The Hashashim (also Hashishin, Hashashiyyin or Assassins) were a religious sect of Ismaili Shia Muslims from the
Nizari sub-sect originating from post-Islamic Persia. They had a militant basis which was
employed in various political or religious purposes.[1]
They were thought to have been active from 1090 to 1272.[2]
This mystic secret society was known to specialize in
terrorizing the Crusaders, against whom they are thought to have fearlessly executed
politically motivated assassinations.[3] However, Bernard Lewis states that, unlike the popular belief,
their efforts were not primarily directed at Crusaders but against Muslim rulers whom they saw as impious usurpers.[4] The word "assassin" is derived from this name. Their own name
for the sect was al-da'wa al-jadīda (Arabic:الدعوة الجديدة) which means the new
doctrine.[citation needed] They called themselves fedayeen from the
Arabic fidā'ī, which means one who is ready to sacrifice their life for a
cause.
Description
Their Muslim contemporaries were extremely suspicious of them; in fact they were described using the term Batini. The term was used pejoratively to refer to those, especially Ismaili, who distinguished an inner,
esoteric level of meaning (batin) in the Qur'an. This constant religious estrangement would eventually see them go so far as
allying with the Occidental Christians against Muslims on a number of occasions.
Legends abound as to the tactics used to induct members into what became a quasi-religious political organization. One such
legend is that future assassin was subjected to rites similar to those of other mystery cults in which the subject was made to
believe that he was in imminent danger of death. But the twist of the assassins was that they drugged the person to simulate a
"dying" to later have them awaken in a garden flowing with wine and served a sumptuous feast by virgins. The supplicant was then
convinced he was in Heaven and that the cult's leader, Hassan-i-Sabah, was a
representative of the divinity and that all of his orders should be followed, even unto death. This legend derives from
Marco Polo, who visited Alamut after it fell to the Mongols
in the thirteenth century.
Other accounts of the cult's indoctrination claim that the future assassins were brought to Alamut at a young age and, while
they matured, inhabited the aforementioned paradisaic gardens and were kept drugged with hashish; as in the previous version, Hassan-i-Sabah occupied this
garden as a divine emissary. At a certain point (when their initiation could be said to have begun) the drug was withdrawn from
them, and they were removed from the gardens and flung into a dungeon. There they were informed that, if they wished to return to
the paradise they had so recently enjoyed it would be at Sabbah's discretion, and that they must therefore follow his directions
exactly, up to and including murder and self-sacrifice.
The group transformed the act of murder into a system directed largely against Seljuk
Muslim rulers who had been persecuting their sect. They were meticulous in killing the targeted individual, seeking to do so
without any additional casualties and innocent loss of life, although they were
careful to cultivate their terrifying reputation by slaying their victims in public, often in mosques. Typically they approached using a disguise; and they rejected poison, bows and other weapons that allowed the
attacker to escape, their weapon of choice being a dagger . For
unarmed combat, the Hashshashin practiced a fighting style called Janna which incorporates striking techniques, grappling and low
kicks. However, under no circumstances did they commit suicide, preferring to be killed by their
captors.
There are also, possibly apocryphal, stories that they used their well-known deadliness for political goals without
necessarily killing. For example, a victim, usually high-placed, might one morning find a Hashshashin dagger lying on their
pillow upon awakening. This was a plain hint to the targeted individual that he was safe nowhere, that maybe even his inner group
of servants had been infiltrated by the cult, and that whatever course of action had brought him into conflict with them would
have to be stopped if he wanted to live.
Etymology of the word "assassin"
The name "assassin" is commonly believed to be a mutation of the Arabic "haššāšīn" (حشّاشين). However, there are those who dispute this etymology, arguing that it
originates from Marco Polo's account of his visit to Alamut
in 1273, in which he describes a drug whose effects are more like those of alcohol than of hashish. It is suggested by some writers that assassin
simply means 'followers of Al-Hassan' (or Hassan-i-Sabah, the Sheikh of Alamut (see below)). Others suggest that since hashish-eaters were
generally ostracized in the Middle Ages the word "Hashshashin" had become a common synonym for "outlaws". So the attribution of
Hassan's Ismaili sect with this term is not necessarily a clue for drug usage. Some common accounts of their connection with
hashish are that these "assassins" would take hashish before missions in order to calm themselves; others say that it helped to
boost their strength, and turned them into madmen in battle. Yet other accounts state it was used in their initiation rites in
order to show the neophyte the sensual pleasures awaiting him in the afterlife. The connection between their mysticism and that
drug is not something subject to reliable or consistent historical accounts; this is not surprising given their secrecy and
infamy. The word Hashish (of probable Arabic origin) refers to resin collected from cannabis flowers. This could be the true drug
of the Assassins as described by Marco Polo. Alcohol is not likely to have been the drug described, being totally prohibited by
the Muslim faith.
