LEGEND and Hassan’s Nizari
Hassan ibn Sabbā (Hasan-e Sabah, Hasan-i Sabbah or Ibn al-Sabbah; ~1030, maybe 1056, to 1124) – claimed by some to be the original “Old Man of the Mountain” - started an almost completely new leadership tradition, from which derived the legend of a very long-lived, deviously clever and murderous political manipulator who pulled the strings of many well-embedded, but nevertheless fanatical, puppet assassins. That he lived is clear but what his true story is, is not.
Narratives and explanations need to be recognized as favoring those who produce them. HTat viewpoints affect perception must always be recognized, and the unequal relationship of language to reality acknowledged. No mirror reflects all. We map, count or report toward some purpose and so reject data we deem irrelevant. Always there will be others who would deem otherwise. History changes, as do relationships, and perception. Nothing remains forever unchanged, what sometimes serves other times destroys.
The term assassin, first used by European Crusaders in the Near East, referring to Nizari Ismailis of Syria, whose Fatimid dynasty was the only viable Shi’ite (or Shi’a) rival to the Abbasid Sunni Caliph. The Fatimid Empire (909 to 1171 CE, rivals to the Abbasid Caliphs as leaders of the Muslim world and the original Shi’ite, or Shia, state), established by Mohammad’s daughter Fatima (and her husband Ali), ruled much of North Africa; its capital was Cairo. Crusaders of the 12th century encountered these Nizaris, who reached a peak of power under Rashid al-Din Sinan (died 1193), their most famous leader (variously Dai, da‘I or Da-i). It was this person, also known as Rashad ad-Din as-Sinan, whom Crusaders referred to as the “Old Man of the Mountain.”
One reason for the legend of the longevity of the “Old Man” is that it’s based on at least two people (one of whom died 70 years after the other). The first was Hasan Sabbah, the 2nd, Rashad Sinan. Sinan is said to be the real “Old Man”, but his castle, Masyaf, stands on a platform about 20 meters above a surrounding plane. Nearby are the An-Nusayriyah Mountains, and he’s said to have been referred to as a “shaykh al-jabal” (Arabic for “mountain chief”), and the likelihood of mistranslation playing a part in legend’s development can’t be discounted, but that’s part of the point here. Sinan’s story was confused with, or grafted onto, that of Hasan-e Sabah. Even now, narration about all this is difficult, as not just names, but other significant terminology relevant, indeed crucial, to explication of what might, or likely did not, occur, does not have standardized spelling, and interpretations vary too!
In Rashid Sinan’s time, Crusaders and other Europeans became enchanted by highly exaggerated stories of the daring behavior of Nizari fida’is (self-sacrificing devotees), people believed to selectively target, then eliminate, prominent enemies of their community. As Nizari Ismailis became increasingly famous for being Assassin followers of the mysterious “Old Man of the Mountain,” truths and fictions about them got harder and harder to separate. The confusion of fact and fancy was increased by Marco Polo and his “Million” tall tales, which tens of thousands were reading in the very early years of the 14th century.
For over 150 years, from at least 1094 to 1256, Grand-masters of the Order of the Assassins and their agents spread both terror and ideas, throughout all the Middle East – but to only somewhat questionable effect. The most straightforward (and plausible) explanation for the willingness of individual Assassins to offer themselves for suicidal missions is religious passion, commitment to community and fear for the demise of much of their sense of identity. That isn’t what caught people’s imagination, but rather the brilliant cast for embellished stories: an inspired ascetic leader (Hassan i-Sabah, founder of the Order of Assassins); Rashid ad-Din as-Sinān (who commanded the Order’s Syrian branch during the most critical years of the Crusades); the famed warrior Saladin (Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, “Righteousness of the Faith, Joseph, son of Job”, a.k.a. al-Malik al-Nasir Salah al-Din Yusuf I, vizier of the Fattimid Caliph, and commander of the Syrian troops in Egypt), nemesis of both King Richard I “the Lion-heart” and Rashid Sinan. It was Saladin who defeated the third European Crusade to the “Holy Land”. He was also sometimes target, sometimes ally of the Assassins. Also involved was Hülegü Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, who finally succeeded where the Seljuk Turks (recent invaders from southwest Asia, who conquered Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, and most of Iran) failed: he rooted out the Order of Assassins from its mountaintop fortresses and then ordered the mass exterminations of its communicants. Later, Marco Polo’s tales led to much of the lingering fascination that surrounds the Assassins… These people, and others, made for a quite lasting fascination with the intrigue surrounding the origins of terrorism in religious rivalry.
There’d been earlier assassins, of course: the father of Alexander the Great, Philip II of Macedon, was assassinated in 336 BCE; Julius Caesar was killed b a group of 40 to maybe over 60 assassins, in 44 BCE. Other recorded instances took place in ancient China and India. For a couple of decades, from about 54 CE to the fall of Masada in 73 CE, assassins called Sicarii concealed sicae (small daggers) in their clothes, and used them to stab Romans or Roman sympathizers. They built mountain fortresses in desolate areas to defend themselves against enemies, and the name Iscariot, as in Judas, may come from a rearrangement of the letters in Sicarii (or may be a corruption of the Latin word sicarius, meaning murderer or assassin). In 1192, Conrad of Montferrat, then de facto King of Jerusalem, was assassinated: by hashsahshin, it’s said.
