The Ismailis appeared on the stage of history following the death of Imam Jaafar al-Sadiq in the year 148 AH/765 AD. One of the results of this death was the conflict between his children and disciples, and then the division into a number of separate groups, and among these were the first Ismailis.

There is general agreement among scholars of Ismaili affairs that a line of central leaders descended from Jaafar al-Sadiq worked in that early period from several leadership positions to organize a Shiite movement opposed to Abbasid rule, considering them “usurpers” of the legitimate rights of the Alawite family to lead the nation[1].


Since the third century AH, the “Guiding Call” has achieved particular success in Iraq, Persia, eastern Arabia, and Yemen. These preachers called for the imamate of the “Ismaili Mahdi,” who would rid them of the injustices of the Abbasids. His rule would also herald the return of the caliphate to the deposed Alawites, and crowned the victory of the Ismaili Shiites. The early establishment of the Fatimid Caliphate in the year 297 AH/909 AD in North Africa, when the Ismaili Imam was installed at that time in a new position, and it was the first of its kind, the “Shiite Caliphate”[2].

Ismaili division

The Fatimid Ismaili state achieved its political, intellectual, and even military aspirations in the field of conflict against the Abbasids in Iraq. Egypt, which the Fatimids entered in the year 358 AH/969 AD, became the center of the call and the Shiite state in the Arab East region. In parallel with this political and expansionist development, Ismaili thought and the Ismaili call flourished. Which was able to achieve influential successes in the political and intellectual scene at that time.

This success was crowned by the famous Al-Basasiri movement in the year 450 AH, when the military commander Abu Al-Harith Arslan Al-Basasiri turned against the Abbasid state, and when the Abbasid Caliph, Al-Qa’im Bi-Amr Allah, fled, so Baghdad became the center of the Sunni Abbasid Caliphate, subordinate for the first time to the Fatimid Caliphate, in a transformation that seemed disastrous and unexpected at the time. However, the Seljuks soon entered Baghdad and cleansed Iraq and even most of the Levant of the Fatimid presence. They were able to restore matters to normal, and from that time on they carried the burden of opposing the Fatimids on the political and military levels.

Al-Hassan bin Al-Sabah (communication sites)

In the year 487 AH / 1094 AD, the Fatimid Caliph Al-Mustansir died, and with his death the Ismailis split into two competing groups, the Nizari and the Musta’li, after the powerful Fatimid minister Afzal Al-Jamali, who had absolute and effective authority at the time, succeeded in installing the youngest son of Al-Mustansir and titled him with the title of Al-Musta’li Billah (487-495 AD / 1094 - 1101 AD), thereby depriving Nizar, the eldest son of Al-Mustansir and the crown prince, of his legal right to the caliphate. The Ismailis of Egypt and the areas affiliated with the Fatimid regime in that period recognized the imamate of Al-Mustali after Al-Mustansir, and they became known as the Musta’lis, while the Ismailis of Iran recognized Nizar’s imamate, and were known as him.

The emergence of the Assassin sect - at the hands of its founder, Al-Hasan bin Al-Sabah Al-Ismaili - and their seizure of the Alamut Castle in Persia - specifically in the southwest of the Caspian Sea since the year 483 AH / 1090 AD - was a major factor in the elimination of the Seljuks and the weakening of the Abbasids, in addition to their imminent danger that continued to struggle with the powers. The Sunnis surrounding them, such as the Zengid, Ayyubid, and Khwarezmian, in addition to the large raids that these groups carried out on the surrounding areas, which were mostly inhabited by Sunni Muslim populations[3].

Al-Hasan bin Al-Sabah was born in Al-Ray in Iran in the year 430 AH/1039 AD. Some historians mentioned that he was born in the city of Qom, the stronghold of Twelver Shiites. Then his family moved to Al-Ray, the center of activities of the Ismaili sect, so he adopted the Ismaili Fatimid way when he was 17 years old.

Ibn al-Sabah’s invitation included Yazd, Kerman, Tabaristan, Damghan, and other provinces of Iran that did not include the city of Rayy.

Because he was avoiding it out of fear of the evil of the minister Nizam al-Mulk al-Tusi

Ibn al-Sabah continued to read Ismaili books, drawing from them his knowledge and dissertations. He was also keen to learn Ismaili sciences from its scholars. Then, Ibn al-Sabah soon took the oath of allegiance to the Fatimid state and its call before an Ismaili preacher, representative of Abd al-Malik ibn Attash, the chief Ismaili preacher at the time in the West. Iran and Iraq. In the year 464 AH/1072 AD, Abd al-Malik bin Attash arrived in the city of Rayy, where he was met by Hassan al-Sabah. Ibn Attash agreed that al-Sabah should join the Ismaili call, and assigned him a specific mission in the body of this call/movement. Then he was asked to travel to Egypt in order to register his name in Court of the Fatimid Caliph in Cairo[4].

