[00:04] Many men and women of violence have been romanticised
by people of later eras. Driven by pieces
[00:12] of popular culture such as the Assassin’s
Creed games, the popular conception of an
[00:17] assassin has turned from that of a ruthless
murderer to that of a renegade antihero, killing
[00:23] only because it is for the greater good. The
foundations of this viewpoint lay within the
[00:27] historical Islamic realm which would come
to be known as the Nizari Ismaili State. Welcome
[00:33] to our video on how the Nizari became the
most feared assassins of their era, and how
[00:38] they eventually met their end.
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[01:38] Almost simultaneously with Islam’s meteoric
rise to superpower status in the seventh-century,
[01:44] internal division permanently split the new
faith into two opposing parties. These were
[01:49] the Sunni - Muslims who believed that Abu
Bakr’s succession of Mohammed in 632 was
[01:55] correct - and the Shia - who considered the
prophet’s cousin and son-in-law Ali the
[02:00] legitimate heir - or ‘Imam’.
After a series of civil wars, Umayyad leader
[02:05] Muawiyah took the caliphate from the heirs
of Ali, and this subsequent struggle against
[02:10] central power defined the Shia and prompted
the breakaway of many subgroups with diverging
[02:16] viewpoints. In time, the Umayyads were defeated
by the Abbasids in another civil war.
[02:22] The age of Abbasid Caliph al-Mansur was the
catalyst for one of these new sects - the
[02:27] Ismaili. At some point in his reign, the sixth
Shia Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq declared his radical
[02:34] eldest son Ismail to be his divinely inspired
successor - a doctrine known as nass. However,
[02:42] his plans were derailed in 762 when Ismail
unexpectedly died at the age of 40, raising
[02:49] hard questions on who the next imam should
be. When Ja’far also passed away a few years
[02:55] later, six groups disputed who the next Imam
ought to be. Two of these groups became the
[03:00] first Ismaili Shia by asserting the legitimacy
of Ismail despite his death, and supporting
[03:06] his descendants. In contrast, those who accepted
Ismail’s younger brother Musa’s imamate
[03:12] eventually became known as ‘Twelvers’,
the Shia denomination championed by the Iranian
[03:18] states, from the Safavids to the modern Islamic
Republic of Iran.
[03:22] The Ismailiyah disappear from history until
around the mid ninth-century, when their leaders
[03:28] burst onto the historical stage and spread
the movement to regions across the faltering
[03:32] Abbasid caliphate, from the Maghreb to Khurasan.
The movement managed to tear away vital pieces
[03:39] of the once unified Caliphate. An Ismaili
revolt in Arabia led to the creation of a
[03:45] ‘religious-utopian republic’ in modern
Bahrain under the Qarmatian dynasty, whose
[03:49] slaveholding society was otherwise unusually
egalitarian and communal for the age. However,
[03:56] the crowning achievement of this sectarian
revolution was the establishment of al-Mahdi
[04:01] Billah’s Fatimid Caliphate in North Africa.
Although the Fatimids only occupied a relatively
[04:07] small and peripheral area at first, they managed
to hugely increase their power in 969 by conquering
[04:14] Egypt. Bolstered by that, the Fatimids entered
what historian Farhad Daftary dubbed the ‘Ismaili
[04:21] century’. In the hundred years following
Egypt’s fall to the Shia, rich and diverse
[04:27] Ismaili literature flourished in the many
new libraries, blended with other traditions,
[04:32] and resulted in incredibly complex systems
of thought. The Fatimids developed complex
[04:37] administrative and financial structures, in
addition to re-establishing far-flung trade
[04:42] routes to India. Along with the accompanying
riches and exotic goods, this exchange also
[04:48] spread Ismaili teachings to Gujurat. However,
beginning in the second half of the eleventh
[04:54] century, the Fatimid star began to fade, as
the Shia caliphate was faced with internal
[04:59] and external problems.