At an early age, Hassan Sabbah had found keen interest in metaphysical matters; at age 17 he was respected as an Islamic scholar and friend of Omar Khayyám, Persian court astrologer (and possibly poet). Legend tells that Hassan al Sabah, Omar Khayyam and Nizam al Mulk became tight friends while studying together, and decided to cement their bond. In a pact just a little too reminiscent of the Peach Garden Pact at the start of the famous ancient Chinese classic “The Three Kingdoms” (to my eyes anyway), the three (one of whom rose to be a god of wealth and war) swore that, since at least one of them was bound to attain wealth and power, “to whomsoever this fortune falls, he shall share it equally with the rest, and preserve no pre-eminence for himself.” The three personalities were, however, hardly compatible. Nizam soon became vizier to the sultan, and so the most powerful of the three, but is now the least (by far) remembered. He gave Hassan a place in government which didn’t lead to advancement; Hassan quit, and years later had Nizam assassinated. Khayyam, purported author of the “Rubaiyat”, wasn’t interested in power like the other two, and although to produce what he did in mathematics (and perhaps literature) required true discipline, initiative and insight, his libertine inclinations, one might suspect, would have disgusted the other two. At any rate, if there was a pact, it was of little historical import.
Hassan studied Isamili thought but didn’t convert to belief in it until overcome by an almost fatal illness and fear of dying without knowing the Imam of his time (an Imam, leader of a mosque and community, leads prayer during Islamic gatherings; Shi’as believe the Imam to be chosen by God, and to be infallible, perfect examples for the faithful. An Imam leads in all aspects of life, and must be followed). Later, Hassan became one of the most influential ‘Dai’ missionary leaders in Ismaili history, and essential to the survival of what today is its largest branch. He rose to the position of the court’s Intelligence Chief, but Nizam al-Mulk (a name which translates as “Minister of State”), whether once a friend or not, became quite vexed by Hassan’s ambition. Using a devious scheme to undermine Hassan’s growing power, Nizam pushed Hassan into agreeing to furnish records for the entire kingdom, after just 40 days preparation. Going to make his presentation, Hassan found the records tampered with; the report was ruined, and Hassan shamed before the court. The king, furious, sentenced him to death. Omar Khayyám, pleading for clemency, got the sentence reduced to banishment. Hassan left (from his hometown Rayy, 120 km/75 miles from Teheran) in 1076, and went to Azerbaijan, then on to Anatolia (Turkey), where in a heated discussion he irritated local priests enough to once again get thrown out of town.
Traveling south through Iraq, Damascus, Syria, and Palestine, after two years Hassan reached Cairo, Egypt, the newly built Ismaili capital. There he stayed 3 years, until late in 1081, receiving extensive instruction and training at the “Abode of Learning” (or House of Wisdom, a center of initiation for Sufi occult tradition), and came to ardently believe in both community service and the need for enlightened leadership. Hassan’s preaching upset Army Chief Badr al-Jamali, who imprisoned him. Soon a minaret at the jail collapsed, which was taken as an omen. Hassan was released but again deported. The ship on which he left ran into a violent storm; Hassan stood calmly on deck declaring he couldn’t possibly die until he’d fulfilled his mission. Nevertheless, the ship wrecked; Hassan was rescued and taken to Syria. He returned to Persia, now resolved to visit all of that country. He traveled, preaching the while, and in the north, at the south-end of the Caspian Sea, by the Alborz (or Elborz) Mountains, in the region of Daylam (a province of the Seljuk Empire), he found a Shi’ite (Shi’a) people fiercely resistant to subjugation. The mountains, which rise to a over 6000 meters (at volcanic Mount Damavand), make a natural barrier between the Caspian Sea and the vast plateau of Central Iran; although not distant from Tehran as the crow flies, this mountainous area remains remote. In its heart, Hassan began expended special effort on his proselytizing, gaining an increasing horde of followers. Before age 50 he became Chief of the Nizayri Ismailite sect. Subsequently he trained da’I missionaries in discipline, philosophy, theology and the beliefs of potential converts, and sent them out to the rest of the region. His purported nemesis, Nizam al-Mulk, ordered soldiers to capture him, then became the first victim of the consequent sect of assassins.
Deep in the mountains, Hassan noticed (in 1088) the castle of Alamuut (a name said to come from a phrase meaning either “The Place of the Eagle’s Teaching” or “Eagles Nest”, from a story about its founding), in the Rudbar area. Built about 865, on a lonely ridge 6000 feet above the Caspian Sea, it protected a valley of five by fifty kilometers. Accessible only by a single, almost vertical pathway, the fortress was an ideal hideout and headquarters. Marco Polo described it as at the head of a rich valley with an enormous beautiful garden full of pavilions and palaces, trees of every kind of fruit and brooks flowing with wine and milk as well as water (no tea – all of that was still in China).
Although roots of the Ismaili Nizari Assassin sect may extend back to the 8th century CE, the foundation of the Assassins is usually marked as 1090, when Hassan established his stronghold at Alamuut. Afterwards, he gained support from Fatimid Shi’a in Persia and Iraq, to the east of Egypt, and among a small underground following within the Fatimid Empire’s heart (Egypt and the rest of North Africa). By breaking with the Fatimids, Hassan and followers became isolated, outnumbered and endangered (especially by their residence in enemy territory). But Hassan, styling himself Grand Master, set up an extensive network of terrorist strongholds, attracted recruits, and trained efficient assassins.
According to Hassan’s brilliant plan, first “Da’i” preachers won over villages of the surrounding area. His plan was to use Alamuut as a firm base from which to conduct his campaign for support of Nizar, son of the Ishmaili caliph. To take the fortress, Hassan employed a strategy that took at least two years. His followers secretly preached to villagers throughout the valley, and were invited to the castle as guests. When they’d converted enough servants to feel they had sufficient support, Hassan was smuggled in. He converted more of the castle’s staff. By the time the castle’s rulers realized they were no longer in control, it was too late; they were given generous compensation, and shown the door.
