← Explore on the interactive map

Qarmatian Sack of Mecca

Type Event Region Arabian Peninsula Time 930

Around 930, the Bahrain Qarmatian leader Abu Tahir al-Jannabi led a raid on Mecca during the pilgrimage season, massacring pilgrims and seizing the B…

Timeline

  1. 900–929Bahrain · Persian GulfThe Qarmatians established a theocracy in Bahrain, embracing extreme doctrines such as rejecting the pilgrimage and communal property, opposing both the Abbasid Caliphate and orthodox Shia, and becoming an independent military force in the Persian Gulf region.
  2. 930Mecca · HejazAbu Tahir led Qarmatian forces into Mecca during the pilgrimage season, slaughtering large numbers of pilgrims before the Kaaba and casting the bodies into the Zamzam well, shocking the entire Islamic world.
  3. 930–952Kaaba · HejazThe attackers destroyed the Kaaba's covering, looted sacred relics, and carried the Black Stone to Bahrain. While the stone was missing, pilgrimage rituals had to be adjusted, and it was only returned to Mecca after negotiations by the Buyid dynasty.

Sources