Order of Assassins

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
It has been suggested that Nizari Ismaili state be merged into this article.
(Discuss) Proposed since September 2023.

Assassins

Formation 1090 AD

Founder Hassan-i Sabbah

Dissolved 1275 AD

 Alamut Castle (Persian Assassins)

Headquarters
 Masyaf Castle (Levantine Assassins)

Official language Arabic, Persian, other languages

Imam  Hassan-i Sabbah (first)

 Muhammad II (last)

Affiliations Nizari Ismaili state

 Part of a series on Islam
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 Masyaf Castle in Hama. It
was the headquarters of the Assassins in the Levant.

Edward I, King of
England was nearly killed by an Assassin during Lord Edward's Crusade, most likely
sent by the Mamluk Sultan Baibars, in order to remove his opposition to a 10-year
truce with the Christian states at Jerusalem. He narrowly survived poisoning from the
blade of the Assassin.
The Order of Assassins or simply
the Assassins (Arabic: ‫َح ّش اِش ین‬, romanized: Ḥashshāshīyīn; Persian: ‫حشاشين‬, romanized: Ḥa
ššāšīn) were a Nizari Isma'ili order that existed between 1090 and 1275 AD, founded
by Hasan-i Sabbah.

During that time, they lived in the mountains of Persia and the Levant, and held a
strict subterfuge policy throughout the Middle East, posing a substantial strategic
threat to Fatimid, Abbasid, and Seljuk authority, and killing several Christian leaders.
Over the course of nearly 200 years, they killed hundreds who were considered
enemies of the Isma'ili state. The modern term assassination is believed to stem
from the tactics used by the Assassins.[1]

Contemporaneous historians include Arabs ibn al-Qalanisi and Ali ibn al-Athir, and
the Persian Ata-Malik Juvayni. The first two referred to the Assassins as batiniyya,
an epithet widely accepted by Isma'ilis themselves.[2][3]

Overview[edit]
The Assassins were founded by Hassan-i Sabbah. The state was formed in 1090
after the capture of Alamut Castle in modern Iran, which served as the Assassins'
headquarters. The Alamut and Lambsar castles became the foundation of a network
of Isma'ili fortresses throughout Persia and Syria that formed the backbone of
Assassin power, and included Syrian strongholds at Masyaf, Abu Qubays, al-
Qadmus and al-Kahf. The Western world was introduced to the Assassins by the
works of Marco Polo[4] who understood the name as deriving from the word hashish.[5]
[6][7]

While Assassins typically refers to the entire group, only a group of disciples known
as the fida'i actually engaged in conflict. The preferred method of killing was by
dagger, nerve poison or arrows. The Assassins posed a substantial strategic threat
to Fatimid, Abbasid, and Seljuk authority. Over the course of nearly 200 years, they
killed hundreds – including three caliphs, a ruler of Jerusalem and several Muslim
and Christian leaders.[8]

Other notable victims of the Assassins include Janah ad-Dawla, emir of Homs,
(1103), Mawdud ibn Altuntash, atabeg of Mosul (1113), Fatimid vizier Al-Afdal
Shahanshah (1121), Seljuk atabeg Aqsunqur al-Bursuqi (1126), Fatimid caliph al-
Amir bi-Ahkami’l-Lah (1130), Taj al-Mulk Buri, atabeg of Damascus (1132), and
Abbasid caliphs al-Mustarshid (1135) and ar-Rashid (1138). Saladin, a major foe of
the Assassins, escaped assassination twice (1175–1176). The first Frank known to
have been 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.

During the rule of Imam Rukn al-Din Khurshah, the Isma'ili State was eventually
destroyed as Khurshah surrendered the castles after the Mongol invasion of Persia.
Khurshah died in 1256 and, by 1275, the Mongols had destroyed and eliminated the
order of Assassins.[9]

Accounts of the Assassins were preserved within Western, Arabic, Syriac, and
Persian sources where they are depicted as trained killers, responsible for the
systematic elimination of opposing figures. European orientalists in the 19th and 20th
centuries also referred to the Isma'ili Assassins in their works, writing about them
based on accounts in seminal works by medieval Arab and Persian authors,
particularly ibn al-Qalanisi's Mudhayyal Ta'rikh Dimashq (Continuation of the
Chronicle of Damascus), ibn al-Athir's al-Kāmil fit-Tārīkh (The Complete History), and
Juvayni's Tarīkh-i Jahān-gushā (History of the World Conqueror).