A dynastic crisis shattered Ismaili unity
[05:04] forever in December 1094, when Fatimid Caliph
al-Mustansir passed away. After a 58-year-long
[05:12] reign, it was widely expected that his well-prepared
fifty-year-old son - Abu Mansur Nizar - would
[05:18] inherit the throne in Cairo. But the powerful
vizier - al-Afdal - effectively controlled
[05:24] the government, and wanted to retain personal
power. Upon al-Mustansir’s death, al-Afdal
[05:30] organized a palace coup, placing Nizar’s
inexperienced 20-year-old brother Al-Musta'li
[05:36] on the throne, knowing that he could control
the latter.
[05:40] This usurpation succeeded due to the support
of the caliphate’s armies, as well as religious
[05:45] and court notables who were in thrall to al-Afdal,
but Nizar wasn’t going to take it. He fled
[05:51] to Alexandria, where he was proclaimed Caliph
by a Turkic governor. The population also
[05:57] supported him, and it seemed as though Nizar’s
revolt would be a success. A Nizarist army
[06:02] repelled an attack by the vizier’s troops
and even advanced close to Cairo, however
[06:08] al-Afdal marshaled his superior resources
and besieged Alexandria, leading to Nizar’s
[06:14] surrender in 1095. Soon the rightful Fatimid
ruler had been imprisoned and executed by
[06:20] immurement.
Most of the Ismaili religious communities
[06:24] in Egypt and Syria eventually came to terms
with the succession. Persian and other adherents
[06:30] in the Muslim east, refused, continuing to
support the martyred prince’s house and
[06:35] becoming the independent Nizari. One prominent
figure of the Nizari Ismaili would spearhead
[06:41] their movement and found what would become
known as the Assassins' Order - Hasan-i Sabbah.
[06:48] Although he was born in a Twelver family in
Qom, Iran, at some point around 1050, Hasan
[06:53] had been educated in nearby Rey. After initially
believing the Ismaili doctrine to be heretical,
[07:00] he came into contact with a prominent local
Ismaili missionary at 17 and was convinced
[07:05] of the sect’s legitimacy. To prove his newfound
devotion genuine, Hasan swore allegiance to
[07:12] al-Mustansir in faraway Cairo. He then travelled
to Egypt in 1078 and stayed there for three
[07:18] years.
During his time in Fatimid lands, Hasan always
[07:23] favoured Nizar’s faction and acted against
the vizier - at the time al-Afdal’s father
[07:28] - a fact which eventually saw him banished
in early 1081. Having been thus expelled,
[07:34] he returned to Isfahan. By this time, the
once majestic Abbasid Caliphate had been all
[07:40] but subsumed by the all-conquering Seljuk
Turks. These new invaders established a Sunni
[07:47] military empire which stretched from Khurasan
to Anatolia, ruthlessly persecuting Ismaili
[07:52] ‘heretics’ as they did so. In opposition
to his new Seljuk overlords, Hasan traveled
[07:58] their empire as a missionary for 9 years,
gauging their military strength and formulating
[08:03] a strategy of resistance.
In 1087, the Ismaili firebrand started dispatching
[08:09] other missionaries into the vicinity of a
remote and nigh-invulnerable mountain fortress
[08:14] known as Alamut, located in the area just
south of the Caspian Sea, to ‘Ismailize’
[08:20] its population. He withstood numerous Seljuk
attempts to stop his underground activity
[08:26] and managed to remain in hiding. In late 1090,
Hasan moved via mountainous routes, finally
[08:33] slipping into Alamut unnoticed. He lived under
the radar as a religious tutor known as Dihkuhda
[08:39] for several months, instructing the children
of Alamut’s garrison and slowly turning
[08:44] prominent figures to his side. Eventually,
the castle’s governor realised the infiltration,
[08:50] but it was too late. He had been slowly surrounded
by a garrison and population who supported
[08:56] Hasan. Incapable of defending himself, the
governor left the castle.
