The Ismaili Assassins

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The Ismaili Assassins

Author : James Waterson
Publisher : Pen and Sword
ISBN 13 : 1783461500
Total Pages : 208 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (834 download)

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Book Synopsis The Ismaili Assassins by : James Waterson

Download or read book The Ismaili Assassins written by James Waterson and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2008-10-30 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A fascinating history . . . The Medieval conflict between Christians and Muslims has many similarities to the Middle East today.”—Firetrench The Ismaili Assassins were an underground group of political killers who were ready to kill Christians and Muslims alike with complete disregard for their own lives. Under the powerful control of an enigmatic grand master, these devoted murderers often slayed their victims in public, cultivating their terrifying reputation. They assumed disguises and their weapon of choice was a dagger. The dagger was blessed by the grand master and killing with it was a holy and sanctified act; poison or other methods of murder were forbidden to the followers of the sect. Surviving a mission was considered a deep dishonor and mothers rejoiced when they heard that their Assassin sons had died having completed their deadly acts. Unsurprisingly, their formidable reputation spread far and wide. In 1253, the Mongol chiefs were so fearful of them that they massacred and enslaved the Assassins’ women and children in an attempt to liquidate the sect. The English monarch, Edward I, was nearly dispatched by their blades and Richard the Lionheart’s reputation was sullied by his association with the Assassins’ murder of Conrad of Montferrat. The Ismaili Assassins explores the origins, actions and legacy of this notorious sect. Enriched with eyewitness accounts from Islamic and Western sources, this important book unlocks the history of the Crusades and the early Islamic period, giving the reader entry into a historical epoch that is thrilling and pertinent. “An inherently fascinating, deftly written, and impressively informative read from beginning to end.”—Midwest Book Review

The Assassins

Author : Bernard Lewis
Publisher : Basic Books
ISBN 13 : 0786724552
Total Pages : 194 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (867 download)

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Book Synopsis The Assassins by : Bernard Lewis

Download or read book The Assassins written by Bernard Lewis and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2008-08-05 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From a master historian, the definitive account of history's first terrorists An offshoot of the Ismaili Shi'ite sect of Islam, the Assassins were the first group to make systematic use of murder as a political weapon. Established in Iran and Syria in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, they aimed to overthrow the existing Sunni order in Islam and replace it with their own. They terrorized their foes with a series of dramatic murders of Islamic leaders, as well as of some of the Crusaders, who brought their name and fame back to Europe. Professor Lewis traces the history of this radical group, studying its teachings and its influence on Muslim thought. Particularly insightful in light of the rise of the terrorist attacks in the U.S. and in Israel, this account of the Assassins -- whose name is now synonymous with politically motivated murderers -- places recent events in historical perspective and sheds new light on the fanatic mind.

Assassins of Alamut

Author : James Boschert
Publisher : Fireship Press
ISBN 13 : 1935585398
Total Pages : 562 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (355 download)

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Book Synopsis Assassins of Alamut by : James Boschert

Download or read book Assassins of Alamut written by James Boschert and published by Fireship Press. This book was released on 2010-05 with total page 562 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Assassins of Alamut" is a riveting tale painted on the vast canvas of life in Palestine and Persia during the 12th century, over vast snow covered mountains, through the frozen wastes of the winter plateau, and into the fabulous cites of Hamadan, Isfahan, and the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Assassins

Author : W B Bartlett
Publisher : The History Press
ISBN 13 : 075249614X
Total Pages : 238 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (524 download)

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Book Synopsis Assassins by : W B Bartlett

Download or read book Assassins written by W B Bartlett and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2009-07-20 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The so-called 'Assassins' are one of the most spectacular legends of medieval history. In the popular imagination they are drug-crazed fanatics who launched murderous attacks on their enemies, terrorising the medieval world. Since the tales of Marco Polo and others, the myths surrounding them have been fantastically embellished and the truth has become ever more obscure. Universally loathed and feared, they were especially frightening because they apparently had no fear of death. Bartlett's book deftly traces the origins of the sect out of the schisms within the early Islamic religion and examines the impact of Hasan-i-Sabbah, its founder, and Sinan - the legendary 'Old Man of the Mountain'. This popular history follows the vivid history of the group over the next two centuries, including its clash with the crusaders, its near destruction at the hands of the Mongols, and its subsequent history. Finally, and fascinatingly, we discover how the myths surrounding the Assassins have developed over time, and why indeed they continue to have such an impact on the popular imagination.