All that true or not, in 1090 Hassan seized the fortress, which he called the Abode of Fortune. Another name given by Nizayri Muslims was al-Assas: ‘The Foundation’. It became the base for extended operations, with its members infamous as al-Assassin. The most famous Islamic terrorist organizations of the Middle Ages, this Nizari Ismailiyun Shiite politico-religious sect was based on a central idea: that of faithfulness (iman) to the Iman (a figure of absolute spiritual authority of fundamental importance, divinely appointed, illumined by Primeval Light and preserved from sin), with devotion to leadership, even above holy texts. Hassan developed a system of oaths and initiations, with a graded hierarchy of rank and knowledge of secret “sacred mysteries”… Members referred to one another as rafig – comrade, and held absolute confidence in God’s approval of their mission. Values promoted included sharing of one’s own knowledge or skills, especially in legal, medical, and vocational expertise, volunteer work in the running of community spaces, and support to encourage growth of a wider community. So the community, not merely an Islamic mystery cult, spread throughout Iran and Syria. Some claim they were called Hashshashin, and from that the terms assassin and hashish were derived. More likely, they were “Assasseen” (Arabic for ‘guardians’, as in “guardians of the secrets”).
Before long, Hassan’s followers had reached Quhistan in the southeast, where they overthrew Turks who’d taken control of it. Other Turks then besieged Alamuut, but it proved as impregnable as Hassan had known it would be. But as it was clear he hadn’t the numbers for military victory, he adopted another tactic – to strike down enemies one by one, making use of the total obedience of his well-disciplined disciples.
Marco Polo claimed the assassins to be drug addicts, young boys captured by the Grand Master and given progressively larger doses of hashish. Totally dependent both on him and hashish, they’d do anything for his favor, and for hashish, and so came to be known as hashishin, suggested by some to be the root of the word ‘assassin.’ But religious fanatics generally don’t need drugs; hashshash, an Arabic word for hashish user, comes from hashish, meaning dry herbage, fodder, then hemp – and well antedates Hassan Sabbah and his cult, which had no involvement with hemp, hash or sativa at all, except to become recipient of a derogatory name, due to their extremities of belief and action. The ‘disreputable people’ sense of the term has survived into modern times, with the common Egyptian usage of the term Hashasheen in the 1930s meaning ‘noisy or riotous’.
Legends grew; fact and fiction mingled; Hassan was said to be an alchemist, to have banned music, to have only left his room at Alamuut twice after arriving there, and to control events all over the world, by supernatural means as well as intimidation. He developed an extensive instructional curriculum for his followers, conditioning them through cunning methods to believe they had a special divine mission. Exercises were used to transcend (abandon) normal cultural programming, the idea being that by transcending (abandoning) dogma and fixed beliefs, a person can see reality as it is. Potential assassins were trained in discipline, physical dexterity, numerologic beliefs and the use of psychology. In addition to inculcating the willingness and patience to await delayed gratification anticipated only after death, Hassan encouraged in his acolytes discipline, willingness and ability not only to sublimate, but to gain trust then betray it, for the sake of a cause and belief system which they must almost entirely forswear for this life, upon completion of training (much as undercover cops, ‘intelligence’ operatives and diplomatic agents have learned to do). Disciples were given to accept ends as justifying means, this life as merely a test of the spirit, and sacrifice as the ultimate testimony of both love and faith. But a sense of reward could be found in discovering how a will subservient to the Imam could be so much stronger than other wills. Expertise in misdirection (in which a spectator’s attention is directed to focus on some specific predetermined point), prestidigitation (sleight of hand), ventriloquism (voice throwing), utilization of scientific principles and mechanical devices, a number of languages, etiquette, sophistry, knife-throwing plus a variety of mnemonic feats, to develop as accurate, ordered and practically automatic memory as possible – for assisting in gaining entry to important palaces, assuring ability to bypass well-trained guards and then gain enough trust to kill or at least threaten. Japanning of metals, and the making and administration of salves, were also taught – but book-learning was not.
At any rate, Hassan sent followers in all directions, pursuing ins=fluence and territorial expansion, taking castles either by means of propaganda or force, while building others… Life at Alamuut and the other fortresses involved extreme asceticism and severity. The Da’i wasn’t a missionary in the typical sense, being responsible for both converting students, and for their mental and spiritual well-being. If the student desired God, the Da’i could bring him to God by making him recognize the stature and light of the Imam, which in turn descended from God.
Hassan, never either equaled or even paralleled as a charismatic revolutionary, by the sheer gravity of his conviction could pierce the hardest and most orthodox of hearts, and win them to his side. He organized, conditioned and led the most fearless group of political killers ever. Followers assassinated many scholars as well as soldiers and rulers. After reputation for successful murders was achieved, non-lethal warnings were sometimes given, whereby a target would wake to find a dagger and a note saying, “This dagger could just as easily been stuck in your heart.” One only assumes additional missive as to manipulative intent; that is not part of the legend.
