CALIPHS OF BAGDAD. 35 



provinces. Their licentious conduct provoked the 

 public indignation, and may be regarded as one 

 leading cause of detaching the Moslems from the 

 allegiance which was due to their lawful sovereigns, 

 and ultimately of subverting the throne. 



Another formidable enemy to the stability of the 

 Abbassides was the religious sect of the Karmathi- 

 ans, who sprang up in the vicinity of Cufa about 

 the 277th year of the Hejira. Their founder was 

 an Arabian fanatic of the name of Karmath, who as- 

 sumed to himself many lofty and incomprehensible 

 titles, The Guide, The Demonstration, The Word, 

 The Holy Ghost, The Camel. He affected great 

 sanctity and strictness of life; claimed to be the 

 herald of the Messiah, the representative of John 

 the Baptist, Gabriel, and the imams descended from 

 Ali. He altered the established forms of worship ; 

 relaxed the duties of ablution and fasting ; permit- 

 ted the use of wine and forbidden foods ; preached 

 against 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 

 persecuted their subjects with the bitterest hostility. 



Many a bloody conflict ensued; but the mer- 

 cenaries of Bagdad were terrified to face an enemy 

 107,000 strong, who neither asked nor accepted quar- 

 ter. The cities of Racca, Baalbec, Cufa, and Bus- 



