Nizarites: the sect of assassins were a Shiite tribe in eastern Persia. Formed as early as the 7th century it was in operation throughout the Middle Ages, but had its best period from 1094 on the death of the Fatimid caliph of Cairo Al-Mustansir bi-llah, a war opened between his two sons Nizar and Mustali for succession. The sect sided with Nizar, but Nizar’s partisans were defeated in Egypt hence the term Nizarites after the schism that divided the sect into two factions: one minority, Shiite-oriented that was inspired by the political current that descended from Ali, Muhammad’s son-in-law; the other, Ismailite that in turn considered itself the only true repository of the prophet’s teachings, and worshipped Ismail, a theologian who lived in the 8th century, as the seventh prophet. Within the Ismailites an intransigent and fanatical sect was formed whose members, the “Fidawi,” were known by the name “Assassins” under the leadership of Hasan ibn al-Sabbah known as “Sheikh-el-Jebel” (i.e., “old man of the mountain”), the son of a Persian merchant had a brilliant idea for the sect, was to endow it with absolutely inviolable shelters; the most famous was the Eagle’s Nest, in Alamuth, a small town perched on a mountain between Tehran and the Caspian Sea that was absolutely impregnable. Legend has it that Hasan ibn al-Sabbah, a young man, disguised as a beggar went to the king asking to be allowed to buy his castle. The king ironically replied yes, as he did not believe that the “beggar” had the sum, but with the disguise removed he became the full owner of the fortress. From there he began his recruitment efforts.<\/p>\n
It was not the sect’s only refuge; there were others of the same nature where they culturally and “professionally” trained murderers. Very soon Hasan disposed of a large number of followers totally loyal to him and endowed with unprecedented ferocity. The sect’s fame immediately spread throughout the Middle East; a series of successful murders increased terror and respect, which soon came to threaten Christian interests in the Holy Land.
\nAttempts to storm the main stronghold resulted in failure; in particular, there was one caliph who gave up all ambitions the day he found, under his pillow, a dagger of the sect, an unmistakable sign of the presence, among his court, of adherents of the sect.<\/p>\n
However, the old man and his killers should not be regarded as vulgar, hired killers; they learn many languages such as Latin, Greek, Proven\u00e7al, Saracen, and many others, and, as mentioned at the beginning, the religious connotation was very strong, and it was certainly the mainspring that moved their actions.
\nThe old man on the mountain did not pursue personal success or wealth; the money the sect obtained for its services, often even if only as a “bribe” to avoid greater trouble, was used by the sect for indoctrination and for the expenses of maintaining the small army that composed it. Soon the range of action widened; it was at the expense, for example, of Conrad of Montferrat, king of Jerusalem,who was killed by two assassins.<\/p>\n
CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS OF THE SECT<\/strong><\/p>\n The costumes of the killers portrayed in a rare book that escaped extermination testify that there was a cult and hierarchies among the killers. The initiates could climb the hierarchical ladder only by training and assiduous study of the Mohammedan Shuras, appropriately extreme by Hasan. The hierarchy was constituted as follows: at the lowest rank was the Faithful, who were assigned the most dangerous and reckless missions, and addicted to narcotics they blindly obeyed orders by throwing themselves into the most daring exploits, which they carried out in crowded places or in public, going to the extreme sacrifice of their own lives. Then the Laymen, the Companions and finally the Masters (Youth and Elders) close associates of the one Supreme Master. The color of an assassin’s dress was in white and red, white symbolizing purity, and red symbolizing blood. The colors symbolize courage (white) and invincibility (red). Although these were Muslims, their doctrine had considerable variations as the recruits could eat pork (a forbidden food for any Muslim), they also practiced incestuous and perverse orgies , where the presence of mothers and sisters was a normality.