The Assassins: A Radical Sect in Islam by Bernard Lewis

The following book review is reproduced with permission of the ShiaChat user Marbles. It was originally published here.

The Assassins: A Radical Sect in Islam by Bernard Lewis

(First published 1967)

It is a highly readable account of the rise and fall of Hashishin, Assassins, who appeared in Persia and Syria in the 11th and 12th centuries.

The book starts with a brief survey of the discovery of the Assassins and their ways in the then contemporary Western sources. Interestingly, in those accounts, the Assassins exemplify daring and devotion rather than terror and murder. There is a sense of amazement at their loyalty to their beliefs.

Later Western sources paint them as some kind of degenerate hedonists who indulged in drinking and women and sold their services of murder to the highest bidder. This is when the name Assassin, which is corruption of Hashishin, is taken to mean political murder and is still current in the English language.

The author says that famous legend of the "Paradise of the Assassins" and wondrous tales associated with it are no more than a work of imagination and intrigue.

The book proceeds with a general introduction to the history of Shia-Sunni split and further Shia splits into Ithna `Asharis, Ismailis and other less significant Shia offshoots which are now extinct. At the time when the Abbasid Empire has become internally weak and disorganised, the only non-Sunni power to emerge in Islam to make its name were the Ismailis. They established Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt and ruled for circa 250 years before coming to an end at the hands of Salah al-Din ( Salahuddin or Saladin).

Isma`ilis represented a powerful and intellectual alternative to the Sunni orthodoxy which has become weak and no longer commanded confidence in the people. Isma`ilis seized that opportunity and with their systematic preaching and moral superiority over Sunnis and hence succeeded in converting a lot of people to their faith.

Then a man changed the scene.

Hassan-e Sabah: He was a Qum born Ithna `Ashari Shi'i who was attracted by the vigour and activity of the Ismailis in Persia and so converted. He lived under taqqiyah due to Sunni threat (Persia was under Turk Seljuq Sultan who even controlled the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad. The Caliph was but a mere figure head with limited authority).

Hassan-e Sabah managed to win over the castle of Alamut in Northern Persia which was to become the headquarters of the Assassins for decades to come. It was there he started to organise the new group with the new preaching; calling people toward the living Imam (in Cairo) and training them in acts of violence and sabotage with the sole purpose of bringing down the existent Sunni order which he and his coreligionists saw as corrupt and unjust.

Around this time, precisely in 1094, the famous Must`ali-Nizari split in the Ismaili line of Imamate took place. Without going into details, the New Preacher, Hassan-e Sabbah and his group refused to accept Must`al's son as the new Imam and held on to the belief in the Imamate of Nizar who, along with his sons, was imprisoned and perhaps murdered.

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It was the time of decline for Fatimid Caliphate which suffered a decisive blow due to the split at the top. Meanwhile, in Persia, Hassan-e Sabah acquired neighbouring castles by scheming or invasion and begin to train devotees for his new campaign. One that of murder and terror.

The first victim to fell to the daggers of the Assassins was that of Vizier Nizam al-Mulk in Persia. Then a pattern was established, The Assassins particularly targetted civil rulers and commanders of armies along with Sunni divines and prefects of the cities. They never murdered due to religious differences what today we call the common man.

In difficult missions, the Assassin(s) assigned to the task would perfectly disguise himself, take their target in confidence and, finding the opportunity, assassinate him. Often the Assassins made no attempt to escape and accepted the punishment which was usually execution. In that they can be likened to the suicide bombers of the middle ages. Many Assassins were lynched and killed on spot after killing their target.

While the campaign of murder got underway, the Assassins acquired new castles and safe havens in the mountainous countryside of Persia, which were difficult to invade so that the ruling powers couldn't take them out easily. At the same time Hassan-e Sabah sent his emissaries to Syria to establish their message there. After some unsuccessful attempts they succeeded in having a foothold in Syria. Many men of importance fell to the Assassins among them two Abbasid Caliphs, a Seljuq Sultan, and also some Christian Crusaders in Syria. But their main enemy was not Christian Crusaders but the Sunni orthodoxy. There were two attempts on the life of Salah al-Din (Saladin) but he survived.

The mission continued after the death of Hassan-e Sabah in 1124.

One of his successors, who was not a blood relation of Hasasn-e Sabah, also called Hassan, abolished the observance of Law, pronounced Qiyammah (Resurrection) and lifted the rules of halal and haram from the religion. He also is said to have proclaimed himself the direct descendent of Imam Nizar and hence the rightful heir to the Imamate. The later Nizari Imams descend from that person, which in time gave birth to the Aga Khans, one of them is still holding the office of Imamate for Nizari Ismailis today.

