"Hassassin" redirects here.

For the hired killer in Dan Brown's novel, see List of

characters in Angels & Demons#Hassassin.
[hide]

Pa
rt of a series on Shī‘ah Islam
Ismāʿīlism

Concepts
The Qur'ān · The Ginans
Reincarnation · Panentheism
Imām · Pir · Dā‘ī l-Muṭlaq
‘Aql · Numerology · Taqiyya
Żāhir · Bāṭin
Seven Pillars
Guardianship · Prayer · Charity
Fasting · Pilgrimage · Struggle
Purity · Profession of Faith
History
Shoaib · Nabi Shu'ayb
Seveners · Qarmatians
Fatimids · Baghdad Manifesto
Hafizi · Taiyabi · Ainsarii
Hassan-i Sabbah · Alamut
Sinan · Hashshashīn
Pir Sadardin · Satpanth
Aga Khan · Jama'at Khana
Early Imams
Ali · Ḥassan · Ḥusain
as-Sajjad · al-Baqir · aṣ-Ṣādiq
Ismā‘īl · Muḥammad
Aḥmad · at-Taqī · az-Zakī
al-Mahdī · al-Qā'im · al-
Manṣūr
al-Mu‘izz · al-‘Azīz · al-Ḥākim
az-Zāhir · al-Mustansir · Nizār
al-Musta′lī · al-Amīr · al-
Qāṣim
Groups & leaders
Nizārī - Aga Khan IV
Dawūdī - Burhanuddin
Sulaimanī - Al-Fakhri
Abdullah
Alavī - Ṭayyib Ziyā'u d-Dīn
Atba-i-Malak Badra -
Amiruddin
Atba-i-Malak Vakil - Razzak
Hebtiahs
 This box: view • talk • edit

The Hashshashin (also Hashishin, Hashashiyyin, or Hashasheen from which the

word assassin is thought to originate), was the Persian designation of the Nizari branch
of the Ismā'īlī Shia Muslims during the Middle Ages.[1] The Nizari, or Hashshashin, as
they were designated by their enemies,[2] split from the Isma'ili Fatimid Empire
following a dispute regarding the succession of their spiritual and political leader the
Fatimid Caliph Ma'ad al-Mustansir Billah.

Contents
[hide]

• 1 Etymology
• 2 History
o 2.1 Tactics: assassination, intimidation and intrigue
o 2.2 Myths and legends
o 2.3 Downfall and aftermath
• 3 See also
• 4 References

• 5 Bibliography

[edit] Etymology
The sect referred to themselves as al-Da'wa al-Jadīda (Arabic:‫)الدعوة الجديدة‬, which
means The New Call (to Conversion), as opposed to the Fatimid Old Call to
Conversion.

The designation assassin, it has been suggested by some, simply means followers of
Hassan (which refers to the group's Persian master Hassan-i Sabbah). The term
Hashshashin is also widely suggested to have been derived from the plural of the
Arabic word "Hashshash" (Arabic:‫شاش‬ ّ ‫ )ح‬which means "hashish user"), although this
remains a matter of dispute. A contemporary variation on the theory, described by
Burman, is that Hashshashin was a derogatory epithet applied by the sect's critics, who
regarded neighboring Nizaris with suspicion due to their secretive society, and their
employment of philosophical concepts and heterodox theology. The term may have
originated as a metaphor[3] to describe the Nizari's odd behavior as "crazed people," as
in "those people who are addled, as if by cannabis," and that the epithet may have
gradually been presented as fact by later enemies of the sect. The Nizari's use of
psychoactives (mainly Cannabis) has been dismissed as myth by many contemporary
scholars, but it has to be remembered that it was a popular myth during the period. It
may also refer to "those who produce hashish," however this etymology is also
disputed. The word Hashish (of probable Persian origin) refers to resin collected from
cannabis flowers. The popular viewpoint may have influenced the crusaders, and
certainly Marco Polo's fabled account of his visit to Alamut in 1273 makes reference to
it.[4] By either or both of those two sources the distorted term "assassin" may have
entered Western vocabulary.
Nevertheless, the most acceptable etymology of the word assassin is the simple one: it
comes from Hassan (Hassan ibn al-Sabbah) and his followers, and so had it been for
centuries. The noise around the hashish version was invented in 1809, in Paris, by the
French orientalist Sylvestre de Sacy, whom on July the 7th of that year, presented a
lecture at the Academy of Inscriptions and Fine Letters (Académie des inscriptions et
belles lettres) – part of the Institute of France - in which he retook the Marco Polo
chronicle concerning drugs and this sect of murderers, and associated it with the word.
Curiously his theory had great success and apparently still has.

