Khurramites movement

The rise of the Arab Caliphate in the seventh and eighth centuries is

considered among the most important turning points in the history of the Middle
East. Within two centuries, vast areas were united under the banner of Islam, and
great empires were brought to their knees at the sword of the Arab soldiers.

The one of main result of Arabic-Khazar wars, lasted about one and a half
century, along with above mentioned uprisings were that, these evidences obliged
Caliphate to waste their power and means, as well as did not provide Arabs to maintain
their positions in Azerbaijan. The major stroke to the authority and prestige of
Caliphate was inflicted by the magnificent popular-liberation movement of
Khurramids, begun in Azerbaijan and later continued by Babak and continued for
whole twenty years (817-837). Beginning from the reign of caliph al-Mehdi there were
shaped plenty of different sects and teachings in Caliphate. These sects shaped great
social-religious teaching of “Khurramdin”. Several scientists erroneously
added/referred Babak and his supporters to the Shiite unit of “khurramdin”. In fact,
there were lots of representatives of Shiite and Sunnite teachings of Islam among the
participants of uprisings, arisen against Umayyad and then Abbasid oppression. The
supporters of fire worshiping, such as khurramids and mazdakids also joint to these
uprisings.
Academician Z.M.Bunyadov expressed that “peasantry mass of Azerbaijan
(especially in mountainous region) maintained their belief, related particularly with
Zoroastrianism and mazdakizm. Harsh economical exploitation and high taxes
strengthened the resistance of civil population against Arabic supremacy”.
Extended popular movement was united under the name of khurramism”. Arab
sources related this name with the name of the location not far from Ardebil. Others
explained this word as “cheerful, immoral” and considered khurramids “madjuses” –
supports of the teaching of Zoroastrionism, fire worshipers. Speaking about the
consequence of “Khurram”, Arabic authors expressed the political interests of
Caliphate to the movement, which rejected Islam and that’s why these authors called

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Khurramids Godless people as well.
Even since the mid of the 8th century khurramids participated in anti-Arabic
uprisings: in the uprising in 755. New and more independent phase of khurramid
movement was concerned with the name of Javidan, small feudal, who owned the
castle of Bazz, located in Ardebil region. First revolts of khurramids took place in 808,
on the mountains of Savalan, Garadagh, Ardebil and Mughan under red khurramid
banner. Uprising was pressed, most part of rebel was killed, lots of soldiers and civil
people were captivated. In 816, after the death of Javidan the leadership over
Khurramid movement passed to the closest supporter of Javidan, Babek. This was
implemented namely by the vehicle of Javidan’s widow.
Extension of Khurramid movement was related with the name of Babek. So,
soon this movement was extended to Isfahan, Rey and Hamadan. Khurramids is the
general name of united relative sects, which ideas was related with corns of the
ideological ideas of Mazdakid movement, although they were concerned to Shiites,
which put their prophet on higher level than Muhammed and in fact refused Islam by
Muslim philosophers. As mazdakits, khurramids were also dualists, they accepted the
existence of two fighting powers-light and dark, i.e. Good and level, God and Devil.
Social structure, based on property inequality, violation and exploitation were
considered the sign of devil beginning of the world by khurramids. They taught active
fought with injustice of social structure. According to khurramids, the corn of this
inequality consisted of the existence land property and social inequality.

Taxes, exploitation, properties were the signs of evil and should be Arabic
sources mentioned that Khurramit movement was started in 778-779. The
Khurramite movement is fascinating in many respects, though what particularly
draws the attention of historians is the longevity of their rebellion, and how the
Khurramites managed to wage such an effective war against arguably the most
powerful standing army in the Middle East. Other points of interest included the
birthplace of the movement, Azerbaijan, and the variables that contributed to it
becoming the heart of the most destructive internal threat to Muslim rule. There was

