-Caveat Lector-
The Origins of the Assassins
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/hemp/history/first12000/2.htm
The roots of the fraternity of Assassins go back to A.D. 632, the year in
which the prophet Mohammed died without leaving any designated heir. The
religion of Islam, which Mohammed founded, began in the year A.D. 622,
following the entry of the prophet into the city of Medina. It was the
culmination of a meteoric career that saw a penniless unknown emerge to
forge a religion that would unite a disorganized nation of nomads into one
of the greatest empires of the world.
Born some time between A.D. 570 and 580, Mohammed became an orphan at a very
early age and was raised in the city of Mecca by his grandfather. Although
born into poverty, he became wealthy and respectable by marrying the widow
of a rich merchant and taking over his business.
It was not until he was about forty years old that Mohammed began to feel
the proverbial "call to religion". Dissatisfied with the tribal religions
and idolatry of his fellow Arabs, and unable to accept either Judaism or
Christianity, he began to preach against the evils of the old Arab religion
and announced the coming of a new era. While he initially had no idea that
he was beginning a new religion, he did succeed in converting a number of
people to his way of thinking. Foremost among these new converts were his
wife and his cousin Ali, who was later to become Mohammed's successor.
The more he criticized the existing religion, the more his activities came
to the attention of the authorities, who looked with disfavor upon this
challenge to their own position. Persecuted, Mohammed and his tiny band of
converts fled to Abyssinia. From this relatively safe haven, Mohammed
continued to preach his message, and the more he spoke, the more the people
listened. When at last he felt that he had a strong enough following,
Mohammed brought his entire religion to Medina in present-day Saudi Arabia,
an event celebrated today as the starting point in the Arab calendar. From
that time on, the religion became so widely accepted that Mohammed was able
to overcome all opposition.
The Blood Feud
The religion of Islam which Mohammed founded was based on the recognition of
the one god, Allah, and his prophet Mohammed. When Mohammed died in A.D.
632, the new religion faced the difficult problem of choosing a successor
(caliph). Among those nominated was Ali, cousin to the prophet and one of
his first converts. Also in Ali's favor was the fact that he was the husband
of Fatima, Mohammed's only surviving daughter.
But Ali was not chosen. Instead, the office was given to an elderly man whom
Mohammed had once asked to lead the daily prayers. This first caliph did not
live very long, however, and a new successor had to be chosen. Again Ali was
skipped over. Two more caliphs were elected before Ali was finally chosen in
A.D. 656. Five years later he too was dead, the victim of a feud between
Arab factions that supported him as caliph and those who refused to accept
his appointment.
The bloodletting associated with the succession issue eventually split Islam
into two main sects, the Sunnis and the Shiites. The Sunnis saw themselves
as the upholders of orthodoxy in Islam. They contended that the people had a
right to elect whomever they wished to be caliph. The Shiites, on the other
hand, insisted that the only legitimate successors were those in whom the
blood of the Prophet himself flowed. This meant Ali and his descendants.
Although the differences between the two parties appeared to rest on the
problem of the rightful heir to the office of caliph, the animosities were
much deeper and involved basic differences in racial background and ancient
traditions. Racially, the Shiites were mainly Persians of Aryan ancestry. It
was their custom, based on a tradition that reached back to the time of the
great Persian empire, to be governed by a hereditary monarchy. The Sunnis,
who represented the majority of Arabs, were Semitic in origin. Their custom
was to elect leaders on the basis of personal merit., not blood line.
Since the Sunnis far outnumbered the Shiites, they exerted the dominant
influence in Islam. The Shiites, however, refused to accept the caliphs
chosen by the Sunnis, and instead pledged their allegiance to the family of
the Prophet. These descendants were treated as divinely inspired and
divinely appointed interpreters of the faith. Obedience to their commands,
whatever these might be, was regarded as an integral part of the religion of
Islam.
Ali's descendants were many in number, however, and while the Shiites agreed
on the fundamental principle of hereditary succession, they were often
unable to agree on who that legitimate successor ought to be. This internal
disagreement resulted in a schism within the Shiite party which eventually
led to the creation of the Ismaili sect, the party to which the Assassins
belonged.