Legends as to the unique tactics used to indoctrinate new members inducted into his quasi-religious political organization gained color. Assassins-to-be were reputedly subjected to rites - similar to those of other mystery cults - in which the subject was given to believe that he was in imminent danger of death. The new twist was that they drugged the accolade - to simulate ‘dying’ – one or two at a time. The chosen were supposedly taken by night to a secret garden furnished with all the delights promised in the Qur’an (Koran) to the faithful upon reached paradise; they awoke in a garden flowing with hashish-laced wine served by beautiful, scantily clad women. A sumptuous feast was provided by virgins who’d minister to their every need and desire. After being allowed to savor this pleasant, sensual paradise for a day or two, they were again drugged. This time they’d awaken in a prison, cave or squalid hovel. Hassan would explain that God had given them a preview of Paradise, and exactly what each had been up to while in the secret garden. The inductee would be convinced that Hassan was a representative of Allah, and that all of his orders should be followed, even to death. So successful was this method of conditioning and indoctrination, it’s said, that Hassan once astounded a visiting amir he wanted to impress by sending for one of his men and ordering him to kill himself. The man immediately did. In legend, Hassan preached that “flesh is stronger than steel,” before ordering acolytes to commit suicide as a demonstration of his power: one follower slit his own throat and another leapt from the battlements of Alamuut.
Other accounts of the indoctrination attest that future assassins were brought to Alamuut at a young age and, while they matured, inhabited the aforementioned paradisiacal gardens, kept drugged with hashish; as in the previous version, Hassan occupied this garden as a divine emissary. At a certain point (when their initiation could be said to have begun) the drug was withdrawn; they were flung into a dungeon, and informed that, if they wished to return to the paradise they’d so enjoyed, it could only be from Hassan’s direction. They must follow his instructions exactly, up to and including murder and self-sacrifice. However it was arranged, when an Assassin was sent out by Ibn al-Sabba to carry out some violent death, the Assassin was so convinced that he’d be rewarded in paradise, that he’d never waiver in dedication or hesitate to fulfill a mission of murder, despite this often meaning death at the hands of bodyguards, immediately afterward.
Historians at the time of the Mongol conquest never noted any lush valley or gardens...
Outside of times of open warfare, the Nizari meticulously killed only targeted individuals, seeking to do so without loss of other lives, but careful to cultivate their terrifying reputation by slaying their victims in public. They might or might not use a disguise, but always a dagger; they rejected poison, bows and other weapons which might allow the attacker, or even the victim, to escape. They practiced a fighting style called Janna, which incorporates striking techniques, grappling and low kicks. Under no circumstances did they commit suicide, preferring to be killed by their captors. Specific victims include include Janah ad-Dawla, emir of Homs, (1103), Mawdud ibn Altuntash, atabeg of Mosul (1113), Fatimid vizier Al-Afdal Shahanshah (1122), ibn al-Khashshab of Aleppo (1124), Seljuk atabeg Aqsunqur al-Bursuqi of Mosul(1126), Fatimid caliph al-Amir bi-Ahkami’l-Lah (1130), Taj al-Mulk Buri, atabeg of Damascus (1132), and Abbasid caliphs al-Amir al-Mustarshid (1135) and ar-Rashid bi'llah (1138). Major foe of the Assassins Saladin escaped assassination twice (1175–1176). The first Frank killed by the Assassins was Raymond II, Count of Tripoli, in 1152. The Assassins were acknowledged and feared by the Crusaders, losing the de facto King of Jerusalem, Conrad of Montferrat, to an Assassin's blade in 1192 and Lord Philip of Montfort of Tyre in 1270. Prince Edward, later Edward I of England was wounded by a poisoned assassin dagger in 1271.
In two centuries, they assassinated somewhat over one a year! Surely more were killed in battle but that's just cost of doing business, and doesn't count.
Saladin attempted to maintain good relations with the sect after awakening to find a poisoned cake on his chest, with a note saying “You are in our power”. Another account tells of a letter sent to Saladin’s maternal uncle, vowing death to the entire royal line, perhaps no idle threat. He clearly heeded their warning, and desisted.
The 8th Fatimid Caliph and Isma’ili Imam, Ma’ad al-Mustansir Billah, took ill in 1094, and his vizier, Al-Afdal, seized power. He opposed the Caliph’s designation of his son Nizar as caliph, and appointed the Caliph’s younger son Ahmed (now re-named Al-Musta’ali) as Caliph. After the imprisonment of Nizar by Mustaal, Nizar’s son al-Hadr fled to Alamuut, where Hassan-i-Sabbah welcomed him. This wasn’t announced to the public, though, and the lineage was hidden until a few Imams later (which raised suspicions the story was apocryphal, despite how much it helps to explain). Driven from Egypt, Nizar’s supporters established a number of fortified settlements in present day Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, and soon came under Hassan i Sabbah’s charismatic leadership. Persecuted as infidels by the dominant Sunni sect, they sent dedicated suicide murderers to eliminate prominent Sunni leaders whom they considered “impious usurpers.” Isma’ilis in Persia broke off relations with the dynasty in Cairo and proclaimed allegiance to by-passed Caliph Nizar, which is the sect known to history as Assassins was first known as the Nizari Isma’ilis. Enemies called them Hashshashin, apparently meaning demented fanatics. However that may be, the Isma’ilis established a lasting, secretive underground movement; the Sunni Seljuk Turks allowed Shi’ites to remain as religious leaders – and the Nizaris held local power in northeast Persia until they, and the Abbasids and Seljuqs, all fell to the Mongols. After the destruction of Alamut by Hulegu in 1256, many members of the Nizari Isma’ili sect are thought to have fled to Afghanistan, the Himalayas and above all Sind... Several of them had traveled to India as early as the 11th century.
