The Assassins were knights who were skilled in disguise and killing professionally - an image with artificial intelligence (Al Jazeera - Midjorny)

The Assassin group, also known as the Nizari Ismaili sect, spread in Persia and the Levant and established the “Eastern Nizari State in the Levant, Persia, and the Countries of the East.” It was founded by Hassan al-Sabah, who split from the Fatimids when Ahmed, nicknamed al-Mustali Billah, assumed the caliphate. He was calling for the caliphate of Nizar bin Ma’ad. Ali Al-Obaidi, whom the Fatimid Caliph Al-Mustansir Billah recommended to take over after him.

The group was holed up in castles and used assassination as a means to eliminate its opponents. It caused terror to the Fatimids in Cairo, the Abbasids in Baghdad, and the Seljuks in Iran, in addition to the Crusaders. Its presence in Persia was eliminated by the Mongol leader Hulagu in 1255 AD, and in the Levant, Al-Zahir ended it with Peres.

The Assassins and other titles

Narrations differed as to why they were called Assassins, but it was said that they were called that because they used hashish a lot. It was said that Al-Sabah used to give it to them to carry out the tasks assigned to them, and it was said that he created lush gardens in a fortified castle, and he would take his followers to them after they used hashish and make them believe that this was “paradise.” “Promised” in the afterlife, and when they wake up, he promises them to return to it if they do what he asked of them.

It was said that the name “Assassins” is derived from the foreign word (assassin), which in some Western languages ​​means “a stealth or treacherous killer,” or “a professional killer for hire.” The proponents of this interpretation justified their opinion by saying that the followers of this sect were professional in assassination, and it was said that the French Crusaders launched This name was given to the sect because its followers were killing their kings and the commanders of their armies.

The Assassins were called by many other names, including the Ismailis - due to the closeness of their doctrine to the Ismaili sect - and they were also called the Batiniyya and the Nizari, due to their support of the imam they called for, Nizar Ibn Al-Mustansir Al-Fatimi.

In his book "The History of Aleppo", Ibn al-Adim called them the Atheists and the Hashishiya, which is the most famous name for them in the books of the early Arabs, such as Jamal al-Din al-Hamawi, Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi, and Abd al-Rahman Ibn Khaldun, who mentioned that they were also nicknamed the "Fidawi" because they adopted the method of "commander operations" against their opponents.

Leader of the Assassins sect, Hassan al-Sabah (social networking sites)

Founder Hassan Al-Sabah

His full name is Al-Hassan bin Ali bin Muhammad bin Jaafar bin Al-Hussein bin Muhammad Al-Sabah Al-Himyari, and his lineage goes back to Yemen. He was born in Iran in 1037 AD and died there in 1124 AD. He was raised in the Twelver sect and then converted to the Ismaili sect when he reached the age of 17.

He worked for a period in the court of the Seljuk state, then he began to move between the regions of Iran to spread the Ismaili doctrine in secret, and his followers increased until he seized the "Alamut" castle and made it a center for his preaching, and from there he began expanding his influence in the neighboring regions, until it included Persia and the Levant.

Military doctrine

The Assassins focused their assassinations on kings, princes, ministers, army commanders, judges, and clerics. They avoided direct confrontation in battles to avoid major losses, and relied on liquidating important wanted persons in front of the public to spread terror in the souls.

The Assassins were knights who were skilled at disguising themselves and killing professionally, especially the “Fedayeen” among them, who were a group of people loyal to the Imam who were training to carry out important assassinations. They were ready to kill themselves if they were caught so as not to reveal the group’s secrets.

The Assassins were professionally infiltrating their enemies and groups, and inserting their followers into the courts of the caliphs and important centers in the state, in order to facilitate the implementation of their assassinations. They were able to assassinate important figures such as the Seljuk minister Nizam al-Mulk, the Abbasid Caliphs al-Mustarshid and al-Rashid, and the King of Jerusalem, Conrad.

