Husayn appointed Hamdan as _daʿi_ in his place. This is an outline of the narrative of the origin of the Qarmatians, so called as the followers of Hamdan the Qarmat, according to the Sherif Abu l-Hasan as reported in the history of Nuwayri. Gregory Bar Hebraeus gives a different account which appears also in Bibars Mansuri and in another part of Nuwayri who cites the authority of Ibn Athir, and this is the second account which de Goeje calls B. According to it a Persian of Khuzistan established himself in the Nahrayn or district between the rivers, near Hufa, and soon drew attention by the asceticism and piety of his life. When anyone went and sat by him he used to discourse about religion and try to induce his hearers to renounce the world; he taught that it was a matter of obligation to pray fifty times a day, and that it was his office to guide men to the true Imam whose abode he knew. Some merchants purchased the produce of the garden in which this recluse had taken up his abode, and enquired for a trustworthy watchman to look after their property. The gardener introduced the recluse to them, and they gave him charge of the produce. When they came to take away their dates they paid the watchman, and he, on his part, paid the gardener for the dates supplied to him, deducting a rebate for the stones. The merchants saw this reckoning going on, and supposed that he had been selling some of their dates, so they struck him, saying, “Is it not enough that you have eaten our dates?—is it for you also to sell the stones?” The gardener then spoke up and told them the facts, and when they perceived their error they made their apologies and conceived a very high opinion of his rectitude and probity. Some time later he fell ill, and the gardener sent for a certain villager commonly known as _Qaramita_, a word which in the Nabataean language means a man with red eyes. This villager’s real name is not given, but Tabari adds that Muhammad b. Dawud b. al-Jarrah said to someone that he was called Hamdan. He was an owner of oxen which were used to carry the produce of Sawad to the city of Kufa. He took the sick man to his house and there the devotee stayed until he was quite well, and whilst there taught the Qaramita the doctrines of the sect to which he belonged, and also instructed the villagers. From amongst his converts he chose twelve _nakibs_, in imitation of Moses and Jesus, and sent them out as missionaries. He required his followers to pray fifty times a day, and as a result the work of the villagers fell into arrears. A certain Haysam who possessed property in the village perceived this and made enquiry as to the reason; this led him into contact with the devotee who was induced to reveal to him his peculiar doctrines. Haysam perceived their subversive character and took him to Kufa where he locked him up in his house, but a female servant who was moved by the captive’s apparent piety stole the key and set him free. In the morning the room was found