the most powerful force in the Persian Gulf and Middle East, controlling the coast of Oman and collecting tribute from the caliph in Baghdad. They instigated what has been termed a "century of terrorism" in Kufa: they considered the pilgrimage to Mecca a superstition and, once in control of the Bahraini state, they launched raids along the pilgrim routes crossing Arabia. In 906 they ambushed the pilgrim caravan returning from Mecca and massacred 20,000 pilgrims. The Qarmatians came close to raiding Baghdad in 927 and sacked Mecca and Medina in 930. The assault on Islam's holiest sites saw the Qarmatians desecrate the Well of Zamzam with corpses of Hajj pilgrims and take the Black Stone from Mecca to Al-Hasa.

The Dutch Arabist and Orientalist de Goeje (1836-1909) taught at the University of Leiden. He was editor of the "Encyclopaedia of Islam" and collated the Bodleian manuscripts of al-Idrisi.

A few contemporary pencil notes in the margins. With an appendix containing relevant Arabic texts. Minor rubbing to binding, but altogether a fine copy of this rare work; no copy in auction records.

Literatur

Macro, Bibliography of the Arabian Peninsula, 1052. OCLC 4738568. Cf. Fück 211 (for Goeje).

Art.-Nr.: BN#26875 Schlagwörter: , , ,