The Assassins

Author : Edward Burman
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 208 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (266 download)

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Book Synopsis The Assassins by : Edward Burman

Download or read book The Assassins written by Edward Burman and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

The Templars and the Assassins

Author : James Wasserman
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1594778736
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (947 download)

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Book Synopsis The Templars and the Assassins by : James Wasserman

Download or read book The Templars and the Assassins written by James Wasserman and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2001-04-01 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: • An examination of the interactions of the Christian Knights Templar and their Muslim counterparts, the Assassins, and of the profound changes in Western society that resulted. • Restores the reputation of the secret Muslim order of the Assassins, disparaged as the world's first terrorist group. • Dispels many myths about the Knights Templar and provides the most incisive portrait of them to date. A thousand years ago Christian battled Muslim for possession of a strip of land upon which both their religions were founded. These Crusades changed the course of Western history, but less known is the fact that they also were the meeting ground for two legendary secret societies: The Knights Templar and their Muslim counterparts, the Assassins. In The Templars and the Assassins: The Militia of Heaven, occult scholar and secret society member James Wasserman provides compelling evidence that the interaction of the Knights Templar and the Assassins in the Holy Land transformed the Templars from the Pope's private army into a true occult society, from which they would sow the seeds of the Renaissance and the Western Mystery Tradition. Both orders were destroyed as heretical some seven hundred years ago, but Templar survivors are believed to have carried the secret teachings of the East into an occult underground, from which sprang both Rosicrucianism and Masonry. Assassin survivors, known as Nizari Ismailis, flourish to this day under the spiritual leadership of the Aga Khan. Wasserman strips the myths from both groups and penetrates to the heart of their enlightened beliefs and rigorous practices, delivering the most probing picture yet of these holy warriors.

The History of the Assassins

Author : Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 264 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (19 download)

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Book Synopsis The History of the Assassins by : Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall

Download or read book The History of the Assassins written by Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall and published by . This book was released on 1835 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Assassins’ Deeds

Author : John Withington
Publisher : Reaktion Books
ISBN 13 : 1789143527
Total Pages : 345 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (891 download)

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Book Synopsis Assassins’ Deeds by : John Withington

Download or read book Assassins’ Deeds written by John Withington and published by Reaktion Books. This book was released on 2020-11-05 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Assassins have been killing the powerful and famous for at least three thousand years. Personal ambition, revenge, and anger have encouraged many to violent deeds, like the Turkish sultan who had nineteen of his brothers strangled or the bodyguards who murdered a dozen Roman emperors. More recently have come new motives like religious and political fanaticism, revolution and liberation, with governments also getting in on the act, while many victims seem to have been surprisingly careless: Abraham Lincoln was killed after letting his bodyguard go for a drink. So, do assassinations work? Drawing on anecdote, historical evidence, and statistical analysis, Assassins’ Deeds delves into some of history’s most notorious acts, unveiling an intriguing cast of characters, ingenious methods of killing, and many unintended consequences.

The History of the Assassins

Author : Joseph Hammer
Publisher : Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN 13 : 9781537626512
Total Pages : 128 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (265 download)

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Book Synopsis The History of the Assassins by : Joseph Hammer