The "Fedayeen" of the Assassins used to kill the targeted people in front of the public to spread terror in the souls of the people (Al-Jazeera)

Religious belief

The Assassins are one of the Shiite splinter groups, and their beliefs generally coincide with the Ismailis, as they believe in the existence of an infallible and prescribed imam.

Their beliefs differed depending on the orientations of their imams. Their imam in the Levant, Rashid al-Din Suleiman, believed in reincarnation and claimed knowledge of the unseen. As for their imam, nicknamed “Hassan II,” he declared the resurrection, abolished the Sharia, and waived the duties. Jalal al-Din ibn Hassan II came and demolished all the beliefs of his fathers, and then came after him. His son destroyed his father's work and returned to the original idea of ​​the group.

He called the Ismailis esotericists “because of their claim that the phenomena of the Qur’an and the news have inner meanings that flow through the phenomena as the pulp flows from the chaff... and to the wise and intelligent people, they are symbols and indications of certain truths,” and they claimed that those who have the ability to understand these truths and indications are the ones who have lost the obligation.

Origin and establishment

It was from Egypt that the thought of the Assassins formed during the rule of the Fatimids. One of the Ismaili leaders in the Persian city of Rayy sent Hassan al-Sabah to Egypt in 1078 AD to get closer to the Fatimid Caliph and study the doctrines of the Ismaili doctrine there.

When Al-Sabah met the then Fatimid Caliph Al-Mustansir Billah, he honored him and ordered him to call people to his imamate. Al-Sabah asked him, “Who is my imam after you?” He said, “My son Nizar,” and thus the morning began calling for Nizar’s imamate.

When Caliph Al-Mustansir Billah died, a dispute broke out in the Fatimid court, as Minister Badr Al-Jamali at the time considered Ahmed (Nizar’s half-brother) more worthy of the caliphate, so he appointed him as “Al-Mustali Billah.” So Nizar fled to Alexandria, split from his brother, and mobilized his forces for Cairo, but he was defeated and killed there.

Minister Al-Jamali sought to remove Al-Sabah from the circle of government, because he was calling for Nizar’s succession and believed that Al-Musta’li Billah was a usurper of the caliphate and that Nizar was more deserving of it.

After the killing of Nizar, Al-Sabah began calling for “Nizari Ismailism.” Al-Jamali expelled him from Egypt, and Al-Sabah returned to Iran and began to mobilize his followers and spread the teachings of his sect, and thus he created the “Assassins” group.

The first victim of the Assassins was a muezzin in Isfahan who refused to enter their sect - an image with artificial intelligence (Al Jazeera-Medjorny)

Secret invitation

Al-Sabah left Egypt and headed by sea to Acre, from there to Aleppo, then to Baghdad, and from there to Persia. He reached Isfahan in June 1081 AD, and spent 9 years moving from one city to another in secret, calling for the Ismaili doctrine and gaining supporters.

Al-Sabah claimed that the imamate was transferred to Nizar's grandson, who the Assassins secretly brought to the Alamut castle and kept his matter secret.

During this period, his supporters in Isfahan killed a muezzin whom they had invited to their sect. He refused to respond to them, so they feared that their matter would be revealed to the authorities. This was the first assassination operation they carried out. The practices of the Assassins at that time represented a threat to the Seljuk state and its influence in Iran.

When the news of the incident reached the Seljuk Minister Nizam al-Mulk, he ordered the arrest of the killer. He then became aware of the danger of this group and the threat it posed to the security and stability of the authority, so he began tracking down its members and preachers, which prompted al-Sabah to think seriously about creating an impenetrable fortress that would protect him and his followers from continued persecution and enable him to He published his invitation.

Alamut Castle

Al-Sabah chose Alamut Castle for this purpose. It is a fortress built by one of the kings of Daylam and located on top of a high rock in the middle of the mountains, about 100 kilometers from the city of Tehran. The Al-Sabah group’s seizure of this castle was the first major historical act carried out by this nascent movement. It was said that the group had bought it for 3,000 gold dinars.

