Editing Order of Assassins (section)

===Hassan II and Rashid ad-Din Sinan===

The fourteen known assassinations during the reign of Kiya Muhammad was a far cry from the tally of his predecessors, representing a significant decline in the power of the Isma'ilis. This was exemplified by the governors of Mazandaran and of Rayy who were said to have built towers out of Isma'ili skulls.

In the middle of [[Ramadan]] in 559 AH, Hassan II gathered his followers  and announced to "[[jinn]], men and angels" that the [[Occultation (Islam)|Hidden Imam]] had freed them "from the burden of the rules of Holy Law". With that, the assembled took part in a ritual violation of Sharia, a banquet with wine, in violation of the Ramadan fast, with their backs turned towards Medina.<ref name=Lewis-1967-72>{{cite book |last1=Lewis |first1=Bernard |title=The Assassins : A Radical Sect in Islam |page=72 |publisher=Oxford University Press | year=1967}}</ref> Observance of Islamic rites (fasting, salat prayer, etc.) was punishable by the utmost severity. (According to Shīʿa hadiths, when the Hidden Imam/mahdi reappears, "he will bring a new religion, a new book and a new law").<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.abc.net.au/religion/meet-shia-islams-latest-claimant-of-messiah/10959614 |title=Who is Ahmad al-Hassan al-Yamani, and why do so many Shīʿas think he is the promised messiah? |author=Mahmoud Pargoo |date=April 2019 |agency=ABC |access-date=31 May 2022 |archive-date=1 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601024146/https://www.abc.net.au/religion/meet-shia-islams-latest-claimant-of-messiah/10959614 |url-status=live }}</ref>
Resistance was nonetheless deep, and Hasan was stabbed to death by his own brother-in-law.<ref name=JPFAiI2011:53>[[#JPFAiI2011|Filiu, ''Apocalypse in Islam '', 2011]]: p. 53</ref>

Hassan II shifted the focus of his followers from the exoteric to the esoteric ([[Batiniyya|batin]]). He abrogated the exoteric practice of [[Sharia]] and stressed on the esoteric ([[Batiniyya|batini]]) side of the laws. And "while outwardly he was known as the grandson of Buzurgumid", in this esoteric reality, Lewis writes, Hasan claimed "he was the [[Muhammad al-Mahdi|Imam of the time]]" (the last Imam of Shia Islam before the end of the world).<ref name=Lewis-1967-74>{{cite book |last1=Lewis |first1=Bernard |title=The Assassins: A Radical Sect in Islam |page=74 |publisher=Oxford University Press | year=1967}}</ref> The impact of these changes on Isma'ili life and politics were vast and continued after Hassan II's death in 1166 by his son [[Nur al-Din Muhammad II|Nūr al-Dīn Muhammad]], known as the Imam Muhammad II, who ruled from 1166 to 1210. It is in this context and the changes in the Muslim world brought about by the disintegration of the Seljuk empire that a new chief ''da'i'' of the Assassins was thrust: [[Rashid ad-Din Sinan]], referred to as Sinān.<ref>Lewis (2003), pp. 71–76.</ref>

Rashid ad-Din Sinan, an alchemist and schoolmaster, was dispatched to Syria by Hassan II as a messenger of his Islamic views and to continue the Assassins' mission. Known as the greatest of the Assassin chiefs, Sinān first made headquarters at [[al-Kahf Castle]] and then the fortress of [[Masyaf Castle|Masyaf]]. At al-Kahf, he worked with chief ''da'i'' Abu-Muhammad, who was succeeded at his death by Khwaja Ali ibn Mas'ud without authority from Alamut. Khwaja was murdered by Abu-Muhammad's nephew Abu Mansur, causing Alamut to reassert control.<ref>Lewis (2003), pp. 110–111</ref> After seven years at al-Kahf, Sinān assumed that role, operating independently of and feared by Alamut, relocating the capital to Masyaf. Among his first tasks were the refurbishing of the fortress of [[Al-Rusafa, Syria|ar-Rusafa]] and of [[Khawabi|Qala'at al-Khawabi]], constructing a tower at the citadel of the latter. Sinān also captured the castle of [[Aleika Castle|al-'Ullaiqah]] at [[Aliqa|Aleika]], near Tartus.{{sfn|Lewis|1969|pp=120–121}}

