The Assassins: Holy Killers of Islam
The Assassins: Holy Killers of Islam By Edward Burman
Publisher: Inner Traditions International 1988 | 216 Pages | ISBN: 1852740272 | PDF | 46 MB
Publisher: Inner Traditions International 1988 | 216 Pages | ISBN: 1852740272 | PDF | 46 MB
Islam has fostered many revolutionary movements, but none so fascinating to the West, perhaps, as the Assassins — the sect whose members dedicated themselves with unquestioning obedience to acts of political murder. Until the twentieth century knowledge of the Assassins was based largely on hostile sources — Crusaders who viewed their suicidal courage with awe and Moslems who regarded them as dangerous heretics. Modern scholarship, however, has slowly peeled away the layers of secrecy and distortion and it is now possible to see the Isma’ilis — the sect of which the Assassins were a branch — in a more objective light. Edward Burman draws on this research, and his own detailed knowledge of the Middle East, to present an engrossing history of the Assassins, from their rise in the twelfth century under the dynamic leadership of Hasan-i Sabbah and Rashid al-Din Sinan (the «Old Man of the Mountains») to their defeat, decline and eventual re-emergence in India in the nineteenth century. He also documents the impact of the Assassins on the Western imagination and finally lays to rest many of the myths and legends that have grown up around them.