Qarmatian sack of Mecca
Qarmatian sack of Mecca and seizure of the Black Stone
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7 Dhu al-Hijja 317
On 7 Dhu al-Hijja 317 AH — equated by the Encyclopaedia of Islam entry to 11 January 930 — Abu Tahir's Qarmatian force reached Mecca posing as pilgrims and gained access to the sanctuary.
The local attempt to keep it out was overcome by asserting a Muslim's right of entry. Once inside, the Qarmatians massacred pilgrims and inhabitants and plundered Mecca and the Kaaba.
The pillaging continued for about a week.
Zamzam, and the door of the Kaaba
Accounts report that victims' bodies were thrown into the Zamzam Well, from which pilgrims drew sacred water.
The Kaaba's door and its covering were removed.
No reliable casualty total survives; the figures of 20,000 or 30,000 that circulate in popular retellings have no dependable basis.
The stone goes east
The attackers dislodged the Black Stone and carried it to their capital, al-Ahsa, in eastern Arabia. They did not carry away the Kaaba itself.
The Qarmatians of Bahrayn were an eastern-Arabian polity: medieval Bahrayn meant a larger mainland region including al-Ahsa and Qatif, not today's island state.
The Stone's restoration is dated 339 AH, rendered 950–951 — an absence of about twenty-two lunar years.
Sources
Researched 23 Aug 2026 5 sources not yet audited
How this was checked
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What the sources leave uncertain
- The date 7 Dhu al-Hijja 317/11 January 930 is supported by the Encyclopaedia of Islam entry, although medieval lunar-date conversions can vary by a day between modern systems.
- Detailed speeches, poems and dramatic incidents survive through later narrative sources and should be introduced as reports, not eyewitness certainties.
- No reliable casualty total was found; figures such as 20,000 or 30,000 in popular retellings should not be used.