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the combination of several factors, with military alliances, the history of
Zoroastrianism in Azerbaijan, and the relative weakness of the Caliphate at the time
of the rebellion being mainly responsible for the success of the Khurramites.
For roughly a century after the Arab conquest of Persia, which was
completed by 654, the relations between Muslims and Zoroastrians were far from
antagonistic, mainly due to the Islamic policy of religious tolerance. In 755 C.E., a
Persian political figure named Abu Muslim who served the Abbasid monarch was
executed by the Caliph, which put an end to the stability on the Caucasian frontier.
Abu Muslim’s popularity among non-Arabs is thought to be the main reason behind
his execution[1]. Immediately after the execution, angered Zoroastrians rose up to
protest, and the Khurramite movement soon emerged in Azerbaijan. The seeds of
dissent were thus sown over the Caucasus, though it would be decades before any
military escalations. During those decades of peace, the Khurramites served as both
a political and a religious faction, attracting many followers to their Mazdak, Neo-
Zoroastrian faith.

Babak Khorramdin is the name that is most associated with the Khurramite
movement, as it was under Babak’s leadership that the order reached its zenith.
Babak was born in 795 in the city of Ardabil, in a region known as Iranian
Azerbaijan. After his father’s death, Babak began trading weapons and used his
money to take care of his relatives. Javidan, the leader of the local Khurramite
chapter, recruited Babak after witnessing his hospitality, which Babak was able to
demonstrate when Javidan, then only a stranger, knocked on his door to seek shelter
from an ongoing snowstorm[2]. Within months, Babak was able to gain the trust
and respect of Javidan and the rest of the recruits, and was declared his successor
after Javidan’s death in 816[3]. Babak thus acquired a leadership position, which he
used to declare a full-scale military mobilization against the Arab aggressors [4].
The Khurramites robustly executed their agenda, and soon all Abbasid troops were
expelled from the territory, leaving the Khurramite state as the supreme governing

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body of Azerbaijan, with its iconic red flag, symbolizing important Zoroastrian
attributes like fire and the sun, waving above the towering Bazz Castle[5].

Azerbaijan, a strategically important site both because of its location on the Silk
Road and its renowned trading centers like Tabriz, Shamakhi, and Urmia, was not a
prize Caliph al-Ma’mun (r. 813-833) was willing to give up to Babak. By failing to
assess the situation accurately, al-Ma’mun allowed the rebellion to gain momentum.
The Caliph launched three consecutive offensives against the Khurramite fort, all of
which resulted either in stalemate or defeat for the Muslim forces. The repeated
victories earned Babak a reputation of invincibility, both among the people of
Azerbaijan and the Arabs. Al-Ma’mun saw that he had to make amendments to the
military campaign he was pursuing against Babak and decided to merge several
regiments under the leadership of Muhammad ibn Humayd, an experienced and
knowledgeable general. Ibn Humayd was initially very successful, skillfully
exploiting his numerical advantage to drive Babak’s forces all the way to the gates
of the Bazz Castle [6]. At the castle, however, Babak showed his brilliance as a
tactician, and his use of innovative military tactics, which took advantage of the
mountainous terrain, allowed him to snatch victory from the hands of ibn Humayd.
Prior to the engagement of the armies at the foot of the Bazz Castle, Babak selected
his finest warriors and ordered them to wait in the mountains. Toward the end of the
battle, the reinforcements joined the fray and turned the clash in favor of the
Khurramites[7]. The battle culminated with the death of ibn Humayd, at which
point his demoralized troops fled. 

The defeat undermined the notion of the invincibility of the Caliphate, and a final
but futile attempt by al-Ma’mun a year later to conquer Azerbaijan helped further
debase the feeling of Arab military superiority[8]. Al-Ma’mun was unable to gather
up a battalion large enough to send to Azerbaijan, since his resources were being
used to fight the Byzantines. This gave Babak time to pursue an internal policy of

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reform within Azerbaijan, solidifying his position and the Khurramite control over
his realm.

The war plunder that Babak’s troops gathered from Arab-controlled provincial

treasuries located around Azerbaijan and from Arab military convoys helped enrich
the Khurramite treasury. Social reforms were beginning to bear fruit, and a
successful kingdom seemed to be emerging out of the ashes of war. Things took a
turn in 833, when al-Ma’mun passed away and al-Motasim (r. 833-842), his
brother, ascended the throne. Before giving his last breath, al-Ma’mun remembered
to mention the Khurramites to the new Caliph. According to Medieval sources, Al-
Ma’mun said “to defeat the Khurramites, employ a ruthless, unswerving leader, and
patiently supply him with arms, cavalry, and infantry. If you see that the war is
dragging on for too long, take your most trusted men and face the enemy
yourself.”[9]. Al-Motasim immediately shifted his sights from Anatolia to the
Caucasus.

