Churramites
As Churramites (also Khorramites , Persian خرمدینان chorramdinan , DMG ḫorram-dīnān , '[belonging to] good faith', Arabic خُرَّميه churramiya , DMG ḫurramīya ), the Mazdakites and a number of Iranian, anti-Islamic and anti-Arab sects were referred toin Islamic sources. An alternative Arabic name for this movement based on their red clothing was muḥammira (محمره'With red (robes)'; Persian سرخجامگان, DMG surḫ-ǧāmagān ). Churramites often refer to the sect that started a great revolt against the caliphate in the region of Āzarbāydschān under Babak Khorramdin in the 9th century .
Origin and history
The sect of the Persian clerics Sunpadh founded and was the revival of the earlier movement of Mazdakiten, the elements of Zoroastrianism 'and Shi'ism were mixed. Other sources, however, equate the Churramites with the Mazdakites, although Shiite elements had a great influence on the sect after the Islamization of Iran. The Churramites only achieved fame and importance under the leadership of Babak Khorramdin and the uprising against the Abbasid caliphate.
An important event for the sect was the execution of Abu Muslim on the orders of the Abbasids. Abu Muslim had made a decisive contribution to the rise of the Abbasids in power through a revolt in Khorasan against the predecessors of the Abbasids, the Umayyads . The Churramites did not see Abu Muslim as dead, but claimed that he would return as the Messiah . This view was also propagated by the Prophet al-Muqannaʿ - leader of an anti-Arab and anti-Islamic uprising. He claimed that Mohammed , Ali and Abu Muslim , among others , were manifestations of God.
Under Babak's leadership, the Churramites proclaimed the expropriation and redistribution of all large estates and an end to despotic foreign rule by the Muslim Arabs. In 816, the Khurramites began attacking Muslim forces in Iraq and Iran. The Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mūn sent a total of four armies against the Churramites, but they were defeated each time.
It was not until 835 that the Abbasid general Afschin, with the help of Turkish militias, succeeded in pushing back the rebels from large areas of western Iran. With the conquest of the fortress al-Badd in 837, the uprising was suppressed. Babak Khorramdin managed to escape to Armenia, but was betrayed to Abbasid troops there and executed under torture on January 4, 838. Some of the followers fled to the Byzantine Empire in 834 and 837. They converted to Christianity and were incorporated into the Byzantine army.
Believe
Al-Maqdisi gave some facts about the sect. He stated that the basis of their teaching is the belief in light and darkness, more precisely, the principle of the universe is light, a part of which has been extinguished and thus turned into darkness. They meticulously avoid bloodshed unless they raise the flag of riot. They are very clean and tidy and approach other people with kindness and charity.
Some of them believe in free sex, provided that the women agree, and also in the freedom to enjoy all joys and pleasures as long as one does not harm others. Hence the name of the sect churram is translated as happy / cheerful. The sect saw all prophets as the embodiment of the same spirit regardless of their different religions and laws.
Naubakhti says that the Churramites view reincarnation as the only form of life after death. They have great reverence for Abu Muslim and her imams. In their rituals, which are kept simple, they receive the highest sacrament through wine and drinks. Overall, Al-Maqdisi referred to the sect as Zoroastrians who hide under the mantle of Islam.
Inherit
After the suppression of the 838 uprising, isolated revolts were reported. Churramite communities are recorded for the 10th century. The last mention of the Churramites comes from the first half of the 12th century from the area of Hamadan . According to the Turkish scientist Abdülbaki Gölpinarli, the Kizilbasch of the 16th century, who helped found the Safavid dynasty , were the spiritual heirs of the Churramites.
Individual evidence
- ^ Arthur Goldschmidt, Lawrence Davidson, “A concise history of the Middle East,” Westview Press; Eighth Edition edition (July 21, 2005). Pg 81: “..a Persian named Babak whose rebellion lasted twenty years. These uprisings were inspired by Persia's pre-Islamic religions, such as Zoroastrianism (the faith of Sassanid ruler) and a peasant movement called Mazdakism ”
- ↑ Whittow (1996), The Making of Orthodox Byzantium, 600-1025. New studies in medieval history, London: Macmillan, pp. 195, 203 & 215 Azerbaijan was the scene of frequent anti-caliphal and anti-Arab revolts during the eighth and ninth centuries, and Byzantine sources talk of Persian warriors seeking refuge in the 830s from the caliph's armies by taking service under the Byzantine emperor Theophilos . [...] Azerbaijan had a Persian population and was a traditional center of the Zoroastrian religion. [...] The Khurramites were a [...] Persian sect, influenced by Shiite doctrines, but with their roots in a pre-Islamic Persian religious movement.
- ↑ W. Madelung: Khurrammiya . In: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, CE Bosworth, E. van Donzel, WP Heinrichs (eds.): Encyclopaedia of Islam. Brill, 2009. Brill Online. Quote: "Khurrammiya or Khurramdiniyya refers in the Islamic sources to the religious movement founded by Mazdak in the late 5th century an AD and to various anti-Arab sects which developed out of it under the impact of certain extremist Shi'i doctorines."
- ↑ a b Yarshater, Ehsan. 1983. The Cambridge history of Iran, volume 2. P. 1008
- ↑ Yarshater, Ehsan. The Cambridge history of Iran, volume 2. P. 1005
- ^ Roger M. Savory (ref. Abdülbaki Gölpinarli), Encyclopaedia of Islam , "Kizil-Bash", Online Edition 2005