The Foreign Relations of the Gharmatian of Bahrain

The weakening of the Abbasid Caliphate in the last years of the 3rd century A.H. caused many independent and semi-independent governments to take hold throughout the Abbasid domain. One such government a branch of the Isma‘ilis called the Gharmatian, whose connections to the mainstream Isma‘iliah is not very well-known, managed to take over eastern Arabia and Bahrain and establish a republican-like state. For a century, the Gharmatian government in Bahrain was a base for military and missionary activities against the Abbasid Caliphate and posed a great challenge to the central government in Baghdad.After the introduction of the Gharmatian government, this paper deals with relations of this government with governments of the same age such as the Buyids, the Abbasids, and the Fatimids of Egypt. The paper also deals with the consequences of the rise of the Gharmatian in the Muslim World.