The Nizari faith flourished in Persia as much as it did whereas the Fatimid Caliphate met its end at the hand of Salah al-Din and the faith disappeared from Egypt. It became a small fringe group in Yemen in later centuries and then its leaders migrated to India. Today in India (Gujarat), while the Imam is in occultation, they have a Da`i who heads the sect as the deputy of the Imam.

The Must`ali sect retained the old preaching of Ismailism which was closer to Islam in spirit and practice than what Nizaris came to represent.

The end of the Assassins came about in the 13th century. They had suffered defeats in Syria at the hands of Mamluk emir Baybark and setbacks in Persia after the Mongol Invasion. The Assassins at first collaborated with the Khan forces of Mongols in order to survive but this strategy did not work for them. one by one, their castles were taken first by Seljuqs and then by the Mongols. Finally, Alamut, their headquarter, also fell and the Assassins became a fringe phenomenon.

But for 250 years the Assassins filled the hearts of rulers with terror. Elaborate security measures were taken by cities and their rulers to protect themselves from the wrath of the Assassins. They wore iron shirts and kept constant guard on them. Salah al-Din didn't even let anyone who he didn't personally recognise get near to him physically for the fear of Assassins under cover.

The weakness of the book is that it doesn't sufficiently explains the theological underpinnings of the Assassin movement. It is clear that the Assassins were deeply motivated by their religious ideology and missionary zeal. But what exactly convinced them to take such a course is not explained in the book.

One cannot say that the Assassin phenomenon is s purely Nizari phenomenon. Because the first famous murder of the Assassins, one that of Nizam al-Mulk, had already been committed before Mustali-Nizari split occurred. So there must be some other factors at work, peculiar to Ismailism in Persia, which must have caused the sectaries there to embark on such a course.

We also cannot say that Hassan-e Sabah was directed from Cairo. At no point this was true. He already spent some time in Cairo before settling in Alamut but he was actually banished by the military commander of Fatimid forces for unknown reasons. But we know for sure that Hassan-e Sabah, his successors, and his followers were foremost in asserting the right of the deposed Nizar to Imamate. There were many Nizaris in Egypt but they seem to have dwindled into insignificance, and later extinction, after the fall of the Fatimid Caliphate.

This book particularly concentrates on the Assassins of Persia. Their brethren in Syria don't get sufficient coverage.

So this is a useful book if you are interested in the subject. Your thoughts and comments on the book or on the subject will be appreciated. Please post.

My book rating: 4/5

AMAZON LINK

Finally!

Goggle fixed the blogger. It was broken for a few days. Some even suggested moving to wordpress ...

I don't have experience with WordPress but their templates look really good. Blogger templates are very limited. My major complaint about blogger is that their html editor is quite annoying. In Addition, what you see is not what you get.

10 Muslim/Islamic sects/groups set to be annihilated in Malaysia

This is a literal translation from Malay to English of the news published here

PutraJaya: 10 deviant groups are believed to be active throughout the nation. These groups need to be destroyed as soon as possible because the teachings of these groups contradict the Islamic teaching as per Sunnah Wal-Jamaah.

These groups are

1. Shia/Syiah
2. Arqam, also known as Rufaqa Inc. or Global Ikhwan Inc (Note: Arqam is a deviant Sufi/Sunni group. This is not a Shia group and has nothing to do with Malaysian Shia! I already posted the detail of the group here)
3. Islam Jamaah
4. Teaching of Azhar Wahab (Al-Mansor Holding Inc.,)
5. Tarekat Naqsyabandiah Khalidiah - Sufi Sunni
6. Pemuda Kahfi
7. Tarekat Naqsyabandiah Khalidiah Sheikh Nazim - Sufi Sunni
8. Qadiani/Ahmadiah;
9. Tarekat Naqsyabandiah Kadirun Yahya - Sufi Sunni
10. Aurad Islamiah - Sufi Sunni

The above-mentioned groups are among the 95 groups that have been declared (fatwas) deviant. They are deviated from Islam and the teaching of Sunnah wal-Jamaah based on fatwas from the National Fatwa Council/Majlis at the state level or national level (Note: These are stupid religious organizations infected by the Wahhabis/Salafi) in the past 20 years.

While exposing this matter, the Director of JAKIM (this is an acronym of an Islamic organization) said, all the above groups need to be destroyed as soon as possible by religious authority in every state in Malaysia.

These are exact quotes spoken by him: “We are viewing this subject very seriously because it affects belief of Muslims. Furthermore, this can also cause disruption/animosity in the nation/society”.
“The ten groups listed above will be prioritized to be annihilate/destroyed to avoid it being spread in Malaysia”

Othman said that his organization with the cooperation from religious authority in every state is investigating/carrying out surveillance on those who are spreading new ideologies such as pluralism and extremism by “using” students and professors/lecturers in institution of higher learning/education in Malaysia.

