Hassan-i Sabbah
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Hassan-i Sabbāh (Persian: حسن صباح, Arabic: حسن الصباح Hassan aṣ-Ṣabbāḥ, Hasan ibn Sabbah, Hassan Ben Sabbah. 1034?-1124) was a Persian Nizārī Ismā'īlī missionary who converted a community in the late 11th century in the heart of the Alborz Mountains of northern Iran. The place was called Alamut and was attributed to an ancient king of Daylam. He founded a group whose members are sometimes referred to as the Hashshashin.
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[edit] Early life and conversion
Hassan-i Sabbah was born in the city of Qom (in modern Iran) in Persia in 1034 to a family of Twelver Shea. Early in his life, his family’s fortunes took them to Rayy (Iran). It was in this center of religious matrices that Hassan developed a keen interest in metaphysical matters and adhered to the Twelver code of instruction. From 7 to 17[1], he mastered perfectly the arts and sciences palmistry, languages, philosophy, astronomy and mathematics (especially geometry)[2]. According to various legends Hassan-i Sabbah was a close friend of Omar Khayyam and Nizam al-Mulk.
Hassan grew up in a very terbulent Persia, which struggled to regain its identity the recent defeat of the Persian Shea group known as Buyids and the rise of the Seljuk (Turks) and Abbasid (Arabs) both Sunni, increased the relegious debate.
Hassan grew up in 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 activity by various sects, each as impassioned as the next. The Ismā‘īlī Mission or Dawa was a presence there. The Ismā'īlī mission worked on three layers: the lowest was the foot soldier or fidāī, then the rafīk or comrade, and finally the "Dāī" or missionary.
Young Hassan came in touch here with Amira Darrab, a Comrade, who introduced him to Ismā'īlī doctrine. Hassan was unimpressed. As he met Darrab, participating in many passionate debates that discussed the merits of Isma'il ibn Jafar over Musa al-Kazim, Hassan's respect grew. Impressed with the conviction of Darrab, Hassan decided to delve deeper into Ismā'īlī doctrines and beliefs. Hassan began to see merit in switching to Ismā‘īlī. He converted and swore allegiance to the Fatimid Caliph in Cairo.
Hassan's studies did not end with his crossing over. He further studied under two other dāiyyayn, and as he proceeded on his path, he was looked upon with eyes of respect.
Hassan's austere and devoted commitment to the Mission brought him in audience with the chief Missionary of the region: Abdul-Malik ibn Attash, was suitably impressed with the young seventeen year old Hassan, made him Deputy Missionary and advised him to go to Cairo to further his studies.
However, Hassan did not go to Cairo. 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, anti-Cult and anti-Shea Nizam al-Mulk. This prompted his abandoning Rayy and heading to Cairo 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 the Missionaries of his 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 local clerics and religious figures following a heated discussion, and Hassan was thrown out of the town he was in because of his cult-like views.
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 ad-Din Tabib in 1310, to date his arrival in Egypt at 30 August, 1078.
It is unclear how long Hassan stayed in Egypt: about 3 years is the usually accepted amount of time. He continued his studies here, and became a full Missionary.
Whilst he was in Cairo, studying and preaching, his sharp and daring personality upset the Chief of the Army, Badr al-Jamalī who saw Hassan as a threat to his post and belifs. 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 felucca that he was traveling on was wrecked. He was rescued by a dhow and taken to Syria. Traveling via Halab and Baghdad, he terminated his journey at Isfahan in 1081.
Hassan’s life now was totally devoted to the Mission. 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 were traditionally independant and resisted all authorities; this place was also of Shea leaning. Within these mountains, in the region of Daylam, Hassan chose to pursue his missionary activities. Hassan became the Chief Missionary 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 Grand Vizier Nizam al-Mulk and his aides, who dispatched his soldiers with the orders for Hassan's arrest. Hassan evaded them, and went deeper into the mountains.
[edit] Capture of Alamut
Hassan and his Twelver Shea followers were percived as a Fatimid threat by the orthodox Islamic authorities especially the Seljuks.
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 Almaut 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 Daiyyīn 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 Dawa: the propagation of the Nizari 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, alchemy, medicine, architecture, and the major science fields of his time.[3] Hassan was one who found solace in austerity and frugality. A pious life was one of prayer and devotion he hid in secrecy and was being persued by those who opposed his cult and teachings.