– Jacques Boudet, Les mots de l’histoire, Ed. Larousse-Bordas, Paris, 1998

Many scholars have argued, and demonstrated convincingly, that the attribution of the
epithet 'hashish eaters' or 'hashish takers' is a misnomer derived from enemies of the
Isma'ilis and was never used by Muslim chroniclers or sources. It was therefore used in
a pejorative sense of 'enemies' or 'disreputable people'. This sense of the term survived
into modern times with the common Egyptian usage of the term Hashasheen in the
1930s to mean simply 'noisy or riotous'. It is unlikely that the austere Hassan-i Sabbah
indulged personally in drug taking. ...there is no mention of that drug hashish in
connection with the Persian Assassins - especially in the library of Alamut ("the secret
archives").

– Edward Burman, The Assassins - Holy Killers of Islam, Ed. Crucible,

Wellingborough, 1987

[...]their contemporaries in the Muslim world would call them hash-ishiyun, "hashish-
smokers"; some Orientalists thought that this was the origin of the word "assassin,"
which in many European languages was more terrifying yet. ...The Truth is different.
According to texts that have come down to us from Alamut, Hassan-i Sabbah liked to
call his disciples Asasiyun, meaning people who are faithful to the Asās, meaning
"foundation" of the faith. This is the word, misunderstood by foreign travelers, that
seemed similar to "hashish".

– Amin Maalouf, Samarkand, Interlink Publishing Group, New York, 1998

[edit] History
This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be
challenged and removed. (July 2009)

Despite being a minority within a minority, the Isma'ilis, under the leadership of their
Imams, succeeded in establishing a generational secretive underground movement
against the Abbasid Caliphate. They based their ideas on Ancient Greek philosophy,
mysticism, and seeking an end to perceived corruption and greed[citation needed]. They would
turn their revolutionary ideals into reality by establishing the first Shi'ite state, the
Fatimid Empire, spanning across the Mediterranean and Levant, with its capital in
Cairo. The empire aimed to bring scientific and social breakthroughs to all its people,
including religious freedom, and, indeed, the Fatimids ushered in some of the greatest
developments in the Islamic Golden Age.
When in 1094, the eighth Fatimid Caliph and Isma'ili Imam Ma'ad al-Mustansir Billah
took ill in Cairo, his powerful Vizier, Al-Afdal, took the reins of state power and
appointed the Caliph's younger son Al-Musta'li (the Vizier's brother-in-law) as Caliph,
in a palace coup. Nizār, the actual heir apparent, left for Alexandria, where he was given
strong local support and led another rebellion, only to be defeated and executed on his
brother's orders. This caused a split amongst the Isma'ilis, and Nizār's supporters, called
the Nizaris or after their martyred leader, moved east and continued his cause under the
charismatic leadership of Persian herald Hassan-i Sabbah.

Artistic rendering of Hassan-i Sabbah.

Hassan-i Sabbah was known before as the leading Isma'ili herald "Da'i" of the secret
Fatimid propaganda machine within the enemy Abbasid Caliphate. Now leading the
rebel Nizari sect, he successfully gained support of the majority of Fatimid Shi'a within
the Levant, Persia, Iraq, and a small underground following within the Fatimid Empire's
heart Egypt and the rest of North Africa. However, by breaking with the Fatimid
Empire, the followers of Hassan-i Sabbah found themselves alone and outnumbered in
enemy territory.

