his father had removed from Kufa. Like his father he was a Shiʿite of
the “Twelver” sect, but came under the influence of Nasir-i-Khusraw who
was an active propagandist, although at the time Ismaʿilian doctrines
were not making much progress in Asia. After considerable hesitation he
became a proselyte of the Ismaʿilians and took the oath of allegiance to
the Fatimid Khalif. In 464 he came under the notice of the overseer of
the mission work in the district (_bahr_, literally, “sea”), of Isfahan,
and was advised by him to make a pilgrimage to Egypt. After spending
two years as assistant to the overseer of Isfahan he set out in 467 and
reached Cairo in 471 where he was well received by the Chief _Daʿi_ and
other leading persons, but was not allowed to have an interview with
the Khalif. At the time, it appears, the court was divided into two
factions over the question of the succession, the one party holding to
the Khalif’s elder son Nizar, the other to a younger son named Mustali.
In one place Nasir-i-Khusraw says that the Khalif told him that his
elder son Nizar was to be his heir, and the succession of the older son
would be in accordance with the doctrines of the sect as already proved
by their adherence to Ismaʿil, the son of Jaʿfar as-Sadiq. But Badr and
the chief officials were on the side of the younger son Mustali, and
it was probably the knowledge that the Persian visitor was opposed to
them on this question which stood in the way of a personal interview
with Mustansir. After eighteen months in Egypt Hasan-i-Sabbah was forced
to leave because, according to his own statement, he had provoked the
suspicion of Badr. So in 472 he embarked at Alexandria. His ship was
wrecked on the coast of Syria, and after much wandering he at length
made his way overland to Isfahan where he arrived in 473. At once he
commenced propaganda amongst the Ismaʿilians in favour of Nizar as the
chosen heir to the Imamate. In this work he was successful, and in 483
he obtained possession of the castle of Alamut (“the eagle’s teaching”)
which he made the headquarters of his branch of the Ismaʿilian sect. As
supporters of the claims of Nizar the members of this branch were known
as “Nizarites,” but later the name of “Assassins” became their commoner
designation. This term represents the Arabic _Hashishi_, that is to say,
user of Indian hemp or the “Faqir’s herb” (_cannabis Indica_), as this
was used as a means of intoxication and exaltation to arouse the members
of the sect charged with peculiarly difficult duties. In a later chapter
(cf. pp. 213, etc.) we shall see that these duties, the acts which are
now especially associated with the term assassin, were performed by
quite subordinate members of the sect; but these members entrusted with
the performance of deeds of violence and daring were prepared by being
worked up into a frenzy by the use of this drug whose peculiar influences
are well known in the east. From 473 to the date of Mustansir’s death
in 487 these “Assassins” were occupied in preaching the claims of the
prince Nizar to the Imamate, but they did not definitely separate from
the Ismaʿilian body or from their allegiance to the Fatimid Khalif until,
at Mustansir’s death, the elder son Nizar was formally excluded from
the succession, so that our further consideration of the sect is best
deferred to the next reign. A large literature exists on the history of
the Assassins. The most important authority is the “Adventures of our
master” (_i.e._, of Hasan-i-Sabbah), a lost work included amongst the
books in the great library at Alamut and examined by ʿAta Malik Juwayni
before it was burned with other heretical works, and from it he makes
important citations.
The longest Khalifate of Muslim history closed with the death of
Mustansir on the 18th of Dhu l-Hijja, 487 (A.D. 1094), and at once the
wazir al-Afdal announced the accession of the younger son al-Mustali.
XIII
THE NINTH FATIMID KHALIF, AL-MUSTALI
(A.H. 487-495 = A.D. 1094-1101)
As soon as al-Mustansir was dead the wazir al-Afdal al-Juyush entered
the palace and placed Abu l-Kasim Ahmad al-Mustali, a youth of eighteen
years of age and the youngest son of the late Khalif on the throne. At
the same time he sent for the other sons of Mustansir who were near at
hand, Nizar the eldest son, and his brothers ʿAbdullah and Ismaʿil,
bidding them come quickly. As soon as they entered the room where the
wazir awaited them and saw their youngest brother enthroned they were
filled with indignation, and when al-Afdal bade them do homage to Mustali
as the new Khalif, Nizar burst out, “I would rather be cut in pieces
than do homage to one younger than myself, and moreover I possess a
document in the handwriting of my father by which he names me successor,
and I shall go and bring it.” At this he went out, presumably to get
the document, but as he did not return the wazir sent after him, and it
was found that he had left the city. Very soon afterwards he appeared
at Alexandria, supported by his brother ʿAbdullah and an emir named Ibn
Massal, and there he assumed the title of Khalif with the surname of
al-Mustafa li-dinillah (“the chosen for God’s religion”), and received
the oath of allegiance from the Alexandrians. He promised Nasir ad-Dawla
Iftikin, the Turkish governor of Alexandria, that he should be wazir.
