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Many men and women of violence have been romanticised
by people of later eras. Driven by pieces

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of popular culture such as the Assassin’s
Creed games, the popular conception of an

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assassin has turned from that of a ruthless
murderer to that of a renegade antihero, killing

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only because it is for the greater good. The
foundations of this viewpoint lay within the

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historical Islamic realm which would come
to be known as the Nizari Ismaili State. Welcome

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to our video on how the Nizari became the
most feared assassins of their era, and how

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they eventually met their end.

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Almost simultaneously with Islam’s meteoric
rise to superpower status in the seventh-century,

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internal division permanently split the new
faith into two opposing parties. These were

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the Sunni - Muslims who believed that Abu
Bakr’s succession of Mohammed in 632 was

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correct - and the Shia - who considered the
prophet’s cousin and son-in-law Ali the

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legitimate heir - or ‘Imam’.
After a series of civil wars, Umayyad leader

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Muawiyah took the caliphate from the heirs
of Ali, and this subsequent struggle against

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central power defined the Shia and prompted
the breakaway of many subgroups with diverging

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viewpoints. In time, the Umayyads were defeated
by the Abbasids in another civil war.

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The age of Abbasid Caliph al-Mansur was the
catalyst for one of these new sects - the

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Ismaili. At some point in his reign, the sixth
Shia Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq declared his radical

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eldest son Ismail to be his divinely inspired
successor - a doctrine known as nass. However,

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his plans were derailed in 762 when Ismail
unexpectedly died at the age of 40, raising

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hard questions on who the next imam should
be. When Ja’far also passed away a few years

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later, six groups disputed who the next Imam
ought to be. Two of these groups became the

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first Ismaili Shia by asserting the legitimacy
of Ismail despite his death, and supporting

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his descendants. In contrast, those who accepted
Ismail’s younger brother Musa’s imamate

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eventually became known as ‘Twelvers’,
the Shia denomination championed by the Iranian

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states, from the Safavids to the modern Islamic
Republic of Iran.

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The Ismailiyah disappear from history until
around the mid ninth-century, when their leaders

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burst onto the historical stage and spread
the movement to regions across the faltering

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Abbasid caliphate, from the Maghreb to Khurasan.
The movement managed to tear away vital pieces

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of the once unified Caliphate. An Ismaili
revolt in Arabia led to the creation of a

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‘religious-utopian republic’ in modern
Bahrain under the Qarmatian dynasty, whose

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slaveholding society was otherwise unusually
egalitarian and communal for the age. However,

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the crowning achievement of this sectarian
revolution was the establishment of al-Mahdi

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Billah’s Fatimid Caliphate in North Africa.
Although the Fatimids only occupied a relatively

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small and peripheral area at first, they managed
to hugely increase their power in 969 by conquering

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Egypt. Bolstered by that, the Fatimids entered
what historian Farhad Daftary dubbed the ‘Ismaili

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century’. In the hundred years following
Egypt’s fall to the Shia, rich and diverse

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Ismaili literature flourished in the many
new libraries, blended with other traditions,

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and resulted in incredibly complex systems
of thought. The Fatimids developed complex

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administrative and financial structures, in
addition to re-establishing far-flung trade

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routes to India. Along with the accompanying
riches and exotic goods, this exchange also

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spread Ismaili teachings to Gujurat. However,
beginning in the second half of the eleventh

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century, the Fatimid star began to fade, as
the Shia caliphate was faced with internal

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and external problems.
A dynastic crisis shattered Ismaili unity

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forever in December 1094, when Fatimid Caliph
al-Mustansir passed away. After a 58-year-long

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reign, it was widely expected that his well-prepared
fifty-year-old son - Abu Mansur Nizar - would

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inherit the throne in Cairo. But the powerful
vizier - al-Afdal - effectively controlled

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the government, and wanted to retain personal
power. Upon al-Mustansir’s death, al-Afdal

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organized a palace coup, placing Nizar’s
inexperienced 20-year-old brother Al-Musta'li

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on the throne, knowing that he could control
the latter.