According to him, these faiths are destroying Muslim belief and are also inviting other problems such as religious riot and civil war.

But, we faced a number of problems while handling these problems, such as, non-uniformity of Islamic laws/Sharia laws at the state level and also misunderstanding among the Muslims about Tariqa (sect/group?) and Tassawuf (Sufism/Mysticism).

"This situation is forcing us to ask the National Fatwa Council and States Fatwa Organization to do a research and make a conclusive/uniform decision about groups that were declared haram/disallowed for being deviant."

He added that his organization (JAKIM) is also establishing a research unit/group for surveillance and identifying those that are spreading the deviant teaching and tariqa/sect/group through blogs, websites and social network (Facebook and twitter).

“We admit that deviant groups are always manipulating/using new technologies to spread their belief and for recruiting purpose”

What is so interesting about Kharijites?

The Khawarij/Khariji sect (although not as old as the Shia sect) appeared earlier than all the other Muslim sects (i.e., all the Sunni madhabs, Zaydis, all the Ismaili sects, the Ghulats and the new age Muslim sects like Wahhabiyya/Salafiyya, Ahmadiyya ..etc).

One of the most common misconceptions about the Kharijite is that all the sects formally known as Kharijites are extinct now. Not true! At least we know that one of the Kharijite group, the Ibadiya, still exist quietly in the Muslim world. In fact, I think they (Ibadi) are the only surviving group among the Kharijite. I remember reading a hadith from Imam Ali (may peace be upon him) after the battle of Nahrawan that foretell (prophecy) of a single surviving group among the kharijite. Need to look this up.

I think it would be interesting to look into some of the Kharijite sects.

Quick notes about Kharijite/Khawarij

1. They were members of a group that seceded from Imam Ali's (may peace be upon him) party after the arbitration at the Siffin.
2. The earliest Kharijites were also known as Haruris (from the name of the place "Harura").
3. Their main slogan was lā hukma illā li-llāh or No judgement but God's. They were the hypocrites who forced Imam Ali (as) to accept the arbitration with Muawiyah and later came out against the arbitration when their own candidate (Abu Musa Ashari) was deceived by Muawiyah’s negotiator.
4. Their core belief is that whoever committed a grave sin is an apostate and is damned to hell.
5. Some of the major Kharijite's sects are Azariqa, Bayhasiyya, Najadat, Ajarida, Fuddakiya, Sufriyya, Ibadi and others.
6. Kharijites do not believe in the intercession (unlike the Sunni and the Shia sects)

To be continued...

Are Ibadi/Ibadiyyah Kharijite?

Yes, according to the sects classification done by

• Al-Shahrastani in his book al-milal wa al-nihal
• Abd al-Qahir Ibn Tahir al-Baghdadi in his book Muslim Schisms and Sects

Ibadi/Ibaddiyah belief about Imam Ali (may peace be upon him) agrees with the core Kharijite principle

Ibadis agree with Sunnis in approving of Abu Bakr and Umar ibn al-Khattab, whom they regard as the two rightly-guided Caliphs. They regard Uthman ibn Affan as having introduced bid'ah "innovations" into Islam, and approve of the revolt which overthrew him. They also approve of the first part of Ali's caliphate, and, like Shi'as, disapprove of Aisha's rebellion against him and also disapprove of Muawiya's revolt. However, they regard Ali's acceptance of arbitration at the Battle of Siffin against Muawiya's rebels as un-Islamic and as rendering him unfit for the Imamate, and they condemn Ali for killing the Muslims of an-Nahr in the Battle of Nahrawan.

Conspiracy theories are a waste of time

I am avoiding the news (reading/watching/listening). Too much news about Bin Laden (may Allah damn him to hell) and they are mostly conspiracy theories.

Conspiracy theories are a waste of time. They don’t answer any questions and tend to make you less informed about current events.

It’s best to wait a few weeks before reading conspiracies theories. By then hopefully we are more objective.

Akhbarism before al-Astrabadi?

Madelung, Newman, Kohlberg and Stewart argue that Akhbarism may have already existed before al-Astrabadi (footnote in the book is referring to their papers).

But according to Gleave [1] no Akhbari texts from this earlier period have survived to prove this thesis conclusively. Furthermore, the akhbariyya mentioned in these earlier texts held opinions on a range of subjects beyond the rejection of ijtihad, i.e., legitimacy on using the reason, rejection of a government, distribution of the community taxes and the validity of the Friday prayer.

The Usuli's view Akhbarism as a relatively recent phenomenon (starting in the 17 century AD with Muhammad Amin al-Astarabadi). Each group also asserts that their opponents’ views coincide with Sunni opinions.

