Down to the sixth imam, Jafar al-Sadik (died 765), there was agreement among the Shiites; Jafar, however, had two sons, Ismail and Alusa al-Kasim. The former, as the elder. should have been successor to the imamate. The father, how ever, is said to have declared in favor of Musa; and on death, a division ensued between the adherents of Ismail—the ISXIAILIANS ir ) —and those of Musa, the greater part of the Shiites following the latter.
From this time on the question of the iniamah received more and more a theological, mystical treatment. The notion of the iinam, in general, was that of an ever-living. though at times hid den. supreme guide of the people. who after a time is restored to humanity. or at least to the believing part of it. (See AlAilm.) The Is mailian doctrine was that the imam had been revealed in Ali, whereas during the preceding ages the imams had been concealed: that Ali himself had reappeared in every imam till the time of Ismail, and had then become invisible again; but that he would descend some day 'from the to unite all believers and to restore the pure faith. The real importance. however, of the lsmailians, who existed unobserved for some time, dates from Abd Allah ibn Maimun, whose father had been executed for professing materialistic doctrines aml trying to turn people away from the of Islam. Abd Allah seems to have practically carried out his notions. Aided by favorable he matured a plan which, for the boldness and genius of conception and for the energy and vigor with which it was carried out, has not many parallels in history. Nothing was contem plated than the union of the Arabie conquerors and the many races they had subjected since death, and the enthronement of what afterwards was called 'Pure Reason' as the sole deity'to be worshiped. The advanced should be free of all so-called religious fetters. which, as symbols and allegorical actions, should be laid all the heavier on the necks of the less advanced strata of society. The 'believers' and 'con were to be made missionaries for un belief and the implements for the destruction of their own empire. With an extraordinary knowl edge of the human heart and human weakness. he offered devotion to the believer; liberty, if not to the 'free in spirit'; philosophy to the mystic hopes to the fanat ics; miracles to the masses. The Messiah whom Abd Allah preached stood higher than :\ 1 oha mined himself, and, though he did not reject the Koran, he yet contrived to allegorize and symbolize away nearly all its narratives and precepts. An elaborate secret doctrine was worked out, into which the members of the sect were initiated by degrees. Missionary school, were established, and the instruction given to the young mission aries was artfully designed to win over nut merely all the different Mohammedan sects. both Su»nites and Shiites, hut also Jews and Chris By the time the neophyte had completed the ninth and coneluding of initiation, all his earlier religions had been explained away. He had learned that no miracle had ever been performed ; that the prophet is merely a man distinguished by his purity and the perfec tion of his intelligence: and that thi: purity of his intelligence is precisely what is called ecy.' God throws into the prophet's mind what. pleases Him, and that is what is understood by the 'Word of God.' The prophet clothes this Word afterwards with flesh and bones. and cumninni eatcs it to the chure•Iies. lie establishes by this means the systems of religious institutions which appear to him the most advantageous for the ruling of men; but these institutions and behests are but temporary. and intended for the preser vation of order and worldly interests. NO man who has knowledge nerd practice any single one of them: to him his knowledge suffices.
The creed of the Ismailians was gradually built up, and many changes were introduced into it at different times: from it sprang various other sects. The most notable is that of the
KAIIMATIIIANS, or CARMATII1ANS (so called from one of their leaders, surnamed _I 1-1;armat This sect sprang up in the ninth century, under the caliphate of Al-Mutamid, and by a combi nation of extraordinary circumstances succeeded in establishing itself for a time as a political power which threatened to overturn the caliphate itself. The practical exertions of Abd Allah ibn Maimun and their Wonderful results had soon at tracted the attention of the authorities. Obliged to flee from place to place, lie sought refuge sue cessively in Karaj. in Ispahan, in Ahwaz, in Basra, filially in Salamia. in Syria, where he died. leaving his son Ahnuld his successor as chief of the Ismailians. One of missionaries according to other accounts, a convert of a mis sionary) was Al-Karmat. Ile lived in Irak, and was a fit man to carry out the plans of Abd Allah lbn Maimun. His house in Kilda became the centre whence all the missionaries were sent forth. and where all the details of a great conspiracy were directed. one of the most noted of the mission aries. Abu Said, won over a great part of the people of Bahrein, the majority of whom were not Mohammedans and impatient of the Moslem rule. in 900 Abu Said defeated an army of men sent against him by the Caliph, and captured the latter's general. He then gained undisputed possession of the iv 1101e country, de stroyed the old capital. Hajar, and made Lhasa, his own residence, the capital. At the same time two other Karmathian chieftains arose to threaten the Court of Bagdad. one near Kufa and the other in Syria. The former was de feated. captured, and tortured to death. The latter at first defeated the Governor of Damas cus most ignominiously, hilt in 907 the general. Wasif. won a decisive victory and made an end of this branch of the Karmathians. dlean w•lhile both and Alm Said disappear from view, and the leadership passed to Abu Said's son.. Abu Tahir. In 923 he seized Basra. The next year he pillaged the Meecan caravan and plundered Kufa. In 927 he gained a decided vieto•y over the Caliph's troops in Irak. In 02!) lie appeared at Mecca at the head of his arum•, when the pilgrimage was at its height. Attempts to buy Min off were unavailing, and a fearful massacre. lasting scve•al days. ensued. The holy places were desecrated and the Black Stone was carried off. Abu Tahir may have thought that this act would destroy the sanctity of Mecca and the Kaaba in the eyes of the faithful: but if so he was mistaken; the car:I V:01S still went an their usual animal pilgrimage as often as he did not restrain them by force. Tn 939 the emir of the pilgrimage, Abu Tahir's personal friend. persuaded him to conclude a treaty by which the pilgrimage was again lowed. on payment of 5 dinars for every camel and 7 for every horse. The Black Stone was turned for an enormous ransom in 950, seven years after Alm death. At that time the Karmathians were masters of Irak, Syria, and Arabia. Little of importance is heard of them again till 990, when they were defeated before event which seems to have made an end of their dominion in Irak and Syria. About 993 they were again defeated by Asfar, and their chief lost his life. They retreated to Lhasa, where they fortified themselves, while Asfar marched against captured it, and carried away all the baggage, slaves, and animals of the Karmathians if that town and then tired to Basra. The Karmathians retained Lhasa for a considerable time, but nothing further is heard of them in history. In Palgrave found remnants of them still living in Najran. and in Bahrein and and their hatred of Islam seemed in no wise abated.