<\/p>\n Perhaps the best description of this sect’s practices is given to us by Marco Polo in his diary in these words:<\/p>\n “Lo Veglio (…) had had made between two mountains in a valley the most beautiful garden and the largest in the world; there he had all the fruits and the most beautiful palaces in the world, all painted in gold and beasts and birds. There it was conducted: for such came water, and for such wine. There he was damsels and damsels, the most beautiful in the world, and who knew best how to sing and sound and dance ; and he made Veglio believe to them that that was paradise. And for that he did so, because Mohammed said that he who would go to paradise would have as many beautiful females as he wished, and there he would find rivers of milk and honey and wine; and therefore he made it similar to what Mohammed had said. And the Saracens of that quarter truly believed that that was paradise; and into this garden did not enter except he who wished to make murder.” “At the entrance to the garden he had a castle so strong that he feared no man in the world. Lo Veglio kept in his court all young men of twelve years of age, who seemed to him to become valiant men. When Veglio had them put in the garden, four, ten, and twenty, he had them given opium to drink, and they slept well three days; and he had them taken to the garden, and at the time he had them woken up. When the young men woke up, he would be in there and see all these things, truly they believed themselves to be in paradise. And these damsels always stayed with them with songs and in great solace; whence he had so what they wanted, that never by the will would they depart from that garden. The Veglio keeps beautiful court and rich, and makes those of that mountain believe that so it is as I have told you. And when he wants to send any of those young men to no place, he makes them give them drink that sleep, and makes them go out of the garden to his palace. When those wake up, they find themselves there, much they marvel, and are sad that they find themselves out of heaven. They go forth inconspicuously before the Best, believing him to be a great prophet, and kneel down. He asks them, “Whence comest thou?” They answer, “From heaven,” and count them what they have seen within, and they have great desire to return to it. And when the Better wants to have any person killed, he towers him whom he is most vigorous and makes him kill whom he wills; and those do it willingly, to return to paradise. (…) In this manner no man lives before the Better of the Mountain, to whom he wills to do it; and so I tell you that more kings do tribute to him for that fear.”<\/em><\/p>\n Their action also did not lack a certain ritualistic character, as all their victims perished pierced by knives, while no poisons or ranged weapons were ever used. Murder was thus also connoted as a sacrificial act. Ancient death cults thus found new life within Islam, and murder became not only a due act of devotion, but a sacred action, capable of sanctifying those who stained their hands. The chronicler William of Tyre recounts,“Immediately whoever received the assignment began his mission without thinking of the consequences that might befall him or without preparing a way of escape.”<\/em> For the followers, in fact, achieving impunity made no sense at all. Once captured, they would endure any punishment, convinced of the heroic nature of their martyrdom. Under Hassan ben Sabbah’s command, Ishmaelite lists recall some fifty murders, aimed at targeting high-profile opponents and creating a climate of terror. No one, no matter how well protected and withdrawn, appeared immune to their blows, as determination and the ability to conceal themselves allowed the goons to approach any target. The atmosphere established by these repeated acts of violence is well described by an Arab chronicler who states: “No commander or official dared to leave his home without an escort. Under their clothes they wore armor and the vizier wore chainmail. Out of fear of being assaulted, the sultan’s senior officials asked permission to be allowed to bear arms in his presence and he granted it.”<\/em><\/p>\n THE STORY.<\/strong><\/p>\n In 1090 Hasan established his headquarters as well as residence in Khorasan in the impregnable citadel of AlamutH in Persia, the Eagle’s Nest, 1800 meters above the sea. The first one assassinated was Grand Vizier Nizam al-Mulk in 1092, whose skill as a strategist and statesman had been important to the Seljuk dynasty in Iran. The Seljuks tried several times to subdue Hasan but without success. He was truly a loose cannon in the Muslim world.
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\nLater some sects of Assassins moved into Syria, also supported by Ridwan of Aleppo, who, either perhaps because he had converted to the doctrines or because he did not have much sympathy for his Seljuk cousins had granted them protection and support; the leader was named Abu Tashir, and he was a Syrian goldsmith who had an influence on Ridwan.
\nTancred of Antioch, fascinated by the doctrines or because of his friendship with Ridwan approached the sect.
\nIn 1103 their first venture into Syria was executed with the murder of the emir of Homs, Janah ed-Daula. In 1106 they slaughtered the emir of Apamea, Khalaf ibn Mulaib, but only the Franks of Antioch could benefit from this death. Later the head of the army in Aleppo also fell under the dagger of the Assassins.