When the Ismailis split into Nizaris and Mustalis, Nizar, heretofore heir apparent, left for Alexandria, from whence he rallied military support, only to be defeated, and executed. But the split obstinately remained. Nizar’s supporters, the Nizariyya or Nizari, continued largely under the charismatic leadership of Hassan-i Sabbah, as a kind of minority within a minority, a secret Fatimid cult hidden within enemy lands (the Abbasid Caliphate, under the Seljuk Empire). Persecuted as infidels by the dominant Sunni sect in the Muslim world, the Nizaris sent dedicated agents to infiltrate important positions, and to eventually eliminate prominent Sunni leaders whom they considered “impious usurpers” – in order to maintain power in their small communities.
The Ismaili sect grew from elements of Gnosticism, Neoplatonism and Hindu thought, especially in its concept of the Imam. Nizaris made many changes in Ismailite doctrine, the most significant from the point of view of the outside world being the adoption of terrorism as a sacred religious duty. They long relied for survival on intimidation through the spectacular assassination of prominent leaders by self-sacrificing devotees (fida’is). Perhaps most important to the Ismailis themselves was a doctrinal core based on the concept of humanity’s need for divinely inspired and authoritative teaching (ta’lim) - basic to Shi’ite belief. Hassan-i Sabbah developed a series of arguments about the inadequacy of human reason in gaining knowledge of God, and claimed that only the Ismaili Imam was a true, divinely guided, teacher.
Isma’ili theology, simplified perhaps preposterously, involves belief that all humanity, indeed all creation, are one, a part of a whole, all with creative and destructive power. An Isma’ili individual could make use of the power, ready to be awakened within him, to overcome those who knew nothing of the immense potential of humanity. Only the individual, who can attain fulfillment solely through servitude to the Imam, is important – the rest being but an illusory backdrop to test the soul. There’s not really any such thing as belief, only action, and the only possessor of reasons for carrying out any action is the Iman. This denial of rationalism demands absolute faith and obedience – at core, not very different from Catholicism.
Determined to build a utopia, the Nizari used a strategy of gradually extending territorial control and then gaining strategically important fortresses, particularly mountain ones, by covertly converting to Isma’ili Shi’ism locals living within or around them, then taking them over, much as they had Alammut. They established a kind of dis-continuous state with several fortified settlement “islands” in present-day Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. Alamuut was established as an effective stronghold in 1090, before the succession schism, but all that’s really positive about is its location (in Daylam Province, south of the Caspian Sea in the Elburz Mountains – it’s remains can still be visited).
The order’s principal cells, thereafter, were situated, as far as possible, in similarly impregnable mountain strongholds, from which agents disguised as peddlers or itinerant tailors could gain trust and influence among urban artisans, and eventually even achieve positions of great trust in high places due to the disciplined skills achieved during their Nizari training. They were often able to win the confidence of highly placed women and their children, through use of novelties of dress and toys, and to thus slowly reach positions where important people became vulnerable.
Alamuut remained capital of the federation, and home of its rulers - styled “The Lords of Alamuut” - until its destruction. There, Hasan-e Sabbah trained agents called Fedayeen, who covertly infiltrated enemy positions, and sometimes remained undercover years – reputedly, even decades. When Nizari civilians faced pogroms, or their forts imminent attack, Fedayeen used their Janna fighting style, subterfuge and trust they’d earned over time to attack and kill crucial individuals. It’s also said that a highly important target could awake one morning to find a Hashshashin dagger lying on his pillow, perhaps with a note to warn that he was not safe anywhere, that even his most trusted servants could include assassins, and that whatever course of action brought him into conflict with the Hashshashin would have stop, if he wanted to live. Apocryphal or not, the story gave the Nizaris power.
With Alamuut his, Hassan is said to have devoted his time to study of mathematics, astronomy and alchemy, while translating, praying, fasting, and directing both the propagation of the Da’wa Nizayri doctrine and a ruthless campaign against the overlords of other sects - in Persia, Iraq and Syria. Extremely strict and disciplined, finding solace in austerity, frugality and a pious life of prayer and devotion, he led an ascetic existence, and imposed a harsh puritanical regime at Alamuut, meanwhile writing cogent theological treatises which stressed in particular the need to accept absolute authority in matters of religious faith.
The Assassin Nizaris may have sometimes allied with the Crusaders against the Sunnis; in 1238 they sent an embassy to Europe, seeking help resisting the Mongols. Accounts brought back by Crusaders claimed that the Elder Chief Shaykh “Old Man in the Mountain” (either Hassan or Rashid al-Din Sinan) had such control over his followers that he would amuse and terrorize visitors to his castle by ordering several young men to jump off a cliff - to demonstrate that they would obey his slightest whim.
It’s said one of Hassan’s sons was accused of murder, the other of drunkenness, that he consequently had both executed, and banished someone else from Alamuut for playing the flute.
Much lore about the Assassins comes from Marco Polo and his supposed visit to Syrian fortress of Alamuut in 1273 (a visit widely considered fictional since the stronghold was destroyed by the Mongols in 1256; but not only did Polo fail to discuss fireworks, kites, flooding, starvation, Taoism and Confucianism, his stories never mention the Great Wall, bound feet, tea, Chinese ideograms, chopsticks, or the ubiquitous Chinese male hair style, the queue (pigtail). Contemporary Chinese records show no trace of anyone who could have been Polo, and from what’s known of Chinese xenophobia and hatred of “barbarians” it seems highly unlikely that Kublai Khan sent him on fact-finding missions to distant parts of the empire (despite assertions that many foreigners were in the employ of the Mongol rulers). The Mongols, despite not trusting their Chinese subjects, still had to use Chinese civil servants; many historians now assume much of Polo’s account of travels came from things he picked up from Turkic merchants - he may have known the Coman dialect of Turkish… but there’s no evidence he ever picked up any Chinese, or Mongolian).
