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About Hasan-i-Sabah: Assassin Master
Product Description This publication includes the first English translation of the 1310 biography of Hasan-i-Sabah by Rashid al-Din: The Biography of Our Master (Sar-Guzasht-i-Sayyidna) Hasan-i-Sabah was born in northern Persia around 1050 and died in 1124. He was an Ismaili missionary (or dai) who founded the Nizari Ismailis after the usurpation of the Fatimid Imamate by the military dictator of Egypt. It may be said that Hasan founded and operated the world’s most successful mystical secret society, while building a political territory in which to maintain his independence. The small empire he created would be home to him, his followers, and their descendants for 166 years. Today, under the leadership of the Aga Khan, the Nizari Ismailis are one of the preeminent Muslim sects in the world, numbering some twenty million members in twenty-five countries. The medieval Nizaris were also known as Assassins or Hashishim. They became embedded in European consciousness because of their contact with the Knights Templar, and other Crusaders and visitors to the Near East. Several Europeans reported back with strange (and largely false) tales of the Assassins. In the fourteenth century, they were widely popularized by the famed Venetian traveler and writer Marco Polo in The Travels of Marco Polo. He added a whole new level of myth in his account of the sect (included in this volume along with extensive commentary). Of greatest interest is the idea that the Assassins were the spiritual initiators of the Knights Templar. If this is true, Hasan-i-Sabah would be in part responsible for the European Renaissance that would reclaim the spiritual centrality of the Hermetic writings and the Gnostic/Esoteric trends that continue to this day. Essential reading for an understanding of modern esoteric secret societies and today’s headlines coming from the Middle East. Includes 9 maps. Review "First, let me congratulate you on an overwhelming undertaking. You are dealing with a subject that is not well-understood and has been a magnet for a great deal of disinformation over the centuries. You have had to start at rock bottom and work your way up through layers of flawed data that have accumulated (and hardened) to such an extent that one would need a pile driver to punch through. I hope your readers understand that and, as you mention in your opening, it isn’t necessary to wade through the background and historical narrative—as valuable as it is—for those who want to get right to the heart of the subject matter, which is Hasan himself. Hasan comes through your work as a complex, three-dimensional human being in spite of all the mythology surrounding him and the Assassins. Importantly, Islam is shown to be a multi-faceted faith with a complicated history, something that not many modern commentators understand. In addition, the translations at the end are well worth the cover price as they are not available anywhere else and they do help to clear up some misconceptions about Hasan and the Ismailis. Thus, I whole-heartedly endorse this project." -- PETER LEVENDA, author of Dark Lord and Tantric Temples "Jim Wasserman presents a compelling portrait of Hasan-i-Sabah and the Nizari Ismaili branch of Shia Islam. Hasan-i-Sabah, the founder of the renowned Order of Assassins, exemplifies all the spiritual richness and political complexity of Islam, and Wasserman is a skilled storyteller who illuminates the events of history with both scholarship and mystical insight. This valuable book also includes, for the first time in English, medieval Persian texts describing the life of Hasan-i-Sabah, and Wasserman’s explication makes these fascinating texts accessible." -- JAMES H. CUMMING, author of Torah and Nondualism "Nearly nine hundred years after his death, Hasan-i-Sabah, founder of the mysterious sect known as the “Assassins,” continues to exert his influence across the Middle East and the West. Mystic, heretic, pious Muslim, master of p
