Nevertheless, scarcely had his reign begun, than factions arose on all sides, whose aim it was to deprive him of the sceptre. Ali had contributed to this state of things, by disdaining the arts of policy, and by offending by refusals and even by disgraces, some of the officers of Mahomet, whose credit was great. One of these factious persons, Moaviah, an ambitious and powerful rival, aided by the cunning of Ibn-el-Ass, the famous conqueror of Egypt, sustained by Ayesha, the widow of Mahomet, who could not pardon the husband of Fatima, for having suspected her conjugal fidelity, and profiting skilfully by the faults of Ali, succeeded at length in wresting an authority from him whose legitimacy could not be contested; at the same time terminated by murder the course of a life which was about, probably, to end in humiliation and troubles of all kinds. His two sons experienced a fate not in any way more fortunate; they perished, victims of the ambition of the Ommiades, a house of which Moaviah was the first prince.
From that time there existed in the Mussulman empire two parties, whose opposition had religion for its basis, and which exist even at the present day:[142] these are the Sunnites and the Chütes. The first recognised the legitimacy of the succession in the persons of Abou-Bekr, Omar, and Othman, and placed Ali in the same rank with these three caliphs. The second, on the contrary, treat the first vicars of Mahomet as usurpers, and maintain that Ali was his only and veritable successor.
The numbers of the partisans of Ali became very great, particularly in Persia; but these partisans were not long before they themselves were divided into several parties, united in their veneration for Ali and his posterity, but divided with regard to the prerogatives they attached to this noble origin, and to the branch which possessed the rights of the Imamat, that is to say, the spiritual and temporal power. Of all the sects to which this difference of opinions gave birth, the most powerful was that of the Ismaëlians. It was thus called because it pretended that the dignity of Imaun had been transmitted by an uninterrupted line of the descendants of Ali, to a prince named Ismaël, and that after his death the Imamat had reposed upon persons unknown to men, up to the moment at which the triumph of the house of Ali was to be effected; to this sect belonged the Carmates and the Fatimite caliphs, who wrested Egypt and Syria from the Abasside caliphs of Bagdad, after having laid the foundation of their power in Africa, and formed a great empire, to the period when Saladin overturned their throne to erect one for a descendant of Abbas. But as the Fatimites acknowledged no other legitimate authority but their own, they employed a great number of missionaries in spreading their dogmas, and gaining proselytes in secret.
Such is, Monsieur, the sketch I have deemed it necessary to make, before proceeding with the founder of the sect which is the object of my letter.
This founder was named Hassan, son of Sabbah. He was born in the environs of Thous, a city of Korassan, celebrated for having given birth to several great men. His father lived in the practices of a mortified life and of an austere doctrine, but he followed in secret the sect of the Rafedhites, or the partisans of Ali. To divert, however, all suspicion from his opinions, he intrusted the education of his son to a famous doctor, Movaffeceddin, of Nichapour, who was a virtuous Sunnite. He pretended to an Arabian origin, and gave himself out as descended from the family of Sabbah-Homairi; but this was a fable to which no one gave faith, and it was very well known that his ancestors inhabited some villages in the dependence of Thous.
Hassan speaks thus of his first years of conversion to the sect of the Ismaëlians:—“From the age of seven years I laboured to acquire knowledge and talents. I made, as my fathers had done, profession of that sect of Chütes who recognise the succession of the twelve Imauns.
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I had occasion to become acquainted with a refik, named Amireh-Zanab, and a most intimate friendship grew up between us. I believed that the dogmas and opinions of the Ismaëlians were only those of philosophers, and I imagined that the sovereign of Egypt (that is to say, the Fatimite caliph) was a sectary of this philosophy. This persuasion engaged me in warm discussions with Amireh; whenever he wished to defend his own doctrines, we had disputes and controversies respecting the dogmas of them. It was in vain for him to attack the doctrines of my sect, I did not yield at all to his arguments, and yet he insensibly made an impression on my mind. Whilst things were in this state we separated, and I was afflicted with a long illness. I then said inwardly to myself: “The doctrine of the Ismaëlians is conformable with truth, and it is only obstinacy that prevents me from adhering to it. If then, as God forbid! the fatal moment is come for me, I shall die without having embraced the truth.” I was, however, restored to health, and soon after made acquaintance with another Ismaëlian, named Abou-Nedjm-Sanadj. I questioned him upon the true system of Ismaëlian belief: he explained it to me clearly, and I very soon penetrated all the depths of it. I afterwards met with an Ismaëlian Dai, named Moumen, to whom the cheik Abdelmelik-ben-Attach, dai of Irac, had given permission to exercise the functions of missionary. I informed him of the wish I had to make my profession of faith to him, and he acceded to my request. At the time that the cheik Abdelmelek came to Rey, I accompanied him, and my conduct having pleased him, he confided to me the ministry of a dai. You must go into Egypt,’ said he, in order to render your homage to the Imaun Mostanser, and may that be a blessing to you!’ Mostanser-billah, a descendant of Ali, then occupied the caliphat of Egypt and the Imamat. When, therefore, the cheik left Rey for Ispahan, I set out for Egypt.”
Hassan was received in Egypt with great distinction, for the fame of his merit had preceded him thither, and the Imaun Mostanser admitted him to the most familiar intimacy. This high degree of favour ruined him. The courtiers, jealous of his credit, laboured to procure his disgrace, and a difference having arisen between him and the celebrated Bedr-Al-djemali, generalissimo of the caliph’s troops, Hassan succumbed. His enemies seized him and threw him, with some Franks, into a vessel about to sail to Africa. Scarcely was he on the sea when a horrible tempest arose and placed the ship in great danger; all the passengers were overcome by terror, expecting nothing but death; Hassan alone preserved his self-possession and tranquillity. When interrogated upon this extraordinary conduct, “Our lord,” answered he, “has promised me that no harm should happen to us;” and, in effect, at the end of a short time, the sea resumed its calm. The cry of miracle soon arose, and Hassan made so many disciples of the companions of his voyage. Another time, the vessel was driven into the port of a Christian city, the governor of which allowed our pious doctor to reimbark, after having treated him with hospitality. At length, the vessel being cast upon the coast of Syria, Hassan abandoned it, and directed his course towards Persia, by land. He passed through Aleppo and Bagdad, and went from thence to Konsistan, Ispahan, Yezd, and Carmania, preaching his doctrine everywhere. From Carmania he returned to Ispahan, where he sojourned more than four months, at the end of which he set out for Konsistan. He remained here three months, and then went to Damegan, where he dwelt for three years, making a great number of proselytes. Hassan, after various other wanderings, took possession of Altamont, a strong castle, situated in the Roudbard, a country near Casbin. Mirkhond, a Persian historian, relates, that he proposed to Mehdi, a descendant of Ali, who possessed this place, to purchase as much land of him as could be comprised within the skin of an ox, for the sum of 3,000 dinars. Mehdi having consented to this bargain, Hassan took the skin of an ox, of which he made thongs, and tying these together, passed the line all round the castle. It was by means of this trick that he made himself master of Altamont, which afterwards became the central point of the power of the Ismaëlians.
This power, by the ability and activity of Hassan, made a rapid progress; it was already established throughout the province of Roudbar, in which his sectaries built a number of strong castles; nobody was talked of in Persia but Hassan, who threatened to bring the whole of that great country under his domination. Melik-chah, alarmed at what he heard, ordered one of his generals to destroy Hassan and his partisans, and to raze his fortresses; but in vain; and death overtook Melik-chah before his troops had obtained the least advantage.