The Sack of Mecca occurred on 11 January 930, when the Qarmatians of Bahrayn sacked the Muslim holy city amidst the rituals of the Hajj pilgrimage.
The Qarmatians, a radical Isma'ili sect established in Bahrayn since the turn of the 9th century, had previously attacked the caravans of Hajj pilgrims and even invaded and raided Iraq, the heartland of the Abbasid Caliphate, in 927–928. In 928, the Qarmatian leader Abu Tahir al-Jannabi became convinced that the long-awaited mahdi, the messiah who would usher in the end times and nullify existing religious law, had arrived in the person of a young Persian man, Abu'l-Fadl al-Isfahani. As a result, al-Jannabi led his men against Mecca in the Hajj season of winter 929–930.
The Qarmatians gained entry into the city ostensibly to perform their pilgrimage, but immediately turned to attacking the pilgrims. The city was plundered for eight to eleven days, many of the pilgrims were killed and left unburied, while even the Kaaba, the holiest site of Islam, was ransacked and all its decorations and relics were taken away to Bahrayn, including the Black Stone. This act was tantamount to a complete break between the Qarmatians and the Islamic world, and was followed in 931 by the revelation of al-Isfahani as God manifest before the Qarmatian faithful. However, it soon became apparent that the mahdi was nothing of the sort, and he was murdered. Islamic law was restored in Bahrayn, and the Qarmatians entered into negotiations with the Abbasid government, which resulted in the conclusion of a peace treaty in 939, and eventually the return of the Black Stone to Mecca in 951.
Origins of the Qarmatians of Bahrayn
In the 880s and 890s, the Isma'ili Shi'a missionary Abu Sa'id al-Jannabi had established a strong following among the Bedouin tribes of Bahrayn. In 899, the Isma'ili movement split between a branch that followed the leadership of the future Fatimid caliph, Abdallah al-Mahdi, and those who rejected his claims to the imamate, known as the "Qarmatians". Whether out of genuine conviction or political expediency, Abu Sa'id sided with the latter faction. Allied with the local Bedouin tribes of the Banu Kilab and Banu Uqayl, as well as with the Persian Gulf merchants, Abu Sa'id was able to capture the region's capital, and in 900 cemented its independence by defeating an Abbasid army sent to recover control of Bahrayn.
Under Abu Sa'id's rule, the Qarmatians of Bahrayn remained uninvolved in the unsuccessful Isma'ili uprisings of the 900s against the Sunni Abbasid Caliphate in Syria and Iraq, or in the establishment of the Fatimid Caliphate in Ifriqiya. Apart from a raid against Basra in 912, they also retained peace with the Abbasids, secured through donations of money and weapons sent by the Abbasid vizier, Ali ibn Isa ibn al-Jarrah. Abu Sa'id was assassinated in 913/4, and succeeded, at least nominally, by all of his sons collectively. The oldest, Abu'l-Qasim Sa'id al-Jannabi, was at first the pre-eminent, but his reign was brief; he was replaced by the more ambitious and warlike youngest son, Abu Tahir al-Jannabi, in 923.
Abu Tahir and the war with the Abbasids
Under the leadership of the 16-year-old Abu Tahir, the Qarmatians began raids against the Abbasid Caliphate with a surprise attack on Basra in August 923. The city was plundered for 17 days, until the Qarmatians left, unmolested, and with an enormous train of booty and slaves. In March 924, the Qarmatians destroyed the Hajj caravan making its way back from Mecca to Baghdad, taking many notables of the Abbasid court captive.
The Abbasid government's response to the Qarmatian attacks was ineffectual: the Qarmatian raiding parties were small, but highly mobile, ensuring that any Abbasid military response arrived too late. At the same time, the Qarmatian base in Bahrayn was safe from Abbasid retaliation. Factional rivalries in the Abbasid court, most notably between the vizier, Ibn al-Furat, and the commander-in-chief, Mu'nis al-Muzaffar, further hampered an effective response.
The Hajj caravan of 925 was attacked on its way to Mecca, and despite an escort of 6,000 men had to turn back to Kufa pursued by the Qarmatians, taking heavy losses. The Qarmatians demanded the surrender of Basra and of Khuzistan, and when they were refused, they entered Kufa and pillaged it for seven days. The plunder was on such a level that even the city's iron gates were dismantled and taken back to Bahrayn.
In the next Hajj season, in January 926, a strong military escort ensured the safety of the pilgrims, but the authorities paid a hefty sum to the Qarmatians to be allowed through. During the following Hajj, the caravan had to be called off entirely as the Abbasid government lacked the funds to provide the escort, and panic spread in Mecca as its inhabitants deserted the city in anticipation of a Qarmatian attack that never came.
Qarmatian invasion of Iraq and the discovery of the mahdi
Instead, in October/November 927 the Qarmatians under Abu Tahir invaded Iraq: Kufa was captured and local Shi'a sympathizers declared the end of the Abbasid dynasty and the imminent arrival of the Islamic messiah, the mahdi. The Qarmatians at the time expected the arrival of the mahdi, and the start of the final age of the world, in 928, when the planets Saturn and Jupiter would be in conjunction.
The Qarmatian march on Baghdad was stopped when the Abbasids breached the canals, flooding the fields, and tearing down the bridges leading to the Abbasid capital. The Qarmatians withdrew back across the Euphrates, but continued north along the river into Upper Mesopotamia, raiding as they went and extracting ransoms from the local cities.
Finally, in the summer of 928, the Qarmatians retreated to their homes in Bahrayn, with Abu Tahir leaving behind a poem in which he promised to return, and describing himself as the herald of the mahdi. The preparations for the return of the mahdi gathered pace: a fortified dar al-hijra was built at the Al-Ahsa Oasis, and many Shi'a sympathizers joined the Qarmatians on their return, eager to be present at the mahdi's arrival.
Among the captives taken in the invasion was a young Persian named Abu'l-Fadl al-Isfahani, taken at Qasr Ibn Hubayra; this boy, about twenty years old and of haughty demeanor, was recognized by Abu Tahir as the awaited mahdi.
Massacre of the pilgrims and plundering of the city
In 929, after several years of interruption, the Hajj caravans were resumed under military escort, arriving in Mecca in December 929. On 11 January, the day when the Hajj rites were to begin, a Qarmatian army under Abu Tahir appeared before the city. The local garrison initially tried to stop them, but Abu Tahir claimed his right of entry as a Muslim and gave a pledge of safety for the city and everyone in it.