Download or read book The History of the Assassins written by Joseph Hammer and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2016-09-12 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Assassins (‎‎ Hashashin; from Assassiyun: "those faithful to the foundation"), is the name used to refer to the medieval Nizari Ismailis. Often characterized as a secret order led by a mysterious "Old Man of the Mountain", the Nizari Ismailis were an Islamic sect that formed in the late 11th century from a split within Ismailism, itself a branch of Shia Islam.The Nizaris posed a military threat to Sunni Seljuq authority within their territories by capturing and inhabiting many unconnected mountain fortresses throughout Persia (and later also Syria) under the leadership of Hassan-i Sabbah (who is typically regarded as the founder of the Assassins), therefore founding the so-called Nizari Ismaili state with Alamut Castle as its headquarters. Asymmetric warfare, psychological warfare and surgical strikes were often an employed tactic of the hashashin, who would draw their opponents into submission rather than risk killing them. In the modern era, the legend of the assassins continues to motivate insurgencies and terrorist cells throughout Western Asia, which seek to replicate the methods and tactics developed by the Assassins.While "Assassins" typically refers to the entire medieval Nizari sect, in fact only a class of acolytes known as the fida'i actually engaged in assassination work. Lacking their own army, the Nizari relied on these warriors to carry out espionage and assassinations of key enemy figures, and over the course of 300 years successfully killed two caliphs, and many viziers, sultans and Crusader leaders. Under leadership of Imam Rukn-ud-Din Khurshah, the Nizari state declined internally, and was eventually destroyed as the Imam surrendered the castles to the invading Mongols. Sources on the history and thought of the Ismailis in this period are therefore lacking and the majority extant are written by their detractors. Long after their near-eradication, mentions of Assassins were preserved within European sources such as the writings of Marco Polo, where they are depicted as trained killers, responsible for the systematic elimination of opposing figures. Ever since, the word "assassin" has been used to describe a hired or professional killer, paving the way for the related term "assassination", which denotes any action involving murder of a high-profile target for political reasons.The Nizari were feared by the Crusaders, who referred to them collectively as Assassins. The Crusader stories of the Assassins were further embellished by Marco Polo.

The Assassin Legends

Author : Farhad Daftary
Publisher : I. B. Tauris
ISBN 13 : 9781850439509
Total Pages : 200 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (395 download)

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Book Synopsis The Assassin Legends by : Farhad Daftary

Download or read book The Assassin Legends written by Farhad Daftary and published by I. B. Tauris. This book was released on 1995-07-15 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For hundreds of years Westerners have been fascinated by stories of the Assassins, their mysterious leader and their remote mountain stronghold at Alamut in Northern Iran. The legends first emerged in the 12th and 13th centuries, when Crusaders in Syria came into contact with the Nazari Isma'ilis, one of the communities of Shi'ite Islam who, at the behest of their leader Hassan Sabaa (mythologized as the "Old Man of the Mountain"), engaged in dangerous missions to kill their enemies. Elaborated over the years, the tales culminated in Marco Polo's claim that the "Old Man" controlled the behaviour of his self-sacrificing devotees through the use of hashish and a secret garden of paradise. So influential were these tales that the word "assassin" entered European languages as a common noun meaning "murderer". Daftary traces the origins and early development of the legends - as well as investigating the historical context in which they were fabricated and transmitted. As such, this book reveals an extraordinary programme of propaganda rooted in the medieval Muslim world and medieval Europe's ignorance of this world. This book also provides the first English translation of French orientalist Silvestre de Sacy's famous 19th-century "Memoire" on the Assassins.

The Secret Order of Assassins

Author : Marshall G. S. Hodgson
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 372 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis The Secret Order of Assassins by : Marshall G. S. Hodgson

Download or read book The Secret Order of Assassins written by Marshall G. S. Hodgson and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2005-04-05 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Remains the most complete history of the Assassins. Beginning the story with the separation of Sunnis and Shi'ites and the rise of Ismâ'îlism, an offshoot of Shi'ism, Hodgson traces the long and complex history of power struggles within Islam that led ultimately to the separation of the Nizârî Ismâ'îlîs and their direct challenge to Muslim leadership.

The Assassins

Author : Bernard Lewis
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780297646143
Total Pages : 166 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (461 download)

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Book Synopsis The Assassins by : Bernard Lewis

Download or read book The Assassins written by Bernard Lewis and published by . This book was released on 2001-06-14 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The word ¿Assassin¿ was brought back from Syria by the Crusaders, and in time acquired the meaning of murderer. Originally it was applied to the members of a Muslim religious sect ¿ a branch of the Ismailis, and the followers of a leader known as the Old Man of the Mountain. Their beliefs and their methods made them a by-word for both fanaticism and terrorism in Syria and Persia in the 11th and 12th centuries, and the subject of a luxuriant growth of myth and legend. In this book, Bernard Lewis begins by tracing the development of these legends in medieval and modern Europe and the gradual percolation of accurate knowledge concerning the Ismailis. He then examines the origins and activities of the sect, on the basis of contemporary Persian and Arabic sources, and against the background of Middle Eastern and Islamic history. In a final chapter he discusses some of the political, social and economic implications of the Ismailis, and examines the significance of the Assassins in the history of revolutionary and terrorist movements.

