Editing Order of Assassins (section)

==Etymology==
{{Cleanup rewrite|date=January 2019|it has critical problems: Various barely coherent paragraphs, unchronological ordering of paragraphs, dubious reliability of some of the cited scholarship|section}}

The word ''asas'' in Arabic means "principle". The ''Asāsiyyūn'' (plural, from literary Arabic) were, as defined in Arabic, the principle people. The term "assassin" likely has roots in ''hashshāshīn'' ("hashish smokers or users"), a mispronunciation of the original Asāsiyyūn, but not a mispronunciation of ''Assasiyeen'' (pronounced "Asāsiyyeen", the plural of "Asasi"). Originally referring to the methods of political control exercised by the Assasiyuun, one can see how it became "assassin" in several languages to describe similar activities anywhere.

The Assassins were finally linked by the 19th-century orientalist [[Silvestre de Sacy]] to the Arabic word ''hashish'' using their variant names ''assassin'' and ''assissini'' in the 19th century. Citing the example of one of the first written applications of the Arabic term ''hashish'' to the Ismailis by 13th-century historian [[Abu Shama]], de Sacy demonstrated its connection to the name given to the Ismailis throughout Western scholarship.<ref name="Daftary 1998, p. 14">Daftary 1998, p. 14</ref> Following de Sacy's account, various popularizers of the "Hashishi myth" – including self-proclaimed [[Sufi]] scholar [[Idries Shah]] (who, in fact, never belonged to any Sufi [[tariqa]] nor even graduated from any university) – continue to pejoratively describe the Assassins (and, by extension, [[Ismailis]] in general) as 'druggers' who used hashish "in stupefying candidates for the ephemeral visit to ''paradise''".<ref>{{cite book|first=Arkon|last= Daraul|title= A History of Secret Societies|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofsecrets00dara|url-access=registration|publisher=Citadel Press|year=1961|pages=13, 29}}.</ref> However, the first known usage of the term ''hashishi'' has been traced back to 1122 when the Fatimid caliph [[Al-Amir bi-Ahkam Allah|al-Amir bi-Ahkami’l-Lah]], himself later assassinated, employed it in derogatory reference to the Syrian.<ref name="Daftary 1998, p. 14" /> Used figuratively, the term ''hashishi'' connoted meanings such as outcasts or rabble.<ref name="Daftary 1998, p. 14" /> Without actually accusing the group of using the hashish drug, the caliph used the term in a pejorative manner. This label was quickly adopted by anti-Isma'ili historians and applied to the Isma'ilis of Syria and Persia. The spread of the term was further facilitated through military encounters, whose chroniclers adopted the term and disseminated it across Europe. To Crusaders, the [[Fedayeen]] concept of valuing a principle above your own life was alien to them, so they rationalized it using myths such as the 'paradise legend', the 'leap of faith' legend, and the 'hashish legend', sewn together in the writings of Marco Polo.<ref>Daftary, 2007, p. 12</ref>

During the medieval period, Western scholarship on the Isma'ilis contributed to the popular view of the community as a radical sect of assassins, believed to be trained for the precise murder of their adversaries. By the 14th century, European scholarship on the topic had not advanced much beyond the work and tales from the Crusaders.<ref name="Daftary 1998, p. 14" /> The origins of the word forgotten, across Europe the term assassin had taken the meaning of "professional murderer".<ref name="Daftary 1998, p. 14" /> In 1603, the first Western publication on the topic of the Assassins was authored by a court official for [[Henry IV of France|King Henry IV]] of France and was mainly based on the narratives of Marco Polo from his visits to the Near East. While he assembled the accounts of many Western travellers, the author failed to explain the etymology of the term Assassin.<ref>Daftary 1998, p. 15</ref>

According to the Lebanese writer [[Amin Maalouf]], based on texts from Alamut, Hassan-i Sabbah tended to call his disciples ''Asāsīyūn'' ({{lang|ar|أساسيون}}, meaning "people who are faithful to the foundation [of the faith]"), and derivation from the term ''hashish'' is a misunderstanding by foreign travelers.<ref>{{cite book|first=Amin|last=Maalouf|author-link=Amin Maalouf|title=Samarkand|publisher=Interlink Publishing Group|location= New York|year=1998}}</ref>

Another modern author, [[Edward Burman]], states that:
{{blockquote|text=Many scholars have argued, and demonstrated convincingly, that the attribution of the epithet "hashish eaters" or "hashish takers" is a misnomer derived from enemies of the Isma'ilis and was never used by Muslim chroniclers or sources. It was therefore used in a pejorative sense of "enemies" or "disreputable people". This sense of the term survived into modern times with the common Egyptian usage of the term Hashasheen in the 1930s to mean simply "noisy or riotous". It is unlikely that the austere Hassan-i Sabbah indulged personally in drug taking&nbsp;... there is no mention of that drug hashish in connection with the Persian Assassins – especially in the library of Alamut ("the secret archives").<ref name=Burman70>{{cite book|first=Edward|last= Burman|title= The Assassins – Holy Killers of Islam|publisher=Crucible|location= Wellingborough|year=1987}} p. 70.</ref>}}

The name "Assassin" is often said to derive from the Arabic word ''Hashishin'' or "users of hashish",<ref name="Lewis30">Lewis (2003), pp. 59–61</ref> which was originally applied to the Assassins Isma'ilis by the rival [[Mustali]] Isma'ilis during the fall of the Isma'ili [[Fatimid Empire]] and the separation of the two Isma'ili streams.<ref name="Daftary12">Daftary, Farhad (1990). ''The Ismailis: Their history and doctrines.'' Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. p. 12.</ref> There is little evidence hashish was used to motivate the Assassins, contrary to the beliefs of their Medieval enemies.<ref name="Daftary13">Daftary, Farhad (1990). ''The Ismailis: Their history and doctrines.'' Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. pp. 13, 353. Quote p. 13 "The tale of how the Assassins chiefs secretly administered hashish to the fidaeen in order to control and motivate them has been accepted by many scholars since Arnold of Lueback. But the fact remains that neither the Isma'ili texts which have come to light in modern times nor any serious ..." Quote p.353 "However, contrary to the medieval legends fabricated by uninformed writers and the enemies of the sect, there is no evidence that hashish was used in any way for motivating the fidaeen who displayed an intensive groups sentiment and solidarity."</ref> It is possible that the term ''hashishiyya'' or ''hashishi'' in Arabic sources was used metaphorically in its abusive sense relating to use of hashish, which due to its effects on the mind state is outlawed in Islam. Modern versions of this word include ''Mahashish'' used in the same derogatory sense, albeit less offensive nowadays, as the use of the substance is more widespread.{{Citation needed|date=September 2017}} The term hashashin was (and still is) used to describe absent minded criminals and is used derogatorily in all the Muslim sources referring to the Assassins as such.<ref>Daftary, 2007, p. 10</ref>

The [[Sunni]] Muslims also used the term ''[[mulhid]]'' to refer to the Assassins, which is also recorded by the traveller and Franciscan [[William of Rubruck]] as ''{{lang|la|mulidet}}''.<ref>{{cite book|first=James|last=Waterson|title=The Ismaili Assassins: A History of Medieval Murder|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uTcRBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT114|publisher=Pen and Sword|year=2008|isbn=978-1783461509|access-date=2020-10-19|archive-date=2023-12-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204025314/https://books.google.com/books?id=uTcRBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT114#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>