Tea With the Assassins

This is an article I wrote about a meeting with the modern day descendants of the assassins, Many thanks goes to pseudometry for helping with the editing.


The section in Italics is some background information for those who know nothing about the assassins. the article begins below
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Background information
Around the beginning of the first crusade (1090) a man by the name of Hassan al-Sabbah set up one of the world’s fist religious extremist terrorist organisations: The Assassins.

Dissatisfied with the way the Shia Empire was in decline, he set up the sect in order to propagate the sect’s religion in a predominantly Sunni Area and also to prepare the way for the second awakening of Egypt, whose orientation was also Shiite but was struggling with its own internal  problems.

His sect the Isma'ili Nizari’s where an offshoot of the Shia, the sect was deeply involved in mysticism, and believed in the “cyclical order of the Universe” which would also explain his belief that the Shiite empire would once again rise.

The Sect inspired fear of incredible proportions (compared to their small numbers) among the Sunni leaders, through their tactics of public target assassinations: usually on a Friday, after the targets would leave the Mosque after prayer, two or more would descended upon them and Murder the target, obviously the assassins got cut down in the process by the target’s supporters and bodyguards, thus question arises, why would they do something like this if they knew that they would be killed?

Many theories rose to answer the question, and some of them are:

- The word Assassin derives directly from the Arabic word for the sect: Hashasheen (the Hashish/Pot Smokers). It is said that the Assassins where given drugs and once addicted told to go kill for the reward of more drugs- of course they would never survive

- Drugs would be taken before the attack, in order to give the assassins a fearless painless state of mind.

- Candidates to become assassins where drugged and taken in a  hallucinogenic state into the inner sanctum of the main Castle Alamut-in Iran, where a complete paradise was constructed for them; including birds of paradise, flower gardens, fountains of wine, springs of water, and  naked young girls! The candidate would experience a week or two of this and would be told that the real experience of paradise is ten fold, and thus be contracted to kill- Marko Polo supported this when he supposedly visited it.


In 1171 Ṣalah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub also known as Saladin had officially taken over Cairo and ended the Shiite Fatimid Caliphate there and established a new Sunni Caliphate as ordered by his master in Syria, Nour al din Al Zengi.

This crushed all hopes of a Shiite revival by the Assassins, in fact they where so devastated that they sent a letter to the crusader King of Jerusalem; Amalric stating they where willing to convert to Christianity (possibly in order to avoid the tax imposed on them by the Crusaders), but the Knights Templar, who feared losing the income, laid a violent ambush in which they massacred the Assassins’ delegation to Jerusalem, putting an end to that idea.

Three years later, when Nur al-Din died, the usual power struggle erupted, this time between Nur al-Din’s very young son in Syria and Saladin Egypt. Saladin marched to Damascus to take Syria from Nur al-Din’s son who was actually a puppet in the hands of his advisors, hoping to unify Egypt and Syria for the first time in order to create a superpower capable of combating the Crusaders. These advisors decided to contract the Sinan, leader of the Assassins, to take him out. The old man of the mountain was happy to oblige.

Apparently Sinan(the old man of the mountain) held so much control over his followers, that once when discussing an alliance with a crusader leader in Masyaf, he ordered three of his men to throw themselves over the parapets, they so did without hesitation…

In the first attempt  in 1175, Sinan’s Assassins were able to infiltrate Saladin’s tent, but were stopped by his bodyguard and massacred. One year later, another Assassin actually reached him in his tent and dealt him a dagger blow to the forehead, then the neck, both hits being stopped by chainmail hidden in his clothes ever since the first attempt. A lieutenant of Saladin’s came to his rescue, wrestling with the first attacker, when two other Assassins joined the attack. But by then the guards had arrived and Saladin was lucky to emerge alive.