Hasan-i-Sabah

Author : James Wasserman
Publisher : Nicolas-Hays, Inc.
ISBN 13 : 0892546875
Total Pages : 444 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (925 download)

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Book Synopsis Hasan-i-Sabah by : James Wasserman

Download or read book Hasan-i-Sabah written by James Wasserman and published by Nicolas-Hays, Inc.. This book was released on 2020-09-14 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This publication includes the first English translation of the 1310 biography of Hasan-i-Sabah by Rashid al-Din: The Biography of Our Master (Sar-Guzasht-i-Sayyidna) Hasan-i-Sabah was born in northern Persia around 1050 and died in 1124. He was an Ismaili missionary (or dai) who founded the Nizari Ismailis after the usurpation of the Fatimid Imamate by the military dictator of Egypt. It may be said that Hasan founded and operated the world’s most successful mystical secret society, while building a political territory in which to maintain his independence. The small empire he created would be home to him, his followers, and their descendants for 166 years. Today, under the leadership of the Aga Khan, the Nizari Ismailis are one of the preeminent Muslim sects in the world, numbering some twenty million members in twenty-five countries. The medieval Nizaris were also known as Assassins or Hashishim. They became embedded in European consciousness because of their contact with the Knights Templar, and other Crusaders and visitors to the Near East. Several Europeans reported back with strange (and largely false) tales of the Assassins. In the fourteenth century, they were widely popularized by the famed Venetian traveler and writer Marco Polo in The Travels of Marco Polo. He added a whole new level of myth in his account of the sect (included in this volume along with extensive commentary). Of greatest interest is the idea that the Assassins were the spiritual initiators of the Knights Templar. If this is true, Hasan-i-Sabah would be in part responsible for the European Renaissance that would reclaim the spiritual centrality of the Hermetic writings and the Gnostic/Esoteric trends that continue to this day. Essential reading for an understanding of modern esoteric secret societies and today’s headlines coming from the Middle East. Includes 9 maps.

Alamut

Author : Vladimir Bartol
Publisher : North Atlantic Books
ISBN 13 : 1583946950
Total Pages : 401 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (839 download)

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Book Synopsis Alamut by : Vladimir Bartol

Download or read book Alamut written by Vladimir Bartol and published by North Atlantic Books. This book was released on 2012-12-18 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Alamut takes place in 11th Century Persia, in the fortress of Alamut, where self-proclaimed prophet Hasan ibn Sabbah is setting up his mad but brilliant plan to rule the region with a handful of elite fighters who are to become his "living daggers." By creating a virtual paradise at Alamut, filled with beautiful women, lush gardens, wine and hashish, Sabbah is able to convince his young fighters that they can reach paradise if they follow his commands. With parallels to Osama bin Laden, Alamut tells the story of how Sabbah was able to instill fear into the ruling class by creating a small army of devotees who were willing to kill, and be killed, in order to achieve paradise. Believing in the supreme Ismaili motto “Nothing is true, everything is permitted,” Sabbah wanted to “experiment” with how far he could manipulate religious devotion for his own political gain through appealing to what he called the stupidity and gullibility of people and their passion for pleasure and selfish desires. The novel focuses on Sabbah as he unveils his plan to his inner circle, and on two of his young followers — the beautiful slave girl Halima, who has come to Alamut to join Sabbah's paradise on earth, and young ibn Tahir, Sabbah's most gifted fighter. As both Halima and ibn Tahir become disillusioned with Sabbah's vision, their lives take unexpected turns. Alamut was originally written in 1938 as an allegory to Mussolini's fascist state. In the 1960's it became a cult favorite throughout Tito's Yugoslavia, and in the 1990s, during the Balkan's War, it was read as an allegory of the region's strife and became a bestseller in Germany, France and Spain. Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, the book once again took on a new life, selling more than 20,000 copies in a new Slovenian edition, and being translated around the world in more than 19 languages. This edition, translated by Michael Biggins, in the first-ever English translation.

