GHAZNEVIDS AND HAMDANIDS 269 example, by his shabby treatment of the poet Firdawsi. Nevertheless, he ardently desired the glory and prestige accruing to a sovereign v/hose court formed the rallying-point of all that was best in the literary and scientific culture of the day, and such was Ghazna in the eleventh century. Besides the brilliant group of Persian poets, with Firdawsi at their head, we may mention among the Arabic-writing authors who flourished under this dynasty the historians al-'Utbi and al-Blruni. While the Eastern Empire of Islam was passing into the hands of Persians and Turks, we find the Arabs still holding their own in Syria and Mesopotamia down to ^(?2^i^j^S ^*^^ ^"'^ ^'^ ^^^ ^^"^^ century. These Arab and generally nomadic dynasties were seldom of much account. The Hamddnids of Aleppo alone deserve to be noticed here, and that chiefly for the sake of the peerless Sayfu '1-Dawla, a worthy descendant of the tribe of Taghlib, which in the days of heathendom produced the poet-warrior, 'Amr b. Kulthum. 'Abdullah b. Hamdan was appointed governor of Mosul and its dependencies by the Caliph Muktafi in 905 a.d., and in 942 his sons Hasan and 'AH received the complimentary titles of Nasiru '1-Dawla (Defender of the State) and Sayfu '1-Dawla (Sword of the State). Two years later Sayfu '1-Dawla captured Aleppo and brought the whole of Northern Syria under his dominion. During a reign of twenty-three years he was continuously engaged in harrying the Byzantines on the frontiers of Asia Minor, but although he gained some glorious victories, which his laureate Mutanabbi has immortalised, the fortune of war went in the long run steadily against him, and his successors were unable to preserve their little kingdom from being crushed between the Byzantines in the north and the Fatimids in the south. The Hamdanids have an especial claim on our sympathy, because they revived for a time the fast-decaying and already almost broken spirit of Arabian nationalism. It is this spirit that 270 THE CALIPHS OF BAGHDAD speaks with a powerful voice in Mutanabbi and declares itself, ^ for example, in such verses as these : — " Men from their kings alone their worth derive, But Arabs ruled by aliens cannot thrive : Boors without culture, without noble fame, Who know not loyalty and honour's name. Go where thou wilt, thou seest in every land Folk driven like cattle by a servile band." The reputation which Sayfu '1-Dawla's martial exploits and his repeated triumphs over the enemies of Islam richly earned for him in the eyes of his contemporaries was • The circle of , i i ,i j c. Sayfu '1-Dawia. enhanced by the conspicuous energy and munm- cence with which he cultivated the arts of peace. Considering the brevity of his reign and the relatively small extent of his resources, we may well be astonished to con- template the unique assemblage of literary talent then mustered in Aleppo. There was, first of all, Mutanabbi, in the opinion of his countrymen the greatest of Moslem poets ; there was Sayfu '1-Dawla's cousin, the chivalrous Abu Firas, whose war-songs are relieved by many a touch of tender and true feeling ; there was Abu '1-Faraj of Isfahan, who on presenting to Sayfu '1-Dawla his Kitdhu U-Aghani^ one of the most celebrated and important works in all Arabic literature, received one thousand pieces of gold accompanied with an expression of regret that the prince was obliged to remunerate him so inadequately ; there was also the great philosopher, Abu Nasr al-Farabl, whose modest wants were satisfied by a daily pension of four dirhems (about two shillings) from the public treasury. Surely this is a record not easily surpassed even in the heyday of 'Abbasid patronage. As for the writers of less note whom Sayfu '1-Dawla attracted to Aleppo, their name is legion. Space must be found for the poets Sari al- RaflFa, Abu 'l-'Abbas al-Nami, and Abu '1-Faraj al-Babbagha j ' Mutanabbi, ed. by Dieterici, p. 148, last line and foil. SAYFU 'L-BAWLA ' 271 for the preacher {khatlb) Ibn Nubata, who would often rouse the enthusiasm of his audience while he urged the duty of zealously prosecuting the Holy War against Christian Byzan- tium; and for the philologist Ibn Khalawayh, whose lectures were attended by students from all parts of the Muhammadan world. The literary renaissance which began at this time in Syria was still making its influence felt when Tha'alibi wrote his Tatimay about thirty years after the death of Sayfu '1-Dawla, and it produced in Abu 'l-'Ala al-Ma'arri (born 973 A.D.) an original and highly interesting personality, to whom we shall return on another occasion. The dynasties hitherto described