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CARMATHIANS (QARMATHIANS, KARMATHIANS)
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See also:CARMATHIANS (QARMATHIANS, KARMATHIANS) , a See also:Mahommedan See also:sect named after Hamdan Qarmat, who accepted the teaching of the Isma'ilites (see MAHOMMEDAN See also:RELIGION: Sects) from ITosain ul-Ahwazi, a missionary of Ahmed, son of the See also:Persian Abdallah See also:ibn Maimun, toward the See also:close of the 9th See also:century. This was in the Saw ad of See also:Irak, which was inhabited by a See also:people little attached to See also:Islam. The See also:object of Abdallah ibn Maimun had been to undermine Islam and the Arabian See also:power by a See also:secret society with various degrees, which offered inducements to all classes and See also:creeds and led men on from an See also:interpretation of Islam to a See also:total rejection of its teaching and a strict See also:personal submission to the See also:head of the society. For the See also:political See also:history of the Carmathians, their conquests and their decay, see See also:ARABIA: History; See also:CALIPHATE (sect. C. §§ 16, 17, 18, 23); and See also:EGYPT: History (Mahommedan See also:period). In their religious teaching they claimed to be See also:Shiites; i.e. they asserted that the imamate belonged by right to the descend-ants of See also:Ali. Further, they were of the Isma`ilite See also:branch of these, i.e. they acknowledged the claim to the imamate of See also:Ismail the eldest son of the See also:sixth See also:imam. The claim of Ismail had been passed over by his See also:father and many Shiites because he had been guilty of drinking See also:wine. The Isma'ilites said that as the imam could do no wrong, his See also:action only showed that wine-drinking was not sinful. Abdallah taught that from the creation of See also: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 (See also:dais). Hamdan Qarmat was one of these, Ahmed ibn Abdallah being nominally the See also:chief. 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 See also:stage the convert was taught the existence of See also:mystery in the See also:Koran and made to feel the See also:necessity of a teacher who could explain it. He took an See also:oath of See also:complete submission and paid a sum of See also:money. In the second stage the earlier teachers of Islam were shown to be wrong in See also: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 See also:error. In the See also:fourth the See also:disciple learnt that each of the seven imams had a See also:prophet, who was to be obeyed in all things. The prophet of the last imam was Abdallah. The doctrine of Islam was that See also: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 the believer was induced to give up these practices (See also:prayer, See also:fasting, See also:pilgrimage, &c.). At this point the Carmathian had completely ceased to be a Moslem. In the remaining degrees there was more See also:liberty of See also:opinion 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 See also:influence. In See also:Persia and See also:Syria their See also:work was taken up by the Assassins (q.v.). Their doctrines are said, however, to exist still in parts of Syria, Persia, Arabia and See also:India, and to be still propagated in See also:Zanzibar. See See also:Journal asiatique (1877), vol. i. pp. 377-386. (G. W. T.) CARMAUX, a See also:town of See also:southern See also:France, in the See also:department of See also:Tarn, on the See also:left See also:bank of the Cerou, 10 m. N. of See also:Albi by See also:rail. Pop. (1906) 8618. The town gives its name to an important See also:coal-See also:basin, and carries on the manufacture of See also:glass. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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