Hassan-i-Sabah

Hassan ibn Sabbā was born in the city of Qom in Persia in 1056 to a family of Ithna Ashariya Shīˤa. Early in his life, his family’s fortunes took them to Rayy, about 120 kilometres (75 miles) from Iran’s modern-day capital city of Tehran. It was in this center of religious matrices that Hassan developed a keen interest in metaphysical matters, and adhered to the Twelver Shi’ite code of instruction.

Rayy was a city that had seen a lot of radical thought since the 9th century. It had seen Hamdan Qarmat as one of its voices. It had also seen a lot of missionary work by various sects, each as impassioned as the next. The Ismā'īlī Mission or Daˤwa was a presence there. The Ismā'īlī mission worked on three layers: the lowest was the foot soldier, called the Fida'ai, then the Rafīk or "comrade", and finally the Daˤī or "missionary", who worked for the Daˤwa "Mission".

Young Hassan came in touch here with Amira Darrab, a Rafeek, who introduced him to the Ismā'īlī doctrine. With this doctrine, Hassan was unimpressed: he considered it to be merely an aberration of thought, not at all at par with the Sunnah. As he met Darrab, participating in many passionate debates that discussed the merits of Ismā'īl over Mūsā, Hassan's respect grew. Now, becoming impressed with the conviction of Darrab, Hassan decided to delve deeper into Ismā'īlī doctrines and beliefs. With his characteristic dedication and fervor, Hassan spent many months oblivious to all but his inquiry: reading till late in the night and caring little for sustenance and victuals, Hassan began to see merit in switching to Ismā'īlī eyes. Hassan converted and swore allegiance to the Fatimid caliph in Cairo. His studies did not end with his crossing over. He further studied under two other Daˤiyyīn, and as he proceeded on his path, he was looked upon with eyes of respect. For his young age, Hassan had done well.

Hassan's austere and devoted commitment to the Daˤwa brought him in audience with the chief Daˤī of the region: ˤAbd al-Malik ibn Attash. Attash, suitably impressed with the young seventeen year old Hassan, made him deputy Daˤī, and advised him to go to Cairo to further his studies.

Hassan did not forthwith go to Cairo. Here the life of Hassan gets mixed with legend and extremes. There is a popular legend associated with Hassan, Omar Khayyám, and the prime minister of the Seljuk Turks, Nizam al-Mulk. There was a pact amongst the three: whoever was the favored of fortune would, in turn, help the other two. Nizam al-Mulk (the name translates to "Minister of State") rose to a position of prominence in the court of the Turks who ruled those areas. He got Omar Khayyám appointed as court poet and mathematician. Hassan too was then granted an office in the court.

Working his way up the hierarchy, Hassan became the Intelligence Chief and began to aim for the post of Nizam al-Mulk. Getting a whiff of Hassan’s ambition, Nizam al-Mulk resolved to shame him in front of all the court. An ingenious scheme was thought of: Hassan took upon himself of furnishing the records of the entire kingdom in just 40 days. All went smoothly until the final day when Hassan was to present the records. Somebody had tampered with his papers and he could not make his presentation. The king ("Malik Shah," which are the words for "King" in Arabic and Persian, respectively) was furious. He sentenced Hassan to death. It was on the plea of Omar Khayyám that the sentence was terminated, and Hassan was instead banished from the kingdom.

There is a gap in this legend: Nizam al-Mulk was far senior in age to both Hassan and Omar, hence the three having been part of a pact is unlikely. Some historians have postulated that Hassan, following his conversion, was playing host to some members of the Fatimid caliphate, and this was leaked to the anti-Fatimid and anti-Shīˤa Nizam al-Mulk. This prompted his abandoning Rayy and heading to Cairo. He left the city in 1076.

Hassan took about 2 years to reach Cairo. Along the way he toured many other regions that did not fall in the general direction of Egypt. Isfahan was the first city that he visited. He was hosted by one of his Daˤiyyīn of youth, a man who had taught the youthful Hassan in Rayy. His name was Resi Abufasl, and he further instructed Hassan. From here he went to Azerbaijan, hundreds of miles to the north, and from there to Turkey. Here he attracted the ire of priests following a heated discussion, and Hassan was thrown out of the town he was in. He then turned south and traveled through Iraq, reached Damascus in Syria. He left for Egypt from Palestine. Records exist, some in the fragmentary remains of his autobiography, and from another biography written by Rashid al-Din Tabib in 1310, to date his arrival in Egypt at 30 August, 1078.

It is unclear how long he stayed in Egypt: about 3 years is the usually accepted amount of time. He continued his studies here, and became a full Daˤī. The concept that he stood for contained all at once Shi’ite and pre-Islamic Greek, Persian, and Babylonian philosophies. It was Ali and openly opposed to the Abassid Sunnis, whom they sought to overthrow; they also believed in community service.