[09:01] Alamut’s capture was the beginning of what
would become known as the Nizari Ismaili State,
[09:06] and the beginning of a new phase in the Ismailis’
relations with the Turkic sultans whom they
[09:12] vehemently opposed. What had previously been
a clandestine, secret society-like movement
[09:17] became an open revolt aimed at the very heart
of the Seljuk state, driven by a mix of sectarian
[09:23] and Iranian ethnic motivation. Sultan Malik-Shah
I and vizier Nizam al-Mulk were keen to extinguish
[09:31] this budding heresy, and launched several
attacks against Alamut, but the castle held
[09:37] out against overwhelming military strength.
On the contrary, the Nizaris acquired a second
[09:42] enclave of territory in Quhistan after dispatching
missionaries to that area.
[09:47] They got a break from the attacks in late
1092, when both the sultan and his anti-Ismaili
[09:54] vizier died. It is possible that Nizam al-Mulk
was the very first victim of the Nizari assassins,
[10:01] though the evidence is tenuous. Regardless,
the loss of these two plunged the Seljuk empire
[10:07] into civil war, essentially fragmenting it
into a mosaic of squabbling fiefs ruled by
[10:13] religious and military leaders.
Hasan consolidated his position and expanded
[10:19] Ismaili influence, acquiring other formidable
strongholds in the Elburz mountains, among
[10:24] them Girdkuh and Lamasar. Rather than being
one contiguous state, the various citadels
[10:31] of Hasan’s fortress network were almost
always surrounded by potentially hostile territory.
[10:37] Therefore, the disunited Ismaili mountain
castles acted both as an impenetrable defensive
[10:42] bastion and a base of operations for religious
and military activity. These eastern Ismaili
[10:50] supposedly received congratulations and a
message of goodwill from Fatimid caliph al-Mustansir,
[10:55] but after his death and the great Ismaili
schism, Hasan cut all ties with Egypt.
[11:01] Although the Seljuk Empire’s post-Malik
Shah weakness removed the immediate threat
[11:06] to Hasan’s Ismaili realm, the decentralisation
also made his ultimate goal - the total overthrow
[11:13] of the Seljuks - almost impossible. There
was no longer a single figure who could be
[11:18] defeated in battle and cast from the throne.
In effect, there was now no central target,
[11:25] but a whole gallery of petty kings. Surrounded
by more powerful adversaries and seeking a
[11:30] new method of achieving their aims in lieu
of an army, Hasan’s Nizari began to utilize
[11:36] another strategy that had been used by Shia
groups for centuries - assassination.
[11:41] Though political murder was and is a universal
method of warfare, the Nizari granted it an
[11:47] increasingly central role in their political
strategy, knowing how effective it could be.
[11:53] This part of Nizari history has been distorted
by groups who were hostile to or unfamiliar
[11:59] with them and their practices. For example,
rumours circulated by later Latin sources
[12:05] threw the term ‘Hashashin’ around to designate
them, due to the probable fiction of Hashish
[12:10] use as inspiration for the assassins. That
being said, there does seem to have been what
[12:16] might be called a ‘cult of assassination’
in Alamut and the other fortresses. Nizari
[12:21] assassins were known as fi’dai - literally
‘those willing to sacrifice’ - and were
[12:26] revered for their bravery and courage. This
was largely because such missions were considered
[12:32] suicidal. Nizari leaders dispatched their
fi’dai, who became increasingly professional,
[12:38] primarily to dispatch targets who were a known
threat to the Nizari State. This included
[12:44] Seljuk viziers, local emirs, and prominent
rulers.