One of the first orders of business that Sinān confronted was the continuing threat from [[Nur ad-Din (died 1174)|Nur ad-Din]] as well as the Knights Templar's presence at Tartus. In 1173, Sinān proposed to [[Amalric of Jerusalem]] an alliance against Nur ad-Din in exchange for the cancellation of the tribute imposed upon Assassin villages near Tartus. The Assassin envoys to the king were ambushed and slain by a Templar knight named Walter du Mesnil near Tripoli while returning from the negotiations, an act apparently sanctioned by the Templar Grand Master [[Odo de St Amand|Odo de Saint Amand]]. Amalric demanded that the knight be surrendered, but Odo refused, claiming only the pope had the authority to punish du Mesnil. Amalric had du Mesnil kidnapped and imprisoned at Tyre. Sinān accepted the king's apology, assured that justice had been done. The point of the alliance became moot as both Nur ad-Din and Amalric died of natural causes soon thereafter.<ref>'' A History of the Crusades, Volume Two:  The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East, 1100–1187'', p. 397</ref>

These developments could not have been better for [[Saladin]] who wished to expand beyond Egypt into Jerusalem and Syria, first taking [[Saladin#Conquest of Damascus|Damascus]]. With the Kingdom of Jerusalem being led by the 13-year old leperous [[Baldwin IV of Jerusalem|Baldwin IV]] and Syria by the 11-year old [[as-Salih Ismail al-Malik]], son of Nur ad-Din, he continued his [[Saladin#Further conquests in Syria|campaign in Syria]], moving against Aleppo. While besieging Aleppo in late 1174 or early 1175, the camp of Saladin was infiltrated by Assassins sent by Sinān and As-Salih's regent Gümüshtigin. Nasih al-Din Khumartekin, emir of [[Abu Qubays, Syria|Abu Qubays]], was killed in the attack which left Saladin unscathed. The next year, after taking [[Azaz]], the  Assassins again struck, wounding Saladin. Gümüshtigin was again believed to be complicit in the assassination attempt. Turning his attention to Aleppo, the city was soon conquered,d and Saladin allowed as-Salih and Gümüshtigin to continue to rule, but under his sovereignty.{{sfn|Lewis|1969|p=123}}<ref>''A History of the Crusades, Volume Two:  The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East, 1100–1187'', p. 407</ref> Saladin then turned his attention back to the Assassins, besieging [[Masyaf]] in 1176. Failing to capture the stronghold, he settled for a truce. Accounts of a mystical encounter between Saladin and Sinān have been offered :

Saladin had his guards supplied with link lights and had chalk and cinders strewed around his tent outside [[Masyaf]]—which he was besieging—to detect any footsteps by the Assassins.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Lane-Poole|first=Stanley|title=Saladin and the Fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem |year=1906|location=London}}</ref> According to this version, one night Saladin's guards noticed a spark glowing down the hill of Masyaf and then vanishing among the Ayyubid tents. Presently, Saladin awoke to find a figure leaving the tent. He saw that the lamps were displaced and beside his bed laid hot scones of the shape peculiar to the Assassins with a note at the top pinned by a poisoned dagger. The note threatened that he would be killed if he did not withdraw from his assault. Saladin gave a loud cry, exclaiming that Sinan himself was the figure that had left the tent.<ref name="Daftary13" /><ref name=":1" />

Another version claims that Saladin hastily withdrew his troops from Masyaf because they were urgently needed to fend off a Crusader force in the vicinity of [[Mount Lebanon]]. In reality, Saladin sought to form an alliance with Sinan and his Assassins, consequently depriving the Crusaders of a potent ally against him.<ref name=":1" /> Viewing the expulsion of the Crusaders as a mutual benefit and priority, Saladin and Sinan maintained cooperative relations afterwards, the latter dispatching contingents of his forces to bolster Saladin's army in a number of decisive subsequent battlefronts.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Willy|first=Peter|title=The Castles of the Assassins|publisher=Craven Street Books|year=2001}}</ref>

By 1177, the conflict between Sinān and as-Salih continued with the assassination of Shihab ad-Din abu-Salih, vizier to both as-Salih and Nur ad-Din. A letter from as-Salih to Sinān requesting the murder was found to be a forgery by Gümüshtigin, causing his removal. As-Salih seized the village of al-Hajira from the Assassins, and in response Sinān's followers burned the marketplace in Aleppo.<ref>Lewis (2003), p. 117</ref>

