Chapter III
A JOURNEY TO THE
VALLEY OF THE ASSASSINS
THE ASSASSINS WERE A PERSIAN SECT. THEY WERE A BRANCH
of the Isma'ili, who were a branch of the Shi'a, who still
constitute practically the whole of Persia and give particular
veneration to Muhammad's son-in-law 'Ail and the Imams
of his house. The Isma'ili broke away from them over the
succession to the seventh Imam Ja'far. But it is not their
theology which is interesting so much as their politics.
They were exploited by an able and unscrupulous Persian
family then settled in Palestine, who devoted themselves
to the undermining and gradual destruction of every kind
of faith by a system of initiation subtly graded for all stages
of superstition and belief till, in its highest ranks, it seems to
have culminated in absolute free thinking. They established
the principle of obedience to one of their own family as
the depositary of the Divine Wisdom, and having seated
themselves on the throne of Egypt, under the name of
Fatimite caliphs, they increased in wealth and power,
encouraged the love of learning for its own. sake, and, alone
among the nations of their day, practised religious toleration.
Egypt truly became for a short time the centre of civiliza-
tion; and the Isma'ilian propagandist could be met with
from Morocco to China. One such came into contact
with a young Persian Shi'ite of Rei called Hasan~i-Sabbah»
who joined die sect in the year A.D. 1071. He was to
become the first Grand Master of the Assassins.
Such adventurers have ever been numerous in Persia.
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