Al-Motasim employed large numbers of Turkic troops to suppress the Khurramite

state. The incorporation of Turkic regiments into the Abbasid Army is seen by
many as the turning point of the war, since Turkic troops were considered the most
elite warriors in the entire Middle East[10]. The skirmish which started al-
Motasim’s campaign against Babak was fought in Hamadan soon after al-
Motasim’s rise to power, where Babak abandoned his usual guerilla-style tactics
and engaged the enemy on an open field. This resulted in a disastrous defeat for
Babak, with fifty thousand of his soldiers dying as a result of his miscalculation.
While many managed to escape to the Eastern Roman Empire, some, including
Babak, made their way back to the Bazz to rebuild their army [11]. The defeat took
a serious toll on the morale of the Khurramites, and had a reverse effect in the Arab
camp. Emboldened, al-Motasim ordered Abu Said Muhammad to blockade the
Bazz Castle immediately after the victory at Hamadan and to cut off the Khurramite
supply of arms and goods [12]. To put a decisive end to the Khurramite movement,

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al-Motasim summoned another general, the talented and versatile Heydar al-Afshin,
to lead an army into the Bazz.

Al-Afshin entered Azerbaijan in 836 and delegated spies to scout the geography of
the area, meanwhile meticulously studying the mountainous region. Afshin decided
to begin his assault but was warned by his informants of a Khurramite infantry unit
hiding in the forests. Afshin to lay siege to the Bazz Castle and by the next day,
Babak’s army was destroyed in its entirety.

Babak’s movement, although it culminated in a military defeat, could hardly be

called a failure. According to both contemporary and later Islamic sources, the
Khurramites killed approximately 225,500 Abbasid soldiers, an incredibly high
number by medieval standards. This was achieved despite severe handicaps, as the
Khurramites were outnumbered by the Arabs and their Turk allies, and received
poor training, unlike their well-drilled Arab opponents. Peasants, who are not
traditionally thought of as proficient fighters, comprised a large portion of Babak’s
recruits[15]. The Khurramites were also fighting for a waning cause, trying to
revive a religion that had long been on the decline. So what was responsible for
Babak’s military successes? How was such a small group able to withstand the
Arab onslaught for twenty years? 

One answer that historians give is the Byzantine Empire. Apart from draining Arab
resources on the northwestern frontier of the Islamic realm, the Byzantines gave
indispensable support to Babak, mainly through commercial interactions [16].
Bound by a shared rivalry with the Arabs, Byzantine Emperor maintained a
partnership that was partially responsible for the longevity of the Khurramite state.
Theophilos supplied much of Babak’s funds and resources, and on several
occasions timed attacks against Arabs on the Anatolian frontier to draw enemy
troops from the Caucasus.

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Babak’s success could also be attributed to the timing of the rebellion. For decades
prior to the rise of the Khurramites, the Abbasids had been losing power to local
viziers, partly because of their ineffective communication system[17].Governing
became more difficult due to Al-Rashid’s death and a civil war between in
Caliphate. Since the Khurramite movement emerged in the wake of these events,
the Caliphate was too weak to repel the Khurramite offensives. A state that was
losing territory and political power, lacked sufficient resources to build an effective
army, and had poor infrastructure, was unable to crack down on the Azerbaijani
insurrection, which gave Babak the time to solidify his position.

While foreign support, the events leading up to the revolt, and Babak’s remarkable
leadership skills all help explain why the Khurramites were successful, they do little
to explain why Azerbaijan was the place where Zoroastrianism lingered for the
longest period of time. A part of the answer lies in the birthplace of Zoroastrianism.
Historians who use the Avesta, or the collection of religious texts of
Zoroastrianism, as their primary source of information, point to Ardabil as the city
where Zoroastrianism had originated. Ardabil, located in Azerbaijan, also happens
to be Babak’s home province. 