Stories also came from Crusaders returning from the Levant, people with experience of the Assassins local Syrian leader Rashid ad-Din Sinan, most likely the “real” “Old Man of the Mountain”; Latin sources from the crusader states use the name Vetulus de Montanis, derived from the Arabic title Shaykh al Jabal, meaning prince or elder of the mountain, or mountain chief, which was mistranslated by crusaders as “Old Man of the Mountain.” Rashid came to Alamuut as a youth, and was trained there. Hassan II, with whom he was close, sent him to Syria in 1162, but when Hassan II died, his son Muhammad II developed enmity with Rashid, perhaps over power, and is said to have send fida’is (self-sacrificing devotees) out to kill him. The attempts failed, and Rashid eventually controlled several districts, including Jabal as-Summaq, Ma’arrat Masrin and Sarmin. In his fortress of Masyaf, in the An-Nusayriyah Mountains of northern Syria, he soon ruled almost independently of Alamuut, and apparently interacted with both Crusaders and Saladin. A story tells that one night Saladin’s soldiers found Rashid and his personal guard wandering the mountains, but failed to attack him - because the soldiers were held back by some mystical power (they claimed). Saladin suffered terrible dreams and one night Saladin awoke to find freshly baked hotcakes, the type only the Assassins made, and a poisoned dagger next to his bed. It was in Rashid’s time (1163—1193) that Crusaders became enchanted by highly exaggerated stories of the daring behavior of the Nizari fida’is.
The use of intoxicants is never mentioned in contemporary Ismaili sources, nor from rival Sunnis and Shi’a, despite their suffering from the assassination acts of that rival sect. Hasan-e Sabah and his successor Grand Masters did command an army of assassins who spread terror among the people in Iran and Iraq, through a corps of devoted terrorists, spies and other agents in enemy camps and cities, who killed many generals and statesmen, including several caliphs. In fact, Hassan-i Sabbah was particularly harsh with users of intoxicants; he felt intoxicants undermined the strict discipline required for the Nizari to survive – even to the extent of making a public example of a son (some say two sons) by executing him (or them) for drinking alcohol (which he believed set a bad example for a community facing insurmountable odds). It’s been suggested that assassin simply means followers of Hassan-i Sabbah, and that Hassan-i Sabbah liked to call his disciples Assassiyun, meaning people who are faithful to the Asaas, meaning “foundation” of the faith, or base, as in base of resistance; “assassin” derives from “asaas”, and the US Justice Department, in inventing the term Al-Qaeda in the mid-nineties, may have had this meaning in mind, as Al-Qaead also means a base.
There are other explicative stories: the Grand Masters encouraged followers to plant medical herbs for export; the organization became a major exporter of medicine, with their biggest market in Syria, which earned them the name ‘Hashashin’, meaning medicine-men. That hashish was used for suicide candidates who were castrated; they voluntarily underwent this maiming as they believed sexual temptation the biggest obstacle to success in their missions. When infiltrating, these agents could dress as women, no longer growing facial hair.
Potential assassins were given lengthy training, then expected to travel to, and remain productively in, their place of advantage, a long time. Some abided over 20 years before carrying out orders to assassinate the individual to whom they cultivated proximity, though at the time, people in their 40s were considered old. That these Assassins could be expected to remain strong so long does indicate some special understandings, perhaps nutritional, perhaps yogic, or perhaps just social, in that some paved the way for others.
The Seljuk Empire was able to prevent neither the rise of the Assassins, nor its murder of Vizier Nizam al-Mulk (in 1092), their first victim. In 1092, during Ramadan, after Nizam gave audience to supplicants, he was being carried towards the tent of his womenfolk when a man in Sufi garb came forward, requesting to approach the litter. He pulled a knife from his clothes, drove it into Nizam’s heart, then was killed by guards. Upon hearing of this, Hassan is reputed to have chuckled with elation and said, “The killing of this devil is the beginning of bliss.” In subsequent decades, anyone who spoke openly against Nizari doctrine – whether a prince, general, governor or religious leader – was under threat. Many in authority took to wearing armor under robes of office. One victim was stabbed while kneeling for prayers at a mosque!
The Seljuk Turks took all of Iran, Mesopotamia and Syria, including Palestine, but the Assassins outlasted them. The last Iranian Seljuqs died on the battlefield in 1194, as Iran split into independent rival principalities; by 1200 Seljuk power had ended everywhere except in Anatolia. But the Nizari cause failed too – a younger brother got the throne upon the old Caliph of Cairo’s death, and Nizar and sons were killed.
When Hassan died (1124), he was succeeded as lord of Alamuut and Grand Master of the Nizari community by his assistant Buzurgummid. On August 8, 1164 CE the latter’s grandson, Hasan ‘ala Dhikrihi Al-Salam, proclaimed the law of Islam abrogated, through a resurrection (qiyamah) which he called a manifestation of the unveiled truth in the imam, actualizing paradise for those faithful capable of grasping it, while condemning opponents to a hell of spiritual nonexistence. Two years later Hasan was murdered by a brother-in-law who objected to that abolition of the Islamic law. Then Hasan’s son Muhammad (1166–1210) further elaborated the qiyamah doctrine: instead of being just spiritually identical with the Iman, Muhammad maintained that he was Imam by physical descent. Muhammad’s son Jalal Al-Din Hasan (1210–1221) repudiated the qiyamah doctrine and proclaimed adherence to Sunni Islam. He publicly cursed his predecessors as infidels, ordered all subjects to follow Sunni law and invited Sunni scholars to instruct them. While leadership remained a crucial fundamental, its transfer wasn’t just problematic, but the root of crucial Islamic schisms. Divisive selection disputes, an essential component of any democracy, remain anathema under Islamic rule – elections in Iran are not for Ayatollah (those whose levels of insight and expertise in Islamic law have become worthy of being a models of emulation can reach the highest level in Iranian Shī’ism, Grand Ayatollah). Even with Saddam Hussein, the importance of strong, mostly unquestioned, leadership was central, involving acceptance as maturity and signifying respect for training and achievement.
