Editing Ismailism (section)

===Alamut===
{{Main|Nizari Ismaili state}}

====Hassan-i Sabbah====
{{Main|Hassan-i Sabbah|Alamut Castle}}
Very early in the empire's life, the Fatimids sought to spread the Isma'ili faith, which in turn would spread loyalty to the Imamate in Egypt. One of their earliest attempts was taken by a missionary by the name of [[Hassan-i Sabbah]].{{cn|date=May 2022}}

Hassan-i Sabbah was born into a [[Twelver]] family living in the scholarly Persian city of [[Qom]] in 1056 CE. His family later relocated to the city of Tehran, which was an area with an extremely active Isma'ili Da'wah. He immersed himself in Ismāʿīlī thought; however, he did not choose to convert until he was overcome with an almost fatal illness and feared dying without knowing the Imām of his time.{{cn|date=May 2022}}

Afterward, Hassan-i Sabbah became one of the most influential Da'is in Isma'ili history; he became important to the survival of the Nizari branch of Ismailism, which today is its largest branch.{{cn|date=May 2022}}

Legend holds that he met with Imam [[al-Mustansir Billah]] and asked him who his successor would be, to which he responded that it would be his eldest son [[Nizar (Fatimid Imam)]].{{cn|date=May 2022}}

Hassan-i Sabbah continued his missionary activities, which climaxed with his taking of the famous [[Alamut Castle|citadel of Alamut]]. Over the next two years, he converted most of the surrounding villages to Isma'ilism. Afterward, he converted most of the staff to Ismailism, took over the fortress, and presented Alamut's king with payment for his fortress, which he had no choice but to accept. The king reluctantly abdicated his throne, and Hassan-i Sabbah turned [[Alamut]] into an outpost of Fatimid rule within Abbasid territory.{{cn|date=May 2022}}

====The Hashasheen / Assassiyoon====
{{Main|Order of Assassins}}

Surrounded by the Abbasids and other hostile powers and low in numbers, Hassan-i Sabbah devised a way to attack the Isma'ili enemies with minimal losses. Using the method of assassination, he ordered the murders of Sunni scholars and politicians who he felt threatened the Isma'ilis. Knives and daggers were used to kill, and sometimes as a warning, a knife would be placed on the pillow of a Sunni, who understood the message to mean that he was marked for death.<ref name="Alamut">{{cite book |first=Anthony |last=Campbell |title=The Assassins of Alamut |year=2004 |page=84}}</ref> When an assassination was actually carried out, the Hashasheen would not be allowed to run away; instead, to strike further fear into the enemy, they would stand near the victim without showing any emotion and departed only when the body was discovered. This further increased the ruthless reputation of the Hashasheen throughout Sunni-controlled lands.<ref name="Alamut" />

The English word ''assassins'' is said to have been derived from the Arabic word ''Hasaseen'' meaning annihilators as mentioned in Quran 3:152 or [[Hashasheen]] meaning both "those who use hashish" and "throat slitters" in [[Egyptian Arabic]] dialect, and one of the Shia Ismaili sects in the Syria of the eleventh century.<ref name="cleiden">{{cite journal |last=Leiden |first=Carl |title=Assassination in the Middle East |journal=Transaction |date=May 1969 |volume=6 |issue=7 |pages=20–23 }}</ref>

====Threshold of the Imāmate====
{{Main|Nizar (Fatimid Imam)}}
[[Image:A28alamut.jpg|thumb|View of [[Alamut]] besieged.]]
After the imprisonment of Nizar by his younger brother Ahmad al Mustaali, various sources indicate that Nizar's son Ali Al-Hadi ibn Nizari survived and fled to Alamut. He was offered a safe place in Alamut, where Hassan-Al-Sabbah welcomed him. However, it is believed this was not announced to the public and the lineage was hidden until a few Imāms later to avoid further attacks hostility.<ref name="Alamut" />

It was announced with the advent of Imam Hassan II. In a show of his Imamate and to emphasize the interior meaning (the [[Batin (Islam)|batin]]) over the exterior meaning (the [[Zahir (Islam)|zahir]]), only two years after his accession, the Imām Hasan 'Ala Zikrihi al-Salam conducted a ceremony known as ''qiyama'' (resurrection) at the grounds of the [[Alamut Castle]], whereby the Imam would once again become visible to his community of followers in and outside of the [[Nizārī Ismā'īlī state]]. Given [[Ata al-Mulk Juvayni|Juwayni]]'s polemical aims, and the fact that he burned the Isma'ili libraries which may have offered much more reliable testimony about the history, scholars have been dubious about his narrative but are forced to rely on it given the absence of alternative sources. Fortunately, descriptions of this event are also preserved in [[Rashid-al-Din Hamadani|Rashid al-Din]]'s narrative and recounted in the Haft Bab Baba-yi Sayyidna, written 60 years after the event, and the later Haft Bab-i Abi Ishaq, an Ismaili book of the 15th century AD. However, Rashid al-Din's narrative is based on [[Ata al-Mulk Juvayni|Juwayni]],<ref name=":0">{{Citation|last=Daftary|first=Farhad|title=Nizārī Ismāʿīlī history during the Alamūt period|work=The Ismā῾īlīs|year=2007|pages=301–402|place=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|doi=10.1017/cbo9780511497551.009|isbn=978-0-511-49755-1}}</ref> and the Nizari sources do not go into specific details. Since very few contemporary Nizari Ismaili accounts of the events have survived, and it is likely that scholars will never know the exact details of this event. However, there was no total abrogation of all law; only certain exoteric rituals like the Salah/Namaz, Fasting in Ramadan, Hajj to Makkah, and facing Makkah in prayer were abrogated; however, the Nizaris continued to perform rituals of worship, except these rituals were more esoteric and spiritually oriented. For example, the true prayer is to remember God at every moment; true fasting is to keep all of the body's organs away from whatever is unethical and forbidden. Ethical conduct is enjoined at all times.{{cn|date=May 2022}}

Afterward, his descendants ruled as the Imams at Alamut until its destruction by the Mongols.{{cn|date=May 2022}}

====Destruction by the Mongols====
{{Main|Mongol campaign against the Nizaris}}
Through the 12th century, the Isma'ili continued to successfully ward off Sunni attempts to take Alamut, including by [[Saladin]]. The stronghold 
eventually met its destruction at the hands of the Khans in 1256. [[Hulagu Khan]], a grandson of [[Genghis Khan]] led the devastating attack personally. As he would later do to the [[House of Wisdom]] in Baghdad, Hulagu destroyed Isma'ili as well as Islamic sacred and religious texts. The Imamate that was located in Alamut along with its few followers were forced to flee and take refuge elsewhere.