Not merely content to survive, but instead determined to build a new utopia, the
Nizāriyya formulated a strategy of gaining control of strategically important fortresses
by covertly converting local inhabitants living within and around strategically vital
fortresses in Isma'ili territory. They established a new type of state within a state which
consisted of a number of "island" fortified settlements within a sea of hostility in present
day Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. The formal origin of the Federation of the Assassins
is marked as 1090 when Hassan-i Sabbah established his first stronghold in Daylam at
the fortress of Alamut (Eagle's Nest in Persian) south of the Caspian Sea. Alamut
remained the capital of the Federation of the Assassins, and the home of its rulers,
styled "The Lords of Alamut," until its destruction.

[edit] Tactics: assassination, intimidation and intrigue

Unable to mount a conventional military army, the Nizāriyya developed a form of

asymmetric warfare transforming the act of political assassination into a system of
survival and defense against their foes. They trained highly capable sleeper commandos
(trained in languages, science, trade, and so on) known as Fedayeen, who would
covertly infiltrate enemy positions and remain undercover. If Nizari civilians were
facing pogroms or their forts faced imminent attack, the Fedayeen were activated to
prevent an attack.

Map of the crusader states, showing the area controlled by the Assassins around
Masyaf, slightly above the center, in white.
Fedayeen used their well-known skills for political goals without necessarily killing; for
example, a victim, usually high-placed, might one morning find a Hashshashin dagger
lying on his pillow upon awakening. This was a plain hint to the targeted individual that
he was not safe anywhere, that maybe even his inner group of servants had been
infiltrated by the assassins, and that whatever course of action had brought him into
conflict with the Hashshashins would have to be stopped if he wanted to live.[5][6]

Within Persia they employed their tactics directly against the Seljuk Turks, who had
been persecuting Nizari people. They were meticulous in killing the targeted individual,
seeking to do so without any additional casualties and loss of innocent life, although
they were careful to cultivate their terrifying reputation by slaying their victims in
public. Typically, they approached using a disguise, or were already sleeper agents in an
entourage. Preferring a small hidden blade or dagger, they rejected poison, bows and
other weapons that may have allowed the attacker to escape and live.

Within the Levant it is believed that Saladin, incensed by several almost-successful

Hashshashin attempts on his life, besieged their chief Syrian stronghold of Masyaf
during his reconquest of Outremer in 1176. He later lifted the siege after parley, and
thereafter attempted to maintain good relations with the sect. The sect's own claims tell
of an unsourced account in which assassin Rashid ad-Din Sinan sneaked into Saladin's
tent in the heart of his camp, and left a poisoned cake and a note on Saladin's chest as he
slept saying "You are in our grip" and then sneaked back out of the camp unharmed.
Another account tells of a letter sent to Saladin's maternal uncle, vowing death to the
entire royal line; perhaps no idle threat. Whatever the truth of these accounts, Saladin's
uncle clearly heeded their warning, and desisted.

The Hashshashin often took contracts from outsiders. Richard the Lionheart was among
those suspected of commissioning them to assassinate Conrad de Montferrat.[7] In most
cases the Hashshashin were aimed at retaining the balance of their enemies.[citation needed]

Notable victims include the notable Abbasid vizier Nizam al-Mulk (1092), the Fatimid
vizier al-Afdal Shahanshah (1122) (responsible for imprisoning Nizar), Ibn al-
Khashshab of Aleppo (1125), al-Bursuqi of Mosul (1126), Raymond II of Tripoli
(1152), Conrad de Montferrat (1192), and Prince Edward (later Edward I of England)
was wounded by a poisoned Hashshashin dagger in 1271.

[edit] Myths and legends

The library of Alamut was destroyed, along with much of their Persian power base, and
thus much of the sect's own records were lost; most accounts of them stem from Arab
historians of the period and Marco Polo's accounts. Most Muslim contemporaries were
hostile toward Nizari; in fact they were described using the term Batini. The term was
sometimes used pejoratively to refer to those, especially Isma'ili, who discerned an
inner, esoteric level of meaning (batin) in the Qur'an. This constant religious
estrangement would eventually see them go as far as allying with Western Christian
invaders against Muslims on a number of occasions when it suited their interests.

