Ali ibn Muhammad

Ali ibn Muhammad (Persian: علی بن محمد; died 883) also known as Sahib al-Zanj (Persian: صاحب‌ الزنج; English: Leader of the Zanj), was a former Abbasid official and the leader of the Zanj Rebellion during the late 9th century. Though an ally to the Hidden Ones, he did not respect their creed, believing that true freedom had no constraints.
==Biography==
===Early life===
Originally a high-ranking dignitary in the Abbasid court,Assassin's Creed: Mirage – Database: Ali ibn Muhammad Ali eventually became disillusioned with the Caliphate and believed that it was his destiny to liberate its enslaved population.Assassin's Creed: Mirage – Database: Rebels His rebellion initially involved only the , a population from Southeast Africa who were brought into the Caliphate as slaves, but soon grew to include various Arab tribes and slaves.
At some point prior to 861, Ali came into contact with the Hidden Ones of Alamut, who sought to remove the influence of their enemies, the Order of the Ancients, over the Caliphate. As their goals were aligned, Ali and the Hidden Ones formed an alliance, albeit an uneasy one, as the former's methods often went against the brotherhood's creed.
===Working with the Hidden Ones===
In late 861, Ali's men learned about a chest containing an artifact sought by the Hidden Ones, which was to be delivered to the Caliph Al-Mutawakkil. The rebel leader relayed this information to Rayhan, but after not hearing back from him, he sent the Mentor a letter asking for assurance that the artifact would pose no threat to the rebellion.Assassin's Creed: Mirage – Notes from Basim's travels: "Letter from Ali"
In 862, after the Hidden Ones intercepted a group of mercenaries trying to find Alamut, they sent one of their agents, Nur, to Baghdad to seek assistance from Ali and his rebels.Assassin's Creed: Mirage – A New Beginning Together, Ali and Nur investigated the perpetrators behind the would-be attack on Alamut, until the Order of the Ancients took notice of their activities and ordered their capture. While Nur barely managed to escape, Ali was captured along with his rebels at the Upper Harbor.Assassin's Creed: Mirage – Taking Flight
====Meeting Basim Ibn Ishaq====
Following his capture, Ali was held for some time at the Khurasan Gate GuardhouseAssassin's Creed: Mirage – Follow Nur's Lead before being moved to the Damascus Gate Prison, the most secure prison in Baghdad.Assassin's Creed: Mirage – Zeroing In It was here that he was eventually found and rescued by the Hidden One Basim Ibn Ishaq, who infiltrated the prison and killed the jailer torturing Ali. Basim introduced himself as a friend of Nur and declined to tell Ali about his past, insisting that they save the details for another time as they needed to find a way out of the prison.Assassin's Creed: Mirage – Jailbreak 
Suspecting that Basim was searching for Al-Ghul, the Ancient who had ordered his capture, Ali revealed that the prison's guards were serving Al-Ghul, supplying him with workers for his dig sites in the desert. He and Basim then headed to the guard quarters to search for a book containing information on the Ancient's activities, but were spotted by the soldiers. While Basim held back the guards, Ali found the book and escaped with it after being instructed by the Hidden One to head to a watermill north of Baghdad, where his mentor Roshan and Ali's rebels were waiting.
At the watermill, Ali addressed his men with a speech before seeing Basim arrive and recognizing his great aid to the rebel cause. Ali and Basim then went to meet with Roshan and discuss their leads on Al-Ghul's identity. Using information from the book recovered by Ali, they deduced the Ancient to be Mas'ood Al-Ya'qoob, a soap mill owner who purchased migrant laborers for his dig sites.Assassin's Creed: Mirage – A Delicate Alliance 
Moments later, Ali's second-in-command, Beshi, arrived injured and Basim explained that he had been posing as a prisoner to spy on Mas'ood. Despite having been caught, Beshi had managed to learn what Mas'ood looked like and that he was operating out of a nearby caravanserai. Basim and Roshan subsequently left for the caravanserai in order to eliminate Mas'ood and, though Ali offered to come with them, Roshan declined his help, believing the rebel leader would turn the mission into a large spectacle. 