History of the Hashshashin
Map of the
crusader states, showing the area controlled by the Assassins around Masyaf,
slightly above the center.
Although apparently known as early as the 8th century, the foundation of the Assassins is usually marked as 1090 when
Hasan-i Sabbah established his stronghold in the Daylam mountains south of the
Caspian Sea at Alamut. Hasan set the aim of the Assassins to
destroy the power of the Abbasid Caliphate by murdering its most powerful members. Much of the
current western lore surrounding the Assassins stems from Marco Polo's supposed visit to
Alamut in 1273, which is widely considered fictional (especially as the stronghold had reportedly
been destroyed by the Mongols in 1256).
Benjamin of Tudela who traveled one hundred years before Marco Polo mentions the Al-Hashshashin and their leader as "the Old Man." He notes their principal city to be
Qadmous.
The group inspired terror out of all proportion to their scant numbers and territory. The members were organized into rigid
classes, based upon their initiation into the secrets of the order. The devotees constituted a class that sought martyrdom and
followed orders with unquestioned devotion, orders which included assassination. Because of the secretive nature of the order, it
has often been invoked in conspiracy theories.
Notable victims include, Nizam al-Mulk (1092; although
some historical sources contradict this claim), the Fatimad vizier al-Afdal
(1122), ibn al-Khashshab of Aleppo
(1124), il-Bursuqi of Mosul (1126), Raymond II of Tripoli (1152), Conrad of Montferrat (1192), and Prince Edward, later Edward I of England was wounded by a
poisoned assassin dagger in 1271. It is believed that Saladin,
incensed by several almost successful attempts on his life, besieged their chief Syrian stronghold of Masyaf during his reconquest of Outremer in 1176 but quickly lifted the siege
after parley, and thereafter attempted to maintain good relations with the sect. The sect's own extant (and doubtless
embellished) accounts tell of Rashid ad-Din Sinan, stealing into
Saladin's tent in the heart of his camp, and leaving a poisoned cake and a note saying "You are in our power" on Saladin's chest
as he slept. Another account tells of a letter sent to Saladin's maternal uncle, vowing death to the entire royal line, perhaps
no idle threat; whatever the truth of these accounts (and likely it will remain a mystery) he clearly heeded their warning, and
desisted.
The Hashshashin were often motivated by outsiders. The murder of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, for example, was instigated by
the Hospitallers. It is rumoured the assassins of Conrad of Montferrat may have even been hired by Richard the Lionheart. In most cases they were aimed at retaining the balance of the Hashshashin's
enemies.
The power of the Hashshashin was destroyed by the Mongol warlord Hulagu Khan, but several Ismaili sects share something of a common lineage. During the Mongol assault of
Alamut on 1256 December 15, the library of the sect was
destroyed, along with much of their power base, and thus much of the sect's own records were lost; most accounts of them stem
from the highly reputable Arab historians of the period. The Syrian branch of the Hashshashin was destroyed in 1273 by Mamluk
Saltan Baibars. The Hashshashin, in 1275, captured and held Alamut for a few months but their political power was lost and they
were eventually absorbed into other Isma'ilite groups. They continued being used under the Mamluks, Ibn Battuta recording in the
14th century their fixed rate of pay per murder. This is an edited version of an article that was originally published in
Medieval Islamic Civilization, An Encyclopaedia, Vol. I, p. 72-73, ed. Josef W. Meri, Routledge (New York-London, 2006)
Assassin is a name that was applied originally by the Crusader circles in the Near East and other medieval Europeans to the
Nizari Ismailis of Syria. From the opening decade of the twelfth century, the Crusaders had numerous encounters with the Syrian
Nizaris, who reached the peak of their power under the leadership of Rashid al-Din Sinan (d. 1193 CE), their most famous da‘i and
the original “Old Man of the Mountain” of the Crusaders. It was, indeed, in Sinan’s time (1163—1193 CE) that the Crusaders and
their European observers became particularly enchanted by the highly exaggerated reports and rumors about the daring behavior of
the Nizari fida’is, who were believed to selectively target and remove their community’s prominent enemies in specific
localities. As a result, the Nizari Ismailis became famous in Europe as the Assassins, the followers of the mysterious “Old Man
of the Mountain.”
