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Assassin油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油Crusaders油had numerous encounters with the Syrian油Nizaris, who reached the peak of their power under the leadership of Rashid油al-Din油Sinan (d. 1193 CE), their most famous油dai油and the original Old Man of the Mountain of the油Crusaders.

It was, indeed, in Sinans time (11631193 CE) that the油Crusaders油and their European observers became particularly enchanted by the highly exaggerated reports and rumors about the daring behavior of the Nizari 韓庄糸温is, who were believed to selectively target and remov their communitys prominent enemies in specific localities. As a result, the Nizari Ismailis became famous in Europe as the Assassins, the followers of the mysterious Old Man of the Mountain.

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油Nizari油鴛壊馨温庄鉛庄壊.

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 (沿鉛.油鞄温壊鞄庄壊鞄庄霞霞温,油鞄温壊鞄庄壊鞄庄稼). The latter was applied by other Muslims to油Nizaris油in the pejorative sense of low-class rabble or people of lax morality, without any derivative explanation reflecting any special connection between the油Nizaris油and hashish, a product of hemp. This term of abuse was picked up locally in Syria by the油Crusaders油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 murderer. Thus, a misnomer rooted in abuse eventually resulted in a new word, assassin, in European languages.

Medieval Europeansand especially the Crusaderswho 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油Nizaris, the so-called assassin legends. In particular, the legends sought to provide a rational explanation for the seemingly irrational self-sacrificing behaviour of the Nizari油韓庄糸温is; 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油韓庄糸温is 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油韓庄糸温is; 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油hashishi that gave rise to the imaginative tales disseminated by the油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 garden of paradise, where the油韓庄糸温is 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油assassins油as a general reference to the Nizari Ismailis, although the term had now become a new common noun in European languages meaning murderer. It was AL Silvestre de Sacy (17581838) 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油韓庄糸温is legends rooted in hostility and imaginative ignorance.

 

Further reading

  • Daftary, F.油The Assassin Legends: Myths of the Ismailis, 88127. London: I.B. Tauris, 1994.
  • Hodgson, Marshall GS油The Order of Assassins, 8284, 110115, 133137. The Hague: Mouton, 1955.
  • Lewis, B.油The Assassins, 1-12, 124-40. London; Weidenfeld and Nicols旦n, 1967.
  • Polo, Marco.油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. Memoir sur La Dyanastie des Assassins, et sur LEtymologie de leur Nom.油Memoires de sins, et sur lInstitut Royal de France油4(1818): 1-84. (English translation in F Daftary,油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油Fortresses of the Intellect油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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