The Order of Assassins (Arabic: حَشّاشُون, romanized: Ḥaššāšūn; Persian: حشاشين, romanized: Haššāšīn) was a Nizari Isma'ili Shia Islamic military order founded by Hasan-i Sabbah in 1090. Based in the Nizari Isma'ili state, which comprised a network of mountain castles in Persia and Syria, they conducted several high-profile assassinations throughout the Levant during the Crusades. The Assassins held a strict subterfuge policy in the region and are believed to have killed hundreds of people who were deemed enemies of their state over the course of 200 years, including other Shias (the Fatimids), as well as Sunnis (the Abbasids and Seljuks) and Christians (the Crusaders) alike.
The English word assassin is derived from the Arabic word hashshashin, which shares etymological roots with the word hashish, supposedly referring to the order's tactics and a common but contested belief that many of their assassinations were carried out by individuals under the influence of the plant.
The two primary divisions were of the Persian Assassins in Alamut Castle and of the Levantine Assassins in Masyaf Castle. In 1253, the order began to collapse as a result of the Mongol campaign against the Nizaris. By 1256, the Assassin network had been defeated, but some independent Levantine strongholds continued to resist, prompting the Mongol army to begin massacring hundreds of thousands of Nizari Isma'ilis, largely destroying the religious community as a whole by the following year.
Contemporaneous historians of the Assassin period include ibn al-Qalanisi, Ali ibn al-Athir, and Ata-Malik Juvayni. The former two referred to the Assassins as batiniyya, an epithet widely accepted by Isma'ilis themselves.
The Assassins were founded by Hassan-i Sabbah. The state was formed in 1090 after the capture of Alamut Castle in the Alborz mountain range of Persia, which served as the Assassins' headquarters. The Alamut and Lambsar castles became the foundation of a network of Isma'ili fortresses throughout Persia and Syria that formed the backbone of Assassin power, and included Syrian strongholds at Masyaf, Abu Qubays, al-Qadmus and al-Kahf. The Western world was introduced to the Assassins by the works of Marco Polo who understood the name as deriving from the word hashish. The Assassins posed a substantial strategic threat to Fatimid, Abbasid, and Seljuk authority. Over the course of nearly 200 years, they killed hundreds—including three caliphs, a ruler of Jerusalem and several Muslim and Christian leaders.
Notable victims of the Assassins include Janah ad-Dawla, emir of Homs, (1103), Mawdud ibn Altuntash, atabeg of Mosul (1113), Fatimid vizier Al-Afdal Shahanshah (1121), Seljuk atabeg Aqsunqur al-Bursuqi (1126), Fatimid caliph al-Amir bi-Ahkami'l-Lah (1130), Taj al-Mulk Buri, atabeg of Damascus (1132), and Abbasid caliphs al-Mustarshid (1135) and ar-Rashid (1138). Saladin, a major foe of the Assassins, twice escaped attempts on his life by the Assassins (1175–1176). The first Frank known to have been killed by the Assassins was Raymond II, Count of Tripoli, in 1152. The Assassins were acknowledged and feared by the Crusaders, losing the de facto King of Jerusalem, Conrad of Montferrat, to an Assassin's blade in 1192 and Lord Philip of Montfort of Tyre in 1270. The Ismaili Assassins were created to revive the Shi'a Ismaili Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt, which had been destroyed by the Sunni Seljuks.
Accounts of the Assassins were preserved within Western, Arabic, Syriac, and Persian sources where they are depicted as trained killers, responsible for the systematic elimination of opposing figures. European orientalists in the 19th and 20th centuries also referred to the Isma'ili Assassins in their works, writing about them based on accounts in seminal works by medieval Arab and Persian authors, particularly ibn al-Qalanisi's Mudhayyal Ta'rikh Dimashq (Continuation of the Chronicle of Damascus), ibn al-Athir's al-Kāmil fit-Tārīkh (The Complete History), and Juvayni's Tarīkh-i Jahān-gushā (History of the World Conqueror). The Order would finally come to an end during the rule of Imam Rukn al-Din Khurshah when the Isma'ili State was eventually destroyed as Khurshah surrendered the castles after the Mongol invasion of Persia. Khurshah died in 1256 and, by 1275, the Mongols had officially put an end to the Nizari state.