Hassan was a charismatic revolutionary and a powerful figure; it was said that by the sheer gravity of his conviction he could pierce the hardest and most orthodox Islamic hearts and win them over to his side, it is well documented he named his followers the "Assasiyun" (foundation of faith). Hassan belived that religion was under in danger because most people were either Sunni or Sufi, Hassan wanted to spread the Nizari ideology,which is related to the Twelvers.
Hassan increasing challenged authority of the Seljuks led by Malik Shah I and the Grand Vizier Nizam al-Mulk. Hassan sent forth his fidayeen to kill all those who were a threat to him and once said: "Nothing is true, Against them everything is permitted". Hassan-i Sabbah had become notorious
his harsh sermons and secret stratigy against prominent viziers, theologens and Amirs led to wide scale assasinations and silence of the authorities. Many prominent Muslim Historians belive Hassan ordered the assasination of his old friend and then opponent Nizam al-Mulk and later Malik Shah I in 1092. Ever since the Hashshashins became a powerful force in the Middle East and its followers had spread to various regions streaching from Masyaf to Sindh.
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 he executed two of his sons because they had consumed various wines.
Long after his death he was remembered by many famous followers such as Rashid ad-Din Sinan and in an event known as the Great Resurrection (al-qiyāmat al-kubrā) occurred under the later Ismaili leader Hasan ala-Dhikrihi in 1164.
[edit] Myths and Legends
Not much is known about Hassan from first hand sources, but legends abound as to the tactics used to induct members. They either stem from Sunni polemicists who were motivated to discredit the Nizari Isma'ili on political and religious grounds, and Crusaders returning to Europe, Marco Polo also claimed to have visited Alamut, although the timeframe he gives makes his assertion dubious at best.[citation needed]
According to polemical accounts which would evolve into legend[clarification needed]; 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.[citation needed]
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.
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.[citation needed] 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.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Nizam ul-Mulk Tusi, pg. 420, foot note No. 3
- ^ E. G. Brown "Literary History of Persia", Vol. 1, pg. 201
- ^ Hassan Sabbah Dabbled in Astronomy: Experts
[edit] Sources
[edit] References
- Irwin, Robert. "Islam and the Crusades, 1096-1699." In The Oxford History of the Crusades, ed. Jonathan Riley Smith. Oxford, 2002. 211-57.
[edit] Sources
[edit] Further reading
- Daftary, Farhad. A Short History of the Ismailis. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1998.
- Daftary, Farhad. The Assassin Legends: Myths of the Isma'ilis. London: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd, 1994. Reviewed by Babak Nahid at Ismaili.net
- Daftary, Farhad. "Hasan-i Sabbāh and the Origins of the Nizārī Ismacili movement." In Mediaeval Ismacili History and Thought, ed. Farhad Daftary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. 181–204.
- Hodgson, Marshall. The Order of Assassins. The Struggle of the Early Nīzarī Ismaīclīs Against the Islamic World. The Hague: Mouton, 1955.
- Hodgson, Marshall. "The Ismacili State." In The Cambridge History of Iran, vol. 5: The Saljuq and Mongol Periods, ed. J.A. Boyle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968. 422–82.
- Lewis, Bernard. The Assassins. A Radical Sect in Islam. New York: Basic Books, 1968.
- Madelung, Wilferd. Religious Trends in Early Islamic Iran. Albany: Bibliotheca Persica, 1988. 101–5.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- The life of Hassan-i-Sabah from an Ismaili point of view. Focuses on assassination as a tactic of asymmetrical warfare and has a small section on Hasan-i-Sabah's work as a scholar.
- Introduction to The Assassin Legends (From The Assassin Legends: Myths of the Isma‘ilis, London: I. B. Tauris, 1994; reprinted 2001.)
- The life of Hassan-i-Sabbah as part of an online book on the Assassins of Alamut.
- Arkon Daraul on Hassan-i-Sabbah.
- An illustrated article on the Order of Assassins.
- William S. Burrough's invocation of Hassan-i-Sabbah in Nova Express.
- Assassins entry in the Encyclopedia of the Orient.
- Review of the book, "The Assassin Legends: Myths of the Isma'ilis (I. B. Tauris & Co. Ltd: London, 1994), 213 pp." by Babak Nahid, Department of Comparative Literature, University of California, Los Angeles
- hasan bin sabbah and the secret order of hashishins