As we have already seen, there was a party ready to support Nizar even
before Mustansir’s death, and his claims seemed to have fair prospects
of success. No doubt we may say that the sectarian supporters of the
Fatimid Imamate were with him, whilst al-Afdal headed the secularist
party: but there would, no doubt, be many aggrieved with the existing
administration, and even perhaps remnants of those whom al-Afdal’s father
had suppressed with such severity, who were ready to throw in their lot
with the opposition to the wazir’s nominee in Cairo.
In 488 al-Afdal found it necessary to take the field against Nizar and
his followers, but suffered a sharp repulse in the first engagement.
Encouraged by this the Nizarites laid waste the country north of Cairo.
Again al-Afdal prepared his forces and marched this time to Alexandria
and laid siege to it. During this siege Ibn Massal had a dream in which
he seemed to be riding on horseback and al-Afdal was following him on
foot. He consulted an astrologer as to the meaning of this dream, and
was informed that it signified the ultimate success of al-Afdal, for
those who walk the earth are those who will possess it. Ibn Massal took
this very seriously and thought it prudent to leave Nizar’s party, so
he departed and retired to Lukk near Barqa. This defection marked the
turning point of Nizar’s career for, after losing Ibn Massal and his
men, his fortunes gradually declined. Convinced that resistance could
not endure for long he sent out and asked al-Afdal if he would spare
his life if he submitted. Receiving a favourable answer the gates of
Alexandria were opened to the wazir who took possession of the city and,
after putting an end to all resistance, returned to Cairo with Nizar and
ʿAbdullah. Nizar’s subsequent life is totally unknown. He was either
imprisoned in absolute secrecy, or put to death: stories were told of
both these ends, but nothing was ever known for certain. A certain
Muhammad afterwards claimed to be Nizar’s son, and had a following in
Yemen: he was brought to Cairo and crucified in 523. In all probability
he was an imposter.
The suppression of Nizar and his partisans meant the triumph of al-Afdal,
and during the rest of Mustali’s reign the Khalif was entirely without
authority in the state, and came out only as required at public functions.
The suppression of Nizar involved a definite separation between the
Fatimids of Cairo and their court on the one side and the Asiatic
adherents of Nizar’s Imamate on the other, and so from 488 onwards the
Assassins formed a distinct sect, as much opposed to the Fatimids and
their followers as to the orthodox Muslims. The founder, Hasan-i-Sabbah,
had now fully organised that sect on lines which were in general outline
imitated from the traditional system of the Ismaʿilians, but differed in
detail. There were grades and successive stages of initiation, and the
real beliefs of the higher grades were of the same pantheistic-agnostic
type as in the Ismaʿilian body, and similarly the members of those upper
grades were keen students of the science and philosophy which had been
derived from Hellenistic tradition. When the headquarters of the sect at
Alamut were finally taken they were found to contain a vast library as
well as an observatory and a collection of scientific instruments. In
fact we may say with confidence that the Assassins represent the highest
level of scholarship and research in contemporary Asiatic Islam, if we
can indeed regard them as within the Islamic fold; an island of culture
and learning in the midst of reactionary orthodoxy and actual ignorance,
the result of the submerging of Asiatic Islam beneath the flood of
Turkish invasion. Far away in the west a purer culture was beginning
to dawn in Muslim Spain, but in Asia philosophy and science were being
rapidly obscured by the reactionary flood.
As organised by Hasan-i-Sabbah the Assassins appear in six grades. The
highest of these was filled by the “Chief Daʿi” who recognised the Imam
alone as superior on earth. So long as Mustansir lived he was regarded
as the true Imam; after his death Nizar was his successor, and later on
we find the Chief Daʿi claiming descent from Nizar, but this was as yet
in the future. It was the same development as that which we have already
observed in the history of the Shiʿite sect founded by ʿAbdullah b.