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This usurpation succeeded due to the support
of the caliphate’s armies, as well as religious

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and court notables who were in thrall to al-Afdal,
but Nizar wasn’t going to take it. He fled

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to Alexandria, where he was proclaimed Caliph
by a Turkic governor. The population also

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supported him, and it seemed as though Nizar’s
revolt would be a success. A Nizarist army

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repelled an attack by the vizier’s troops
and even advanced close to Cairo, however

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al-Afdal marshaled his superior resources
and besieged Alexandria, leading to Nizar’s

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surrender in 1095. Soon the rightful Fatimid
ruler had been imprisoned and executed by

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immurement.
Most of the Ismaili religious communities

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in Egypt and Syria eventually came to terms
with the succession. Persian and other adherents

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in the Muslim east, refused, continuing to
support the martyred prince’s house and

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becoming the independent Nizari. One prominent
figure of the Nizari Ismaili would spearhead

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their movement and found what would become
known as the Assassins' Order - Hasan-i Sabbah.

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Although he was born in a Twelver family in
Qom, Iran, at some point around 1050, Hasan

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had been educated in nearby Rey. After initially
believing the Ismaili doctrine to be heretical,

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he came into contact with a prominent local
Ismaili missionary at 17 and was convinced

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of the sect’s legitimacy. To prove his newfound
devotion genuine, Hasan swore allegiance to

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al-Mustansir in faraway Cairo. He then travelled
to Egypt in 1078 and stayed there for three

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years.
During his time in Fatimid lands, Hasan always

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favoured Nizar’s faction and acted against
the vizier - at the time al-Afdal’s father

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- a fact which eventually saw him banished
in early 1081. Having been thus expelled,

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he returned to Isfahan. By this time, the
once majestic Abbasid Caliphate had been all

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but subsumed by the all-conquering Seljuk
Turks. These new invaders established a Sunni

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military empire which stretched from Khurasan
to Anatolia, ruthlessly persecuting Ismaili

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‘heretics’ as they did so. In opposition
to his new Seljuk overlords, Hasan traveled

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their empire as a missionary for 9 years,
gauging their military strength and formulating

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a strategy of resistance.
In 1087, the Ismaili firebrand started dispatching

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other missionaries into the vicinity of a
remote and nigh-invulnerable mountain fortress

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known as Alamut, located in the area just
south of the Caspian Sea, to ‘Ismailize’

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its population. He withstood numerous Seljuk
attempts to stop his underground activity

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and managed to remain in hiding. In late 1090,
Hasan moved via mountainous routes, finally

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slipping into Alamut unnoticed. He lived under
the radar as a religious tutor known as Dihkuhda

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for several months, instructing the children
of Alamut’s garrison and slowly turning

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prominent figures to his side. Eventually,
the castle’s governor realised the infiltration,

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but it was too late. He had been slowly surrounded
by a garrison and population who supported

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Hasan. Incapable of defending himself, the
governor left the castle.

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Alamut’s capture was the beginning of what
would become known as the Nizari Ismaili State,

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and the beginning of a new phase in the Ismailis’
relations with the Turkic sultans whom they

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vehemently opposed. What had previously been
a clandestine, secret society-like movement

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became an open revolt aimed at the very heart
of the Seljuk state, driven by a mix of sectarian

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and Iranian ethnic motivation. Sultan Malik-Shah
I and vizier Nizam al-Mulk were keen to extinguish

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this budding heresy, and launched several
attacks against Alamut, but the castle held

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out against overwhelming military strength.
On the contrary, the Nizaris acquired a second

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enclave of territory in Quhistan after dispatching
missionaries to that area.

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They got a break from the attacks in late
1092, when both the sultan and his anti-Ismaili

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vizier died. It is possible that Nizam al-Mulk
was the very first victim of the Nizari assassins,

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though the evidence is tenuous. Regardless,
the loss of these two plunged the Seljuk empire

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into civil war, essentially fragmenting it
into a mosaic of squabbling fiefs ruled by

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religious and military leaders.
Hasan consolidated his position and expanded

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Ismaili influence, acquiring other formidable
strongholds in the Elburz mountains, among

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them Girdkuh and Lamasar. Rather than being
one contiguous state, the various citadels

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of Hasan’s fortress network were almost
always surrounded by potentially hostile territory.

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Therefore, the disunited Ismaili mountain
castles acted both as an impenetrable defensive

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bastion and a base of operations for religious
and military activity. These eastern Ismaili

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supposedly received congratulations and a
message of goodwill from Fatimid caliph al-Mustansir,

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but after his death and the great Ismaili
schism, Hasan cut all ties with Egypt.

