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Assassin听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听Crusaders听had numerous encounters with the Syrian听Nizaris, who reached the peak of their power under the leadership of Rashid听al-Din听Sinan (d. 1193 CE), their most famous听da鈥榠听and the original 鈥淥ld Man of the Mountain鈥 of the听Crusaders.

It was, indeed, in Sinan鈥檚 time (1163鈥1193 CE) that the听Crusaders听and their European observers became particularly enchanted by the highly exaggerated reports and rumors about the daring behavior of the Nizari 蹿颈诲补鈥檌s, who were believed to selectively target and remov their community鈥檚 prominent enemies in specific localities. As a result, the Nizari Ismailis became famous in Europe as the Assassins, the followers of the mysterious 鈥淥ld Man of the Mountain.鈥

Assassin legends and terminology

Assassin is a name that was applied originally by the Crusader circles in the Near East and other medieval Europeans to the听Nizari听滨蝉尘补颈濒颈蝉.

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 (辫濒.听丑补蝉丑颈蝉丑颈测测补,听丑补蝉丑颈蝉丑颈苍). The latter was applied by other Muslims to听Nizaris听in the pejorative sense of 鈥渓ow-class rabble鈥 or 鈥減eople of lax morality,鈥 without any derivative explanation reflecting any special connection between the听Nizaris听and hashish, a product of hemp. This term of abuse was picked up locally in Syria by the听Crusaders听and European travellers 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 鈥渕urderer.鈥 Thus, a misnomer rooted in abuse eventually resulted in a new word, assassin, in European languages.

Medieval Europeans鈥攁nd especially the Crusaders鈥攚ho 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听Nizaris, the so-called 鈥渁ssassin legends.鈥 In particular, the legends sought to provide a rational explanation for the seemingly irrational self-sacrificing behaviour of the Nizari听蹿颈诲补鈥檌s; 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听蹿颈诲补鈥檌s 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听蹿颈诲补鈥檌s; 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听hashishi that gave rise to the imaginative tales disseminated by the听Crusaders.

 

Culmination of the assassin legends

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 鈥済arden of paradise,鈥 where the听蹿颈诲补鈥檌s 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听assassins听as a general reference to the Nizari Ismailis, although the term had now become a new common noun in European languages meaning 鈥渕urderer.鈥 It was AL Silvestre de Sacy (1758鈥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听蹿颈诲补鈥檌s鈥 legends rooted in hostility and imaginative ignorance.

 

Further reading

  • Daftary, F.听The Assassin Legends: Myths of the Ismailis, 88鈥127. London: I.B. Tauris, 1994.
  • Hodgson, Marshall GS听The Order of Assassins, 82鈥84, 110鈥115, 133鈥137. The Hague: Mouton, 1955.
  • Lewis, B.听The Assassins, 1-12, 124-40. London; Weidenfeld and Nicols枚n, 1967.
  • Polo, Marco.听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, AL. 鈥淢emoir sur La Dyanastie des Assassins, et sur L鈥橢tymologie de leur Nom.鈥澨Memoires de sins, et sur l鈥橧nstitut Royal de France听4(1818): 1-84. (English translation in F Daftary,听The Assassin Legends, 136-188.)

Author

Dr Farhad Daftary

Co-Director and Head of the Department of Academic Research and Publications

An authority in Shi’i studies, with special reference to its Ismaili tradition, Dr. Daftary has published and lectured widely in these fields of Islamic studies. In 2011 a Festschrift entitled听Fortresses of the Intellect听was produced to honour Dr. Daftary by a number of his colleagues and peers.

 

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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)

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