        Apart from being the first to adopt Zoroastrianism, a religion in which fire
worship took a prominent position, Azerbaijanis were also the most ardent fire-
worshippers, revering fire as their deity for thousands of years before Zoroaster’s
birth. Hence, geography played a great role in solidifying the devotion to
Zoroastrianism in Azerbaijan, a devotion that traveled from pre-history to the
Khurramite rebellion and compelled Babak and thousands like him to stay true to
their title as the guardians of the Zoroastrianism. This faith has to preserve it from
foreign influences.

As primary sources often are, those Persian-Arabic manuscripts were not without
bias and prejudice when describing the Khurramite movement. In an attempt to
belittle Babak and his rebellion, Abbasid historians, even centuries after Babak’s
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death, described Azerbaijan as a province in revolt, and the Khurramites as a group
of rogue rebels. Modern historians are beginning to challenge that view, contending
that the Khurramite state, with its red flag, uniformed standing army, sovereign
foreign policy, and defined borders, was truly an independent governing body that
possessed all the attributes of a modern state. For over two decades, the
Khurramites were able to entirely control their internal affairs, both north and south
of the Araz river, make alliances with neighboring powers and distribute their
budgets as they desired. When viewed from the lens of an independent kingdom,
the Khurramite state can be seen as the precursor to an increasingly independent
Azerbaijan, which had control over its internal affairs even after it was incorporated
into various Arab, Persian, and Turkic empires. Though it ended in a military
failure, Babak’s revolt helped give Azerbaijanis a sense of identity separate from
that of the Persians, who were less willing to keep fighting for their faith, and
distinct from that of the Arabs, who were attempting to force their national and
religious identity onto the region.

Although Babak Khorramdin’s life ended in tragedy, his legacy has carried on for
generations. Historians speculate that the Qizilbash, a Turkic Shia military clan that
brought the Safavid Empire to power early in 16 th century, is the “spiritual
descendant of the Khurramite” movement, sharing both theological beliefs and a
place of origin[22].Though Islam eventually replaced the Zoroastrian faith in
Azerbaijan, Babak’s charismatic leadership, and the earnest faith of his followers in
his cause, allowed him to stall the spread of Islam into Azerbaijan. And while the
religious fervency of the Azerbaijanis helps explain why Azerbaijan became the
homeland of the Khurramite movement, external variables, such as the support from
the Byzantines and the Caliphate’s own weakness, shed some light on the
impressive longevity of this resistance movement. Though over a thousand years
have passed, the Khurramite movement continues to be perceived as one of the
most significant steps towards the formation of the Azerbaijani national identity and
serves as a remarkable example of self-determination and self identity.
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Al-Dhahabi, Shams. Major History of Islam. Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-ilmiyah, 2009.

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Al-Mulk, Hasan. Book of Government. London: Routledge, 2012.

Al-Nadim, Muhammad. Al-Fihrist. Leipzig: F.C.W. Vogel, 1872.

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Goldschmidt, Arthur. A Concise History of the Middle East, Boulder: Westview Press, 2002. 

Valikhanli, Nailya. The Arab Caliphate and Azerbaijan. Baku: National Publishing House, 1993.

End Notes

[1]Arthur Goldschmidt, A Concise History of the Middle East,(Boulder: Westview Press, 2002).

[2]Jamal Taghribirdi, Al-Nujum al-zahira fi muluk Misr wa'l-Qahira (Cairo: Dar al-Kutub al-

Misriyah, 1950), 577.

[3]Igrar Aliyev, The History of Aturpatakan, trans. Shaadman Yusuf (Tehran: Balkh Publishers,
1999).

[4Nailya Valikhanli, The Arab Caliphate and Azerbaijan(Baku: National Publishing House, 1993),
74.

[16]Ziya Bunyadov, Azerbaijan in the 7th Through 9th Centuries (Baku: East-West, 2007), 400-401.

[17]Ralph W. Brauer, Boundaries and Frontiers in Medieval Muslim Geography(Philadelphia:

American Philosophical Society, 1995), 7-10.