Accordingly, Al-Hasan went to the city of Isfahan in the year 467 AH / 1075 AD, where he stayed for two years working in preaching as an agent for Ibn Al-Attash. Then he left for Egypt, which he arrived on August 30, 471 AH / 1079 AD, and he was received there by the preacher, Abu Dawud, with a warm welcome, which he shared. There was a group of Fatimid nobles and notables, and Al-Mustansir quickly included him with his approval, bestowed his blessings on him, and ordered him to call the people to his imamate. Al-Hasan said to him, “So who is the imam after you? So he pointed to his son Nizar”[5].

From that moment, Ibn al-Sabah pledged allegiance to Nizar bin al-Mustansir, even though he had resided in Cairo for eighteen full months, during which the intrigues of “Al-Mustali” and his aides, especially the army commander Badr al-Jamali, increased, so he was forced to leave Egypt and board a ship from Alexandria in the month of Rajab in the year 472 AH/1080 AD. He finally arrived - after a dangerous journey in which he almost drowned off the shores of the Levant - to the city of Isfahan in Dhul-Hijjah in the year 473 AH/1081 AD.

Since that time, Ibn al-Sabah began calling for Nizar (the eldest son of the Fatimid Caliph al-Mustansir), and his invitation included Yazd, Kerman, Tabaristan, Damghan, and other provinces of Iran that did not include the city of Rayy.

Because he was avoiding it out of fear of the evil of the vizier Nizam al-Mulk al-Tusi, who was eager to arrest him, as indicated by the orders he issued[6].

The state of Ismailia in Iran!


Al-Sabah moved around Iran, exploring it for nine years, then he decided to spread the call from the province of Daylam and Mazandaran. He also avoided cities in his travels and preaching, preferring to move through the desert, until he settled in the Damghan region[7] and turned it into a base for the Nizari Ismaili call. Among them were preachers to the mountainous regions to attract people to this call, and continued to do so for 3 years until it became an imminent threat to the Seljuk presence in Iran, and Minister Nizam al-Mulk al-Tusi made a decision to arrest Ibn al-Sabah.

But he managed to escape towards Qazvin[8].


Hassan al-Sabah’s sole concern in his travels was not only to spread his message and gain supporters;

But also to find a suitable place that would protect him from the constant persecution of the Seljuks, and through which he would be able to make it a stable and safe base for spreading his preachers in Iran.

Therefore, Al-Sabah refrained from abandoning the cities due to their exposure and the Seljuks’ control over them.

He quickly fell for his desire, which he found in the impregnable castle of Alamut.

This castle was an ancient fortress on top of a high rock in a rugged area in the middle of the mountains, at an altitude of six thousand meters or more. It was built in a very tight way, so it has only one way to reach it.

Which makes it difficult for the invaders to storm this rugged road, and it is not known precisely who was the first to build this castle. It is said that the one who built it was one of the ancient kings of Daylam and named it (Aloh Amut), which means the eagle’s nest. Then it was renewed by one of the local rulers of the region who was an Alawite in the year 246 AH/860 AD. It remained in the hands of Aqaba until the Ismailis took control of it under the leadership of Ibn al-Sabah on Rajab 7 in the year 483 AH/1090 AD.

Ibn al-Atheer narrated the story of their entry into this castle, saying, “Al-Hasan al-Sabbah used to go around the people, misleading them. When he saw the castle of Alamut and tested the people of those areas, he stayed with them and sought to seduce them. He invited them in secret, showed asceticism, and wore sackcloth, so most of them followed him. He sought blessings from him. When Al-Hasan made up his mind one day, he entered upon Al-Alawi in the castle, and Ibn Al-Sabah said to him: “Get out of this castle.” Al-Alawi smiled and thought he was joking, so Ibn Al-Sabah ordered some of his companions to remove Al-Alawi, so they took him to Damghan and gave him his money and the ownership of the castle.”[9]

They were called Assassins because they would hide in the grass to assassinate their opponents, and it was said that they drank “hashish” before the assassinations so that they would not back down from them.

Al-Hassan Al-Sabbah remained in this fortified castle for the rest of his life. He did not leave it for 35 years until his death. Most of his time was spent reading, reading, planning to spread the Nizari Ismaili esoteric doctrine, corresponding with preachers and preparing plans. His first and constant concern was winning new supporters and supporters, and controlling the kingdom. New castles and territories that also contribute to expanding internal influence in those areas.

Therefore, he continued to send preachers to the villages surrounding neighboring Rudbar, and he also sent his militias to control the surrounding castles, sometimes through propaganda tricks, and sometimes through bloody methods and massacres, and when Al-Hassan Al-Sabah was able to seize the Lambasar Castle through attacks by his militias on it between the years 489 AH and 495 AH / 1096 - 1102 AD, led by his governor, Kiya Bozrjamid, whose rule lasted twenty years. It was an important strategic fortress and stood on a rounded rock overlooking the Shah Rud region in central Iran.