Origins[edit]

Map showing the Alamut area in

Tabaristan region
Hassan-i Sabbah was born in Qom, ca. 1050, and did his religious studies
in Cairo with the Fatimids. Sabbah's father was a Qahtanite Arab, said to be a
descendant of Himyaritic kings,[10] having emigrated to Qom from Kufa. He made his
way to Persia where, through subterfuge, he and his followers captured Alamut
Castle in 1090. Sabbah adapted the fortress to suit his needs not only for defense
from hostile forces, but also for indoctrination of his followers. After laying claim to
the fortress at Alamut, Sabbah began expanding his influence outwards to nearby
towns and districts, using his agents to gain political favour and to intimidate the local
populations. Spending most of his days at Alamut producing religious works and
developing doctrines for his order, Sabbah would never again leave his fortress.
Murder for religious purposes was not new to the region, as the strangler sects of
southern Iraq dating to the eighth century have shown. The strangler sects were
stopped by the Umayyads; the Assassins would not be by the later caliphates.[11]

Shortly after establishing their headquarters at Alamut Castle, the sect

captured Lambsar Castle, to be the largest of the Isma'ili fortresses and confirming
the Assassins' power in northern Persia. The estimated date of the capture of
Lambsar varies between 1096 and 1102. The castle was taken under the command
of Kiya Buzurg Ummid, later Sabbah's successor, who remained commandant of the
fortress for twenty years.[12] No interactions between the Christian forces of the First
Crusade and the Assassins have been noted, with the latter concentrating on the
Muslim enemies of the former. Other than a mention of Tancred's 1106 taking of
Apamea (see below) in Gesta Tancredi,[13] Western Europe likely first learned of the
Assassins from the chronicles of William of Tyre, A History of Deeds Done Beyond
the Sea, published much later.

One of Sabbah's disciples named Dihdar Bu-Ali from Qazvin rallied local supporters
to deflect the Seljuks.[14] Their attack on Alamut Castle and surrounding areas was
canceled upon the death of the sultan. The new sultan Barkiyaruq, son of Malik Shah
I, did not continue the direct attack on Alamut, concentrating on securing his position
against rivals, including his half-brother Muhammad I Tapar, who eventually settled
for a smaller role, becoming malik (translated as "king") in Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Sabbah is reputed to have remarked, "the killing of this devil is the beginning of
bliss". Of the 50 assassinations conducted during Sabbah's reign, more than half
were Seljuk officials, many of whom supported Muhammad I Tapar.[15]

The Assassins seized Persian castles of Rudkhan and Gerdkuh in 1096, before
turning to Syria. Gerdkuh was re-fortified by Mu'ayyad al-Din Muzaffar ibn Ahmad
Mustawfi, a Seljuk who was a secret Isma'ili convert, and his son Sharaf al-Din
Muhammad.[16] There they occupied the fortress at Shaizar held by the Banu
Munqidh, using it to spread terror to Isfahan, the heart of the Seljuk Empire. A
rebellion by the local population drove the Assassins out, but they continued to
occupy a smaller fortress at Khalinjan. In 1097, Barkiyaruq associate Bursuq was
killed by Assassins.[17]

By 1100, Barkiyaruq had consolidated his power, and the Assassins increased their
presence by infiltrating the sultan's court and army. Day-to-day functions of the court
were frequently performed while armored and with weapons. The next year, he
tasked his brother Ahmad Sanjar, then ruler of Khorasan, to attack Assassin
strongholds in Quhistan. The siege at Tabas was at first successful, with the walls of
the fortress breached, but then was lifted, possibly because the Seljuk commander
had been bribed. The subsequent attack was devastating to the Assassins, but the
terms granted were generous and they were soon reestablished at both Quhistan
and Tabas. In the years following, the Assassins continued their mission against
religious and secular leaders. Given these successes, they began expanding their
operations into Syria.

Expansion into Syria[edit]

The first da'i Hassan-i dispatched to Syria was al-Hakim al-Munajjim, a Persian
known as the physician-astrologer, establishing a cell in Aleppo in the early 12th
century. Ridwan, the emir of Aleppo, was in search of allies and worked closely with
al-Hakim. The alliance was first shown in the assassination in 1103 of Janah ad-
Dawla, emir of Homs and a key opponent of Ridwan. He was murdered by three
Assassins at the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Homs. Al-Hakim died a few weeks later
and was succeeded by Abu Tahir al-Sa’igh, a Persian known as the goldsmith.

While successful in cleaning the Assassins, they remained untouchable in their

strongholds in the north. An eight-year war of attrition was initiated, the son of the
first Assassin victim. The mission had some successes, negotiating a surrender of
Khalinjan with local Assassin leader Ahmad ibn 'Abd al-Malik ibn Attāsh, with the
occupants allowed to go to Tabas and Arrajan. During the siege of Alamut,[18] a
famine resulted and Hassan had his wife and daughters sent to the fortress at
Gerdkuh. After that time, Assassins never allowed their women to be at their
fortresses during military campaigns, both for protection and secrecy. In the end, ibn
Attāsh did not fulfill his commitment and was flayed alive, his head delivered to the
sultan.[19]

In Syria, Abu Tahir al-Sa’igh, Ridwan and Abu'l Fath of Sarmin conspired in 1106 to
send a team of Assassins to murder Khalaf ibn Mula'ib, emir of Apamea (Qalaat al-
Madiq). Some of Khalaf's sons and guards