page_title: Nizari–Seljuk conflicts
section_title: Sultan Mas'ud, Muhammad ibn Buzurg-Ummid, and later lords of Alamut
hierarchical_section_title: Nizari–Seljuk conflicts / After Sultan Muhammad Tapar: toward stalemate / Sultan Mas'ud, Muhammad ibn Buzurg-Ummid, and later lords of Alamut
context_page_description: By the late 11th century, the Shi'a sect of Isma'ilism, propagated by the Fatimid Caliphate, had found many adherents in Persia, although the region was ruled by the staunchly Sunni Great Seljuk Empire. The bulk of the Persian Isma'ilis broke away from the declining Fatimids in 1095, forming the Nizari sect, under Hassan-i Sabbah. Based at Alamut Castle, Hassan revolted against the Seljuk order, and his followers captured many similar strongholds inside Seljuk territories. Socio-economic factors and the religious background of the population, as well as the politically decentralized nature of the Seljuk government, all facilitated the rapid spread of the revolt, while the Ismailis' effective use of strongholds, the selective removal of key enemies through assassination, and maintaining crucial alliances thwarted continuous Seljuk military efforts against their weaker opponent.
  The movement of the Nizaris soon lost its initial vigor and their territories were confined to isolated strongholds within the Seljuk Empire. However, the Seljuks failed to exterminate the Nizaris after prolonged wars, and tacitly accepted their existence.
context_section_description: In 1131, Sultan Mahmud II died. In the subsequent dynastic struggles, some of the emirs somehow involved the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mustarshid in the conflicts against Sultan Mas'ud. In 1139 (1135?), Sultan Mas'ud captured the caliph, together with his vizier and several dignitaries, near Hamadan, treated him with respect, and brought him to Maragha; however, while the caliph and his companions were in the royal tentage, he let a large group of Nizaris enter the tent and assassinate Al-Mustarshid and his companions; the caliph was stabbed many times. Rumors arose suggesting involvement (or at least deliberate negligence) of Sultan Mas'ud and even Sultan Sanjar (the nominal ruler of the empire). In Alamut, celebrations were held for seven days. The governor of Maragha was also assassinated shortly before the arrival of the caliph. Several other Seljuk elites were also assassinated during the reign of Kiya Buzurg-Ummid in Alamut, including a prefect of Isfahan, a prefect of Tabriz, and a mufti of Qazvin—the list is quite shorter than that of Hassan Sabbah's reign.
  Al-Mustarshid's son and successor, al-Rashid, also became involved in the Seljuk dynastic conflicts, and after being deposed by an assembly of Seljuk judges and jurists, and was assassinated by the Nizaris in 5 or 6 June 1138 when he arrived in Isfahan to join his allies. His death, too, was celebrated in Alamut as the first victory for the new Lord of Alamut, Muhammad ibn Buzurg-Ummid. However, a great massacre of the Nizaris occurred at Isfahan. During the latter's reign, the Seljuk Sultan Da'ud, who had persecuted the Nizaris of Adharbaijan, was assassinated in Tabriz in 1143 by four Syrian(!) fida'is. They were allegedly sent by Zangi, the ruler of Mosul, who feared that the Sultan may depose him. An attack by Sultan Mas'ud against Lamasar and other places in Rudbar was repelled in the same year.
  The Nizari influence extended to Georgia (where a local ruler was assassinated) and their territories were expanded into Daylaman and Gilan, where new fortresses, namely Sa'adatkuh, Mubarakkuh, and Firuzkuh, chiefly through the efforts of the commander Kiya Muhammad ibn Ali Khusraw Firuz. Nizari operations were often led by Kiya Ali ibn Buzurg-Ummid, brother of Muhammad. They also made efforts to penetrate Ghur (in present-day Afghanistan).
  Other assassinations recorded during Muhammad's reign include an emir of Sultan Sanjar and one of his associates, Yamin al-Dawla Khwarazmshah (a prince of the Khwarazmian dynasty, in 1139/1140), a local ruler in Tabaristan, a vizier, and the qadis of Quhistan (in 1138/1139), Tiflis (in 1138/1139), and Hamadan (in 1139/1140), who had authorized the executions of Nizaris. Nevertheless, the stalemate mostly continued during Muhammad ibn Buzurg-Ummid's reign.
  The reduced number of assassinations during Muhammad's reign comes with the fact that the Nizaris were mostly occupied with building fortresses and handling local conflicts with neighboring territories, in particular raiding and counter-raidings between the Nizari heartland and their neighbor Qazwin. Two notable regional enemies of the Nizaris in this period were (1) Shah Ghazi Rustam (after the assassination of his son Girdbazu), the Bawandid ruler of Tabaristan and Gilan and (2) Abbas, the Seljuk governor of Rayy, both of whom are alleged to have built towers made of the skulls of Nizaris they massacred. Abbas was killed on Sultan Mas'ud's order and at Sanjar's request, itself after an entreaty made by a Nizari emissary; this suggests another period of truce between Sanjar and the Nizaris. Elsewhere conflicts are also reported with Sultan Sanjar, for example, the latter's attempt to restore Sunni Islam in a Nizari base in Quhistan: Al-Amid ibn Mansur (Mas'ud?), the governor of Turaythith, had submitted to the Quhistani Nizaris, but his successor Ala al-Din Mahmud appealed to Sanjar for restoring the Sunni rule there. Sanjar's army led by emir Qajaq was defeated. Soon after, another emir of Sanjar, Muhammad ibn Anaz, began to conduct "personal" raids against the Nizaris of Quhistan, 
caption: The Abbasid Caliph Al-Mustarshid, a common enemy to both the Seljuk Sultan Mas'ud and the Nizaris, was assassinated in 1135 by a group of Nizaris, allegedly facilitated by the Seljuks. Most of the assassinations of the late Alamut Period are originated or assisted by non-Ismailis.
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