9. The Assassins Cult Kicked Off Their Reign of Terror With Seljuk Grand Vizier Nizam al Mulk
The Order of Assassins, formally known as the Nizari Ismailis, was a medieval Islamic cult that terrorized the Middle East for a century and a half. They used suicide hitmen who, unlike modern suicide bombers, were carefully selected and well trained. Aside from the requisite physical fitness, they had to be quick thinking, well read, intelligent, patient, calculating, and cold. They also had to possess no small degree of charisma in order to infiltrate their opponents’ defenses, and gain access to and come within striking distance of their targets.
Assassin killer squads studied the routines of targeted leaders, then typically lay in wait for them during heavily attended public events such as festivals or Friday prayers at the mosque. At an opportune moment, they would spring into action to stab and slash their victim, while shouting the name of their cult’s leader and whatever offense the victim had given. Stories also abound of Assassin sleepers who spent years diligently working their way up the ranks and into the inner circle of a given court, where they would patiently await instructions that might take decades to arrive, if ever. In some instances, a victim would discover during the final moments of his life that one or more of his bodyguard were Assassin cultists.
The cult sometimes resorted to intimidation instead of murder, such as with the Seljuk sultan Sanjar, who had rebuffed their emissaries. He changed his mind after waking up one morning to find a note pinned by a dagger near his bed, informing him that had the Assassins wished him ill, the dagger could have easily been thrust into his breast instead. Peace reigned between Seljuks and Assassins for decades thereafter, during which their leader was paid protection money, face-savingly described as a “pension”, and he was permitted to collect tolls from travelers passing near his fortresses.
The Assassins’ first victim of note was Nizam al Mulk, a Grand Vizier who had held absolute power in the Seljuk Empire for over twenty years before the Assassins got him. On October 14th, 1092, he was being carried in his litter near Nahavand, in today’s Iran, when he was approached by a dervish – Sufi ascetics, known for their extreme piety and poverty. As it turned out, this dervish was actually an Assassin in disguise, and he stabbed the Grand Vizier to death with a dagger as soon as he got close enough.