Who Were the Assassins? The Nizari Isma'ilis and the Hashshashin
Updated: 6 November 2026
Short answer
The "Assassins" were the Nizari Isma'ilis, a Shi'i Muslim community led from Alamut after 1090. The name was never their own. It comes from Crusader-era forms of the Arabic hashishi, a term of abuse. Their state fell in 1256, but Nizari Isma'ilis still exist today.
Why were they called Assassins?
Daftary explains that other Muslims used hashishi in the sense of "low-class rabble" or "people of lax morality", with no special connection to hashish. Crusader circles carried it into European languages as assassini, assissini and heyssisini. Once its origin was forgotten, "assassin" became a common noun meaning murderer.
What did they want?
They sought to keep the Isma'ili mission alive under Seljuk rule and to live under their own imams. It is too narrow to call them only a cult of killers: they held fortresses, collected revenues, had law and governed communities. Targeted killing was one of their methods against far stronger powers, including the killing of Nizam al-Mulk.
Frequently asked questions
- Who were the Hashshashin?
- The name used for the Nizari Isma'ilis of Iran and Syria in the 12th and 13th centuries, especially by their opponents.
- Why were the Nizari Ismailis called Assassins?
- Crusaders picked up the local insult hashishi. Legends then explained the name as literal drug use.
- What is the origin of the word assassin?
- It derives from variants of Arabic hashishi. Silvestre de Sacy solved the etymology in the 19th century, though he accepted some of the legends too. The "Asasiyyun" derivation is not the established view.
Sources
- Farhad Daftary, “Assassin”, Institute of Ismaili Studies (from Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopaedia)
- “Order of Assassins”, English Wikipedia
- Erin Blakemore, “The medieval Order of Assassins”, National Geographic, 2020
- Farhad Daftary, “Hasan Sabbah”, Institute of Ismaili Studies (edited from Encyclopaedia Iranica, vol. XII)
Medieval authors such as Juvayni, Rashid al-Din and Ibn al-Athir are cited here through the listed studies, not directly. Prepared by the hasansabbah.com editorial team.