Saladin quickly amassed his army and surrounded Misyaf (pictured above), the largest Assassins lair in Syria. Yet mysteriously, he quickly lifted the siege. The version of events recounted by Sunni historians stated that Sinan had threatened to assassinate Saladin’s entire family, a threat which could not be taken lightly. But the version recounted by the Assassins themselves, in one of their only surviving texts, tells a completely different story…

It claims that Sinan was camped outside the castle when he was spotted by the besieging army, which sent a detachment to capture him. Upon reaching him, they found that they were mysteriously paralyzed by Sinan who ordered them to arrange a private meeting between him and Saladin. Fearing a trap, Saladin had his tent highly guarded yet woke up in the middle of the night to see Sinan leaving his tent, having left behind a poisoned cake and a piece of paper that said “you are in our power.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



The Article: Tea With the Assassins


The town of Misyaf lies at the southern end of the Nusayriyah Mountain range. Its western side is flanked by verdant forests, dotted randomly with the protruding white domes of local saint's shrines, whilst the lush Orontes valley lies on its eastern border.

At around four pm the four of us were waiting on the downward sloping Misyaf street, a strong, cold breeze sweeping past us. The castle that was the Assassins' Stronghold loomed to our left in full sunlight, whilst we sheltered in the shade of a row of small houses. We were searching for a way into the castle, for someone to let us in; this was the second time we had tried to visit, and we were not going to
leave until we had seen, touched and smelt the castle interior.

After searching for half an hour a man in dark robes appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. Flanked by three men, he approached my friend Samer (who had come with me from Jordan to see Syria), and asked them what was going on. Samer replied that we had visited Masyaf twice already but both times the castle had been closed, and we did not want to disappoint our accompanying guests who had come all the way from Australia (though in truth it was Samer and I who really
wanted to see the Assassins' stronghold, the Australians had only just heard about it en route.)


The dark-robed man smiled and told Samer not to worry; he assured him he would sort things out and invited Samer to follow him. The man then wished his companions well and continued to make his way up the incline, with Samer following close behind him.

At this I turned to my new Australian friends Toby and Sarah, whom we met earlier that day, and explained that the robed man would help us gain access to the castle. I gestured for them to follow him up the hill.


At the top we gathered at a corner, at which point the robed man proceeded to ask us who we were. We explained that we were history enthusiasts, travelling though Syria and visiting all the locations that had interested us. He nodded with an appreciative smile; this was his home, this was where he was master. His name was Sheik Ghassan. He explained that he was the current local leader of the Shia Ismaili's of Masyaf - following in a long line of spiritual leaders dating all the way back to Sinan, master and establisher of the Assassins in Syria. As such, Sheik Ghassan was the most influential religious man in the area.

-Sheik in the Arabic language literally means "elder". It is commonly used to designate an elder of a tribe, a lord, a revered wise man, or an Islamic scholar.-

The Sheik then turned to Samer and I and asked us to translate. He had forgotten most of his English due to disuse over the years, but this didn't stop him from joking with Toby (whom he dubbed Mr.Smith) with the few words he did remember.

Sheik Ghassan then proceeded to give us a guided tour of the old village of Masyaf, Samer translating each sentence without missing a beat. The Sheik showed us the famous houses and talked about their history. He pointed out where Sinan was buried in the mountain, and told us about the Brethren of Purity/Serenity who, according to him, were also located in Masyaf.

The Brotherhood were a mysterious group of scholars and philosophers who existed around the 10th century: they are credited with developing the modern encyclopedia, as well as being early examples of Arab muru'ah (Chivalry). Sheik Ghassan claimed that they were based in Masyaf, indicating their white domed shrines on the mountainside as evidence, although personally I am inclined to take the more common view that they lived in Iraq.

Our trip ended outside the Sheik's mosque, who then asked us to come around back to his private room. Moving along the dirty side street we came face to face with the tomb of a Saint known as "the keeper of secrets", known historically to have been the Assassin's main propagandist. We then turned to the right and followed the Sheik through the door to his study.