Maymun. Amongst outsiders the Chief Daʿi commonly went by the name of
“Sheikh of the mountain,” _i.e._, of the mountain stronghold of Alamut
which formed the headquarters of the sect, and this is reproduced as “the
old man of the mountain” in the records of the Crusaders. Under the Chief
Daʿi were the “Senior Missionaries” (daʿi-i-kabir), each supervising
a diocese or _bahr_ (“sea”), and under these were the ordinary
missionaries. Thus far the organization merely reproduced that already
prevalent in the Ismaʿilian propaganda. Beneath the missionaries were the
ordinary members in two main grades known respectively as “companions”
(rafiq) and “adherents” (lasiq), the former more fully initiated in the
batimite or allegorical interpretations of doctrine than the latter.
The sixth grade, theoretically the lowest, was peculiar to the Assassin
sect, and consisted of “devoted ones” (fidaʿi) who do not seem to have
been initiated, but were bound to a blind and unquestioning obedience
which has its parallel in the discipline of the various darwish orders,
but was here carried to exceptional extremes. These _fidaʿis_ were
carefully trained and were especially practised in the use of various
forms of disguise, after all only a more perfect refinement of the
methods originally evolved by the Hashimite missionaries; but these were
not disguised for the purpose of acting more efficiently as missionaries
and for penetrating different communities as teachers, but solely for
the purpose of carrying out the specific orders of the Chief Daʿi, and
thus formed a most formidable branch of what soon became an exceptionally
powerful secret society. In many cases the acts entrusted to the
_fidaʿis_ were acts of murder, and it is from this that the name of
“assassin” has received its peculiar meaning in most of the languages of
Western Europe. The _fidaʿi_, trained to the use of disguise, sometimes
as a servant, or as a merchant, or darwish, or as a Christian monk, was
able to penetrate into almost any society and to strike down suddenly
the victim marked out; and counted it a triumphant success if this act
involved his own death as well. A deliberate effort was made to surround
the sect with an atmosphere of terror; a Muslim prince would be struck
down whilst he was acting as leader at prayer, or a Crusading knight as
he was attending high mass at the head of his troops, or if there was
not actual murder, a leader might wake up in his tent to find a message
from the Assassins pinned by a dagger to the ground beside his couch, or
a doctor of the law would find a similar message between the pages of
the text book from which he was lecturing. All this was developed more
elaborately as time went on, but already in the days of Mustali the sect
had rendered itself prominent by getting rid of some leading men whom it
regarded as its enemies, such as in 485 Nidhamu l-Mulk the great wazir
of the Saljuq sultans, in 491 ʿAbdu r-Rahman as-Samayrami the wazir of
Barkiyaruq’s mother, and in 494 Unru Bulka, the rival of Nidhamu l-Mulk
and the emir of greater influence in Isfahan. The higher members of the
sect were domiciled at Alamut, or in some one or other of the various
mountain fortresses they secured in Northern Persia and afterwards in
Syria, but adherents were found everywhere scattered through western
Asia. In its development the sect of Assassins was almost entirely
Asiatic, but as professed adherents of Nizar the eldest son of Mustansir,
the Assassins were, at least nominally, of Egyptian origin.
So far the danger most threatening to the Fatimids had been the advance
of the Saljuq Turks, pledged to the destruction of the Ismaʿilian heresy,
from the east: but in the fourth year of Mustali’s reign a new danger
appeared. This was the appearance of the Franks embarked on the First
Crusade, who reached Syria in the year 490, when the Saljuq influence was
already on the decline. The great Saljuq leader Tutush had died in the
preceding year, and his two sons at once became rivals, the one, Duqaq,
established at Damascus, the other, Rudwan, at Aleppo. Rudwan was anxious
to obtain Fatimid assistance and inserted Mustali’s name in the _khutba_,
but the Fatimid state regarded the Saljuqs with dread and suspicion, and
was disposed to welcome the Franks as possible allies against the Turks.
Jerusalem remained in Saljuq hands under the control of the sons of Ortuk
b. Aksab who had governed in the name of Tutush, and they formed an
outpost of the Saljuq empire which the Fatimid government regarded as its
chief enemy in the east.
