Sack of Mecca

The Sack of Mecca occurred on 11 January 930, when the Qarmatians of Bahrayn sacked the Muslim holy city amidst the rituals of the Hajj pilgrimage.

The Qarmatians, a radical Isma'ili sect established in Bahrayn since the turn of the 9th century, had previously attacked the caravans of Hajj pilgrims and even invaded and raided Iraq, the heartland of the Abbasid Caliphate, in 927–928. In 928, the Qarmatian leader Abu Tahir al-Jannabi became convinced that the long-awaited mahdi, the messiah who would usher in the end times and nullify existing religious law, had arrived in the person of a young Persian man, Abu'l-Fadl al-Isfahani. As a result, al-Jannabi led his men against Mecca in the Hajj season of winter 929/930.

The Qarmatians gained entry into the city ostensibly to perform their pilgrimage, but immediately turned to attacking the pilgrims. The city was plundered for eight to eleven days, many of the pilgrims were killed and left unburied, while even the Kaaba, the holiest site of Islam, was ransacked and all its decorations and relics taken away to Bahrayn, including the Black Stone. This act meant a complete break between the Qarmatians and the Islamic world, and was followed in 931 by the revelation of al-Isfahani as God manifest before the Qarmatian faithful. However, it soon became apparent that the mahdi was nothing of the sort, and he was murdered. Islamic law was restored in Bahrayn, and the Qarmatians entered into negotiations with the Abbasid government, which resulted in the conclusion of a peace treaty in 939, and eventually the return of the Black Stone to Mecca in 951.