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Although the Seljuk Empire’s post-Malik
Shah weakness removed the immediate threat

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to Hasan’s Ismaili realm, the decentralisation
also made his ultimate goal - the total overthrow

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of the Seljuks - almost impossible. There
was no longer a single figure who could be

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defeated in battle and cast from the throne.
In effect, there was now no central target,

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but a whole gallery of petty kings. Surrounded
by more powerful adversaries and seeking a

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new method of achieving their aims in lieu
of an army, Hasan’s Nizari began to utilize

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another strategy that had been used by Shia
groups for centuries - assassination.

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Though political murder was and is a universal
method of warfare, the Nizari granted it an

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increasingly central role in their political
strategy, knowing how effective it could be.

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This part of Nizari history has been distorted
by groups who were hostile to or unfamiliar

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with them and their practices. For example,
rumours circulated by later Latin sources

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threw the term ‘Hashashin’ around to designate
them, due to the probable fiction of Hashish

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use as inspiration for the assassins. That
being said, there does seem to have been what

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might be called a ‘cult of assassination’
in Alamut and the other fortresses. Nizari

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assassins were known as fi’dai - literally
‘those willing to sacrifice’ - and were

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revered for their bravery and courage. This
was largely because such missions were considered

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suicidal. Nizari leaders dispatched their
fi’dai, who became increasingly professional,

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primarily to dispatch targets who were a known
threat to the Nizari State. This included

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Seljuk viziers, local emirs, and prominent
rulers.

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The Nizaris also managed to expand their influence
into Syria around the time of the First Crusade,

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capturing a few fortresses and intermingling
politically with Seljuk principalities and

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the Christian crusader states. In Persia,
Muhammad Tapar took command of the Turkic

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empire in 1105 and immediately launched a
series of campaigns against all of the Nizari

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territories south of the Caspian Sea. His
main stroke fell on Shahdiz in 1107, which

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fell relatively quickly after a fi’dai failed
to slay one of the sultan’s viziers. For

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over a decade, Seljuk campaigns against the
Nizari continued unabated, resulting in constant

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massacres and persecution of those Ismaili
who could not escape to the castles.

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Many Nizari fortresses fell under the assault,
but finally, when the Seljuks were on the

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verge of taking Alamut in April 1118, Muhammad
Tapar died and the pressure waned. This was

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the beginning of a new phase in Nizari-Seljuk
relations - one of a stalemate due to exhaustion.

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Scores of Ismailis had been slain in the cities,
damaging their support base. Hasan’s three-decade-long

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anti-Seljuk revolt, in which a ‘state’
with no real army had survived, inflicting

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damage on a giant military empire, had failed,
but the Nizari state was still a cohesive

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one. From that point, the focus would turn
to defence and consolidation - the transformation

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of the Nizari state into a permanent one.
Hasan’s attention turned to scholarly pursuits

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and peaceful relations, though the latter
was often achieved by illicit means. For example,

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Hasan received reports that a Seljuk ruler
named Ahmad Sanjar was planning a campaign

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against him. Allegedly, that man woke up one
day to find a dagger thrust into the bed next

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to him, accompanied by a note stating that
Hasan-i Sabbah would like peace. Shocked and

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no doubt slightly terrified, he gave the Nizaris
no further trouble, even promoting a relatively

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tolerant attitude and granting them 4,000
dinars per year as a pension.

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The threat of assassination clearly worked
as well as the deed itself, at least for as

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long as Hasan was alive. However, the Nizari
leader fell ill in 1124 and designated his

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successor, appointing a council of advisors
to guide him in the role. In the same year,

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he passed away inside Alamut at the age of
70, having never left the citadel for thirty-four

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years. An effective stalemate continued for
decades following his death. Often the Nizari

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in Persia or Syria would take a fortress,
only to have another one taken from them.

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There were periods of peace as well as those
of intermittent warfare. Throughout all of

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it, the strongholds of Hasan’s movement
remained cohesive and organised.

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In 1162, a man named Rashid al-Din Sinan was
sent from Persia to lead the Syrian branch

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of Nizari, who had grown in influence in the
half-century since first penetrating into

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the region. Despite being far removed from
one another territorially, the various Nizari

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enclaves all took their orders from the central
leadership in Alamut. This appointee would

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later become known as the Old Man of the Mountain
in the tales of European explorer Marco Polo.

