Become a fan of h2g2 Early in the development of Christianity
and Islam, Gnosticism and Sufism1 became marginalised and
persecuted as heretical beliefs. Gnosticism and Sufism
themselves inspired two of the more interesting 'heresies' of
the Middle Ages. Mani was born in Persian-controlled Iraq in 3AD
and saw himself as one in the line of Buddha, Zoroaster and
Jesus. His philosophy was that Evil was not a perversion of
Good, but rather an alternative form of matter to Good. The two
matters battled for supremacy over Earth2. Knowledge was the
path to salvation, and missionary work was encouraged. By the
time Manicheism had travelled from Iran to Turkey and through
the Balkan trade routes into Western Europe it had developed the
view that Evil had already won on Earth. In southern France, the
Cathar sect formed around the town Albi3. They posited that all
material things - the world, us, our actions, and so on, were
inherently evil. The only Good matter was Heavenly matter - our
souls, God, Heaven, the non-mater