The term assassin, which appeared in European languages in a variety of forms (e.g., assassini, assissini, and heyssisini),
was evidently based on variants of the Arabic word hashishi (pl. hashishiyya, hashishin). The latter was applied by other Muslims
to Nizaris in the pejorative sense of “low-class rabble” or “people of lax morality,” without any derivative explanation
reflecting any special connection between the Nizaris and hashish, a product of hemp. This term of abuse was picked up locally in
Syria by the Crusaders and European travelers and adopted as the designation of the Nizari Ismailis. Subsequently, after the
etymology of the term had been forgotten, it came to be used in Europe as a noun meaning “murderer.” Thus, a misnomer rooted in
abuse eventually resulted in a new word, assassin, in European languages.
Medieval Europeans—and especially the Crusaders—who remained ignorant of Islam as a religion and of its internal divisions
were also responsible for fabricating and disseminating (in the Latin Orient as well as in Europe) a number of interconnected
legends about the secret practices of the Nizaris, the so-called “assassin legends.” In particular, the legends sought to provide
a rational explanation for the seemingly irrational self-sacrificing behavior of the Nizari fida’is; as such, they revolved
around the recruitment and training of the youthful devotees. The legends developed in stages from the time of Sinan and
throughout the thirteenth century. Soon, the seemingly blind obedience of the fida’is to their leader was attributed, by their
occidental observers, to the influence of an intoxicating drug like hashish. There is no evidence that suggests that hashish or
any other drug was used in any systematic fashion to motivate the fida’is; contemporary non-Ismaili Muslim sources that are
generally hostile toward the Ismailis remain silent on this subject. In all probability, it was the abusive name hashishi that
gave rise to the imaginative tales disseminated by the Crusaders.
The assassin legends culminated in a synthesized version that was popularised by Marco Polo, who combined the hashish legend
with a number of other legends and also added his own contribution in the form of a secret “garden of paradise,” where the
fida’is supposedly received part of their training. By the fourteenth century, the assassin legends had acquired wide currency in
Europe and the Latin Orient, and they were accepted as reliable descriptions of the secret practices of the Nizari Ismailis, who
were generally portrayed in European sources as a sinister order of drugged assassins. Subsequently, Westerners retained the name
assassins as a general reference to the Nizari Ismailis, although the term had now become a new common noun in European languages
meaning “murderer.” It was A.L. Silvestre de Sacy (1758—1838) who succeeded in solving the mystery of the name and its etymology,
although he and the other orientalists continued to endorse various aspects of the assassin legends. Modern scholarship in
Ismaili studies, which is based on authentic Ismaili sources, has now begun to deconstruct the Assassin legends that surround the
Nizari Ismailis and their fida’is— legends rooted in hostility and imaginative ignorance.
Influence
- The Hashshashin figures in several novels by William S. Burroughs and in the
writing of Robert Anton Wilson and of Hakim
Bey.
- The Hashshashin history is mentioned in the plot in Dan Brown's novel Angels and Demons, the primary antagonist's henchman is a Hashshashin.
- The Hashshashin methodology described by Marco Polo figures in Umberto Eco's novels Baudolino and Foucault's Pendulum.
- The Hashshashin are the center of the Slovene novel Alamut by
Vladimir Bartol.
- The Hashshashin appear in the Alamut series by Judith
Tarr.
- The Hashshashin are the basis of the diplomatic thriller Assassin by Ted Bell
- Nietzsche refers to the Assassins in the third essay of On the Genealogy of Morals, recalling with admiration their ostensible motto, "Nothing
is true. Everything is permitted."[citation needed]
- The 1987 Franklin W. Dixon novel Dead on Target of the Hardy Boys series features a group that supposedly descends from the Assassins, even retaining the same
name.
- The Hashshashin are the basis for The Guild of Assassins, an organisation figuring in Terry
Pratchett's Discworld series.
- The Hashshashin are the subject of the video game "Assassin's Creed" by
Ubisoft for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.
- The "Assassin" character in Ragnarok Online is based on the Hashshashin. Also their
guild is located in a desert location that could very well represent their stronghold at Alamut.
- The heroes of the novel The Children of the Grail (Die Kinder
des Gral) by Peter Berling spend some time in Alamut just before its destruction by
the Mongols.
- The popular online story, The Twilight Chronicles, focuses on a secret society known as the Lycoris, whom are
described as being based on the Hashshashin.
- See also The Walking Drum by Louis
L'Amour where the hero spends a few days rescuing his father from the Hashshashins in Alamut.