A House Divided against Itself
The precipitating event in the Shiite schism occurred during the reign of
Caliph Jafar-i-Sadiq. According to Shiite custom, the eldest son succeeded
his father to the office of caliph. However, one day Jafar-i-Sadiq
discovered his eldest son, Ismail, drinking some wine, an act expressly
forbidden by the Koran, the holy book of Islam. Outraged at this
abomination, the caliph announced that his eldest son was unfit to serve as
his successor and he designated his younger son, Musa, for the job.
While most Shiites accepted the nomination, a small group remained loyal to
Ismail, claiming that the succession belonged to the eldest son. In response
to the accusation that Ismail had violated the proscription against drinking
alcohol, these supporters pointed out that the successor-designate was
divine and without sin. If he drank wine, it was to teach his followers that
the statements in the Koran against drinking alcohol were to be taken
figuratively, not literally. Wine, they argued, was a symbol for pride and
vanity. It was these traits of character that the Koran forbade, not the
juice of the grape.
But Ismail had few followers compared to the majority of the Shiites who
recognised Musa as leader. After his death, Ismail's supporters went
underground and continued in relative obscurity while the faithful waited
for a new leader to reveal himself and restore the House of Ali to its
rightful heir. Their patience was finally rewarded in the tenth century when
the Fatamids, a dynasty loyal to the Ismaili doctrine, seized the throne of
Egypt. Soon after their accession to power, they began sending out
missionaries throughout the Arab world to make converts to Ismaili
orthodoxy. One of the converts eventually won over to their side was a young
Persian named Hasan-ibn-Sabah, who was to become known to his enemies as the
"Old Man of the Mountains".
The Old Man of the Mountains
The two men strolled along the walls of the mountain fortress silhouetted
against the clear Persian sky. The year was A.D. 1092. One of the men was a
personal envoy of the sultan. The host was Hasan-ibn-Sabah, the "Old Man of
the Mountains". The envoy had come to demand the surrender of the fortress.
There was no use in resisting, he attested, for the sultan had more than
enough soldiers to capture the garrison. Surrender and he and his men would
be treated with compassion; resist and they would meet Allah long before
their time.
The ruler of the mountain stronghold listened to the offer in silence. When
the envoy finished his message, Hasan pointed to a guard standing watch high
atop a lookout post. The envoy watched as his host signalled to the guard
and blinked in disbelief as the man saluted and threw himself from his post
down into the chasm a thousand feet below. There were 70,000 more like him.,
Hasan told the startled envoy, all prepared to lay down their lives at his
slightest bidding. Were the sultan's minions any match for these devoted
followers? Shaken, the envoy took leave of his host wondering if anyone
would believe what he had just witnessed.
Apparently the sultan did not believe, for he sent his armies against Hasan.
It was a mistake. Soon after the abortive attack he was murdered, poisoned
by one of Hasan's henchmen.
Who was this incredible leader for whom men were prepared to kill themselves
and others at a mere wave of a hand? Although villainized by his enemies,
there is no question that Hasan-ibn-Sabah was a man of exceptional abilities
and self-discipline. He was intelligent, ambitious, and ruthless, a
political opportunist who believed that the ends justified the means. He was
a man totally lacking in compassion. He demanded blind obedience and was
prepared to sacrifice those who loyally served him without giving their
deaths a second thought.
Born in A.D. 1050, Hasan was the son of a Shiite merchant who withdrew from
society to a monastery and sent his son to an orthodox Moslem school. Two of
Hasan's classmates were also destined for prominence in the Arab world. The
first was Nizam-al-Mulk, prime minister to two sultans of the Arab empire,
and the second was Omar Khayyam, tent maker, astronomer, and unparalleled
poet of the Arab world.
One of the reasons his father had sent Hasan to this particular school was
the widely held belief that all who studied there would eventually attain
great importance. The students were also aware of this belief, and one day
Nizam, Omar, and Hasan made a pact that whosoever of them would fulfil the
prediction first would do his utmost to help the other two.
