Abu Tahir al-Jannabi

States People Centers Other Abu Tahir Sulayman al-Jannabi (Arabic: أبو طاهر سلیمان الجنّابي, romanized: Abū Tāhir Sulaymān al-Jannābī, Persian: ابوطاهر بهرام گناوه‌ای, romanized: Abū-Tāher Bahrām Gonāve'i) was a Persian warlord and the ruler of the Qarmatian state in Bahrayn.

Once inside the city walls the Qarmatian army set about massacring the pilgrims, taunting them with verses of the Quran as they did so.

Abu Tahir Suleyman al-Jannabi was born in June-July 906 in Ganaveh, in coastal Fars (modern-day Iran).[4][5][a].

[7] Abu Sa'id began preaching against Sunni Islam around 890[8] after being taught by his mentor Hamdan Qarmat, a native of Kufa, from whose name the Qarmatian sect is derived.

[8] Abu Sa'id started off plundering caravans, traders and Persian hajj pilgrims en route to Mecca before gathering a large following.

This report chimes with the story in Ibn Hawqal that Abu Sa'id had instructed his other sons to obey the youngest.

[7] Abu Tahir began to frequently raid Muslim pilgrims, reaching as far as the Hijaz region.

[7] In 928 Caliph al-Muqtadir felt confident enough to once again confront Abu Tahir, calling in his generals Yusuf ibn Abi'l-Saj from Azerbaijan, Mu'nis al-Muzaffar and Harun.

[19] Other accounts say fearing for his own life, Abu Tahir announced that he had been wrong and denounced the al-Isfahani as a false Mahdi.

[20] Some scholars take the view that "they may not have been Ismailis at all at the outset, and their conduct and customs gave plausibility to the belief that they were not merely heretics but bitter enemies of Islam.

[22] During the Hajj of 930 CE, Abu Tahir led the Qarmatians' most infamous attack when he pillaged Mecca and desecrated Islam's most sacred sites.

[20] The Qarmatians defiled the Zamzam Well with the bodies of pilgrims and the black stone was stolen and taken to the oasis in Eastern Arabia known as al-Aḥsāʾ, where it remained until the Abbasids ransomed it in 952 CE.

Abu Tahir resumed the reins of the Qarmatian state and again began attacks on pilgrims crossing Arabia.