Battle of Hama

Battle of Hama
Date 29 November 903 Location near Hama, Syria Result Decisive Abbasid victory; elimination of the Qarmatians from the western Syrian Desert, opening of the way for the reconquest of Tulunid Egypt
Belligerents
Abbasid Caliphate Banu Shayban Banu Tamim	Qarmatians Banu Kalb
Commanders and leaders
Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Katib al-Husayn ibn Hamdan	Sahib al-Shama  (POW)
Strength
unknown	approx. 4,900 cavalry and 3,000 infantry
Casualties and losses
	very heavy; many killed, over 1,100 horses captured

The Battle of Hama was fought some 24 km from the city of Hama in Syria on 29–30 November 903 between the forces of the Abbasid Caliphate and the Qarmatians. The Abbasids were victorious, resulting in the capture and execution of the Qarmatian leadership. This weakened the Qarmatian presence in northern Syria, which was finally eradicated after the suppression of another revolt in 906. More importantly, it paved the way for the Abbasid attack on the autonomous Tulunid dynasty and the reincorporation of the Tulunid domains in southern Syria and Egypt into the Abbasid Caliphate.

The Qarmatians were a radical Isma'ili Shi'ite sect founded in Kufa around 874 by a certain Hamdan Qarmat. They denounced mainstream Sunni Islam for practices they viewed as deviations from the true teachings of the religion, such as the hajj and the worship of the Kaaba, as well as the dwelling in cities and the marginalization of the Bedouin. Consequently, as they gained adherents, the Qarmatians began assaulting the neighbouring Muslim communities. Originally a sporadic and minor nuisance in the Sawad, their power grew swiftly to alarming proportions after 897, when they launched a series of uprisings against the Abbasid Caliphate. In this period, the movement was based at Salamiyya on the western edge of the Syrian Desert, and its leadership was assumed by Abu Muhammad Abdallah, the future founder of the Fatimid Caliphate. Abdallah's claims to be the awaited Mahdi caused a split in the movement in 899. The majority, including Hamdan Qarmat, rejected the Fatimid claims and leaving to continue their proselytization elsewhere.

...
Wikipedia