Hashshashin, Skilled Assassin of the Secret Muslim Sects of Persia and Syria

An Italian crusader, Condrad of Montferrat, was preparing for his coronation as king of Jerusalem at Tire in April 1192. While walking along the narrow streets of the city, he was attacked by two men disguised as monks. The two men brought him to death.

Although historians still speculate as to who ordered the attack, there is no doubt as to the identity of the killers.

They were not monks, but members of a secret Muslim sect located in the mountains of Persia and Syria.

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These agents specialize in targeted assassination and espionage - infiltrating enemy lines as they are about to attack them. They often wielded knives and were willing to die for missions.

They were known as Hashashins or better known by the European crusaders as assassins.

In National Geographic it says, perhaps the first European to know about hashashin was a Spanish rabbi, Benjamin of Tudela, who traveled through Syria in 1167.

He tells about a mysterious leader, Old Man Mountain, who leads a sect of warriors who live in the fort's hidden mountain.

In 1092 the Assassins carried out an important assassination: the vizier Nizam al-Mulk, a strong member of the Seljuk Sultanate.

Records say that a hashashin disguised himself as a Sufi mystic and stabbed him. Shortly thereafter, the Seljuk sultan, Malik Shah, was also killed.

Historians believe that this sultan's murder was probably carried out by another sect. Despite this, the assassination had a domino effect, and the Seljuks went into chaos.

A series of hashashin attacks were followed by rulers, generals, governors and scholars. Hashashins seem to be everywhere.

Their enemies began to take extra measures to protect themselves: employing bodyguards and wearing chain letters under their clothes.

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