In 930 a descendant of the emir, Hamdan, who had asserted his independence, took several strongholds in the province of Jezira, and pushing on as far as the northwest of Syria, founded there an important principality of which the capital was Mosul. The establishment of the Hamdanites in Jezira facilitated the rebellion of Egypt. Since the fall of the Tulunids the caliphs had committed the blunder of allowing Egypt and Syria to remain united, thinking that a frequent change of governors was all that was necessary to maintain peace. But one of these governors, Ikhshid the Turk, won over a large party of supporters, and when the order came for him to relinquish his rule to another, he refused to obey. Thus Egypt and Syria were finally lost to the Abbasids in 936.
In the neighbourhood of Baghdad the Raikites and the Baridians disputed the possession of Bassora, Wasit, and the province of Ahwaz, and sought to play an important part in the politics of the capital. The lords of Armenia and Georgia ceased to pay a tribute that was no longer demanded, and the two provinces commenced at that epoch to separate into distinct realms. In the provinces bordering on the Caspian Sea the same tendency was to be observed. During the reign of Muktadir a chief named Merdawij had conquered the province of Gilhan, wrested Tabaristan away from the Samanids, and subdued the greater part of Aderbaijan. The glory of founding a new dynasty, however, fell not to him but to three brothers who fought in his army and who claimed descent from the old Sassanid kings, although their father, Buya, was only a simple fisherman. Struck by their courage and ability, the people flocked to their standard, and to the provinces already gained by Merdawij they added Kerman, Mekran, Laristan, and many others (933-940).
Baghdad being now surrounded by independent principalities, the dominion of the caliphs was limited to that city itself, and even in that small realm their authority was purely nominal. Owing to court intrigues and the rebellions that were constantly breaking out in the city, the history of the later Abbasids is nothing but a panorama of executions of generals, vizirs, sovereigns, and pretenders. Out of fifty-nine commanders of the faithful thirty-eight came to violent ends, and suffered calamities worse than death. That the blood of the family of Mohammed might not be shed, many were made to die of starvation; others were walled up or cast into glaciers. Kahir emerged from his imprisonment with blinded eyes, and for the rest of his life begged alms at the doors of mosques. His successor, Radhi, to escape the tyranny of the Turks who were now in charge of every branch of the government, created the post of emir of the emirs. This dignitary, to whom was given command over the army and control over the public finances, soon came to be the real sovereign, Radhi, who withdrew to strict seclusion, reserving not a vestige of authority to himself. But instead of setting, as he thought, a master over the turbulent Turkish guard, Radhi’s act had simply augmented the power of its chiefs. One of these, Bajkam, irritated at the rise of Ibn Raik, got possession of the person of Radhi and forced him to appoint him, Bajkam, emir of the emirs. The death of this ambitious politician in the second year of Muttaki’s reign was the signal for fresh disturbances. Claimants, whose pretensions the Turks were obliged to combat, sprang up on every side, and the post of emir of the emirs came to be as hotly contested as that of caliph had formerly been. Muttaki, having no alternative but to sanction the acts of the stronger side, thought for a moment of placing himself in the hands of the Ikhshidites; but Turun ordered him to be put to death and proclaimed Mustakfi caliph. Exasperated by this terrible abuse of power, the inhabitants of Baghdad called to their aid the Buyid princes, who had recently established themselves in the provinces of the former Persian Empire, and in 945 the Turks were finally driven from the city. Muiz ad-Daula set upon the throne a caliph who was a mere tool to his desires, and reserving the post of emir of the emirs for himself, became the first of that series of Buyid emirs which continued for more than a century.
Meanwhile, in singular contrast with the sanguinary turbulence of those who had usurped their power, the Arabs, weary of wars and civil strife, gave themselves up to the study of science and letters; the last of the Abbasids, in the closest seclusion their palaces would afford, sought consolation for the hardships of their lot in the society of scholars and literary men. The Buyid princes also followed the example set by Al-Mamun, and gave a great impetus to the study of astronomy and mathematics. They levied in their tributary provinces forces sufficient to enable them to maintain their supremacy against all rival factions, while the caliphs Muti, Tai, Kadir, and Kaim, deprived of their revenues and shorn of all authority and kingly state, played exactly the same part as was enacted by the Merovingian rois fainéants under the tutelage of their mayors of the palace. Nevertheless, it was only from the hands of the caliphs that the greater part of the ruling families of Asia would receive their investitures, the Abbasids being still the legitimate sovereigns in the eyes of devout Moslems.
THE VARIOUS RELIGIOUS SECTS
[750-945 A.D.]
In all times the Moslem empire had been disturbed by a variety of religious sects. Under the Abbasids the Mutazilites had promulgated a lofty faith which had exerted great influence over noble minds. There were others which had confined themselves to protesting against the license of the times and demanding social reformation, while many had been made merely the instrument of personal ambition. Among the most prominent were the Rawandis, a fanatical sect who believed that to caliphs should be accorded the worship due to divinities, and who so importuned Al-Mansur with their adoration that he caused them to be cut to pieces by his guards. More formidable were the Zendians, who boldly maintained that the holding of property was a crime, and that man should not eat the flesh of animals. They were mercilessly pursued and exterminated. In 781 Mokanna incited the population of Khorasan to revolt, and in 834 Babik founded in Aderbaijan the sect of the Ismailians, who professed, according to Arab historians, the most pronounced materialism, and for four years resisted all Mutasim’s efforts to put them down. Of all the sects, however, none promulgated its beliefs with such rapidity and success as that of the Karmathians, who, in the tenth century, infested Arabia and wrested from the caliphs their spiritual and temporal power over the whole eastern part of the peninsula.
An Arab Cavalier
(Based on decorations in the Alhambra)