Much of the current lore surrounding the Assassins roots from Marco Polo, who
claimed to have visited Alamut in 1273 during his journey east (a visit widely
considered fictional since the stronghold had been destroyed by the Mongols in 1256).
Polo wrote that future assassins were subjected an initiation rite in which they were
drugged to simulate "dying," and later awakened in a garden flowing with wine and
served a sumptuous feast by beautiful virgins. The supplicant was then convinced he
was in Heaven and that the sect's leader, Hassan-i Sabbah, was a representation of the
divinity and that all his orders should be followed, even unto death. Other legends of the
Hashshashin are sourced to returning Crusaders from the Levant who claimed to have
encountered Syrian Nizari leader Rashid ad-Din Sinan (the old man of the mountain) in
the fortress of Masyaf.

The use of intoxicants is never mentioned in contemporary Ismaili sources, nor from
rival Sunnis and Shia, despite their suffering from Hashshashin assassinations. For
example, Farhad Daftary in The Assassin Legends: Myths of the Isma'ilis[1] says: "At the
same time, within the crusading-culture of a pre- and early-modern Europe, the Syrian
and Persian Nizaris took shape as Muslim mercenaries who murdered their victims
while high on opium or hashish. If this propagandist concoction of a 'stoned' assassin
fails to fit the complex reality of the discipline and training required for committing
what was always an explicitly political act, the popular notion of Nizaris as a
community of killers also denies their rich, multivalent culture."

Edward Burman, in his The Assassins - Holy Killers of Islam says: "There is no mention
of that drug [hashish] in connection with the Persian Assassins - especially in the library
of Alamut ('the secret archives')." Additionally, the Encyclopedia of the Orient[8] refutes
this allegation. Indeed Hassan-i Sabbah is recorded as being particularly harsh with
users of intoxicants. He felt intoxicants undermined the strict discipline required for the
Nizari to survive. He made a public example of one of his sons by executing him for
drinking alcohol, which he believed set a bad example for a community facing such
insurmountable odds. Benjamin of Tudela who traveled one hundred years before
Marco Polo mentions the Al-Hashshashin and their leader in the fertile crescent Al-
Sinan whom the crusaders dubbed "the Old Man of the Mountain." He notes their
principal city to be Qadmous.

Modern scholarship began[when?] with Soviet scientists, who in order to better understand
communities existing within their vast empire, set about conducting surveys and
discovered small Isma'ili communities isolated by treacherous terrain living within
central Asia. Professor Vladimir Alexeyevich Ivanov, a Russian Orientalist, collected
and published copies of these documents from Alamut.
View of Alamut besieged.

Including first-hand accounts, accompanied by his commentary of the Hashshashin

from original sources. The Nizari continued the work started by the Soviets, and later
Western scholars, of collecting, preserving and publishing literary works from Nizari
Isma'ili communities. In 1977 the Institute of Ismaili Studies was set up in order to
publish scholarly work by leading academics on the Nizari. Much of this work deals
with the Hashshashin period, including their history, science, and philosophy.[citation needed]

[edit] Downfall and aftermath

The power of the Hashshashin was destroyed by the Mongol warlord Hulagu Khan
during the Mongol siege of Alamut on December 15, 1256. The Hashshashin recaptured
and held Alamut for a few months in 1275 but their political power was lost. The Syrian
branch of the Hashshashin was taken over by the Mamluk Sultan Baibars in 1273. The
Mamluks continued to use the services of the remaining Hashshashins: Ibn Battuta
recorded in the 14th century their fixed rate of pay per murder. In exchange, they were
allowed to exist. Eventually, they resorted to the act of Taqq'iya (dissimulation), hiding
their true identities until their Imams would awaken them.

They are survived by the Shia Imami Isma'ili Muslims in the contemporary world, who
are currently led by the Aga Khan IV, their 49th Imam.