Benjamin of Tudela, who traveled a hundred years before Marco Polo, wrote of the Al-Hashshashin and their leader, “the Old Man of the Mountain”. Although William Burroughs and others have attributed this title to Hassan ibn Sabbah, it’s more likely to refer to a spiritual/political descendent who died about 70 years after Hassan.
By the early 12th century CE the Assassins had extended their activities to Syria, where they found a favorable climate for terrorist amid support from the local Shi’ite minority. After a period of preparation, the Assassins seized some castles in the An-Nusayriyah Mountains, the most important of which was Masyaf. Here, the Syrian Grand Master, Rashid ad-Din as-Sinān, ruled with much independence from headquarters at Alamuut. Rashīd and his successor chiefs were known as the shaykh al-jabal (Arabic: “mountain chief”), which became mistranslated by European Crusaders as the “Old Man of the Mountain.” The successful life-extension techniques written of by William Burroughs to explain the “Old” hardly need be taken as gospel.
According to Rashid’s autobiography, of which only fragments survive, he came to Alamuut as a youth, and received Hashshashin training. In 1162, the sect’s leader Hassan II sent him to Syria, where he proclaimed Qiyamah, which in Nizari terminology meant the time of the Qa’im and removal of Islamic law. His power grew until he controlled several districts of northern Syria, including Jabal as-Summaq, Ma’arrat Masrin and Sarmin. In some religious texts, Rashid Al-Din Sinan is celebrated as a popular hero assigned a cosmic rank usually reserved for the Imam, but he was never really top dog.
Sultan Saladin, who ruled over Egypt and Syria and defeated the Crusaders, was Rashid’s main enemy. Saladin eluded assassination attempts ordered by Rashid twice. He destroyed many Nizari possessions, and in 1176, laid siege to Masyaf. But he soon lifted the siege. Legend has it that his soldiers found the Old Man of the Mountain and personal guard wandering about one night, but couldn’t attack him because they were held back by some mystical power. Saladin then had terrible dreams and one night awoke to find freshly baked hotcakes of a type only made by Assassins (supposedly, while somehow still recognizable) next to his bed, and a poisoned dagger by his pillow. Saladin lifted his siege, quickly reached a new understanding with Hassan, granted independence to the Hasshashin principality and so survived.
Rashid died in 1192, ‘93 or ’94, and was succeeded by men appointed from Alamuut, which then undertook closer supervision over Masyaf. The penultimate Nazari Imam at Alamuut, Ala ad-Din Muhammad III, ruled 1221 to 1255, named by Marco Polo as the “Old Man in the Mountain”… was assassinated on December 1 1255 and succeeded by his son, Rukn al-Din al-Hasan ibn Muhammad Khunshah (aka Kahirshah), who surrendered to the Mongols in November 1256. Rukn al-Din’s son Shams al-Din Muhammad succeeded and upon his death the line split; the Mu’mini line has only a few thousand followers, all in Syria.
The power of the Hashshashin ended as Hülegü (Haleku) Khan, grandson of Genghis, captured their castles one by one. In February 1258, Hülegü’s soldiers sacked Baghdad and executed the Abbasid Caliph al-Mustasim and his sons, ending the Caliphate; so some say the main result of the activities of the Assassins was the end of the Caliphate, but a more realistic view is that the Assassins had little impact on the Mongols, who would have arrived and conquered anyway.
Could a mole amongst the Mongol Hoardes have helped the Nazari? It wouldn't have hurt, but could said mole not only have anticipated the deaths of Batu Khan (1255 at age 50), Möngke Khan (1259, at age 50), and Hulegu Khan (1265, age 48), but been able to send word in advance? Perhaps then the garrison at Alamuut could have removed to Masyaf or Gerdkuh, and held out until the Mongols left.
In March 1253, Hülegü's army crossed Oxus and in April captured several Nizari fortresses. In May they laid siege to Gerdkuh (in modern-day Semnan Province of Iran), putting walls and siege works around it. Gerdkuh, a "fortified mountain" impregnable to direct military assault, had been acquired and refortified in 1096 CE by a Seljuq commander who was a secret Nizari. It had served as a place of refuge for Nizaris, and a useful base for collecting taxes from the passing caravans of the Silk Road. In the summer of 1254, an outbreak of cholera weakened the garrison's resistance, but Gerdkuh survived the epidemic and was saved by reinforcements from Ala al-Din Muhammad of Alamut.
After Möngke Khan died in action against the Southern Song of China, Hulagu pulled most of his forces out of Syria and went home to attend the funeral ceremony. On 3 September 1260, Mamluks from Egypt engaged remaining Mongols just north of Galilee. This Battle of Ain Jalut started with an ambush and Mamluks using hand cannons which frightened Mongol horses. Both sides suffered huge losses, but the Mamluks slaughtered almost the entire Mongol force, including its general. Mongol expansion was over; the Mamluks consolidated power over Syria. The Nizaris would have needed a mole among them too, but that was hardly more possible to arrange. Gerdkuh continued resistance to the Mongols for 17 years (until 1270); it was the last Nizari stronghold to fall.