Hassan-i Sabbah was born in Qom, ca. 1050, and did his religious studies in Cairo with the Fatimids. Sabbah's father was a Qahtanite Arab, said to be a descendant of Himyaritic kings, having emigrated to Qom from Kufa. He made his way to Persia where, through subterfuge, he and his followers captured Alamut Castle in 1090. Sabbah adapted the fortress to suit his needs not only for defense from hostile forces, but also for indoctrination of his followers. After laying claim to the fortress at Alamut, Sabbah began expanding his influence outwards to nearby towns and districts, using his agents to gain political favour and to intimidate the local populations. Spending most of his days at Alamut producing religious works and developing doctrines for his order, Sabbah would never again leave his fortress.
Shortly after establishing their headquarters at Alamut Castle, the sect captured Lambsar Castle, to be the largest of the Isma'ili fortresses and confirming the Assassins' power in northern Persia. The estimated date of the capture of Lambsar varies between 1096 and 1102. The castle was taken under the command of Kiya Buzurg Ummid, later Sabbah's successor, who remained commandant of the fortress for twenty years. No interactions between the Christian forces of the First Crusade and the Assassins have been noted, with the latter concentrating on the Muslim enemies of the former. Other than a mention of Tancred's 1106 taking of Apamea (see below) in Gesta Tancredi,
One of Sabbah's disciples named Dihdar Bu-Ali from Qazvin rallied local supporters to deflect the Seljuks. Their attack on Alamut Castle and surrounding areas was canceled upon the death of the sultan. The new sultan Berkyaruq, son of Malik Shah I, did not continue the direct attack on Alamut, concentrating on securing his position against rivals, including his half-brother Muhammad I Tapar, who eventually settled for a smaller role, becoming malik (translated as "king") in Armenia and Azerbaijan. Sabbah is reputed to have remarked, "the killing of this devil is the beginning of bliss". Of the 50 assassinations conducted during Sabbah's reign, more than half were Seljuk officials, many of whom supported Muhammad I Tapar.
The Assassins seized Persian castles of Rudkhan and Gerdkuh in 1096, before turning to Syria. Gerdkuh was re-fortified by Mu'ayyad al-Din Muzaffar ibn Ahmad Mustawfi, a Seljuk who was a secret Isma'ili convert, and his son Sharaf al-Din Muhammad. There they occupied the fortress at Shaizar held by the Banu Munqidh, using it to spread terror to Isfahan, the heart of the Seljuk Empire. A rebellion by the local population drove the Assassins out, but they continued to occupy a smaller fortress at Khalinjan. In 1097, Berkyaruq associate Bursuq was killed by Assassins.
By 1100, Berkyaruq had consolidated his power, and the Assassins increased their presence by infiltrating the sultan's court and army. Day-to-day functions of the court were frequently performed while armored and with weapons. The next year, he tasked his brother Ahmad Sanjar, then ruler of Khorasan, to attack Assassin strongholds in Quhistan. The siege at Tabas was at first successful, with the walls of the fortress breached, but then was lifted, possibly because the Seljuk commander had been bribed. The subsequent attack was devastating to the Assassins, but the terms granted were generous and they were soon reestablished at both Quhistan and Tabas. In the years following, the Assassins continued their mission against religious and secular leaders. Given these successes, they began expanding their operations into Syria.
The first da'i Hassan-i dispatched to Syria was al-Hakim al-Munajjim, a Persian known as the physician-astrologer, establishing a cell in Aleppo in the early 12th century. Ridwan, the emir of Aleppo, was in search of allies and worked closely with al-Hakim. The alliance was first shown in the assassination in 1103 of Janah ad-Dawla, emir of Homs and a key opponent of Ridwan. He was murdered by three Assassins at the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Homs. Al-Hakim died a few weeks later and was succeeded by Abu Tahir al-Sa'igh, a Persian known as the goldsmith.