The Fatimids

It was an alleged member of the Brethren of Sincerity, Abdullah ibn Maymun, who succeeded in capturing the leadership of the Ismaili movement in about 872 AD. Though the earliest Ismailis had not deviated from the central tenets of Islam, it was primarily through his influence that the movement became definitely subversive, and not just of Islam, but eventually of all religions.

The majority of Ismailis believed the successorship of the Imam continued among the Fatimid dynasty, who had established their own caliph and moved their capital to Cairo in 973 AD. The founder of the Fatimid dynasty was Ubeidullah, known as the Mahdi. He was accused of Jewish ancestry by his adversaries the Abbasids, who declared him the grandson of Abdullah ibn Maymun, by a Jewess. After the establishment of their power in Egypt, the substance of the teaching of the Fatimids was not very different from the code of Ibn Maymun, and his more violent initiate, Qarmat.

Ibn Maymun, who has been variously described as a Jew and as a Zoroastrian, was brought up on Gnosticism, but was well versed in all religions. For Ibn Maymun, Islam was merely a front. Therefore, the purpose of the seven degrees of initiation of the sect which he created known as the Batiniya, was, according to Nesta Webster:

... to link together into one body the vanquished and the conquerors; to unite in the form of a vast secret society with many degrees of initiation free-thinkers – who regarded religion only as a curb for the people – and bigots of all sects; to make tools of believers in order to give power to sceptics; to induce conquerors to overturn the empires they had founded; to build up a party, numerous, compact, and disciplined, which in due time would give the throne, if not to himself, at least to his descendants, such was Abdullah ibn Maymun’s general aim – an extraordinary conception which he worked out with marvelous tact, incomparable skill, and a profound knowledge of the human heart. The means which he adopted were devised with diabolical cunning...

It was... not among the Shi-ites that he sought his true supporters, but among the Ghebers, the Manicheans, the pagans of Harran, and the students of Greek philosophy; on the last alone could he rely, to them alone could he gradually unfold the final mystery, and reveal that Imams, religions, and morality were nothing but an imposture and an absurdity. The rest of mankind – the “assess,” as Abdullah called them – were incapable of understanding such doctrines. But to gain his end he by no means disdained their aid; on the contrary, he solicited it, but he took care to initiate devout and lowly souls only in the first grades of the sect. His missionaries, who were inculcated with the idea that their first duty was to conceal their true sentiments and adapt themselves to the views of their auditors, appeared in many guises, and spoke, as it were, in a different language to each class...
By means such as these the extraordinary result was brought about that a multitude of men of diverse beliefs were all working together for an object known only to a few of them...⁵¹

Among the followers of Abdullah was Hamdan Qarmat, founder of the Qaramitah. He put forward to his followers arguments borrowed from Gnosticism, permitted them pillage, and taught them to abandon prayer, fasting and other precepts. As a result of these teachings, the Qaramitah rapidly became a band of brigands, pillaging and massacring all those who opposed them, and spreading terror throughout the surrounding districts.

The Qaramitah succeeded in dominating Iraq, Yemen, and especially Bahrain, and in 920 AD, extended their ravages westwards. They took possession of the holy city of Mecca, in defense of which thirty thousand Muslims were killed.

In 988 AD, the Fatimids established the university of Al Azhar, the second oldest university in the world after al-Qarawiyin university founded Fes in 859 and the most prestigious educational institution in Islam, though now under the orthodox Sunni management. In 1004 AD, the Fatimids established the Dar ul Hikmat, or the “House of Wisdom”, as a wing of Al Azhar.

Under the direction of this “Grand Lodge” of Cairo, the Fatimids continued the plan of ibn Maymun’s secret society. Two more degrees were added, making nine in all. As the initiate progressed through these degrees, at first, he was persuaded that all his former teachers were wrong, and that he must place his confidence solely in the Imams of the Ismailis, as opposed to the twelve Imams of the Twelvers. Eventually, he was taught to disregard the laws of Islam and taught the doctrines of Gnosticism. Finally, in the ninth degree, the adept was taught that all religious teaching was allegorical and that religious laws need be observed only to maintain order, while he who understands the truth may disregard all laws.