Cyclical Time & Ismaili Gnosis

Author : Henry Corbin
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1136137548
Total Pages : 221 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (361 download)

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Book Synopsis Cyclical Time & Ismaili Gnosis by : Henry Corbin

Download or read book Cyclical Time & Ismaili Gnosis written by Henry Corbin and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-01-11 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1983. The volume Cyclical Time and Ismaili Gnosis brings together in English translation three of Henry Corbin's richest and most complex studies, originally presented at the Eranos conferences of 1951 and 1954 and another conference in 1956. Each of these three relatively early studies is built around a complex, highly creative 'comparison' of the phenomenological correspondences between texts (often highly fragmentary) from a vast range of spiritual traditions from late Antiquity (including Manichaenism and the sects of Sassanid Iran) - all 'gnostic' in the root Greek sense of that term favoured by Corbin, though not in the narrower historical sense used by most contemporary scholars - and comparable spiritual themes in an equally wide range of Islamic texts eventually preserved in the later Ismaili Shi'i tradition.

Aga Khan's Billions and the Assassins

Author : A. U. Pendragon
Publisher : Publishamerica Incorporated
ISBN 13 : 9781606107140
Total Pages : 186 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (71 download)

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Book Synopsis Aga Khan's Billions and the Assassins by : A. U. Pendragon

Download or read book Aga Khan's Billions and the Assassins written by A. U. Pendragon and published by Publishamerica Incorporated. This book was released on 2008-06 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Aga Khanas Billions and the Assassins: IsmailisaThe Next Islamic Threat? (Sex, Money and Power: An Insideras Account of the Secret World of the Aga Khan) provides an in-depth look into the history and current influences of the Aga Khan. The Aga Khan is the hereditary god-king of a group of Shiite Muslims called the Ismailis. The inherited wealth of the Aga Khan was stolen from the community of followers who have been giving his ancestors their hard-earned money for generations. The book documents the history of the Ismaili Assassins in addition to the royal bloodline, extravagant lifestyle, vast wealth and sexual escapades of the Aga Khan and his family. The book reveals that the Aga Khan has far-reaching connections and money to influence others and maintain power. The author blends together the past and present to highlight the absolute power of the Aga Khan.

The Ismailis in the Middle Ages

Author : Shafique N. Virani
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190295201
Total Pages : 322 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (92 download)

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Book Synopsis The Ismailis in the Middle Ages by : Shafique N. Virani

Download or read book The Ismailis in the Middle Ages written by Shafique N. Virani and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2007-04-19 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "None of that people should be spared, not even the babe in its cradle." With these chilling words, the Mongol warlord Genghis Khan declared his intention to destroy the Ismailis, one of the most intellectually and politically significant Muslim communities of medieval Islamdom. The massacres that followed convinced observers that this powerful voice of Shi'i Islam had been forever silenced. Little was heard of these people for centuries, until their recent and dramatic emergence from obscurity. Today they exist as a dynamic and thriving community established in over twenty-five countries. Yet the interval between what appeared to have been their total annihilation, and their modern, seemingly phoenix-like renaissance, has remained shrouded in mystery. Drawing on an astonishing array of sources gathered from many countries around the globe, The Ismailis in the Middle Ages: A History of Survival, A Search for Salvation is a richly nuanced and compelling study of the murkiest portion of this era. In probing the period from the dark days when the Ismaili fortresses in Iran fell before the marauding Mongol hordes, to the emergence at Anjudan of the Ismaili Imams who provided a spiritual centre to a scattered community, this work explores the motivations, passions and presumptions of historical actors. With penetrating insight, Shafique N. Virani examines the rich esoteric thought that animated the Ismailis and enabled them to persevere. A work of remarkable erudition, this landmark book is essential reading for scholars of Islamic history and spirituality, Shi'ism and Iran. Both specialists and informed lay readers will take pleasure not only in its scholarly perception, but in its lively anecdotes, quotations of delightful poetry, and gripping narrative style. This is an extraordinary book of historical beauty and spiritual vision.