 | This article includes a list ofgeneral references, butit lacks sufficient correspondinginline citations. Please help toimprove this article byintroducing more precise citations.(July 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Hasan-i Sabbah | |
|---|---|
حسن الصباح | |
 Hasan-i Sabbah (right) depicted with his followers in the first edition ofThe Travels of Marco Polo, c. 1310 | |
| Title | Mawla, Sayyidna (Arabic:سيدنا,lit. 'Our Master') |
| Personal life | |
| Born | c. 1050 |
| Died | 12 June 1124 (aged 73–74) |
| Main interest(s) | |
| Occupation | Leader ofNizārī Ismā'īlī state |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Shia Islam |
| Denomination | Ismaili Shia |
| Order | Assassins |
| Founder of | Nizari Ismaili state |
| Jurisprudence | Nizārī Da'a'im al-Islam |
| Senior posting | |
| Predecessor | Position Established |
| Successor | Kiya Buzurg-Ummid |
Influenced | |
Hasan-i Sabbah[a] also known asHasan I of Alamut, was a religious and military leader,[2] founder of theNizari Ismai'li sect,Order of Assassins, as well as theNizari Ismaili state, ruling from 1090 to 1124 AD.[3][4][5]
Alongside his role as a leader, Sabbah was a scholar ofmathematics, most notably ingeometry, as well asastronomy andphilosophy, especially inepistemology.[6][7] It is narrated that Hasan and the Persian polymathOmar Khayyam were close friends since their student years.[8] He and each of the later Order of Assassins' leaders came to be known in theWest as theOld Man of the Mountain, a name given byMarco Polo that referenced the sect's possession of the commanding mountain fortress ofAlamut Castle.[9][10]
Hasan is thought to have written an autobiography, which did not survive but seems to underlie the first part of an anonymous Isma'ili biography entitledSargozasht-e Seyyednā (Persian:سرگذشت سیدنا). The latter is known only from quotations made by later Persian authors.[11] Hasan also wrote a treatise, inPersian, on the doctrine ofta'līm, called,al-Fusul al-arba'a[12] The text is no longer in existence, but fragments are cited or paraphrased byal-Shahrastānī and several Persian historians.[12]
The possibly autobiographical information found inSargozasht-i Seyyednā is the main source for Hasan's background and early life. According to this, Hasan al-Sabbāh was born in the city ofQom,Persia in the 1050s to a family ofTwelverShia.[11] His father, a KufanArab reportedly ofYemenite origins, had left the Sawād ofKufa, Iraq, to settle in the town of Qom,[2][13] one of the first centres of Arab settlement in Persia and a stronghold of Twelver Shia.[14]
Early in his life, his family moved toRayy.[11] Rayy was a city that had a history of radical Islamic thought since the 9th century, withHamdan Qarmaṭ as one of its teachers.
It was in this religious centre that Hasan developed a keen interest in metaphysical matters and adhered to the Twelver code of instruction. During the day[7] he studied at home, and masteredpalmistry,languages,philosophy,astronomy andmathematics (especiallygeometry).[6]
Rayy was also the home of Isma'ili missionaries in theJibal. At the time, Isma'ilism was a growing movement in Persia and other lands east of Egypt.[15] The Persian Isma'ilis supported theda'wa ("mission") directed by theFatimid caliphate ofCairo and recognized the authority of the Imam-Caliphal-Mustansir (d. 1094), thoughIsfahan, rather than Cairo, may have functioned as their principal headquarters.[15] The Ismā'īlī mission worked on three layers: the lowest was thefida'i or foot soldier, followed by therafīk or comrade, and finally thedā‘ī or missionary. It has been suggested that the popularity of the Ismā'īlī religion in Persia was due to the people's dissatisfaction with theSeljuk rulers, who had recently removed local rulers.[11]
At the age of 17, Hasan converted and swore allegiance to the Fatimid caliph in Cairo. Hasan's studies did not end with his crossing over. He further studied under two otherdā‘is, and as he proceeded on his path, he was looked upon with eyes of respect.[4]
Hasan's austere and devoted commitment to theda'wa brought him in audience with the chief missionary of the region:'Abdu l-Malik ibn Attash. Ibn Attash, suitably impressed with the young seventeen-year-old Hasan, made him Deputy Missionary and advised him to go to Cairo to further his studies.[citation needed]
However, Hasan did not initially travel to Cairo. Some historians have postulated that Hasan, following his conversion, was playing host to some members of the Fatimid caliphate, and this was leaked to the anti-Fatimid and anti-Shī‘avizierNizam al-Mulk. This prompted his abandoning Rayy and heading to Cairo in 1076.[citation needed]
Hasan 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.[citation needed] 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 Hasan in Rayy. His name was Resi Abufasl and he further instructed Hasan.[citation needed]
From here he went to Arran (current Azerbaijan), hundreds of miles to the north, and from there through Armenia. Here he attracted the ire of priests following a heated discussion, and Hasan was thrown out of the town he was in.
He then turned south and traveled through Iraq, reachedDamascus in Syria. He left for Egypt fromPalestine. Records exist, some in the fragmentary remains of his autobiography, and from another biography written byRashid-al-Din Hamadani in 1310, to date his arrival in Egypt at 30 August 1078.
It is unclear how long Hasan 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, he incurred the displeasure of the Chief of the Army,Badr al-Jamalī.[1] This may have been a result of the fact that Hasan supported Nizar, the Ismaili Imam-Caliphal-Mustanṣir's elder son, as the next Imam. Hasan was briefly imprisoned byBadr al-Jamali. The collapse of a minaret of the jail was taken to be an omen in favor of Hasan and he was promptly released and deported.[citation needed] The ship that he was traveling on was wrecked. He was rescued and taken to Syria. Traveling viaAleppo andBaghdad, he terminated his journey atIsfahan in 1081.