were political in their origin, having generally been founded by ambitious governors or vassals. These upstarts made no pretensions (909-1 i7i"a!do. to spiritual authority, which they left in the hands of the Caliph even while they forced him at the sword's point to recognise their political independ- ence. The Sdmdnids and Buwayhids, Shi'ites as they were, paid the same homage to the Pontiff in Baghdad as did the Sunnite Ghaznevids. But in the beginning of the tenth century there arose in Africa a great Shi'ite power, that of the Fatimids, who took for themselves the title and spiritual prerogatives of the Caliphate, which they asserted to be theirs by right Divine. This event was only the climax of a deep-laid and skilfully organised plot—one of the most extraordinary in all history. It had been put in train half a century earlier by a certain 'Abdullah the son of Maymun, a Persian oculist [qaddah) belonging to Ahwaz. Filled with a fierce hatred of the Arabs and with a free- thinker's contempt for Islam, 'Abdullah b. Maymun con- ceived the idea of a vast secret society which should be all things to all men, and which, by playing on the strongest passions and tempting the inmost weaknesses of human nature, should unite malcontents of every description in a — 272 THE CALIPHS OF BAGHDAD conspiracy to overthrow the existing regime. Mode rn readers may find a parallel for this romantic project in the pages of Dumas, although the Aramis of Twenty Years After is a simpleton beside 'Abdulldh. He saw that the movement, in order to succeed, must be started on a religious basis, and he therefore identified himself with an obscure proplgaVdL^ Shi'ite sect, the Isma'ilis, who were so called because they regarded Muhammad, son of Isma'il, son of Ja'far al-§adiq, as the Seventh Imdm. Under 'Abdullah the Isma'ilis developed their mystical and antinomian doc- trines, of which an excellent account has been given by Professor Browne in the first volume of his Literary History of Persia (p. 405 sqq.). Here we can only refer to the ingenious and fatally insidious methods which he devised for gaining proselytes on a gigantic scale, and with such amazing success that from this time until the Mongol invasion—a period of almost four centuries—the Isma'ilites (Fatimids, Carmathians, and Assassins) either ruled or ravaged a great part of the Muhammadan Empire. It is unnecessary to discuss the question whether 'Abdulldh b. Maymun was, as Professor Browne thinks, primarily a religious enthusiast, or whether, according to the view commonly held, his real motives were patriotism and personal ambition. The history of Islam shows clearly enough that the revolutionist is nearly always disguised as a religious leader, while, on the other hand, every founder of a militant sect is potentially the head of a state. 'Abdullah may have been a fanatic first and a politician afterwards ; more probably he was both at once from the beginning. His plan of operations was briefly as follows : The dd'i or missionary charged with the task of gaining adherents for the Hidden Imam (see p. 216 seq.), in whose name allegiance was demanded, would settle in some place, representing himself to be a merchant, Sufi, or the like. By renouncing worldly pleasures, making a show of strict piety, and performing apparent miracles, it was easy for him to pass as a saint with the common folk. As soon THE ISMA'lLfS 273 as he was assured of his neighbours' confidence and respect, he began to raise doubts in their minds. He would suggest difficult problems of theology or dwell on the mysterious significance of certain passages of the Koran. May there not be (he would ask) in religion itself a deeper meaning than appears on the surface ? Then, having excited the curiosity of his hearers, he suddenly breaks off. When pressed to continue his explanation, he declares that such mysteries cannot be communicated save to those who take a binding oath of secrecy and obedience and consent to pay a fixed sum of money in token of their good faith. If these conditions were accepted, the neophyte entered upon the second of the nine degrees of initiation. He was taught that mere observance of the laws of Islam is not pleasing to God, unless the true doctrine be received through the Imams who have it in keeping. These Imams (as he next learned) are seven in number, beginning with 'All ; the seventh and last is Muhammad, son of Isma'il. On reaching the fourth degree he definitely ceased to be a Moslem, for here he was taught the Isma'ilite system of theology in which Muhammad b. Isma'il supersedes the founder of Islam as the greatest and last of all the Prophets.