Page:Arabic Thought and Its Place in History.djvu/174

i-Sabbah had secured possession of a stronghold known as Alamut, "the eagle's teaching" (cf. Browne: Lit. History of Persia, ii. 203, espec. note 13), and this became the headquarters of the sect of Nizaris or Assassins, who figure so prominently in the history of the Crusades. They had many mountain strongholds, but all were under the control of the Sheikh or "Old Man of the Mountain," as the Crusaders and Marco Polo called him, at Alamut. These Sheikhs or Grand Masters of the order continued for eight generations, until Alamut was captured by the Mongols in 618 A.H. (= 1221 A.D.), and the last was put to death. As the order grew it spread into Syria, and it was the Syrian branch with which the Crusaders from Europe came most into contact. In this order we find the old system of successive grades of initiation. The Lasiqs, or "adherents," had but little knowledge of the real doctrines of the sect, and attached to them were the Fida'is or "self-devoted," bound to blind obedience and ready to execute vengeance at the bidding of their superiors; these were the men to whom the Crusaders especially applied the term Assassins, that is Hashishin or "users of hashish," referring to the hashish or Indian hemp which they commonly used as a means of exaltation. Above these were the Rafiqs or "companions," and above these was an ordered hierarchy of da'is or missionaries, Chief Missionaries (da'i i-Kabir), and Supreme Missionary (da'i d-Du'at). In the eyes of outsiders the whole sect had a sinister