Hasan Bin Sabah

Hasan al-Sabbah also known as Hasan I of Alamut, was an Iranian religious and military leader, founder of the Nizari Ismai'li sect widely known as the ''Hashshashin'' or the Order of Assassins, as well as the Nizari Ismaili state, ruling from 1090 to 1124 AD.Lewis, Bernard (1967), ''The Assassins: a Radical Sect of Islam'', pp 38-65, Oxford University Press

Alongside his role as a formidable leader, Sabbah was an accomplished scholar of mathematics, most notably in geometry, as well as astronomy and philosophy, especially in epistemology. E. G. Brown ''Literary History of Persia'', Vol. 1, p. 201. Nizam al-Mulk Tusi, pg. 420, foot note No. 3 It is narrated that Hasan and the Persian polymath Omar Khayyam were close friends since their student years. He and each of the later Assassin leaders came to be known in the West as the Old Man of the Mountain, a name given to the sect's leader in the writings of Marco Polo that referenced the sect's possession of the commanding mountain fortress of Alamut Castle.

Sources

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 entitled ''Sargozasht-e Seyyednā'' (). The latter is known only from quotations made by later Persian authors. Hasan also wrote a treatise, in Persian, on the doctrine of '' ta'līm'', called, ''al-Fusul al-arba'a''Farhad Daftary, ''Ismaili Literature: A Bibliography of Sources and Studies'', (I.B.Tauris, 2004), 115. The text is no longer in existence, but fragments are cited or paraphrased by al-Shahrastānī and several Persian historians.

Early life and conversion

Qom and Rayy

The possibly autobiographical information found in ''Sargozasht-i Seyyednā'' is the main source for Hasan's background and early life. According to this, Hasan al-Sabbāh was born in the city of Qom, Persia in the 1050s to a family of Twelver Shia. His father, a Kufan Arab reportedly of Yemenite origins, had left the Sawād of Kufa (located in modern Iraq) to settle in the town of Qom, one of the first centres of Arab settlement in Persia and a stronghold of Twelver Shia.

Early in his life, his family moved to Rayy. Rayy was a city that had a history of radical Islamic thought since the 9th century, with Hamdan 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 he studied at home, and mastered palmistry, languages, philosophy, astronomy and mathematics (especially geometry).

Rayy was also the home of Isma'ili missionaries in the Jibal. At the time, Isma'ilism was a growing movement in Persia and other lands east of Egypt. Daftary, Farhad, ''The Isma'ilis'', pp. 310–11. The Persian Isma'ilis supported the ''da'wa'' ("mission") directed by the Fatimid caliphate of Cairo and recognized the authority of the Imam-Caliph al-Mustansir (d. 1094), though Isfahan, rather than Cairo, may have functioned as their principal headquarters. The Ismā'īlī mission worked on three layers: the lowest was the ''fida'i'' or foot soldier'','' followed by the ''rafīk'' or comrade, and finally the ''dā‘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 the Seljuk rulers, who had recently removed local rulers.

Conversion to Ismailism and training in Cairo

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 other ''dā‘i''s, and as he proceeded on his path, he was looked upon with eyes of respect.

Hasan's austere and devoted commitment to the ''da'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.

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‘a vizier Nizam al-Mulk. This prompted his abandoning Rayy and heading to Cairo in 1076.

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. 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.

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, reached Damascus in Syria. He left for Egypt from Palestine. Records exist, some in the fragmentary remains of his autobiography, and from another biography written by Rashid-al-Din Hamadani

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