THE ASSASSINS (the movement
of Hassan Al Sabbah)
by P. Hitti
The Assassin movement, called the "new propaganda" by its members,
was inaugurated by al-Hasan ibn-al-Sabbah (died in 1124), probably a
Persian from Tus, who claimed descent from the Himyarite kings of
South Arabia. The motives were evidently personal ambition and desire
for vengeance on the part of the heresiarch.
As a young man in al-Rayy, al-Hasan received instruction in the
Batinite system, and after spending a year and a half in Egypt returned
to his native land as a Fatimid missionary. Here in 1090 he gained
possession of the strong mountain fortress Alamut, north-west of
Qazwin. Strategically situated on an extension of the Alburz chain,
10,200 feet above sea level, and on the difficult but shortest road
between the shores of the Caspian and the Persian highlands, this
"eagle's nest," as the name probably means, gave ibn-al-Sabbah and his
successors a central stronghold of primary importance. Its possession
was the first historical fact in the life of the new order.
From Alamut the grand master with his disciples made surprise raids in
various directions which netted other fortresses. In pursuit of their ends
they made free and treacherous use of the dagger, reducing
assassination to an art. Their secret organization, based on Ismailite
antecedents, developed an agnosticism which aimed to emancipate the
initiate from the trammels of doctrine, enlightened him as to the
superfluity of prophets and encouraged him to believe nothing and dare
all.
Below the grand master stood the grand priors, each in charge of a
particular district. After these came the ordinary propagandists. The
lowest degree of the order comprised the "fida'is", who stood ready to
execute whatever orders the grand master issued. A graphic, though
late and secondhand, description of the method by which the master of
Alamut is said to have hypnotized his "self-sacrificing ones" with the
use of hashish has come down to us from Marco Polo, who passed in
that neighborhood in 1271 or 1272.
After describing in glowing terms the magnificent garden surrounding
the elegant pavilions and palaces built by the grand master at Alamut,
Polo proceeds:
"Now no man was allowed to enter the Garden save
those whom he intended to be his ASHISHIN. There was
a fortress at the entrance to the Garden, strong enough to
resist all the world, and there was no other way to get in.
He kept at his Court a number of the youths of the
country, from twelve to twenty years of age, such as had
a taste for soldiering... Then he would introduce them into
his Garden, some four, or six, or ten at a time, having first
made them drink a certain potion which cast them into a
deep sleep, and then causing them to be lifted and carried
in. So when they awoke they found themselves in the
Garden.
"When therefore they awoke, and found themselves in a
place so charming, they deemed that it was Paradise in
very truth. And the ladies and damsels dallied with them
to their hearts' content...
"So when the Old Man would have any prince slain, he
would say to such a youth: 'Go thou and slay So and So;
and when thou returnest my Angels shall bear thee into
Paradise. And shouldst thou die, natheless even so will I
send my Angels to carry thee back into Paradise.'"
(from 'The Book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian',
translated by Henry Yule,London, 1875.)
The Assassination in 1092 of the illustrious vizir of the Saljug sultanate,
Nizam-al-Mulk, by a fida'i disguised as a Sufi, was the first of a series
of mysterious murders which plunged the Muslim world into terror.
When in the same year the Saljug Sultan Malikshah bestirred himself
and sent a disciplinary force against the fortress, its garrison made a
night sortie and repelled the besieging army. Other attempts by caliphs
and sultans proved equally futile until finally the Mongolian Hulagu, who
destroyed the caliphate, seized the fortress in 1256 together with its
subsidiary castles in Persia. Since the Assassin books and records were
destroyed, our information about this strange and spectacular order is
derived mainly from hostile sources.
As early as the last years of the eleventh century the Assassins had
succeeded in setting firm foot in Syria and winning as convert the
Saljug prince of Aleppo, Ridwan ibn-Tutush (died in 1113). By 1140
they had captured the hill fortress of Masyad and many others in
northern Syria, including al-Kahf, al-Qadmus and al-'Ullayqah. Even
Shayzar (modern Sayjar) on the Orontes was temporarily occupied by
the Assassins, whom Usamah calls Isma'ilites. One of their most
famous masters in Syria was Rachid-al-Din Sinan (died in 1192), who
resided at Masyad and bore the title shakkh al-jabal', translated by the
Crusades' chroniclers as "the old man of the mountain". It was Rashid's
henchmen who struck awe and terror into the hearts of the Crusaders.
After the capture of Masyad in 1260 by the Mongols, the Mamluk
Sultan Baybars in 1272 dealt the Syrian Assassins the final blow. Since
then the Assassins have been sparsely scattered through northern
Syria, Persia, 'Uman, Zanzibar, and especially India, where they
number about 150,000 and go by the name of Thojas or Mowlas. They
all acknowledge as titular head the Aga Khan of Bombay, who claims
descent through the last grand master of Alamut from Isma'il, the
seventh imam, receives over a tenth of the revenues of his followers,
even in Syria, and spends most of his time as a sportsman between
Paris and London.