====Investigation in Jarjaraya====
Following Mas'ood's death, the Order ramped up their efforts to crush Ali's rebellion and used the Caliphate's Turkic mercenaries to capture and execute many of his men. A furious Ali traveled with Beshi to the Hidden One bureau in Sharqiyah to request aid from Fuladh Al Haami, but the latter suspected that the Order were trying to lure out Ali and instructed him to lay low for the time being. When Basim arrived at the bureau, Fuladh told Ali that he could help solve the problem and the rebel leader agreed on the condition that he receive the credit.Assassin's Creed: Mirage – Blood and Shadows
Meeting with Basim at the Sharqiyah Gate, the two rode for Jarjaraya, a town south of Baghdad where many of the Zanj rebels had gone missing. On the way there, they discussed the Hidden Ones and their personal views on freedom, with Ali asking Basim if he was bothered by having to obey his masters' every order. However, Basim disagreed with the notion that he was not free and believed that the Hidden Ones had helped him find his purpose after being nothing more than a street thief for most of his life.Assassin's Creed: Mirage – The Hunter
Upon reaching Jarjaraya, Ali and Basim split up to look for information on who was abducting the former's men. Ali captured a guard and took him to the local rebel hideout for interrogation, despite Beshi's disapproval of his methods. After completing his own investigation, Basim arrived at the hideout and he too voiced his disagreement with the torture of the captive guard, but Ali defended his actions as necessary and claimed that he did not need anyone's approval.
After Basim left to investigate a contact that the captive guard was set to meet, Ali continued his interrogation, eventually killing the guard once he revealed everything he knew. When Basim returned to the hideout, he angrily confronted Ali over his actions and claimed that Beshi, who had since left to rendezvous with other rebels, would disagree with this unnecessary murder. However, Ali claimed that this was the price of war and reminded Basim that Beshi was not the leader of the rebellion.
Changing the subject, Ali asked Basim to rescue some of his captive men who were being held at a nearby farmhouse. Once the Hidden One had done so, Ali rallied the rebels with a speech before they attacked the villa of Dogan bin Arslan, the Turkic captain responsible for the capture and execution of the rebels. Following Dogan's death, Basim returned to Baghdad to investigate an Order meeting that the captain was expected to attend, leaving Ali in Jarjaraya to await Beshi's return.
====Attack on the Great Garrison====
After Beshi failed to show up, Ali concluded that he had been captured and returned to the Sharqiyah bureau. He was soon joined by Basim, who had eavesdropped on the meeting between the Order members and learned the alias of the Order leader in Sharqiyah: Al-Mardikhwar. After discussing his findings with Ali and Fuladh, Basim left to assassinate Al-Mardikhwar's subordinates, Nadir ibn Havid and Jasoor ibn Basil, while Ali decided to search for Beshi.Assassin's Creed: Mirage – The Hunt
Through his investigation, Ali discovered that Beshi and other rebels were being held prisoner in the Great Garrison. Returning to the Sharqiyah bureau, he again spoke to Basim and Fuladh, the former of whom had learned that Al-Mardikhwar was based at the garrison. After Fuladh deduced the Ancient's identity to be the Turkic warlord Wasif al-Turki, Ali and Basim left for the garrison, both to eliminate the warlord and to rescue the captive rebels.Assassin's Creed: Mirage – The Chase
Near the garrison, the two observed a conversation between Wasif and Baghdad's governor Muhammad ibn Tahir, who advised the warlord to control himself, only to be threatened by him in response. Ali then left to find Beshi and the other rebels, leaving Basim to find a way into the garrison and eliminate Wasif. Although Ali eventually managed to locate Beshi, he arrived too late, as his second-in-command had been executed by Wasif.Assassin's Creed: Mirage – Den of the Beast
After defeating the warlord's guards with Basim's help, Ali instructed the Hidden One to free his captive men. Once Basim had done so, Ali informed him of a signal brazier which, once lit, would lure out Wasif's remaining guards, creating the perfect distraction for the Hidden One to assassinate the warlord. Basim did as he was told and, while Ali and his rebels battled the guards, he infiltrated Wasif's office and killed him.