In 1190, [[Isabella I of Jerusalem|Isabella I]] was Queen of Jerusalem and the [[Third Crusade]] had just begun. The daughter of Amalric, she married her first husband [[Conrad of Montferrat]], who became king by virtue of marriage, not yet crowned. Conrad was of royal blood, the cousin of Holy Roman Emperor [[Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick Barbarossa]] and [[Louis VII of France]]. Conrad had been in charge of Tyre during the [[Siege of Tyre (1187)|siege of Tyre]] in 1187 launched by Saladin, successfully defending the city. [[Guy of Lusignan]], married to Isabella's half-sister [[Sibylla, Queen of Jerusalem|Sybilla of Jerusalem]], was king of Jerusalem by right of marriage and had been captured by Saladin during the [[battle of Hattin]] in that same year, 1187. When Guy was released in 1188, he was denied entry to Tyre by Conrad and launched the [[Siege of Acre (1189–1191)|siege of Acre]] in 1189. Queen Sybilla died of an epidemic sweeping her husband's military camp in 1190, negating Guy's claim to the throne and resulting in Isabella becoming queen.

Assassins disguised as Christian monks had infiltrated the bishopric of Tyre, gaining the confidence of both the archbishop [[Joscius, Archbishop of Tyre|Joscius]] and Conrad of Montferrat. There in 1192, they stabbed Conrad to death. The surviving Assassin is reputed to have named [[Richard I of England]] as the instigator, who had much to gain as demonstrated by the rapidity at which the widow married [[Henry II, Count of Champagne|Henry II of Champagne]]. That account is disputed by ibn al-Athir<ref>Richards, D. S., Editor (2007). ''The Annals of the Saljuq Turks: Selections from al-Kamil fi’l-Tarikh ibn al-Athir, 1146–1193''. Routledge Publishing. pp. 396–397.</ref> who names Saladin in a plot with Sinān to kill both Conrad and Richard. Richard I was captured by [[Leopold V, Duke of Austria]], and held by [[Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry VI]], who had become Holy Roman Emperor in 1191, accused of murder. Sinān wrote to Leopold V absolving Richard I of complicity in the plot. Regardless, Richard I was released in 1194 after England paid his ransom and the murder remains unsolved.{{sfn|Lewis|1969|pp=126–127}}<ref>{{Cite book|title=A History of the Crusades: Volume Two, The Later Crusades 1187–1311, The University of Wisconsin Press, Madison|last=Wolff, Robert L., and Hazard, H. W.|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|year=1977|page=80}}</ref> Adding to the continued cold case is the belief by modern historians that Sinan's letter to Leopold V is a forgery, written by members of Richard I's administration.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/846946318|title=Letters from the East : Crusaders, Pilgrims and Settlers in the 12th–13th centuries|date=2013|publisher=Ashgate|others=Barber, Malcolm., Bate, Keith|isbn=978-1-4724-1395-6|location=Farnham, Surrey|page=92|oclc=846946318|access-date=2020-06-07|archive-date=2023-12-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204025324/https://search.worldcat.org/title/846946318|url-status=live}}</ref>

Conrad was Sinān's last assassination. The great Assassin [[Rashid ad-Din Sinan]], the Old Man of the Mountain, died in 1193, the same year that claimed Saladin. He died of natural causes at al-Kahf Castle and was buried at [[Salamiyah]], which had been a secret hub of Isma'ili activity in the 9th and 10th centuries. His successor was Nasr al-'Ajami, under the control of Alamut, who reportedly met with emperor Henry VI in 1194.<ref>''A History of the Crusades: Volume Two, The Later Crusades 1187–1311'', p. 528</ref> Later successors through 1227 included Kamāl ad-Din al-Hasan and Majd ad-Din, again under the control of Alamut.{{sfn|Lewis|1969|p=127}} Saladin left his [[Ayyubid dynasty]] under his sons [[al-Aziz Uthman]], sultan of Egypt, [[al-Afdal ibn Salah ad-Din]], emir of Damascus, and [[az-Zahir Ghazi]], emir of Aleppo. Al-Aziz died soon thereafter, replaced by Saladin's brother [[al-Adil I]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual|last=Bosworth|first=Clifford E.|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=1996|pages=71–75}}</ref>