[12:48] The Nizaris also managed to expand their influence
into Syria around the time of the First Crusade,
[12:54] capturing a few fortresses and intermingling
politically with Seljuk principalities and
[12:58] the Christian crusader states. In Persia,
Muhammad Tapar took command of the Turkic
[13:04] empire in 1105 and immediately launched a
series of campaigns against all of the Nizari
[13:10] territories south of the Caspian Sea. His
main stroke fell on Shahdiz in 1107, which
[13:16] fell relatively quickly after a fi’dai failed
to slay one of the sultan’s viziers. For
[13:22] over a decade, Seljuk campaigns against the
Nizari continued unabated, resulting in constant
[13:28] massacres and persecution of those Ismaili
who could not escape to the castles.
[13:33] Many Nizari fortresses fell under the assault,
but finally, when the Seljuks were on the
[13:38] verge of taking Alamut in April 1118, Muhammad
Tapar died and the pressure waned. This was
[13:45] the beginning of a new phase in Nizari-Seljuk
relations - one of a stalemate due to exhaustion.
[13:52] Scores of Ismailis had been slain in the cities,
damaging their support base. Hasan’s three-decade-long
[13:59] anti-Seljuk revolt, in which a ‘state’
with no real army had survived, inflicting
[14:04] damage on a giant military empire, had failed,
but the Nizari state was still a cohesive
[14:10] one. From that point, the focus would turn
to defence and consolidation - the transformation
[14:16] of the Nizari state into a permanent one.
Hasan’s attention turned to scholarly pursuits
[14:23] and peaceful relations, though the latter
was often achieved by illicit means. For example,
[14:30] Hasan received reports that a Seljuk ruler
named Ahmad Sanjar was planning a campaign
[14:35] against him. Allegedly, that man woke up one
day to find a dagger thrust into the bed next
[14:41] to him, accompanied by a note stating that
Hasan-i Sabbah would like peace. Shocked and
[14:47] no doubt slightly terrified, he gave the Nizaris
no further trouble, even promoting a relatively
[14:53] tolerant attitude and granting them 4,000
dinars per year as a pension.
[14:58] The threat of assassination clearly worked
as well as the deed itself, at least for as
[15:04] long as Hasan was alive. However, the Nizari
leader fell ill in 1124 and designated his
[15:11] successor, appointing a council of advisors
to guide him in the role. In the same year,
[15:17] he passed away inside Alamut at the age of
70, having never left the citadel for thirty-four
[15:22] years. An effective stalemate continued for
decades following his death. Often the Nizari
[15:29] in Persia or Syria would take a fortress,
only to have another one taken from them.
[15:35] There were periods of peace as well as those
of intermittent warfare. Throughout all of
[15:40] it, the strongholds of Hasan’s movement
remained cohesive and organised.
[15:45] In 1162, a man named Rashid al-Din Sinan was
sent from Persia to lead the Syrian branch
[15:52] of Nizari, who had grown in influence in the
half-century since first penetrating into
[15:57] the region. Despite being far removed from
one another territorially, the various Nizari
[16:03] enclaves all took their orders from the central
leadership in Alamut. This appointee would
[16:09] later become known as the Old Man of the Mountain
in the tales of European explorer Marco Polo.
[16:15] Sinan immediately delved into the ever-shifting,
interfaith web of political alliances in Syria,
[16:21] eventually sending fi’dais to assassinate
an up-and-coming Muslim leader who sought
[16:26] to unify the region - Saladin. The Nizari
killers failed twice, once after invading
[16:33] the Ayyubid ruler’s military encampment
and once during his siege of Azaz. Sinan’s
[16:38] headquarters at Masyaf was besieged in response,
but it did not fall, and a compromise was
[16:44] eventually reached between the two great men.
One of most notorious assassinations of Sinan’s
[16:51] rule occurred during the closing stages of
the Third Crusade. A rivalry had existed between
[16:57] Philip Augustus and Richard the Lionheart
since the venture’s early stages, which
[17:02] prompted both men to support different candidates
for the crown of Jerusalem. Much to King Richard’s
[17:08] anger, the highly competent Conrad of Montferrat
was unanimously elected to the throne of Jerusalem.