As Ali walked into the room moments later, he saw Basim standing next to Wasif's corpse and impaled the body with his sword, to make it appear like he had killed the warlord and keep the Hidden Ones' involvement secret. He and his rebels, accompanied by Basim, then fought their way out of the garrison until losing their pursuers in an alley. There, Ali told Basim that he would see him back at the Sharqiyah bureau and the two parted ways.Assassin's Creed: Mirage – The Return
At the bureau, Ali thanked the Hidden Ones for their assistance before Basim expressed remorse over their failure to save Beshi. The rebel leader claimed that Beshi's story was already being told throughout Baghdad, making him more free in death than he had been in life, and that freedom had a price, which Beshi had been more than willing to pay. He then wished the Hidden Ones good luck in their endeavors and left to continue leading his rebellion.
===Later activities===
Sometime following these events, Ali decided to organize an attack on the Caliphal Palace, believing it to be the perfect moment to strike due to the people of the Caliphate being divided over the current caliph's claim to the throne. Basim was made aware of this during a meeting with Roshan,Assassin's Creed: Mirage – The Head of the Snake and later took advantage of the assault to infiltrate the palace and find the royal concubine Qabiha, who was the Ra's Al-Af'a of the Order of the Ancients in Baghdad.Assassin's Creed: Mirage – The Serpent's Nest
During this time, Ali maintained his alliance with the Hidden Ones, albeit in a less direct manner. Rather than working directly with the brotherhood, he assigned them several assassination contracts on individuals who posed a threat to the Zanj rebellion, including a corrupt state official,Assassin's Creed: Mirage – The State Official a slave merchant,Assassin's Creed: Mirage – The Slave Merchant and a slave trapper.Assassin's Creed: Mirage – The Slave Trapper He also tasked them to rescue an informant captured by the Caliphate guards.Assassin's Creed: Mirage – The Informant All of these contracts would eventually be completed by Basim.Assassin's Creed: Mirage
==Personality and traits==
Ali was an arrogant man who believed himself a hero of prophecy, sent by Allah himself to liberate the Caliphate's enslaved population. He did not care how he achieved this goal and, as a result his methods were often very brutal, such as torturing a captive guard for information and killing him afterwards. He also tended to make very public displays out of his victories, hoping to rally more people to his cause. As a result, he often came into conflict with his second-in-command Beshi and his Hidden One allies, who disagreed with his methods.
Ali paid little mind to any criticism directed at his actions, which he justified as being the "price of war". Adding to this, he believed that the freedom he was fighting for required people to answer to no one but themselves, unlike the Hidden Ones, who considered the existence of certain societal rules necessary to prevent humanity from descending into chaos. Consequently, many Hidden Ones felt uneasy about working with Ali, most notably Roshan, who described him as a "dangerous and delusional fool."
That being said, Ali was not without his qualities, as he proved multiple times to be a charismatic leader who commanded complete loyalty from his men. Before or after each battle, he would typically rally them with a speech to re-assure them about the cause they were fighting for, which caused many rebels to look up to him. Despite their methods being at odds, he also maintained his alliance with the Hidden Ones and was willing to compromise with them to achieve their mutual goals.
==Behind the scenes==
Ali ibn Muhammad is a historical character introduced in the 2023 video game Assassin's Creed: Mirage, where he is voiced by the Egyptian actor Aladeen Tawfeek. His inclusion in Mirage was first revealed in an Arabhardware interview with Lead Producer Fabian Salomon, and was later officially confirmed by Narrative Director Sarah Beaulieu.
==Gallery==
ACMirage Ali ibn Muhammad Promotional Image 2.jpg|Promotional image of Ali
ACMir Jailbreak 16.png|Ali obtaining the book with information on Al-Ghul
ACMir A Delicate Alliance 1.png|Ali praising Basim in front of his rebels
ACMir A Delicate Alliance 5.png|Roshan declining Ali's help to eliminate Mas'ood
ACMir The Hunter 2.png|Ali and Basim arriving in Jarjaraya
ACMir The Hunter 23.png|Ali talking to Basim prior to the attack on Dogan's villa
ACMir Den of the Beast 1.png|Ali and Basim spying on Wasif and Governor Muhammad
ACMir Den of the Beast 34.png|Ali discovering the aftermath of Basim's assassination of Wasif
ACMir The Return 3.png|Ali telling Basim to meet him at the Sharqiyah bureau
==Appearances==
*Assassin's Creed: Mirage 
*Echoes of History 
==References==
Category:883 deaths
Category:Individuals
Category:Persians
Category:Poets
Category:Rebels
Category:Assassin allies