Gleave [1] noted that the Akhbaris did not seem to have a unanimous position on whether or not this scriptural-ism applied to other areas of religious knowledge.

• There were Akhbaris who used reason (al-aql) as a proof of the basic elements of the Shia creed, writing kalam works in the process.
• There were Akhbaris who promoted direct religious experience as a means of gaining religious knowledge out side of the law.
• There were Akhbaris who simply collected reports of the Imams concerning non-legal matters (in particular theological doctrines current in kalam works), and offered no personal reasoning as to how these might be brought together into a coherent doctrine.
• There were even those who chiseled out a limited role for reason in their legal theory, but based this allowance exclusively on scriptural grounds (in that the Imams had, themselves, give explicit permission for reason to be used in restricted circumstances).

Reference
[1] Scripturalist Islam: The History and Doctrines of the Akhbārī Shiʿī School By Robert Gleave

Kharijites were the brain dead folks at Siffin

Definition
"Whoever rebelled against the legitimate imam accepted by the people, whether this rebellion took place at the time of the companions against the rightly guided Imams or against their worthy successors or against the Imams at any time" (Al-Shahrastani, al-milal wa al-nihal page 98).

History
At Siffin the Kharijites compelled Ali to accept the arbitration. Then when Ali wanted to appoint abdullah b. Abbas as his arbitrator, the Kharijite objected, saying "He is a relative of yours".

They (Kharijite) forced him (Ali) to send instead Abu Musa Al-Ashari to judge according to the book of God. The arbitration went against Ali and when Ali did not accept it, they rebelled against him.

"Why did you appoint men as judges?", they asked. "Judgments belong to God alone". These were the rebels who afterward assembled at Nahrawan. (Al-Shahrastani, al-milal wa al-nihal page 99).

Yesterday was a busy day for medias

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart aired a  a special report: The U.S. kills Osama bin Laden. The crowds were cheering. Last night was a good night. Aasif Mandvi is hilarious. He is my favorite daily show reporter.


Salman Rushdie wrote in the Daily Beast  

Are we supposed to believe that Pakistan didn’t know he was there, and that the Pakistani intelligence, and/or military, and/or civilian authorities did nothing to facilitate his presence in Abbottabad, while he ran al Qaeda, with couriers coming and going, for five years?

Since his pictures have not yet been released by the USA, some photo-shopped pictures of the terrorist emerged on news sites.


Huffington Post had up-to-minute reports and analysis

CNN tops competitors with bin Laden coverage

It was a busy day at Online discussion forums.

The Emergence of Akhbariyya

The Akhbariyya emerged in the 17 century AD to refute Imami legal theory (Ejtehad) that was developed by Allamah Hilli (d.1325 AD). According to the footnote in the book, Ejtehad is defined in the following manner

Al-Muhaqqiq al-Hilli defines ijtihad as "the exertion of effort to extract (istikhraj ) the legal ruling” from the texts (Muhaqqiq, Ma'arij, p. 179). Allama defines it as "exhausting effort in speculating on those legal questions which permit opinion such that no more ˜effort· can be made” (Allamah, Mabadi, 240).

The first to claim to be an Akhbari was the Iranian scholar, Muhammad Amin al-Astarabadi, who studied in Iraq and Iran, and who thought in Mecca and Medina. In his book al-Fawa'id al-Madaniyya, he criticized the contemporary jurists (these Jurists could be Usulis, but it was not mentioned in the book). Al-Astrabadi proposed an alternate approach for deriving Islamic knowledge/laws.

Gleave stated that the Shia concept of Ejtehad (in the beginning) was heavily influenced by the Sunni legal theory. He also observed that the Sunni legal theory was mostly concerned with identifying and answering the following questions

1. What were the uncertain elements of God's law?
2. What were the ambiguous textual evidences for the Islamic laws?
3. How would a trained jurists exert and exhaust himself (Ejtehad) in discovering a legal ruling that is not very plain/obvious from the texts?
4. Which interpretive techniques were legitimate, the schemes of classification of these techniques, the variable assessments of a text’s authenticity and the disputes among themselves? [1]

Astarabadi, and the Akhbaris who followed him, argued for a return to the earlier Shii attitude of a rejection of ijtihad on the grounds that legal certainty was available. The claim of the early Shii jurists was, then, an element in Astarabadi's attempt to establish the precedence of the rejection of ijtihad over the "innovation” of more recent Shii jurists.[1]

Reference
[1] Scripturalist Islam: The History and Doctrines of the Akhbārī Shiʿī School By Robert Gleave

Bin Laden (now dead) Comedy Spoof!

Osama bin laden comedy spoof

Osama bin Laden Dead!

May God damned Bin Laden to hell!

Time for celebrations!