CALIPHS or BAGDAD. 29 



the Baptist, Gabriel, and the imams descended from 

 Ali. He altered the established forms of worship , 

 relaxed the duties of ablution and fasting; per- 

 mitted the use of wine and forbidden foods ; preached 

 Jigainst the utility of the pilgrimage ; and enjoined 

 his disciples to pray fifty times daily. He chose 

 twelve apostles to govern his flock and propagate 

 his doctrines ; and such was the success of these 

 missionaries among the Bedouins, as to threaten 

 Arabia with a new revolution. From Bahrein and 

 the shores of the Persian Gulf, these zealots spread 

 their conquests far and wide, over Chaldea, Syria, 

 and Mesopotamia. As they disowned the title and 

 abhorred the worldly pomp of the caliphs, they per- 

 secuted their subjects with the bitterest hostility. 



Many a bloody conflict ensued ; but the mercena- 

 ries of Bagdad were terrified to face an enemy 

 107,000 strong, who neither asked nor accepted 

 quarter. The cities of Racca, Baalbec, Cufa, and 

 Bussora were pillaged ; Bagdad itself was filled with 

 consternation ; for the daring Abu Taher, with no 

 more than 500 horse, had advanced to Anber, and 

 threatened to attack the City of Peace. A lieuten- 

 ant had recommended the Karmathian chief to with- 

 draw ; when the latter, to evince the determination 

 of his troops, turned to three of his companions, and 

 at his command the first plunged a dagger into his 

 own breast ; the second leapt into the Tigris ; and 

 the third cast himself headlong from a precipice. 

 " Relate," continued he, " to your master what you 

 have seen ; before the evening he shall be chained 

 among my dogs." The Saracen camp was sur- 

 prised, and before the evening the menace was lite- 

 rally executed. Mecca was an object of aversion 

 to the Karmathians, and in the 317th year of the 

 Hejira (A. D. 929) Abu Taher entered the sacred 

 city at the season of the pilgrimage. Every spe- 

 cies of cruelty and profanation was committed. 

 Thirty thousand citizens and strangers were put to 



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