The Assassins - Bernard Lewis

Usually anything by Lewis on Islam is worth reading and this is no exception. It tells the story of the `Assassins', the original suicide killers, notorious in the Middle Ages for infiltrating and murdering the elite of their enemies. Based mainly in the north of Iran they were an off shoot of the Ismailis, who are themselves an off shoot from the Shias. It is solid serious history. But it has three other great things going for it as well. First there is the wonderful almost Tolkien like legends surrounding the sect's origins and reputation. They were started by `The Old Man Of The Mountain' who blocked off a valley in the north of Iran, and created a paradise of gardens and rivers of `wine, milk, honey, and water' and brought in beautiful women. His soldiers captured and drugged young men who would then wake up in his paradise and enjoy themselves. When the Old Man wanted one of these youths to murder his enemies he would have them drugged again and brought into his castle where they almost felt they were in the presence of a god. He would ask them where they have come from and they would reply, `Paradise'. He would give them a dagger, the assassination order, and then explain that once dead, angels would bring him back to the very same Paradise the youth had already tasted. Think of what today's suicide attackers have been missing out on! Such was the youth's readiness to die for the Old Man that he would even parade them on top of a wall for visiting guests and with a nod of his head they would dive to their deaths. Secondly there is the story of how this community veered from antinomianism when one of their leaders announced the end of the law - prayers were deliberately said away from Mecca; there was feasting in the middle of the fast; and lots of wine was drunk - and then back again to orthodoxy, or at least Shia orthodoxy. Whether there was law or no law, the punishment for not following the decree of the leader was the same: stoning. As Lewis says this sort of drastic re-inventing of the faith is typical of sects which are intellectual cul-de-sacs. This brings us to the third point: the fact that though this group were widely feared for a time for their spectacular successes, including a king of Crusader Jerusalem, ultimately their terrorism failed. They were completely crushed by the Mongols. Confronted by an army determined to root out any threat to their rule, they soon capitulated. Originally written in 1967, but re-issued with a new preface in 2003, Lewis no doubts wanted to pass comment for those contending with terrorism today