Hasan's life now was totally devoted to the mission. Hasan toured extensively throughout Persia. In northern Persia, touching the south shore of theCaspian Sea, are the mountains ofAlborz.[citation needed] These mountains were home to a people who had traditionally resisted attempts by both Arabs and Turkish subjugation; this place was also a home of Shia leaning. The news of this Ismā'īlī's activities reached Nizam al-Mulk, who dispatched his soldiers with the orders for Hasan's capture. Hasan evaded them, and went deeper into the mountains.[citation needed]
His search for a base from which to guide his mission ended when in 1088 he found the castle ofAlamut in theRudbar area (modernQazvin, Iran).[citation needed] It was a fort that stood guard over a valley that was about fifty kilometers long and five kilometers wide.[citation needed] This fortress 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, a propitious omen, the importance of which this king, Wah Sudan ibn Marzuban, understood. Likening the perching of the eagle to a lesson given by it, he called the fort Aluh Amu(kh)t: the "Eagles' Teaching".[16]
Hasan's takeover of the fort was conducted without any significant bloodshed. To effect this transition Hasan employed a patient and deliberate strategy, one which took the better part of two years to effect. First Hasan sent hisDaʻiyyīn andRafīks to win over the villages in the valley, and their inhabitants. Next, key people amongst this populace were converted, and finally, in 1090, Hasan took over the fort by infiltrating it with his converts.[17]
While legend holds that after capturing Alamut Hasan thereafter devoted himself so faithfully to study that in the nearly 35 years he was there he never left his quarters, excepting only two times when he went up to the roof, this reported isolation is highly doubtful, given his extensive recruiting and organizational involvement in the growing Ismā'īlī insurrections in Persia and Syria.[18] Nonetheless, Hasan was highly educated and was known for austerity, studying, translating, praying, fasting, and directing the activities of the Daʻwa: the propagation of the Nizarī doctrine was headquartered at Alamut. He knew theQur'ān by heart, could quote extensively from the texts of most Muslim sects, and apart from philosophy, was well versed inmathematics,astronomy,alchemy,medicine,architecture, and the major scientific disciplines of his time.[citation needed] In a major departure from tradition, Hasan declared Persian to be the language of holy literature for Nizaris, a decision that resulted in all the Nizari Ismā'īlī literature from Persia, Syria, Afghanistan and Central Asia to be transcribed in Persian for several centuries.[16]
The leaders ofNizari Isma'ilis in Persia, were designated by Marco Polo using a Syrian equivalent term known in Europe at that time,[19] asElder orOld Man of the Mountain.Polo's travelogue (ca. 1300) describes the Old Man of the Mountain as a charlatan who devised plots to convert young men to his sect. At thecourt of theOld Man of the Mountain "they were educated in various languages and customs, courtly etiquette, and trained in martial and other skills".[9] At Alamut they had "impressive libraries whose collections included books on various religious traditions, philosophical and scientific texts, and scientific equipment".[20]
Xishiji （Chinese:西使記）, a Chinese manuscript completed in 1263, relates a story similar to that of Polo. The sect leaders "ordered to send assassins to hide in those kingdoms which did not surrender. They stabbed their lords, and women as well, and they died".[21]
Historians and scholars identify Hasan-i Sabbah as the founder of the NizariAssassins and their doctrine. It developed during the struggle for succession ofNizar to the Fatimid throne in Cairo that eventually laid the foundation of theNizari Isma'ilismShia Islam. Since then, as a basic element of conservative nature, theIsmaili Imamate includes ahidden imam, in addition to the visible (orhazar, meaning apparent)[22]imam of the time, acting as such in a community. An important task of the latter is the proliferation of the doctrine, and of the undisclosed imam'sspiritual guidance, in learning centers having instructors proficient in teaching techniques.
Devotion of the "true believers" having "absolute faith"[23] in the beliefs is another element originating from the times of Sabbah inNorthern Iran,[24] who reportedly "was so devout that he even had one of his sons executed after he was accused of drunkenness."[25]
A Nizari assassin is identified asfida'i or devotee, "who offers his life for others or in the service of a particular cause."[26]
Hasan is known for his ascetic and austere religious lifestyle. At his modest living quarters in the Alamut Castle, he spent most of his time reading, writing, and administering. During his 45 years of residence in Alamut, he apparently left his quarters only twice to ascend the rooftop.[27]
Hasan al-Sabbah probably had one wife, two daughters, and two sons.[28][27] Hasan's wife and daughters were sent toGerdkuh as a safe place during Shirgir's campaign against Alamut; they never returned. They lived on spinning.[27] He had both his sons executed, Muhammad forkhamr and Ustad Husayn for his suspected role in the murder ofda'iHusayn Qa'ini.[27]
Hassan was highly revered by the Nizari community, whose members called himSayyidna ("Our Master") and regularly visited his mausoleum in Rudbar before it was demolished by the Mongols.[27]
Hasan-i Sabbah was born in the city of Qumm, one of the first centres of Arab settlement in Persia and a stronghold of Twelver Shi`ism., His father, a Twelver Shiite, had come from Kufa in Iraq, and was said to be of Yemeni origin - more fancifully, a descendant of the ancient Himyaritic kings of Southern Arabia.
{{cite book}}:Check|isbn= value: invalid character (help)