He managed to capture all of the Rudbar region in northern Iran.

In the year 484 AH/1091 AD, Ibn al-Sabah sent his preachers to the mountainous region of Quhestan near the Alamut Citadel, and then he was able to call the inhabitants of that region by exploiting the state of dissatisfaction they were in against the rule of the Seljuks, so that it became affiliated with the Ismailis[10].

On the other hand, the people of the nearby Abhar region could not bear the Ismaili attacks, so they sent a call for help to the Seljuk Sultan Berkiariq bin Malik Shah, which was the reason for him sending a military division to besiege it. The siege lasted for eight months, and he was able to seize it in the year 489 AH/1096 AD and kill the Ismailis who were in it.

Therefore, hostility was intense between the Seljuks and the Ismailis[11].

Bloody Assassins

Ismailism was called Batiniya;

“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”[12], and that those who have the ability to understand these truths and signs are the ones who have lost the obligation.

As for their nickname, “the Assassins” or “the Assassins”;

This nickname was given to them because they used to hide in the weeds to assassinate their opponents, and it was said that they drank “hashish” before assassinating their opponents so that they would not back down from it under the influence of this narcotic substance[13].

The Assassin squad was extremely bloody and daring in confronting its opponents, and Sunnis and Crusaders alike were afraid of their brutality and bloodshed, and their unexpected skills in finishing and killing. In a report sent by one of the envoys to the German Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in the year 570 AH/1175 AD, he said, “They have a master who casts the greatest terror into the hearts of All Arab princes, near and far, alike, and all the Christian rulers neighboring them fear him, because he has a habit of killing them in a surprising way”[14]!

In the face of this imminent danger to the Ismaili presence in Iran, an area of ​​essentially Sunni Seljuk influence and presence, the year 485 AH/1092 AD was the real beginning of the Seljuk confrontation with Hassan al-Sabah.

Where the Seljuk Sultan Malikshah sent two campaigns, one against Alamut Castle and the second against nearby Quhestan.

But the trained Ismaili military teams confronted the Seljuks, and with the help of the people who sympathized with them in Rudbar and Qazvin, the Seljuks were forced to withdraw, especially after the death of Sultan Malikshah in Shawwal of the same year.

Indeed, Hassan Al-Sabah was able to strike his major blow by assassinating the famous minister Nizam al-Mulk al-Tusi, only several weeks after the death of Sultan Malikshah in the same year 485 AH/1092 AD. The assassination of Nizam al-Mulk was one of the first major assassinations carried out by the Assassins, a guerrilla squad that was the spearhead. Ismailis in taking revenge on their opponents;

Rather, it was the beginning of a long series of assassinations that they carried out against kings, princes, army leaders, and clergy, which continued until Hulagu occupied Alamut Castle and eliminated their power in the East, which continued for about two centuries[15].

Ibn al-Sabah died in 518 AH/1124 AD in Alamut, and the sources differed about the fate of his descendants. Some sources mention that he killed his children during his lifetime, but most and most of the historical sources agree that he died for something other than that crime, and he was succeeded by Bozurg Amid (Barzjamid) in the leadership of the sect. He had assigned others to the affairs of preaching, administration, and leadership of the Ismaili forces before his death, and asked them to cooperate and cooperate until the appearance of the hidden Imam, according to the Ismaili faith[16].

Despite the death of Ibn al-Sabah, armed conflicts continued between the Batinian Ismailis and the Seljuks, their territories expanded, and the Assassins were able to seize new castles.

But the Seljuks were able to contain their danger in the year 500 AH/1107 AD when Sultan Muhammad al-Seljuqi seized the Shah-e-Duz Castle near Isfahan, and killed a large number of them, including Ibn al-Attash, their chief preacher in Iran, and his son, but their danger remained with the presence of the fortified Alamut Castle.

The interior of the Levant

The first appearance of the Ismaili Assassins in the Levant was in the year 498 AH/1105 AD when Al-Hasan Al-Sabah sent his preacher to spread the doctrine, and to spoil the relationship of the two brothers (Duqqaq, the ruler of Damascus, and Ridwan, the ruler of Aleppo, the sons of Tutish ibn Al Arslan Al-Saljuqi), so the Ismaili preacher allied with Ridwan and persuaded him to the Ismaili doctrine, and established a house. For the Ismaili call in Aleppo, but the death of Ridwan made his successor, Alp Arslan al-Akhras, turn against the Ismailis in that region.

Rather, he managed to kill their leader, Abu Taher Al-Sayegh, and the rest had no choice but to flee and survive.

