On the evening of September 11, 2000, a special session introducing and launching the Hungarian version of the book was organized in conjunction with the 20th Congress. Prof J贸zsef Laszlovszky, Head of the Department of Medieval Studies at the Central European University in Hungary began the session with a talk about the importance of The Assassin Legends in the context of Mediaeval European Studies. The translator, Dr Istv谩n Hajnal, an Arabist in the Department of Arabic and Semitic Languages and Literature at E枚tv枚s Lor谩nd University, the venue of the Congress, followed with a presentation about the translation of the work and its importance.
Dr Daftary concluded the session talking about the book and its contribution to the larger fields of Islamic and Ismaili Studies.
Dr Hajnal is currently working on translating two other books in the field of Shi’i Studies into Hungarian: Daftary’s A Short History of the IsmailisAdherents of a branch of Shi’i Islam that considers Ismail, the eldest son of the Shi’i Imam Ja士far al-峁⒛乨iq (d. 765), as his successor.: Traditions of a Muslim Community (Edinburgh, 1998) and Heinz Halm’s Shi’ism (Edinburgh , 1992).
The Congress held at Hungary’s first institute of higher education, today E枚tv枚s Lor谩nd University, has a significant history of teaching Arabic and Islamic Studies, with its first courses in the field offered in 1635.
