Alamut Castle
In 2005, the archaeologist Peter Willey published evidence suggesting that the Assassin histories of earlier scholars were simply repeating inaccurate folklore. Drawing on its established esoteric doctrine, Willey asserts that the Ismaili understanding of Paradise is a deeply symbolic one. While the Qur'anic description of Heaven includes natural imagery, Willey argues that no Nizari "fida’i" would seriously believe that he was witnessing Paradise simply by awakening in a beauteous garden. The Nizaris' symbolic interpretation of the Qur'anic description of Paradise serves as evidence against the possibility of such an exotic garden having been used as motivation for the devotees to carry out suicidal missions. Furthermore, Willey points out that Juwayni, the courtier of the Great Khan Mongke, surveyed the Alamut castle just before the Mongol invasion. In Juwayni's reports about of the fortress, there are elaborate descriptions of sophisticated storage facilities and of the famous Alamut library. However, even this anti-Ismaili observer makes no mention of the folkloric gardens on the Alamut grounds. Having destroyed a number of texts of the library's collection, deemed by Juwayni to be heretical, it would be expected that he would have paid significant attention to the Nizari gardens, particularly if they were the site of drug use and temptation. Given that Juwayni makes no mention of all about such gardens, Willey concludes that there is no sound evidence that the gardens are anything more than legends. A reference collection of material excavated at Alamut Castle by Willey is in the British Museum.