page_title: Nizari–Seljuk conflicts
section_title: Campaigns of Sultan Malikshah and Nizam al-Mulk
hierarchical_section_title: Nizari–Seljuk conflicts / Early Seljuk responses / Campaigns of Sultan Malikshah and Nizam al-Mulk
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Une des gravures du document de Léo Taxil, Les Mystères de la Franc-Maçonnerie, Paris, 1886. Türkçe: Léo Taxil'in Les Mystères de la Franc-Maçonnerie (1886, Paris) kitabından bir gravür.Görsel altındaki metin şöyledir: "Doğulu Haşhaşin tarikatı - Melikşah'ın elçisi önünde Dağın Dedesi [Hasan Sabbah] fedayilerinden birisine kalbine hançer saplamasını, diğerine ise kulenin tepesinden atlamasını emretti. Hasan daha sözünü yeni bitirmişti ki fanatikleri [hemen] emre itaat gösterdi."
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 1092, Sultan Malikshah and his vizier Nizam al-Mulk began to send two separate armies against the Ismailis in Rudbar and Quhistan. As the Seljuk army under emir Arslan-Tash reached Alamut, the garrison consisted of only 70 men with limited supplies. Hassan-i Sabbah asked for assistance from the Qazwin-based da'i Dihdar Abu Ali Ardestani, who broke the Seljuk line with his 300 men and resupplied and reinforced the garrison of Alamut. The reinforced garrison, supported by local people, made a surprise attack in September-October 1092, routing the army of Arslan-Tash.
  Meanwhile, the Seljuk army against Quhistan, led by emir Qizil-Sarigh and supported by forces from Khorasan and Sistan, had concentrated their efforts against the castle of Darah, a dependency of the Ismaili castle of Mu'min-Abad.
  The vizier Nizam al-Mulk, who was planning further campaigns against the Ismailis, was assassinated by the latter on October 14, 1092, in western Persia. The murder is often considered to be at the instigation of Sultan Malikshah and his wife Terken Khatun, who were wary of the all-powerful vizier. Malikshah himself died shortly after in November 1092 and all planned actions against the Ismailis as well as the ongoing siege of Dara was abandoned and the Seljuk soldiers dispersed, as the Seljuk soldiers traditionally owed their allegiance to the Seljuk sultan in person.
  [The assassination of Nizam al-Mulk] was the first of a long series of such attacks which, in a calculated war of terror, brought sudden death to sovereigns, princes, generals, governors, and even divines who had condemned Nizari doctrines and authorized the suppression of those who professed them.
  — Bernard Lewis
caption: Accroding to medieval Western legends, the Old Man of the Mountain (Hassan Sabbah) ordered a fida'i to stab himself and another one to throw himself from Alamut's walls, convincing Malikshah I's envoy that his men embrace death. Drawing from Les Mystères de la Franc-Maçonnerie (1886) of Léo Taxil.
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