The Crusaders professed to be the champions of the Christian religion
and declared their aim as being the deliverance of the sacred sites from
the occupation of the Muslims. Before reaching Syria, however, they had
made it plain that this was not to be understood in a literal sense, for
they had shown marked hostility towards the Greek Church, and throughout
the whole of their career they were the uncompromising enemies of all
the eastern churches. No doubt this can be partly explained by a total
lack of understanding or sympathy towards religious bodies whose general
customs and external organisation, and more particularly whose liturgy,
differed so markedly from the forms developed in the west; but the fact
remains that their fellow Christians in the east soon came to regard the
Crusaders with as much dislike as the Muslims. This antagonism towards
the Greek and eastern churches generally was fully defined before their
arrival in Syria. But in fact they were not even the champions of Latin
Christianity. Some, no doubt, were sincere in their desire to rescue
the Holy Land from non-Christian occupation, but for the most part
they were adventurers desirous of carving out principalities in lands
which they were well aware were much richer and more prosperous than
their own countries in the west. From their own point of view the time
at which this Crusade arrived was exceptionally promising: the Saljuq
power was broken and there was a temporary lull in the migration of the
virile and warlike Turkish races westwards, whilst the Muslim community
was divided between ʿAbbasids and Fatimids beyond the possibility of
united resistance. Twenty years earlier, or fifty years later they would
certainly not have been able to establish themselves in Palestine, but
just at the moment circumstances were favourable.
Arriving in Syria in A.H. 490 the Crusaders under Baldwin (or Bardawil
as he appears in the Arabic writers) took the city of Edessa and then
proceeded to lay siege to Antioch which fell into their hands on the 16th
of Rajab 491 (20th June, 1098). News of their arrival and first successes
had early reached Egypt, and al-Afdal prepared to welcome them as likely
auxiliaries against the Turks: it seemed fully possible that the Franks
and Fatimids might divide Western Asia between them, and such indeed
would have been feasible. Under this impression al-Afdal sent an army
into Palestine and wrested Jerusalem from Sokman the son of Ortuk, who
held it as a part of the Saljuq empire, at the same time sending forward
an embassy to the Franks welcoming them and asking to make an alliance
with them. The Franks absolutely rejected these proposals and declined to
accept any friendly overtures from Muslims. Very soon they proceeded to
attack Jerusalem, and in the month of Shaban, 492, took it, plundering
the mosques, slaughtering the Muslim population, and showing themselves
hostile to orthodox and Shiʿite alike. This disillusioned al-Afdal
and made it clear to him that it was impossible to expect any sort of
alliance with the new-comers. After taking Jerusalem and expelling the
Fatimid government the Franks elected Godfrey king of Jerusalem, a rank
which he held until the following year, and during this time he did his
best to introduce western customs and jurisprudence in the city as well
as the Latin rite in the churches.
In the following year (493) the Franks attacked the Egyptian army before
Ascalon, which now remained the only important possession of the Fatimids
in Palestine. Before the battle the wazir sent an envoy with a flag of
truce, but this the Franks disregarded and made an assault upon those
who, according to the customary usages of war, should have been sacred.
In the ordinary way such attacks made in disregard of a flag of truce,
reported in practically every war, ought not to be treated too seriously
by the historian: it is almost impossible, even in the best disciplined
army, to make sure that no abuse of this kind shall ever occur, but in
the case of the Crusaders there seems to have been a deliberate intention
to treat the Muslims as outside the ordinary conventions which were
more or less observed amongst Christian nations: although it must be
remembered that we are dealing with times before the rise of chivalry
and the humaner attitude which characterised mediaeval warfare, all more
fully developed after contact with the Muslims who did much to refine
Frankish manners and usages; and, moreover, the very mixed multitude
loosely held together in the Crusading ranks was undisciplined even
beyond the wont of those days. In the succeeding engagement the Franks
defeated al-Afdal and his forces, and he was compelled to embark for
Egypt. Ascalon, however, was not taken as the citizens, alarmed by the
recent savagery of the Franks in Jerusalem and perceiving that they were,
for the most part, simply out for booty, bribed them to leave the city
alone.
Two years later (495) the Franks gained another victory over the
Egyptians near Jaffa and began seriously to consider the prospect of
invading Egypt.
At this juncture al-Mustali died. At the moment, fortunately, the wazir
al-Afdal was in Egypt, and on the day of his death proclaimed his son
al-Amir Khalif in his place.
XIV
THE TENTH FATIMID KHALIF, AL-AMIR
(A.H. 495-524 = 1101-1131 A.D.)