The earliest of the three to advance his career was Nizam-al-Mulk who rose
to a high position in the court of the sultan. As he had promised he tried
to help his friends. When Omar Khayyam came to him for support, Nizam
obtained a pension for the poet generous enough for him not to be burdened
with earning a living, and the poet was able to compose his famous Rubaiyat
poems without distraction.
Next, Hasan presented himself at court. Nizam cordially received his other
friend and got him an interview with the sultan, who took an immediate
liking to him and made Hasan his chamberlain. But Hasan was overly
ambitious. And an ingrate. As soon as he had his foot in the palace door, he
tried to undermine Nizam in the sultan's eyes and install himself in his
erstwhile friend's place.
Hasan thought he saw his opportunity when the sultan asked Nizam to draw up
a record of all the income and expenses of the empire. Asked how long such
an undertaking would require, Nizam estimated a time no less than a year. At
this point Hasan jumped in and challenged that he could do it in forty days.
The sultan was greatly pleased at such a possibility and gave him the job
instead.
True to his word, Hasan had the accounts ready within the designated period.
But Nizam was not one to be brushed aside so easily. By some trick he
managed to alter the records, and when Hasan presented the accounts to the
sultan they were so distorted that he was banished from the court for his
impertinence. Although he protested his innocence, Hasan could not explain
how his records had been doctored since they were written in his own script.
Humiliated but not discouraged, Hasan next journeyed to Egypt where he
allied himself with the Fatamids and was introduced into the secret
doctrines of the Ismaili sect.
If Hasan had been searching for some way to gain power, Egypt was a
well-chosen starting place. The Fatamids had founded a school in which they
trained recruits in the Ismaili doctrine and in the art of assassination.
The techniques he would learn at this school subsequently proved invaluable
to Hasan.
The Egyptian rulers welcomed Hasan to their court when they learned of his
arrival. A recent member of the sultan's personal retinue could bring only
prestige to the Fatamid court. But Hasan once again involved himself in some
chicanery at court and he was arrested and thrown into jail. But the moment
he entered the prison, a minaret broke in two and crashed to the earth. The
event was seen as a sign that Hasan was no ordinary man. Apprised of the
coincidence, the Egyptian ruler immediately released Hasan and sent him away
laden with gifts.
Hasan next made his way to Syria by boat. It was aboard this ship that he
made his first two converts. These conversions renewed his confidence in
himself, and immediately upon disembarking, he began to spread his message,
which became known as the "New Propaganda".
Asserting that Islam and the Ismailis had grown decadent, Hasan promised to
bring both back on a more righteous course, true to Allah's ways. There
would have to be sacrifices, however. The Ismailis would have to renounce
all worldly pleasures. They would have to rid themselves of all those things
that other men found pleasurable. Since the Ismailis at that time were a
poor, oppressed, discontented people seeking some meaning in a hapless
existence, Hasan's injunctions entailed little self-denial on their part.
Hasan himself was no hypocrite. An ascetic for most of his life, years later
he expelled one of his followers from the fold for flute playing, and
executed his own son for a minor frivolity. He set the example, and he
expected his disciples to follow it.
To those who asked how Allah's ways were to be made known to the Ismailis,
Hasan answered that a true understanding of that divine plan was not
possible for the ordinary mind to comprehend. It was only possible for a
divinely appointed representative to understand and make known Allah's ways.
Mohammed had been such an intermediary. He, Hasan, was another such
representative.
Hasan repeatedly emphasized that Allah's ways were too profound to
comprehend through reason. Utilizing techniques he had learned in Egypt,
Hasan created doubt in the minds of his audiences concerning orthodox
Islamic teaching. The more confusion he was able to sow, the more dependent
on him would his followers become, since he was the only source of wisdom.
Only through faith and blind obedience could they be assured of obtaining
salvation.
Once he had convinced a small number of Ismailis that he alone comprehended
Allah's ways, Hasan instructed them on how to win over new members. Each
convert thus in turn became a proselytizer.