- The Hashshashin featured in the video game Broken Sword: The
Shadow of the Templars by Revolution Game Studios. As is Club Alamut
- Alamut is the setting of the video game The Secrets of Alamut, by Arxel
Tribe.
- In 1992 the contemporary Canadian artist Attila Richard Lukacs created a large series of paintings titled Varieties of Love.
The series depicted modern European skinheads engaging in homoerotic and homosexual behaviour in the Garden of the
Hashishin.
- In the game Medieval: Total War and its sequel, the Hashishin are units
of elite skirmishing troops that can be created by Islamic factions.
- The fedaykin in the novel Dune by Frank
Herbert are inspired by the Hashshashins. Their name is very similar to fidā'ī.
- Main plot point in one of Robin Wood's Dago stories for Columba Editorial.
- Hassan-i-Sabah and the Assassins provide the title and much lyrical influence on British band Into A Circle's sole album, 1988's 'Assassins'
- Hashashin are among protagonists of The Assassin Gambit, second volume of Gamestar Wars trilogy by William R. Fortschen. In
this book masters of the order are presented as cynical atheists who believe only in forcing their power on the world - probably
result of artistic license working with the book's main theme - honour and true loyalty versus deceiving and fear.
- In the Piranha Bytes video game Gothic 3, the
Hashishin are an ethnic group of assassain-like Beliar worshiping people in the desert land of Varrant.
- Players can choose the profession of Assassin in ArenaNet's widely popular computer game
Guild Wars Factions.
- The Assassin is also a playable class in Blizzard's popular Diablo II: Lord of Destruction.
- Doug Urquhart's popular themed rollerblading video produced by misled media is titled Hashassins
- The Assamite clan in White Wolf's roleplaying
game Vampire: The Masquerade is based on the Hashshashin.
- The third book in the Knightmare series - based on the children's television programme -
"Fortress of Assassins"(ISBN 0-552-52638-X, 1990), is about a quest to find the son of Richard
the Lionheart who has been kidnapped by the assassins of Alamut.
- In Games Workshop's Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game, the Hasharin characters of Harad are inspired by the historical
hashshashin.
- Four Middle Eastern and one British Hashashin appear in the Robin Hood
episode "Peace? Off!".
- The Hashshashin are the subject of the concept album, Hashisheen – The End of Law[4], compiled by Bill Laswell and features contributions from Iggy Pop, William S. Burroughs, Genesis P. Orridge, and
others.
- In Batman Begins, a pre-Batman Bruce Wayne was trained by Ra's Al Ghul from The League
of Shadows. This movie version of the comics' League of Assassins was portrayed in appearance similar to ninjas, but using
methods that resemble closer to the hashashins in many ways, including the use of hallucinogenic flowers.
- The Hashshashin (or Assassins), based in the mountain fortress of Alamut, were depicted in
the 1957 historical epic movie Omar
Khayyam, starring Cornel Wilde.
- In Morrowind, the assassins society known as the Morag Tong has a strong resemblance both to Hashshashin, and
Shinobi.
See also
Notes
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ [3]
- ^ Lewis, p.145
References
- Edward Burman, The Assassins - Holy Killers of Islam, Wellingborough: Crucible,
1987 ISBN 1-85274-027-2
- Bernard Lewis, The
Assassins: A Radical Sect in Islam New York: Basic Books, 2002. ISBN 0-465-00498-9
- Amin Maalouf, The Crusades Through Arab Eyes
- Freya Stark, The Valleys of the Assassins and other Persian Travels New York:
Modern Library, 2001. ISBN 0-375-75753-8
- Farhad Daftary, The Assassin Legends: Myths of the Isma'ilis (I. B. Tauris & Co. Ltd: London, 1994)Review
- Miland Brown, The Assassins of Hassan-i-Sabah
Further reading
Daftary, F. The Assassin Legends: Myths of the Ismailis, 88—127. London: I.B. Tauris, 1994. Hodgson, Marshall G.S. The Order
of Assassins, 82—84, 110—115, 133—137. The Hague: Mouton, 1955. Lewis, B. The Assassins, 1-12, 124-40. London; Weidenfeld and
Nicolsön, 1967. Polo, Marco. The Book of Ser Marco Polo, 3rd revised ed. by H. Cordier, ed. and transl. H. Yule, vol. 1, 139-146.
London: J. Murray, 1929. Silvestre de Sacy, A.L. “Memoir sur La Dyanastie des Assassins, et sur L’Etymologie de leur Nom.”
Memoires de sins, et sur l’Institut Royal de France 4(1818): 1-84. (English translation in F. Daftary, The Assassin Legends,
136-188.)
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