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Sinan immediately delved into the ever-shifting,
interfaith web of political alliances in Syria,

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eventually sending fi’dais to assassinate
an up-and-coming Muslim leader who sought

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to unify the region - Saladin. The Nizari
killers failed twice, once after invading

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the Ayyubid ruler’s military encampment
and once during his siege of Azaz. Sinan’s

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headquarters at Masyaf was besieged in response,
but it did not fall, and a compromise was

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eventually reached between the two great men.
One of most notorious assassinations of Sinan’s

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rule occurred during the closing stages of
the Third Crusade. A rivalry had existed between

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Philip Augustus and Richard the Lionheart
since the venture’s early stages, which

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prompted both men to support different candidates
for the crown of Jerusalem. Much to King Richard’s

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anger, the highly competent Conrad of Montferrat
was unanimously elected to the throne of Jerusalem.

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However, the prospective monarch would never
be crowned. At noon on April 28th 1192, the

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Frankish crusader lord was returning from
having lunch with his friend - the Bishop

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of Beauvais - accompanied by a few guards.
On his walk, Conrad was approached by two

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Christian monks whom he had become familiar
with recently. A conversation began between

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the two groups, putting Conrad’s guards
at ease with the seemingly innocuous men.

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At that moment of greatest vulnerability,
they suddenly sprang forward with daggers,

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brutally stabbing the king-elect with at least
two blows to the side and back.

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Although the assassins - who were fi’dai
dispatched by Rashid al-Din Sinan - were either

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killed or captured, Conrad either died instantly
from his wounds or soon after being taken

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to a nearby church. Various motivations and
culprits have been designated for the murder.

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Richard the Lionheart was accused because
of his enmity towards Conrad, while a letter

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to Austria’s Leopold V detailed Conrad’s
murder of a shipwrecked Nizari crew in Tyre

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as the cause of his death. Whatever the case,
this killing only furthered the mythical European

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vision of mysterious assassins who did not
fear death. These later decades of the twelfth-century

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marked a high point of the Syrian Nizaris
in particular, a period that came to an end

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when Rashid al-Din Sinan died at Masyaf in
1193. The thirteenth-century was dawning,

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and it would be the equivalent of an apocalypse
for the Ismailis.

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At the beginning of the 13th century, the
Mongol juggernaut rolled through the Islamic

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world, crushing all in its path. The khans
became famous for their utilization of talented

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native peoples from the lands they conquered,
and this apparently included a number of Sunni

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courtiers, who despised the Ismaili. They
must have known of the Nizari’s reputation

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for defiance, in addition to their penchant
for assassination. Perhaps after adding a

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few more fanciful details, these tales must
have greatly concerned the khan, who viewed

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them as a risk.
After initial lukewarm relations, Muhammad

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III of Alamut received a dreadful shock in
1246. Upon the ascension of Ogedei’s successor

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Guyuk, many Muslim leaders sent embassies
of congratulations and gifts to the great

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khan. Out of them, only the Nizari ambassadors
were harshly dismissed. To back up this hostile

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stance, the khan proclaimed that of every
ten reinforcements he would send to Persia,

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00:19:52,420 --> 00:19:58,769
two must be used to reduce rebellious lands,
prominently those of the Ismaili. This was

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00:19:58,769 --> 00:20:04,138
a policy that Guyuk’s successor Mongke,
who desired complete and total domination

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of western Asia, mimicked.
Despite offering ferocious resistance, the

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Mongol pressure was simply too great. On November
19th 1256 the final Nizari imam - Khurshah

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00:20:16,970 --> 00:20:23,299
- surrendered Alamut to Hulagu and was initially
shown mercy. After being escorted from his

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lands, however, he was unceremoniously killed
in the Khangai mountains. Back in Persia,

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the walls of captured Nizari fortresses were
torn down, vast libraries of knowledge were

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torched and thousands of civilians slaughtered.
One by one the mountain strongholds fell,

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with their fi’dais putting up a desperate
fight. The final Ismaili castle of Girdkuh

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fell on December 15th 1270.
The violent destruction of Hasan-i Sabbah’s

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00:20:52,190 --> 00:20:58,420
Alamut-based state put an end to Nizari statehood
forever. Against all the odds, the Nizari

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did survive into the modern-day and are currently
led by their 49th imam - Aga Khan IV - from

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the Portuguese capital of Lisbon, with an
estimated 15 million followers in more than

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25 countries. Although these Nizaris are far
less militant, the story of self-sacrificing

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predecessors continues to shine brightly in
their memories.

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