However, their influence increased during the days of their preacher, Bahram, in Damascus and its environs in the first quarter of the sixth century AH. However, the anger of the people of Damascus over this call forced Bahram to flee with his followers, so he was able to seize Baniyas Castle, west of Damascus, and it was only a short time before his danger became apparent from... New to this region, Atabeg Taghtekin - who initially stood next to them - had awakened to the shock of this danger close to him personally, but he died before confronting them, and his son, Taj al-Muluk Buri, succeeded him as ruler of Damascus, and during his reign his minister, Mazdaqani, who was loyal to the Batiniya, overprotected his companions. He even offered to hand over Damascus to the Crusaders in return for giving him and the Batinians the city of Tire as an alternative. The two parties set a Friday to implement that agreement, a time when the people of Damascus were busy with Friday prayers[17].

But the conspiracy was revealed before its time, and Prince Buri killed his traitorous minister, and issued his decision to pursue the mystics throughout his country, which was something that the public was enthusiastic about before the leaders, and the middle of Ramadan did not come in the year 523 AH / 1129 AD until six thousand mystics were killed, and then their preacher Ismail Al-Ajami called for help from the Crusaders. who were stationed on the Levantine coast, asking them for protection and refuge in exchange for handing over Baniyas Castle. These events marked the end of the mystical presence in the Levant[18].

The end of esotericism in Iran

Genghis Khan (networking sites)

Despite the first Mongolian invasion of the Islamic Levant since the year 616 AH/1219 AD, and the seizure of Iran by these Mongols, among other things they seized;

The Nizari Ismailis, the “Hashshashi esotericists,” were able to establish a close relationship with these Mongols at first.

In fact, it was mentioned in some sources that the Ismailis were the ones who called on Genghis Khan to eliminate Jalal al-Din Khwarazm Shah, Sultan of the Khwarezm state, which inherited the Seljuk state in that region.

Because of the stubbornness, restrictions, and attempts at liquidation that befell them at his hands.

However, they saw that the ambitions of the Mongols did not stop at a certain limit, and that their conquests and expansion were still continuing, so they feared this imminent danger, and sought help from the Crusaders, who had strengthened their relationship with them since the beginning of the Crusades against the Seljuks, Zengid, and then the Ayyubids, and the matter did not stop there. limit;

Rather, they tried to make an alliance with all the emirates and their neighboring powers, including yesterday’s enemies, to repel the imminent Mongols threat, but the sword had preceded the defeat[19]!

On the other hand, there are other narrations that confirm that the general Muslims, who in the regions of Qazvin, Rayy, Isfahan, and others were subject to the rule of the Hashshasha Batiniyya, sent requests for help from the Mongols to eliminate those who had made them suffer misfortunes. The Mongols understood the reality of the relations between the Ismailis and the general people in those regions, and despite From the Batiniyya sending some of their ambassadors to Karakorum, the capital of the Mongols in Mongolia, to blessing Kyuk, the grandson of Genghis Khan, on his selection as a new khan for the Mongol Empire in the year 649 AH/1252 AD, they did not receive proper treatment from the Mongolian side[20].

In vain, Rukn al-Din Khurshah, the last Ismaili leader in Iran, tried to avoid the second Mongol invasion - which eliminated the Abbasid Caliphate in 656 AH/1258 AD - by holding a sit-in in the fortified Maimun Castle.

But the most famous Mongol military leader, Hulagu, sent to him asking him to come and submit, and threatened him with revenge and death if he refused this order. Khurshah found nothing before the Mongol force except submission and obedience, in Shawwal of the year 654 AH / 1256 AD, and then soon the Alamut Castle surrendered in Dhul-Qa’dah of the same year. The year after a short fight that did not reach its garrison[21].

After Hulagu guaranteed Khorshah's life - or so it seemed to him - Rukn al-Din wanted to go to Mongukhan, the leader of the Mongols in Karakorum, in the hope that he might obtain decent treatment or a guarantee for his life, but the Mongolian leader refused this meeting.

Since only two Ismaili castles remain, they have not surrendered to the Mongols yet.

It was decided to seek the help of Khorshah in arranging their compliance, which was what actually happened.

During his return after subjugating all of the Assassin countries to the Mongols, the order was issued to kill him and all his companions.

Then orders were issued to Hulagu to get rid of all the Assassins once and for all. He killed large numbers of Khurshah’s relatives. Then a large number of Ismailis were gathered for the purpose of census, but they were all killed as well, and only those who took hold of the mountains of Persia survived. Thus, the Nizari Ismailis were eliminated with a powerful final blow after A presence in Iran that lasted nearly a century and a half[22].

Remnants of Nizari Ismailism remain today in many countries of the world, and perhaps the most important of them is the sect called the Aga Khaniyah, and the imam of this sect is considered one of the richest people in the world.

Due to the followers of this sect, which numbers about ten million people around the world[23].

Source: Al Jazeera