Captivated by Hasan's dynamic personality, his utter confidence in himself,
his self-assurance, his conviction that Islam had grown decadent and that
salvation could only come through him, converts began pledging their lives
in increasing numbers, often leaving behind their wives and children to make
their way without husband and father.
Hasan's next move was to order his men to infiltrate the mountain fortress
of Alamut, the "Eagle's Nest", and to make converts of the soldiers
stationed there. Then, after carefully laying some preliminary plans, Hasan
approached the commander of the garrison and offered him 3000 pieces of gold
for all the land under his control that could be covered by the hide of an
ox. The commander thought Hasan mad to make such an offer, but who was he to
look Allah's gift horse in the mouth? A wide grin appeared on his face as
the last gold piece was counted out and handed over to him. But the grin
quickly disappeared as he watched Hasan cut the hide into thin strips. The
bargain was off, he shouted, as he watched Hasan sew the strips together and
then march around the fortress.
However, Hasan, was prepared for such a contingency. After surrounding the
fortress with the ox hide, he produced an order signed by a high-ranking
government official, a secret convert to the "New Propoganda", which ordered
the commander to honor the terms of the bargain. The commander dutifully
obeyed and marched out, leaving Hasan in possession of an impressive
stronghold. The year was A.D. 1090.
Immediately upon moving into Alamut, Hasan inaugurated a series of building
measures to strengthen the fortification. Canals were dug to carry water to
the fortress, the fields that surrounded it were irrigated, fruit trees were
planted, and storerooms were erected.
The point of these improvements was lost on Hasan's enemies who, in later
generations, mistakenly assumed that he was constructing a sort of Paradise
to entice new followers to his ranks. These mistaken stories were eventually
recorded by European travellers such as Marco Polo, and through them,
Hasan's fortress became known to Western readers as a palatial mansion
filled with lush and exotic plants and populated with beautiful and sensuous
women.
There were other fantastic stories told about the ruses Hasan used to win
over new converts. According to one legend, Hasan had a hole dug deep enough
for a man to stand in with only his head above the ground. The hole was then
filled in and a tray was fitted around his neck. To increase the effect,
fresh blood was splashed around the "severed" neck.
Potential candidates were then brought into the room and, after fixing each
man with his steely gaze, Hasan announced that the head would speak to them
of the marvellous life that awaited them in the other world if they were to
obey his commands without question. At this point, the confederate opened
his eyes and began to tell them of the Paradise his soul had recently been
admitted to as a result of serving Hasan.
The scene made a profound impression on all those who witnessed it, and they
went away pledging their lives to Hasan. Shortly after they left the room,
the confederate was actually decapitated and his head was prominently
displayed so that no one would ever have second thoughts about having been
duped. In this story, however, there is no mention of any drug being
administered to either the initiates or the unfortunate victim.
The "Devoted Ones"
With Alamut as his base of operations, Hasan began to organize his followers
into various grades or degrees of office. At the top he naturally placed
himself, giving his position the title of grand master. Next came the grand
priors, the overseers, who directed the activities of the sect and apprised
Hasan of all important developments. Below them came the dais, or
missionaries, who disseminated the "propoganda" of the sect throughout the
Middle East. The fourth and fifth orders made up the bulk of members of the
sect. They admitted their allegiance to the grand master and supported the
movement in various ways, usually through donations. The sixth group was
called the fidais, the "devoted ones". These were the enforcers. It was
their job to carry out the orders of their superiors.
Once a fidai received his orders, he was committed to only one purpose -
carrying out those instructions, no matter what the obstacles or the
consequences to his own life. He would persevere for months, waiting for the
right moment to strike. No matter that he would be captured and killed on
the spot. The only thing that mattered was the mission. To die in the
performance of his duty was a privilege and a ticket to Paradise. This
disregard for death made the Assassins the most feared gang of cutthroats in
the Middle East.
Arab sultans, princes, and prime ministers as well as many eminent Crusaders
all fell victim to these daggermen. With the assassination of Conrad,
marquis of Monteferrat, however, the reputation of the "Old Man of the
Mountains" spread far beyond the Middle East to the far reaches of Western
Europe. The fidai responsible for the murder spent six months disguised as a
monk in the camp of the Crusaders, waiting for just the right opportunity.
