- Commonly called:
- Assassins
- Related People:
- Aga Khan IV
- Aga Khan V
- Aga Khan III
- Aga Khan I
- Aga Khan II
Nizārī Ismāʿīliyyah
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Who are the Nizārī Ismāʿīlis?
The Nizārī Ismāʿīliyyah was a religio-political movement within the Ismāʿīliyyah branch of Shīʿite Islam that emerged between the 11th and 13th centuries.
Following the death of the Fāṭimid caliph al-Mustanṣir in 1094, Ḥasan-e Ṣabbāḥ and other Ismāʿīliyyah in Iran rejected the new Fāṭimid caliph in Cairo and instead supported his deposed elder brother, Nizār, and his descendants. This led to the formation of the Nizārī Ismāʿīliyyah sect, who opposed both the Fāṭimid caliphs in Cairo and the ʿAbbāsids.
In the early 21st century, Nizārīs were primarily located in Syria, Iran, and Central and South Asia. The largest group resided in India and Pakistan, known as Khōjās, and were loyal to the Aga Khan.
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What does Ismāʿīliyyah mean in Islam?
Ismāʿīliyyah refers to a branch within Shiʿi Islam that emerged as a significant religiopolitical movement from the 9th to 13th centuries.
The origin of Ismāʿīliyyah traces back to a disagreement over the succession of the sixth imam, Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad, in 765 CE. Some members believed that the imamate should have passed to Ismāʿīl, Jaʿfar's eldest son, who had predeceased his father, while others recognized Mūsā as the seventh imam.
The Ismāʿīlīs are further divided into the Nizārīs, who are led by the Aga Khan, and the Mustaʿlīs.
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How did the Nizārī Ismāʿīliyyah originate?
The Nizārī Ismāʿīliyyah emerged as a religio-political movement within the Ismāʿīliyyah branch of Shiʿite Islam between the 11th and 13th centuries.
Following the death of the Fāṭimid caliph al-Mustanṣir in 1094, dynastic disputes led to a divide. Ḥasan-e Ṣabbāḥ and other Ismāʿīlīs in Iran rejected the new Fāṭimid caliph in Cairo, aligning instead with al-Mustanṣir’s deposed elder brother, Nizār, and his descendants. This resulted in the formation of the Nizārī Ismāʿīlī sect, opposing both the Fāṭimid caliphs in Cairo and the ʿAbbāsids.
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What beliefs and practices are important to the Nizārī Ismāʿīlis?
The Nizārī Ismāʿīlīs, a branch of Shīʿah Islam, emerged in the late 11th century following a succession dispute.
Important beliefs and practices include:
* Belief in both an exoteric (ẓāhir) and esoteric (bāṭin) dimension of scripture, where the Prophet Muhammad revealed the former.
* The imam's missionaries guide believers to the hidden truth through graded levels of understanding.
* The concept of the imam as a divinely appointed leader.The Nizārīs are known for their historical activity as a religiopolitical movement and their network of missionaries.
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Who are notable leaders in the history of Nizārī Ismāʿīliyyah?
The Nizārī Ismāʿīliyyah emerged as a religio-political movement within the Ismāʿīliyyah branch of Shiʿite Islam between the 11th and 13th centuries. Key figures include:
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Hasan-e Sabbāh: As a leader and believed founder of the Nizārī Ismāʿīliyyah, Hasan captured the Alamūt fortress in 1090 and commanded a network of strongholds and agents across Iran and Iraq. He was known for his ascetic lifestyle and theological treatises.
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Rashīd al-Dīn al-Sinān: The Syrian grand master, also known as the "mountain chief," who ruled virtually independently from the Nizārī base at Alamūt in the early 12th century.
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Aga Khan I: The imam of the Nizārī Ismāʿīlite sect, who claimed direct descent from Prophet Muhammad's family. The Shah of Iran granted him the title Aga Khan (chief commander) in 1818.