The Nizari state destroyed, Persian Ismaili communities were decimated by massacres; their Syrian castles were gradually subjugated by Mamluk Sultan Baybars I (ruler of Egypt and Syria 1260 to 1277, noted for military campaigns against both Mongols and Crusaders), then placed under Mamlūk governors. Assassin political power ended in 1273. The sect stagnated and the Imams lived mostly in concealment; there’s considerable uncertainty about their names, number, and sequence. Some were associated with the Ni’matullahi Sufi order (in Persia conditions after the fall of Alamuut encouraged Imams and their followers to adopt Sufi forms of religious life; Sufi ideas and terminology had already influenced the qiyamah and late Alamuut doctrine; Ismaili ideas were often camouflaged in Sufi poetry, the now Imams became revered as Sufi saints).
Yet despite lack of military endurance, some Nizaris still thrive. The Shi’a Imami Isma’ili Muslims, currently led by 88 year old Prince Shah Karim Al-Husayni, the Aga Khan IV, their 49th Imam a successful businessman and horse-breeder, who claims direct descent from Prophet Muhammad, and lives in Mumbai, India, can be seen as one. Aga Khan (from a Turkic term for older brother, aga means respected lord) views Islam as a thinking, spiritual faith that upholds human dignity, teaching compassion (helping the weak), tolerance, acceptance, generosity, forgiveness, unity, respect, courage, honesty, humility, and fidelity. He's said, "The truth about a man as much as about a country or an institution is better than legend, myth and falsehood."
Ismaili groups still live in small pockets in parts of the Middle East (Syria and Iran), central and South Asia (Pakistan and India), and even Africa. Most live in India and Pakistan, where they’re known as Khojas (and give allegiance to the Aga Khan). Soviet scholars have pin-pointed small Isma’ili communities in central Asia, well isolated by treacherous terrain, but information on them is but scant.
The family of the Imam Aga Khan claims descent from Ismail (Ismael, first son of Abraham, by Hagar or Agar, Sarah’s maid, and purported ancestor of a number of Bedouin peoples of southern Palestine; also legendary ancestor of Muhammad). The last known Imam of line following Hasan ibn Sabbah was Amir Muhammad Baqir, with whom his Syrian Ismaili followers lost contact about 1796. After searching in vain for a descendant, one section of the Syrian community changed allegiance to the Aga Khan line, in 1887. Iman Aga Khan (Karim Khan) succeeded his grandfather in 1957; in an 1886 court judgment, Khojas became officially recognized (by the British) as part of the wider Nizari Ismaili community (Khoja is a caste distinction carried over from the Hindu background of the group; some are Sunnis or Hindus; some Nizari Ismailis share the same beliefs, practices, and even language with the Khojas, but due to their birth are not of the caste). One tradition relates that a missionary known as Nu(r) Satagut, which means literally ‘teacher of true light’ traveled to north-western India at some time between 1160 and 1242 and converted the Khojas. According to another legend, the Nizari faith was brought by Shams Al-Din, whose father is said to have been sent as a Da-i from Alamuut; Shams Al-Din is credited with the conversion of Khojas in the late 14th century CE, and said to have laid the foundation of their communal organization, still found in lower Sind, Cutch, Gujarat, Bombay, East and South Africa, Arabia, Sri Lanka, Yemen (in the Haraz Mountains), and also Burma. Other Nizari communities, in the Pakistani mountains of Chitral, Gilgit, and Hunza, parts of Afghanistan, and Chinese Turkistan (Yarkand and Kashgar), have varied organization, religious practices, and observance of shari’ah rules.
But it may be secret societies, for instance the Knights Templar, Knights of Malta, Rosicrusians, Thule Society, Freemasons, Skull and Bones, the Bohemian Club, and Hellfire Club, who are the most significant recipients of influence from Hassan’s efforts, and the resulting cult. From the Isma’ilis the Crusaders borrowed the conception which led to the formation of all the secret societies, religious and secular, of Europe. Catholic orders including the Templars and Hospitallers, the Dominicans (Order of Friars Preachers, founded 1215), the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), Franciscans and Opus Dei (Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei, founded 1928), all have roots which can be traced to either Cairo’s “Abode of Learning” or to Alamuut. The Knights Templar especially, with their system of grand masters, grand priors and religious devotees, and their degrees of initiation, showed strong correspondence to the Nizaris.
After a major siege of Alamuut in 1118, Hassan ibn Sabbah lived out the remainder of his life in peace. Still, from 1090-1256 CE, the Assassins un-nerved all who opposed them; governors of cities, commanders of fortresses, and religious dignitaries took to regularly wearing chain mail. Hassan and Grand Masters who ruled the order after him wielded serious political power – even 17 years after Mongols destroyed their main base at Alamuut, and even today, some Nizari influence lives on.
Assassin, useful dupe, secret agent, undercover cop, narrative tool, stool pigeon, investigator, spy, servant to two masters, fairweather friend, freedom fighter or terrorist, neither rigidity nor flexibility always serves. Parts of any good story fail to make sense.
Labels: Abode of Learning, Aga Khan, Alamut, Crusaders, hashish, Ismaili, Mailk Shah, Marco Polo, Nizam al-Mulk, Nizar, Old Man in the Mountain, Omar Khayyam, Rashid ad-Din, Saladin, secret societies, William Burroughs