At Mustali’s death al-Afdal at once proclaimed Abu ʿAli al-Mansur al-Amir
bi-ahkami-llah (“the ruler by the decrees of God”), then only in his
fifth year, as Khalif, retaining the government in his own hands as had
now become the established custom at the Fatimid court. Al-Afdal was
an able and efficient ruler, whilst the young Khalif was of the type
so common in oriental courts, a mere votary of pleasure and an idler.
The wazir restrained the indulgence of his tastes and kept him closely
confined in the palace. Al-Amir does not seem to have been at all
aggrieved at being excluded from the government, but he certainly chafed
at the restrictions which the wazir considered suitable to apply to his
pleasures.
The centre of interest still lies in the Crusaders who had now
established a firm hold in Palestine and were threatening Egypt. In 497
they took possession of Akka (Acre), and this increased the anxiety
felt in the Fatimid court. In the same year al-Afdal sent his son in
command of an army to Palestine, and he was successful in inflicting a
severe defeat on the Franks: many were put to flight, and Baldwin, who
had succeeded Godfrey as king of Jerusalem, was compelled to hide in a
haystack. The Egyptians then advanced and took Ramla and, after slaying
a large number of the vanquished, sent three hundred knights prisoners
to Egypt. Later in the year both sides were reinforced, the Egyptians
receiving an accession of four thousand cavalry as well as the support
of a fleet, but no decisive step was taken and no progress made on
either side. At this time nearly all Palestine was in the hands of the
Franks save the coast towns, and the struggle centered round Ramla. The
Fatimids had the advantage of an alliance with Tughtegin, the Saljuq
governor of Damascus, for the Turks had at last perceived that it was
necessary for all Muslim powers to unite against those who had proved to
be a common enemy. A battle took place between Ascalon and Jaffa, but
without any important result.
Nothing of marked importance took place during the next three years,
but in 502 the Franks succeeded in taking the important coast town of
Tripolis on Monday, the 11th of Dhu l-Hijja. When they entered the town
they plundered and slaughtered indiscriminately and seized many of the
inhabitants for slaves; they destroyed the library of the college and
tortured their prisoners in a barbarous manner. The Egyptian wazir had
sent an army to the relief of the town, but it arrived too late to be of
any service.
After the fall of Tripolis the Muslim forces centered at Tyre. In the
following year (503) the Franks took Bairut, and in the year after Sidon,
so that the Fatimid possessions were reduced to a precarious hold on
Ramla.
Thus affairs stayed for some six years, then in 511 Baldwin attempted
the invasion of Egypt. He took Farama, burning the mosques, houses, and
suburbs, and then advanced to Tinnis. Near this town he was taken ill,
and shortly afterwards died at al-Arish. At his death the projected
invasion was abandoned and the Frankish army retired, bearing with it the
king of Jerusalem’s body which was ultimately buried in the Church of the
Resurrection.
Egypt had practically lost all hold upon Palestine, but yet the
threatening horde of Franks was held off from Egypt itself, and this
check was in no small degree creditable to the wazir al-Afdal, who
meanwhile maintained a firm though not absolutely pure government at
home. But gradually the Khalif became more and more restive under the
severe tutelage of his wazir, and always there were intrigues of the
aggrieved and the ambitious to urge him on, as well as the ever present
influence of the harim which, in almost all oriental countries, is the
centre of intrigues against the established powers. In 515 the Khalif
began to plot definitely against his wazir, and one day as al-Afdal rode
out towards the Nile he was attacked and severely wounded, so that he
was carried home to die. The Khalif visited him on his death-bed and
expressed great sympathy and regret for the accident which had befallen
him, an accident whose real nature was perfectly well known to both: as
soon as the wazir breathed his last the Khalif commenced plundering his
house which was the depository of enormous wealth, and this occupied him
forty days (Ibn Khall. i. 614, cf. Jamal ad-Din).
After al-Afdal’s death al-Amir appointed Muhammad b. Abi Shujaa b.
al-Bataihi al-Maʾmun as wazir. This new officer was a capable financier
but harsh and tyrannical, and restrained the Khalif more rigorously than
his predecessor had done. He was the builder of the “grey mosque” (Jamiʿ
al-Akmar), so called from its being one of the earliest buildings in
which stone was used almost exclusively, and completed the “Mosque of the
Elephant” (Jamiʿ al-Fil) which had been commenced by al-Afdal in 498. He
held office until 518 when he was arrested and his property confiscated.
Three years later, in 521, he and five of his brothers, as well as the
pretender who claimed to be Nizar’s son, were put to death.