Since its founding, the group has been known for its fortifications in mountains, castles and fortresses - image with artificial intelligence (Al Jazeera - Midjorny)

“Alamut” means “the den of punishment” in Persian, and according to some accounts, Al-Sabah made it “the desired paradise” and “the highest paradise” for his followers. He would give them the hashish he found in that area, and lead them to a garden in which he had prepared wine, women, and other things, so that they would think they were in heaven. And when they wake up, they think that they have actually entered Paradise, and they believe that the key to Paradise is in His hand, so they submit to Him completely. This is the explanation of some narratives for the existence of the “fedayeen,” but it is a narrative that some have refuted due to the ruggedness of the region and its coldness for long periods, which makes it impossible to create such a “promised paradise.”

From Alamut Castle, Al-Sabah continued to spread his message in the surrounding areas, and took control of a number of castles and fortresses, sometimes using ideological persuasion and other times military force. His expansionist ambitions angered the Seljuk Sultan Malik Shah, so he decided to direct two military campaigns to Alamut Castle and Qahestan. "to eliminate Al-Sabah's growing influence, but they failed to achieve their goals.

Stations in the history of the Assassins

Sultan Malik Shah sent a messenger to Al-Sabah, forbidding him and calling on him to return from his actions in assassinations and killings. Al-Sabah said to a group of his companions who were present, “I want to carry you out to your master to fulfill a need. Who will attend to it?” So he quickly gathered all of them, and the messenger then thought that he would send a message to one of them. Al-Sabah pointed to one of them and said, “Kill yourself.” The young man took out a knife and killed himself. Then he pointed to another and said to him, “Throw yourself from the castle.” The young man threw himself and died. Then Al-Sabah turned to the Messenger and said to him, “I have 20,000 of these people. This is the extent of their obedience to me, and this is "My answer."

Then Al-Sabah placed the Seljuk Minister Nizam al-Mulk at the top of the list of assassinations, as he was his first enemy and the enemy of his movement, as he was one of the most ardent fighters of esoteric intellectual doctrines. In 1092 AD, he sent a commando to assassinate Nizam al-Mulk, and this is considered the first assassination of a major figure carried out by this movement, and with it Hassan al-Sabah established the foundations. The foundations of "Guardian", as some historians say.

After this operation, the movement carried out a series of assassinations targeting senior figures who opposed its call, including ministers, army commanders, princes, and scholars, with the aim of instilling fear in the hearts of its enemies. The weakness of the Seljuk state and what happened to it contributed to this, as King Shah died shortly after his minister, so the state entered into a conflict that it exploited. The Assassins and their influence spread until they reached the Levant.

The influence of the Assassins expanded until their enemies increased, and the Iranian states agreed to eliminate them and kill all those affiliated with them. The group suffered a major setback, and their castle was subjected to siege for several decades, until Al-Sabah threatened to assassinate the last sultan who surrounded his castle, so the siege was lifted.

Al-Sabah directed his efforts to assassinate all the heads who had spoken out in their opposition to him in Persia and the Levant. Among the most prominent of those assassinated was the distinguished minister Abu al-Mahasin Abdul Jalil bin Muhammad al-Dahistani, the minister of Sultan Barkiariq bin Malik Shah, the governor of Bayhaq, the Mufti of Isfahan, the leader of the Karamiya division in Nishapur, and the minister al-Sumayrimi, the minister of Sultan Mahmoud. .

The Assassins in the Levant

The Assassins spread eastward until they reached Mazandaran, then Qazvin, and occupied the region of Rudbar, Lamasar, and Kohistan, in all of which they occupied many castles and extended to the Oxus River.

Their mission reached the Levant, and there they owned castles and fortresses throughout the country. Among their castles were Baniyas, Masyaf Fort, Al-Qadmus, Al-Kahf, Al-Khawabi, Salamiyah, Al-Maniqa, and Al-Qulaya.

They persuaded the governor of Aleppo at that time, Ridwan ibn Tush, to their doctrine and he embraced it, which contributed to the movement of many Persian Ismailis to Aleppo at that time, thus increasing their power and strength.

