Qarmatians The ancient Islamic anarcho-socialists of ancient Iran

Many people in the modern era do not see Islam and Islamic beliefs - or many of the beliefs of the past - as compatible with ideologies such as democracy, personal freedom, and especially concepts like anarchism. However, there are plenty of Islamic democratic societies from ancient times that can be considered anarchist from a certain point of view and very successful when it comes to developing a proper society built on the values of a government by the people, for the people. Instead of going over all of the societies, I am going to be going over one very important society by the name of the Qarmatians.

Now, who are the Qarmatians? Well, they were a society of Shia Muslims that were around during the Golden Age of Islam. These people were religious and developed what scholars like Andrew David Thompson - the writer of Christianity in Oman: Ibadism, Religious Freedom, and the Church - & George Corm - the writer of Arab Political Thought: Past and Present - describe them as proto-socialists or utopian socialists. Their unique interpretation of Islam and the Quran - the holy book of Islam - led to them forming their own unique branch of Shia Islam and forming their own civilization that was unique for the time.

The Qarmatian civilization got its start in 899 AD after rejecting the idea that the autocratic Fatimid Caliphate had direct lineage and control over the heritage of the prophet Muhammad. According to the academic article "12. Imagining an Islamic Anarchism: A New Field of Study is Ploughed" from the academic article Religious Anarchism: New Perspectives by Anthony T. Fiscella, the society followed a form of ancient Islamic communalism, having all property be publicly owned and each person work and be paid according to their abilities and needs.

The Qarmartians had a unique token form of money used for local transactions known as Tawila that was minted around 920 by one of the spiritual figures of the Qarmartian society & this form of money was still used until around the twentieth century. The civilization was able to last until 1077 AD, meaning this particular society was able to last as an ancient libertarian community for about one hundred seventy-eight years. The Qarmatians also forbade the slaughtering of animals back in 908 AD due to the teachings of one of their preachers, teacher Abu Hatim al-Zutti, casting a negative light on such an action.

Society was run by a council in a nightwatchman state - a state where the government is voluntaryist and is limited to the police, the judicial system, prisons, and the army to protect individuals from coercion and theft, punish criminals, and defend the country from foreign aggression. The Qarmartians bought Ethiopian slaves but said slaves - as long as they worked and provided service to the community for an initial period of time - were made free members of the society and were allowed to be a part of the communal civilization. According to Islamic researcher Mustapha Ghalib, “Every Qarmatian did his best in his fieldwork, and earned his bread ... and hence became worthy of his position. A woman earned money from weaving; a boy earned his wages out of capturing birds”. The Society eventually fell due to the formation of populists when Abu Tahir al-Jannabi - one of the leaders - became an authoritarian who tried to overthrow the society, establish himself as a religious Imam, sacked Mecca against the wishes of the rest of Qarmatian society, and started a terror group that tore apart Qarmatian society. Even after dealing with this threat, the Qarmartian's society fell apart due to these problems combined with being defeated by the Abbasids, but they did leave a legacy when it came to opposing slavery, promoting democracy, and establishing Islamic democracy & libertarianism!

Citations:

- Crone, Patricia (May 2000). "Ninth-Century Muslim Anarchists". Past & Present. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 167 (167): 3–28. doi:10.1093/past/167.1.3. ISSN 0031-2746. JSTOR 651252. LCCN 65077388. OCLC 4639911110.

- Fiscella, Anthony T. (2009). "12. Imagining an Islamic Anarchism: A New Field of Study is Ploughed". In Christoyannopoulos, Alexandre J. M. E. (ed.). Religious Anarchism: New Perspectives. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 978-1443815031. OCLC 667050168.

- Daftary, Farhad (2011-12-30). Historical Dictionary of the Ismailis. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-7970-6.

- Daftary, Farhad (1990). The Ismāʿı̄lı̄s: Their History and Doctrines. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-37019-6.