Efdhal had been as dangerous for the Kalif at Cairo through the immense power which he wielded in Egypt as for the Crusaders because of his hatred for them and the great energy with which he warred against them. He was cut down by two men who belonged to the Order. No one knew who had employed those two persons, whether the murderers were the tools of the Crusaders, or of the Kalif. At first suspicion fell on the Kalif. The son of Efdhal, Abu Ali, who was imprisoned immediately upon the death of his father, was set free after the assassination of the Kalif and given the office and titles of the vizir. But Assassins soon attacked and killed Abu Ali. It may be that all three murders were caused by the machinations of unknown enemies.
Egypt from this time on presents scenes of turmoil and disorder produced by great struggles between partisans of the Kalifs of Bagdad and Cairo, or in other words between the Abbasids and the Fatimids.
Mostershed the twenty-ninth Abbasid Kalif held power from 1118 to 1135, but his power was limited and his throne most insecure. When they made themselves guardians of the Kalifs at Bagdad the Seljuk Sultans took from them all marks of temporal power except the Friday prayers from the pulpit, and the coinage of money. When Massud became Sultan he immediately took [[224]]this last evidence of authority from the Kalif and appointed Friday prayers in his own name. This encroachment was tolerated by Mostershed but he did not accept it. Some time later a number of officers with the men under them left Massud and joined the Kalif’s army. These officers assured the Kalif that it would not be difficult to conquer Massud. Deceived by their statements Mostershed marched against the Sultan, but, deserted by his warriors in the first onset, he was captured by Massud and taken to Meragha. He was freed however on his promise to remain thereafter in Bagdad and pay a yearly tribute to the Sultan.
The Ismailians had hoped that this war would end the Abbasids; hence they were bitterly disappointed, and determined to take the work into their own hands at once and at all costs. When Massud left Mostershed in his camp near Meragha, the Assassins cut down the Kalif and his attendants. Then not satisfied with the murder, they mutilated the corpses by cutting off their ears and noses.
People had scarcely recovered from the terror caused by this slaughter of Mostershed when they learned that his successor Rashid had been killed. The Assassins had thought that by the murder of Mostershed they would bring about the ruin of the Kalifat. But hope deceived them. Rashid on taking the throne planned his own policy and determined to begin his rule by avenging the death of his father. He went first, however, on a journey to Ispahan, intending when he returned to deal with the Assassins. The Order ever alert and watchful discovered his purpose. Four active adherents followed Rashid, and at last when the chance came they stole into his tent and stabbed him. He was buried in Ispahan, and the warriors whom he had assembled to march against the Order scattered at once.
When news of the Kalif’s death came to the Grand Prior there was great joy in Alamut. For seven days and nights kettledrums sounded to announce the happy event to that whole mountain region. This murder brought alarm and terror to the Abbasid world. It is said that after the death of Rashid Abbasid Kalifs very rarely, if ever, showed themselves in public. Agents of the Order now went in crowds through Asia. Fortresses already held by them were strengthened while new ones were built or else purchased. In Syria they obtained Kadmos in 1134, Kahaf four [[225]]years later, and Massiat in 1140. The first and the second they bought, the third they took by the strong hand, with violence, and made it the center of their activity in Syria.
Kei Busurgomid had ruled the Assassin kingdom for fourteen years when, realizing that his last hour was near, he made his eldest son, Kia Mohammed, Grand Prior. The ruler at Alamut while increasing the power of the Order and extending its influence in every direction did not call himself sovereign or claim sovereign power. He ruled in the name of an invisible Imam of whom he called himself an apostle, an Imam who was to appear in the future and establish his rule over mankind. The real tenets of the Order were known only to the Grand Prior and to his chosen and tested associates who were bound to secrecy by the most dreadful oaths. The vast majority of people who were under the control of the chief of Alamut thought themselves devout followers of Mohammed the Prophet whose teachings they observed with the utmost fidelity. They looked upon the Grand Prior as an apostle whose wisdom was beyond question and obeyed his commands with willingness and the most implicit confidence. Those of his his disciples whom he employed as tools to carry out political schemes or private revenge requiring the removal of men by the use of the dagger thought they were working for a holy cause and removing enemies of their faith and their country. As the books and manuscripts of Hassan Ben Sabah and of those Alamut chiefs who succeeded him were destroyed at the coming of the Mongols it is difficult to obtain at this time much information regarding the internal government of the Assassin kingdom. Their real doctrine was carefully concealed and its supporters appeared only as upholders of Islam. This is shown by answers given the Sultan Sindjar who sent an envoy to Alamut to gain information concerning the doctrine of the Order.
“The Ismailian doctrine is as follows,” replied the Prior. “We believe in one God and recognize that alone as true wisdom which accords with His holy word and the commands of His Prophet, Mohammed. We obey these as given in the sacred Koran; we believe in all that the Prophet taught touching creation and the last day, rewards, punishments, the judgment and the resurrection. To believe thus is needful for salvation, and no man may give an opinion on God’s commands, or alter one letter in [[226]]them. These are the rules on which rests our religion, and if they please not the Sultan let him send a theologian to talk with us.”
In 1138 began the rule of Kia Mohammed, a man not only lacking in wit and ability but wholly untrained in the art of governing. The power of the Order had now reached its height. Its authority and influence were apparent in many countries of Asia. There was need of a strong man at Alamut. Nearly fifty years had passed since Hassan Ben Sabah began his career of murder; years during which all the teachings of Islam were observed with the greatest strictness by the common people who believed in their rulers and yielded ready obedience. But Kai Mohammed did not win the confidence of his subjects; they greatly disliked him. Hassan, his son, was a man of unlimited ambition, and early in life gained the love of the people and the reputation of having keen insight and much learning, a reputation which he used for the attainment of his own objects and not for the advancement of the Order. He knew and did not contradict the report which his partisans spread very carefully that he was the Imam whom Hassan Ben Sabah had promised. But the Prior of Alamut heard of his son’s action; of the opinions of the people and the report that Hassan was the long looked for Imam, and he declared his displeasure at once. “Hassan is my son,” said he. “I am not the Imam but one of his precursors; whoever thinks differently is an infidel!” and he ordered the immediate execution of two hundred and fifty of Hassan’s associates and partisans; others were banished. Hassan through fear for his own safety wrote against his adherents and supported his father. He avoided punishment thus by removing suspicion. Since he drank wine in secret, however, and practised many things which were forbidden, his adherents thought him surely the promised Imam whose coming was to end prohibition of all kinds.