After the four of us sat down, the Sheik set about pouring coffee. As he offered it to us he said, "We do not dance with swords with the American president" peferring to when the ruler of Bahrain did so. "We only give coffee to noble people," he continued, "and I give them coffee because they are with you." He then turned to Samer and requested he translate this. After it had been translated the Sheik then smirked and remarked: "It's good that they are Australians, because we haven't put down our swords since the Crusades, and had they been Dutch or Danish we would have cut off their heads," he then laughed and exhorted Samer, "don't translate, don't translate." "In reality," he resumed, "We are Muslims and to be a Muslim is to love all no matter what". Sheik Ghassan then opened jars filled with herbs and showed them to the Australians, before mixing the contents in a glass cup and remarking: "People around the world have the wrong idea about us, we are not pot smokers (Hashasheen), we are grass/herb drinkers, we sit in green fields and meditate". The Sheik then filled a glass with water and handed it to Sarah, asking her to drink the mixture through a specially designed spoon/straw and share it with Toby.

The concoction they were drinking is known locally as Yerba Matte, a herbal tea that the residents of Syria's countryside villages drink in great quantities.  amusingly, every time the Australians finished a glass the Sheik would at once refill it, and whenever they tried to pass it on, he would reprimand them and insist that the drink was for them! At this point the Australians looked as if they were starting to worry (after all filled their heads with stories of the assassins and people being drugged!). Sarah was continuously leaning towards Toby and asking if he felt dizzy.

As our conversation continued we were joined by three young men. As the newcomers greeted us and took their places around the room, Sheik Ghassan then turned and introduced them: "these young men are Fidai'ieen. They have just come to visit before  the prayer". Samer, now wide-eyed, translated that a Fida'i was a solder willing to die for the cause (probably not what the Australians had really wanted to hear!). Although I later tried to soften it by explaining that they
were really boy scouts, possibly a tradition continuing in a more modern form from the Crusades. The original term (Fida'i) originated from the Assassins, but some sources translate it as 'Suicide Commando', whilst others suggest 'self-sacrificer'. Whatever their real purpose actually was, we didn't dare pry; the knowledge that they called themselves Fida'is was enough for us!

A few minutes after having made their acquaintance, we reminded Sheik Ghassan about the castle curator, and the Sheik began calling some people to find him. While we talked to the Fidai'ieen, I told one of the men that Masyaf had become famous around the world since the release of the PS3/PC game Assassins Creed, and that maybe they should expect a rise in interest in their home town. The Fidai'ieen also offered us accommodation overnight in a nearby farmhouse, however as we had to be in Homs by the end of the night we declined, and thanking them courteously we assured them that we would have gladly stayed
otherwise.

By now Sheik Ghassan had at last got the Curator on the phone. He asked him to come and open the doors for a few minutes, and when the Curator declined the Sheik insisted, "you must come and open it, for they are our guests from Jordan, the land in which Jaafar al-Tayyar is buried." (Jaafar al-Tayyar is a companion of the Prophet Muhammad and a very important figure for Shiites). The Curator then relented and said he would be on his way. While we waited for the Curator to
arrive, Samer asked the Sheik out of curiosity if he had any books or pamphlets on his teachings. To this the Sheik smiled and said, "You know that we cannot divulge the secrets." He did attempt however to find us a book about the town, but when he could not find it the Sheik instead gave us his business card- which we found very surreal!

Then a knock came at the door, and a short frustrated looking man came in; it was the old castle's caretaker. He then shook hands with the sheik and then gestured impatiently for us to go quickly. Sheik Ghassan apologized and told us that he had to lead the evening prayer and that otherwise he would have liked to have come and continue our tour with us. We then said our farewells, and thanking him once more for his generosity departed with a complete sense of excitement from
our incredible encounter.

As I look back weeks later, I can't help but think that their hospitable actions spoke louder than all the words I had read, leading me to conclude that maybe the people from the stories were not the same as those I had met that afternoon, and that perhaps the centuries had helped them with their violence and ambitions and pointed them instead towards a more religious way of life.