Finally, the moment came and, in full view of the marquis' attendants, the
assassin plunged his dagger into Conrad's body.
Once their reputation had spread throughout the Middle East, it was no
longer necessary for the Assassins to liquidate their enemies. Often, all
that was required was a threat. On one occasion, for example, Saladin, one
of the most able Arab generals of that era, decided that the Assassins had
to be put in their place and he mounted a campaign to take the Alamut
fortress. Shortly before the siege, however, he awoke one night to find a
dagger stuck in the ground beside him. Attached to the knife was a curt
message advising him to reconsider. Saladin wisely changed his mind and
directed his efforts elsewhere.
How was it that Hasan was able to enlist such a devoted band of selfless
followers who were more than willing to lay down their lives at his bidding?
According to Marco Polo, Hasan kept his men blindly loyal to his will by
convincing them that should they die in his service, they would be certain
to enter Paradise.
This theme appears also in the story of the "severed" head and in an
anecdote related by an emissary to the emperor Frederick Barbarossa in A.D.
1175. According to this report,
[Hasan had] many of the sons and daughters brought up from early
childhood... These young men are taught by their teachers from their
earliest youth to their full manhood, that they must obey the lord of their
land in all his words and commands; and that if they do so, he, who has
power over all living gods, will give them the joys of Paradise... When they
are in the presence of the Prince, he asks them if they are willing to obey
his commands, so that he may bestow Paradise upon them... They throw
themselves at his feet and reply with fervor that they will obey him...
Thereupon the Prince gives each one of them a golden dagger and sends them
out to kill whichever prince he has marked down.[9]
In all the stories about Hasan's ability to instil blind loyalty in his
followers, the one common element is the promise of entering Paradise in
return for serving the grand master. Only in Marco Polo's account is there
any mention of a drug.
What's in a Name?
One of the most puzzling questions about the Assassins is how they got their
name. The members of the sect never referred to themselves as such. They
called each other fidais, "devoted ones". Only their enemies called them
Assassins.
In a report to Frederick Barbarossa, ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, they
are called Heyssessini. William, Archbishop of Tyre, wrote that "both our
people and the Saracens called them Assissini," but, he adds, "we do not
know the origin of the name."[10]
By the thirteenth century, however, the word "assassin" and its variants
were being used in Europe in the sense of a paid professional killer. The
word was derived from the name of the sect, but no one suggested that they
got that name because of their usage of hashish, although a twelfth-century
friar, Abbot Arnold of Lubeck, did state that the Assassins used hashish:
"hemp raises them to a state of ecstasy or falling, or intoxicates them.
Their sorcerers draw near and exhibit to the sleepers, phantasms, pleasures
and amusement. Then they promise that these delights will become perpetual
if the orders given them are executed with the daggers provided."[11]
Travel books such as the seventeenth-century Purchas His Pilgrimis repeated
Marco Polo's story about a mysterious potion but made no mention of hashish.
Another writer of that era, Denis Lebey de Batilly, wrote only that the name
given to the sect by its enemies was Arabic for hired killer.
Various other explanations were subsequently proposed, among them that the
name was derived from "asas", a word meaning foundation, which was applied
to the religious leaders of Islam; that assassin was derived from the Arabic
word hassas, which, among other things, meant "to kill"; or that the name
was applied to the followers of Hasan.
The Tale of the Hashish Eater
Between A.D. 1000 and 1700, a collection of stories from the Arab world came
into being which today are known as The Thousand and One Nights. Although
loosely joined, the thread that holds the collection together is the
delightful fantasy of how a wily young harem girl enchanted the sultan and
saved her life. It was through these stories that most Europeans first
learned of hashish.
According to the storyline, the sultan Shahriyar had ordained that each of
his future wives was to be put to the death the morning after consummating
their marriage nuptials. This ritual went on through several wives until
Scheherazade, the daughter of the grand vizier, tricked the sultan into
revoking this postamatory rite.
