The Ḥashshāshīn: “Precursors of Modern Muslim Terrorist Outfits?”

Abstract

After the tragedy of 9/11, there was general agreement on the notion that Al-Qaeda was responsible for all the attacks that took place on that fatal day – a responsibility that the group reportedly accepted, too, albeit three years later1. Following this attack, the common perception of Muslims around the globe changed for the worse: the style of holding “suicide” attacks against non-Muslims had begun to be touted as somewhat of a hallmark of the Muslim community. Soon enough, a few scholarly theories about this fresh movement emerged, one of which attempted to link modern suicide attacks to those held by the Ḥashshāshīn – popularly known as the Order of the Assassins – in the 12th and 13th centuries in modern-day Iran, Iraq and Syria. Proponents of this theory – such as Sha’ul Shay, who wrote in his The Shahid that the Assassins’ assassinations were a “historical example of suicide attacks in the name of Islam”2 – believe that the Ḥashshāshīn were “Holy Killers” – like modern Muslim terrorists, in their opinion – who assassinated their opponents in the name of Islam. Such scholars also believe in and propagate medieval Christian Crusaders’ accounts about the Ḥashshāshīn which painted the Order’s image as a group of hashish-intoxicated men who killed fearlessly under the influence of drugs. This research work will attempt to test these two theories, with the help of primary sources, and will look to answer the following questions:1) Were the Ḥashshāshīn “Holy Killers” who killed in the name of Islam? 2) Does primary historiography support the Assassin legends that are endorsed by contemporary scholars? 3) Based upon the answers to the abovementioned questions, is it justified to place the roots of modern, presumably Muslim suicide terrorism in the assassinations of the Ḥashshāshīn?