The Black Stone and the Hidden Imam: The Rise and Fall of the Qarmatian State

The Black Stone and the Hidden Imam: The Rise and Fall of the Qarmatian State

Between 899 and 1077 CE, a radical Islamic movement established an independent state in eastern Arabia that promised equality and justice for believers while building its economy on the forced labor of thirty thousand enslaved Ethiopians. The Qarmatian Commonwealth created communal storehouses, collective governance, and interest-free loans that provided genuine security to its members, yet its warriors massacred t...