[17:14] However, the prospective monarch would never
be crowned. At noon on April 28th 1192, the
[17:22] Frankish crusader lord was returning from
having lunch with his friend - the Bishop
[17:26] of Beauvais - accompanied by a few guards.
On his walk, Conrad was approached by two
[17:32] Christian monks whom he had become familiar
with recently. A conversation began between
[17:38] the two groups, putting Conrad’s guards
at ease with the seemingly innocuous men.
[17:43] At that moment of greatest vulnerability,
they suddenly sprang forward with daggers,
[17:48] brutally stabbing the king-elect with at least
two blows to the side and back.
[17:53] Although the assassins - who were fi’dai
dispatched by Rashid al-Din Sinan - were either
[17:58] killed or captured, Conrad either died instantly
from his wounds or soon after being taken
[18:04] to a nearby church. Various motivations and
culprits have been designated for the murder.
[18:10] Richard the Lionheart was accused because
of his enmity towards Conrad, while a letter
[18:15] to Austria’s Leopold V detailed Conrad’s
murder of a shipwrecked Nizari crew in Tyre
[18:21] as the cause of his death. Whatever the case,
this killing only furthered the mythical European
[18:27] vision of mysterious assassins who did not
fear death. These later decades of the twelfth-century
[18:34] marked a high point of the Syrian Nizaris
in particular, a period that came to an end
[18:39] when Rashid al-Din Sinan died at Masyaf in
1193. The thirteenth-century was dawning,
[18:46] and it would be the equivalent of an apocalypse
for the Ismailis.
[18:50] At the beginning of the 13th century, the
Mongol juggernaut rolled through the Islamic
[18:55] world, crushing all in its path. The khans
became famous for their utilization of talented
[19:01] native peoples from the lands they conquered,
and this apparently included a number of Sunni
[19:07] courtiers, who despised the Ismaili. They
must have known of the Nizari’s reputation
[19:12] for defiance, in addition to their penchant
for assassination. Perhaps after adding a
[19:17] few more fanciful details, these tales must
have greatly concerned the khan, who viewed
[19:23] them as a risk.
After initial lukewarm relations, Muhammad
[19:27] III of Alamut received a dreadful shock in
1246. Upon the ascension of Ogedei’s successor
[19:34] Guyuk, many Muslim leaders sent embassies
of congratulations and gifts to the great
[19:39] khan. Out of them, only the Nizari ambassadors
were harshly dismissed. To back up this hostile
[19:46] stance, the khan proclaimed that of every
ten reinforcements he would send to Persia,
[19:52] two must be used to reduce rebellious lands,
prominently those of the Ismaili. This was
[19:58] a policy that Guyuk’s successor Mongke,
who desired complete and total domination
[20:04] of western Asia, mimicked.
Despite offering ferocious resistance, the
[20:09] Mongol pressure was simply too great. On November
19th 1256 the final Nizari imam - Khurshah
[20:16] - surrendered Alamut to Hulagu and was initially
shown mercy. After being escorted from his
[20:23] lands, however, he was unceremoniously killed
in the Khangai mountains. Back in Persia,
[20:29] the walls of captured Nizari fortresses were
torn down, vast libraries of knowledge were
[20:34] torched and thousands of civilians slaughtered.
One by one the mountain strongholds fell,
[20:40] with their fi’dais putting up a desperate
fight. The final Ismaili castle of Girdkuh
[20:46] fell on December 15th 1270.
The violent destruction of Hasan-i Sabbah’s
[20:52] Alamut-based state put an end to Nizari statehood
forever. Against all the odds, the Nizari
[20:58] did survive into the modern-day and are currently
led by their 49th imam - Aga Khan IV - from
[21:05] the Portuguese capital of Lisbon, with an
estimated 15 million followers in more than
[21:10] 25 countries. Although these Nizaris are far
less militant, the story of self-sacrificing
[21:17] predecessors continues to shine brightly in
their memories.
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