The ruse she used consisted of telling the sultan an amusing story on the
night of their marriage and then breaking it off in the middle, promising to
finish it the next night. But each night she also started a new story,
breaking that one off as well so that it would have to be ended the next
night. In this way she succeeded in delaying her execution for a thousand
and one nights, until at last the sultan became so enamored of this spinner
of tales that he fell in love with her and decided to cancel his former
edict.
One of the stories Scheherazade amused the sultan with was called "The Tale
of the Hashish Eater", and in it she recounted the saga of a hashish user
who had been reduced to poverty as a result of wasting his savings on his
drug and on women. Yet by means of his cherished drug, he was able to escape
into a dream world where he was no longer a beggar but a handsome and
prosperous lover.
One day this pauper took some hashish in a public bath and dropped off into
a dream in which he was transported into an enchanting room filled with
beautiful flowers and the smell of exotic perfumes. All this time, however,
he sensed that this was only a dream and that it would not be long before
his presence in the public bath would be noticed and he would be beaten and
thrown out. Even so, he continued to enjoy the dream.
As he fell deeper into his reverie, he saw himself being carried to another
luxurious room filled with soft, plush cushions where he was sexually
aroused by a sensuous slave girl. Just as he was about to embrace the girl,
he was awakened from his dream by the laughter of the patrons in the bath
who had become highly amused at the sight of this tumescent beggar. And just
as he foresaw, he was beaten and ejected from the premises.
Readers of this story were not only amused by it, they were also able to
appreciate the state of "double consciousness" the beggar found himself in
as a result of taking hashish. in this state, the hashish user hallucinates,
but he is also aware that he is hallucinating - he does not lose complete
touch with reality. Hashish causes him to dream, but it enables him to
remain conscious of his dream so that he can appreciate the images and
themes his mind is producing. It was this aspect of the hashish experience
that was later to intrigue European writers, especially the French Romantic
authors of the middle and latter part of the nineteenth century, for in this
mysterious drug of the Arab world they saw untold possibilities of delving
into the hitherto buried niches of the human mind.
The debasing influence of hashish was not the only theme in popular Arab
literature. The ways in which the drug corrupted high officials also
delighted audiences and readers. One such favorite anecdote tells of a
hashish "pusher" who was apprehended and brought to court to appear before a
judge presiding over a community that did not permit the use of hashish.
This "pusher" had been fined on many occasions for his illegal activities,
but to no avail. He simply paid his fine and went back to selling his
illegal wares.
Fed up with this unrepentant drug peddler, the judge finally threatened him
with a huge fine if he did not permanently cease his offensive activities.
Faced with the threat of an exorbitant penalty, the "pusher" agreed to find
another means of earning a living. To make sure that there would be no
misunderstanding, the judge made the man swear an oath in which he
enumerated all the different names and preparations, many were completely
new to him and he suggested that since the judge knew so much about the
subject he ought to administer the oath to himself as well![12]
A similar story tells of the hypocrisy and quick thinking of a Moslem
priest. During a wild and animated sermon in which he was haranguing his
audience on the evils of hashish, his tunic opened and a bag of the vile
drug fell to the ground right before the startled eyes of the onlookers.
Without hesitating an instant, the priest pointed to the bag and shouted,
"This is the demon of which I warned you; the force of my words have put it
to flight, take care that in leaving me, it does not throw itself on one of
you and enslave him." The crowd continued to listen to his sermon, but their
eyes were glued on the hashish. Yet no one dared to pick it up. After the
priest finished, the parishioners dispersed, leaving only the priest and the
bag of hashish, which the holy man promptly picked up and stuffed back into
his tunic.[13]
----- Original Message -----
From: "Theodor Parada, MD" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: 03 February 2001 14:41
Subject: Re: [CTRL] Scientists say cannabis can drive users insane
Of note, the word hashish is from the
> word"hassasin" (sp), in East Indian dialect. This group of
> individuals paid assassins(hassasin) would get loaded on hash and go
> out and do there job for which they were hired(murdering the
> opposition,ie government figures
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