Among their leaders in the Levant were Bahram al-Astarabadi and Ismail al-Farsi, and the most prominent of them was the sheikh of the mountain, Sinan bin Suleiman, known as Rashid al-Din. Some accounts describe him as a frightening person, and say that he received his education in the Alamut Castle, and then the group sent him to the Levant.

The people recognized the imamate of the Sheikh of the Mountain, and there he built up his influence and gathered followers around him, until he died and his followers returned to obeying the imams in the citadel. During his time, he tried to assassinate Saladin several times because he overthrew the rule of the Fatimids, and he prepared many plans for that and killed many princes in Aleppo in order to reach him, but his plans all failed.

Some historians believe that the Assassins cooperated with the Crusaders, and they based this conclusion on several indicators, the first of which is that this sect did not arrest or kill any Crusader, and the second is that they fought the Seljuk ruler of Mosul when he went to fight the Crusaders, and some historical accounts say that they handed over Baniyas Castle to the Franks. A battalion of them participated with the Crusaders in Antioch after Nur ad-Din Zengi took control of Aleppo.

An artificial intelligence-designed image of Nizar bin Maad Ali Al-Obaidi, whom the Assassins called for to assume the caliphate (Medgorny - Al Jazeera)

The Assassins after the morning

Hassan al-Sabah died in 1124 AD and did not leave behind a dynasty. His two sons were killed while he was alive. He recommended that Kayabzorg Amid assume the leadership of the sect after him, and he led the group for 14 years, during which fierce battles with the Seljuks occurred.

After Amid, his son Muhammad led the leadership in 1162 AD. He devoted most of his attention to calling for the “Imam,” and was known for his respect for the teachings of his sect, to the point that he killed many of his followers who believed in the imamate of his son, and expelled and tortured others.

After Muhammad came in 1162 AD, his son, Al-Hasan, and was known as Hassan II. He claimed to be the grandson of Kayabzurk, while his followers considered him the “Imam of the Age” and the son of the previous Imam from the lineage of Nizar. He announced the “resurrection” in Ramadan in the year 559 AH, and he ended the work of Sharia and religious duties, and permitted Breakfast and reduced costs.

The son of Hassan II came in 1166 AD and continued his father’s path. He added to the idea of ​​resurrection and established it among his followers. He was helped by the weakness of the Seljuks and the waning of their dominance at that time, until Jalal al-Din Hassan III stopped these beliefs in 1210 AD, and he rejected their beliefs until he burned their books and disavowed their doctrine. .

Jalal al-Din focused at that time on linking his group to the Islamic world. He sent to the Abbasid Caliph al-Nasir li-Din Allah, to the Seljuk Khwarazm Shah, and others, confirming the sincerity of his call to Islam. The news spread in Islamic circles, and he and his group were given the title “The New Muslims.”

But after Jalal al-Din, the group returned to its original doctrine. His son ruled, and he was 5 years old at the time. The group weakened and theft and attacks spread, until Hulagu ended their existence.

The Assassins in the Levant tried to assassinate Saladin several times because he overthrew the rule of the Fatimids (Getty)

The end of the Assassins

The end of the Assassins was written by the Mongols, who were then expanding their empire. They annihilated them along the way and seized their castles one after another. The Assassins provoked the Mongols after they assassinated their leader, so Hulagu eliminated them and was aided by the diversity and development of the weapons he possessed.

At that time, Hakam al-Din Khorshah was the one ruling the Assassins. He announced his surrender to Hulagu, handed him a number of castles, and married a Mongol girl given to him by Hulagu, who later killed him by surprise. This sect still has followers spread across Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Najran, and India.

In the Levant, their influence weakened after the death of the governor of Aleppo, Ridwan Tosh. He was succeeded by Alp Arslan al-Akhras, who turned against all the Ismailis in the state, and killed their leader at the time, Abu Taher al-Sayegh, and the rest fled.

Those who remained in Damascus tried to seek help from the Crusaders and handed them Baniyas Castle in return, until al-Zahir Baybars eliminated them after their strength and leaders weakened and they were unable to confront the Mamluks. They began to pay tribute after they had been collecting it and lost their castles one after another until their existence ended completely in the year 1273 AD.

Source: websites