\nIn 1124 Hasan died; his successors maintained the policy of the first High Master until Hasan II decided in 1165 to repudiate Islam and create a new religion only for the benefit of the Assassins. It was a cataclysm.
\nHasan II was killed in a plot, and the group split into two groups, the Persian Assassins and the Syrian Assassins, the latter ruled by Sinan ibn Salman ibn Muhammad, a brilliant yet treacherous man who was confronted by two equally wily opponents: the Crusaders and Saladin.
\nSaladin, too, is said to have been terrified by the political power and ease of killing anyone, as witnessed in these words handed down by a Muslim chronicler:
\n“My brother (…) narrated to me that Sinan sent a messenger to Saladin (…), ordering him to deliver a message in private. Saladin had him searched, and when he was sure that he posed no danger, he dismissed those present by letting only a few people stay and asked him to give him the message. But he said : “My master ordered me not to deliver it to you (except in private).”<\/em>. Saladin then dismissed all the congregants except two Mamluks (non-Muslim slaves especially Uzbeks, Turkmen, Kazakhs, etc… employed mostly in the army Ed.), and said : “Give me your message<\/em>,” and he replied,“I was ordered to give it to you only in private,”<\/em> and the Saladin said,“These two will not leave me<\/em>. If you want, give me your message, otherwise leave.”<\/em> He said: “Why didn’t you push these two away like you pushed the others away ?”<\/em> The Saladin replied : “I consider them as if they were my children; they and I are one.”<\/em> Then the messenger turned to the two Mamluks and said: “If I ordered you in the name of my lord to kill this sultan, would you do it?”<\/em> They answered yes and unsheathed their swords, saying,“Order what you wish<\/em>.” Sultan Saladin (…) was dumbfounded, and the messenger left, taking the two with him.
\nAfter these events, the chronicler again states, Saladin decided to conclude peace with the Assassins, but the sect would soon find new antagonists: in 1152, in fact, a Frankish leader, Count Raymond II of Tripoli, fell under their blows. He was the first Christian victim remembered by the Ishmaelites.
\nThe most striking act against the Westerners, however, was to be the killing of Conrad of Montferrat, king of Jerusalem. After the fall of the Holy City to Saladin, the Italian prince, who had just arrived in Palestine, had been able to heroically organize the defense of Tyre, later also obtaining the crown of the kingdom. One evening, while returning to the royal palace, he was approached by two men, and while one pretended to deliver a letter to him, the second stabbed him. The assassins were known at court and had previously pretended to convert to Christianity. Immediately captured, they claimed to have acted on the commission of Richard I the Lionheart, king of England and at that time in the Holy Land as a crusader. Indeed, there had been many serious disagreements between Conrad and the Plantagenet about the conduct of the crusade, yet it appears that the Old Man of the Mountain was acting in this case to eliminate a dangerous enemy, while also succeeding in sowing discord in the Christian camp. The fact remains that the Assassins had struck again with shrewdness and recklessness, killing the ruler of Jerusalem himself.
\nKilling Conrad was actually Sinan’s last move: shortly thereafter the terrible Old Man would die, but his legacy would not be lost. In fact, the killings continued and it was mostly Christians who fell. Ramon, son of Bohemond IV of Antioch, was attacked in a church in Tortosa, and the chronicler Joinville even recounts that emissaries of the sect demanded tribute from Louis IX the Holy, king of France and two-time crusader, as they were already paying “the emperor of Germany, the king of Hungary, the sultan of Babylon and others, because they know very well that they can live only to the extent that he (their leader) wants them to.”<\/em>
\nDuring the 13th century, however , the sect’s power in Syria was slowly declining and the coup de grace would be dealt to it by the Mongol invasion and the onslaught of Egypt’s Mamluk Sultan Baybars. Some sources state that he would avail himself of their services. The attack on Edward of England and the killing of Philip of Monfort at Tyre in 1270 were allegedly carried out on his commission. In fact, in this period it cannot be said with certainty that any murders were carried out by the Assassins. Finally, in the following century, Ishmaelism would lose most of its adherents and its political influence would become almost irrelevant. However, in history the Assassins had left a long trail of blood in remembrance of their faith, while their name to this day is inextricably linked to the oldest crime ever committed by man.<\/p>\n
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