light of the more accurate study of the text of Aristotle which was the work of the “philosophers” of the fourth century A.H. (ii) The definitely Shiʿite doctrine of the incarnation of the divine spirit in the Imam passed on by transmigration from ʿAli to his descendants. And (iii) the purely political element which cared nothing about philosophical speculation or Shiʿite doctrine, but saw in the sect promising elements of a conspiracy against the ʿAbbasid Khalifate. But it does not seem true to say that the whole movement was wholly political, as though there were no reality in the attachment to philosophical or Shiʿite ideas. When the Ismaʿilian sect emerged first into the open arena in the Qarmatian rising the doctrinal element, especially (i), had effectively undermined all adherence to orthodox Islam; how long the Qarmatians remained attached to Shiʿite claims we do not know, but they do not seem to have attached much importance to them. In history the Qarmatians appear as simply anti-Muslim and offensively irreligious: they give evidence of no ideals whatever beyond the ordinary aspirations of brigands, though we must bear in mind that the only account of them is such as their enemies have given us. In fact they seem to have been simply a robber band released from all pretence of religious beliefs and inspired by a hatred of Islam due, no doubt, to oppression at the hands of Muslim rulers. The Khalifate at Kairawan and Cairo presents a much better test of the religious tendencies of the Ismaʿilian sect. In this case the sectarian leaders established a strong government and, on the whole, ruled well. The government was founded by those who seem to have believed sincerely in the Fatimid claims, but the great majority of the subject population had no sympathies in that direction: they were quite willing to be ruled by Shiʿites, but had no inclination to turn Shiʿite themselves. The extravagant claims of incarnation etc. which made so strong an appeal to the Persians found the Berbers and Egyptians irresponsive. The Ismaʿilians made an attempt to press them into their sect when first the Mahdi was established at Kairawan, but this policy was soon abandoned and very rarely tried again, though it seems that the regular meetings of the sect and the instructions given by the duʿat were continued until some time after the reign of Hakim. For the most part the Fatimids were quite content with political power and did not interfere with the religious convictions of the people. The condition seems to have been that the Ismaʿilians formed a kind of free-masonry which was, to some extent, the “power behind the throne,” though it was by no means necessary for the officers of state to be members of that brotherhood themselves, and in later times, when the wazirs were practically independent princes, cases occur in which the official government is actually unfriendly towards it. In the later part of the Fatimid period