Whilst he was in Cairo, studying and preaching, he upset the highly excitable Chief of the Army, Badr al-Jamalī. It is also said by later sources that the Ismaili Imam-Caliph al-Mustansir informed Hassan that his elder son Nizar would be the next Imam. Hassan was briefly imprisoned by Badr al-Jamali. The collapse of a minaret of the jail was taken to be an omen in the favor of Hassan and he was promptly released and deported. The ship that he was traveling on was wrecked. He was rescued and taken to Syria. Traveling via Aleppo and Baghdad, he terminated his journey at Isfahan in 1081.

Hassan’s life now was totally devoted to the Daˤwa. There was not one place in Iran Hassan did not visit. To the north of Iran, and touching the south shore of the Caspian Sea, are the mountains of Alborz. These mountains were home to a people who had traditionally resisted all attempts at subjugation; this place was also of Shīˤa leaning. Within these mountains, in the region of Daylam, Hassan chose to pursue his Daˤī activities. Hassan became the Chief Daˤī of that area and sent his personally trained missionaries into the rest of the region. The news of this Ismā'īlī's activities reached the intolerant Nizam al-Mulk, who dispatched his soldiers with the orders for Hassan's capture. Hassan evaded them, and went deeper into the mountains.

His search for a base from where to guide his mission ended when he found the castle of Alamut, in the Rudbar area, in 1088. It was a fort that stood guard to a valley that was about fifty kilometers long and five kilometers wide. The fort had been built about the year 865; legend has it that it was built by a king who saw his eagle fly up to and perch upon a rock, of which the king, Wah Sudan ibn Marzuban, understood the importance. Likening the perching of the eagle to a lesson given by it, he called the fort Aluh Amut: the "Eagles Teaching".

Hassan’s takeover of the fort was one of silent surrender in the face of defeated odds. To effect this takeover Hassan employed an ingenious strategy: it took the better part of two years to effect. First Hassan sent his Daˤiyyīn and Rafīks to win the villages in the valley over. Next, key people were converted and in 1090 Hassan took over the fort. It is said that Hassan offered 3000 gold dinars to the fort owner for the amount of land that would fit a buffalo’s hide. The term having been agreed upon, Hassan cut the hide in to strips and joined them all over along the perimeter of the fort. The owner was defeated. (This story bears striking resemblance to Virgil's account of Dido's founding of Carthage.) Hassan gave him a draft on the name of a wealthy landlord and told him to take the money from him. Legend further has it that when the landlord saw the draft with Hassan’s signature, he immediately paid the amount to the fort owner, astonishing him.

With Alamut as his, Hassan devoted himself so faithfully to study, that it is said that in all the years that he was there – almost 35, he never left his quarters, except the two times when he went up to the roof. He was studying, translating, praying, fasting, and directing the activities of the Daˤwa: the propagation of the Nizarī doctrine was headquartered at Alamut. He knew the Qur'ān by heart, could quote extensively from the texts of most Muslim sects, and apart from philosophy, he was well versed in mathematics, astronomy and alchemy. Hassan was one who found solace in austerity and frugality. A pious life was one of prayer and devotion. Hassan was a charismatic revolutionary; it was said that by the sheer gravity of his conviction he could pierce the hardest and most orthodox of hearts and win them over to his side.

Given the pillars of devoted adherence to the path of the faith, it is unlikely that the usually accepted "Assassin" postulate is accurate. Hassan had his son executed for drinking wine and another person was banished from Alamut for playing the flute. The theories of Hassan being associated with Hashish are, at best, debatable. Furthermore there have emerged traces that there was a name given to Alamut by the people with Nizarī leanings: al-Assas "the foundation". It was the base for all operations that Hassan wished to effect. Members of al-Assas were known as al-Assasīn.

From this point on his community and its branches spread throughout Iran and Syria and came to be called Hashshashin or Assassins, an Islamic mystery cult.

Hassan was extremely strict and disciplined. The event of the Great Resurrection (qiyamat al-qubra) occurred under the later Ismaili Imam Hasan ala-dhikrihi as-salaam in 1164.

Not much is known about Hassan, but legends abound as to the tactics used to induct members into his quasi-religious political organization. A future assassin was subjected to rites very 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 Sabbah was a representative of the divinity and that all of his orders should be followed, even to death. This legend derives from Marco Polo, who visited Alamut just after it fell to the Mongols in the thirteenth century.

Other accounts of the indoctrination attest that the future assassins were brought to Alamut at a young age and, while they matured, inhabited the aforementioned paradisaical gardens and were kept drugged with hashish; as in the previous version, Hassan 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.