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How does the Nizārī Ismāʿīliyyah movement influence communities today?
The Nizārī Ismāʿīliyyah, a sect within Shiʿa Islam, maintains a presence today through its communities across the globe. Under the leadership of the Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of the Nizari Ismailis, the community has established a global diaspora with significant communities in Pakistan, India, Central Asia, the Middle East, East Africa, Europe, and North America.
The Aga Khan is responsible for interpreting Islam and promoting religious pluralism for his followers. The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), an organization that promotes education, health, and development, helps fund aid agencies that offer services in South Asia and East Africa. In 2015, a global seat of the Ismaili Imamate was established in Portugal.
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Nizārī Ismāʿīliyyah, religio-political movement that arose between the 11th and the 13th century among the Ismāʿīliyyah, a branch of Shīʿite Islam.
Dynastic strife among the Fāṭimids, who were the heads of the Shīʿite Ismāʿīlī movement, resulted in the establishment of a rival caliphate in Egypt in opposition to that of the ʿAbbāsids in Baghdad. After the death of the Fāṭimid caliph al-Mustanṣir (1094), Ḥasan-e Ṣabbāḥ and other Ismāʿīliyyah in Iran refused to recognize the new Fāṭimid caliph in Cairo and transferred their allegiance to his deposed elder brother, Nizār, and the latter’s descendants. There thus grew up the sect of the Nizārī Ismāʿīliyyah, who were at odds with the Fāṭimid caliphs in Cairo and were also deeply hostile to the ʿAbbāsids.
In 1090 Ḥasan and his allies had captured the hill fortress of Alamūt near Kazvin, Iran. By the end of the 11th century, Ḥasan, as grand master or leader of the sect, commanded from this centre both a chain of strongholds all over Iran and Iraq and also a network of propagandists and agents in enemy camps and cities. The attempts by the Turkish Seljuq sultanate to capture Alamūt failed, and soon the Nizārīs were claiming many victims among the generals and statesmen of the ʿAbbāsid caliphate, including two caliphs.
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In the early 12th century the Nizārīs extended their activities to Syria, coming into conflict with Seljuq rule. Unable to confront the superior Seljuq armies directly, the Nizārīs instead waged a stealth campaign, dispatching devotees known as fedāʾīs to infiltrate the households of prominent enemy figures and kill them. After a period of preparation, the Nizārīs seized a group of castles in the Al-Anṣāriyyah Mountains, the most important of which was Maṣyāf. From this fortress the Syrian grand master, the legendary Rashīd al-Dīn al-Sinān, ruled virtually independently of the Nizārī base at Alamūt. Rashīd and his successor chiefs were known as the shaykh al-jabal (Arabic: “mountain chief”), which was mistranslated by the Crusaders as the “old man of the mountain.”
Nizārī power came to an end as the Mongols under Hülegü captured Nizārī castles in Iran one by one until in 1256 Alamūt itself fell. The Syrian castles were gradually subjugated by Baybars I, sultan of the Mamlūk dynasty, and placed under Mamlūk governors. Thenceforth the sect stagnated, and its influence waned. In the early 21st century Nizārīs were present largely in Syria, Iran, and Central and South Asia. The largest group was in India and Pakistan, where they were known as Khōjās and owed allegiance to the Aga Khan.
Legends about the early Nizārīs grew from stories that Crusaders had heard and misinterpreted in Syria and then brought back to their home countries. These grew in popularity after travelers such as Marco Polo told tales about the gardens of paradise into which drugged devotees were transported. Two of these misinterpretations, often originating with the Nizārīs’ enemies, were that the Nizārīs were killers under the sway of the mysterious “old man of the mountain” and that they used hashish in order to induce visions of paradise before setting out to face martyrdom. The Arabic term ḥashīshī, “hashish smoker,” which was used as a derogatory term for the Nizārīs, became the root of the English term assassin and its cognates in other European languages and took on the meaning of a hired, cold-blooded killer.