At last, our Sáid went to Egypt, and at that time Mantaśer[635] an Ismâílíah, sat upon the throne of the Khiláfet, and, being pleased with his sight, bestowed favors upon him, wherefore Hassan remained one year and a half under Montaśer’s protection. After this, a great enmity arose between him and Amír Aljíyúsh,[636] from this reason: Montaśer withdrew from his son Nazár the succession to his dignity, and issuing afterwards a second order, transferred it to his other son Ahmed surnamed Almistálí billah.[637] As a tumultuous concourse of the people took place on that account, Amír Aljíyúsh approved of the latter appointment, but Hassan said: “Respect is due to the first nomination;” and he invited the people to adhere to Nazár’s Imámate,[638] Amir Aljíyúsh, with the concurrence of some Umrá, represented to Montas er that Hassan, on account of this guilt, deserved to be imprisoned in the fort Damíat. Soon after this was done, a tower of the rampart of the fort, which was of a perfect strength, fell down, wherefore the people apprehended a still greater miracle from Hassan; at last the Amír Aljíyúsh sent him, with some people of the Franks, on board a ship bound to the West. The vessel was scarcely in the open sea, when a violent wind began to blow, the sea became boisterous, and the ship’s crew were agitated; but Hassan showed himself in that state of mind described by Amir Khusro:
“That thou mayst not be moved by every blast of wind,
Draw in thy skirts (collect thyself) like a mountain;
For man is but a handful of dust,
And life is a violent storm.”
On this occasion one of the voyagers asked Hassan: “What is the reason that I do not see thee disturbed?” Hassan answered: “It is because the Múláná, that is, the Imám, revealed to me that no misfortune will befall the passengers of the ship.” At the same moment, the tumult was calmed. On that account, love for Hassan gained the hearts of the whole company, and the vessel went to one of the towns of the Nazaréens. Hassan from thence embarked in another ship, and arrived at the frontier of Shám (Syria), where he landed. From thence he hastened to Haleb (Alep),[639] and then satisfied his desire to go to Baghdad, from which place he betook himself hastily to Khózistan, which country he left for Isfahán: in this way he travelled, concealed and clandestinely, in the countries of Irak and Azerbáíjan, and invited the people to the doctrine of the Ismáílíah, and to the Imámate of Nazár; he sent dáâis,[640] “missionaries,” to the fort Almút, and to other fastnesses and cities of Rúdbár and Kohistán, that they might invite the people to the true faith: in a short time, a great number of men adopted this religion. Afterwards, having fixed his abode in a place near Almút, he devoted himself entirely to a religious life, to rectitude and the submission to God, which was his very nature.[641] The inhabitants, having heard his followers, were converted to his doctrine, and in the month of Rajeb (December) in the year of the Hejira 484 (A. D. 1091), a troop of the inhabitants of Almút brought this personage into the fort.[642] Finally, when he had entered the fort, a chief, Alí Mahdî by name, who, under the authority of Sultan Malik shah, was governor of this province, found himself bereft of power and was obliged to submit. The adversaries of the Ismâlíah say, that one day Alí Mahdî asserted, “deception in law is allowable,” and gave an account of some deceptions in religious law; but our Sáid declared that, the centre of law being rectitude, deception is not permitted, and all those who practise deception, shall be brought to account for it by God.
Some time after it, Hassan said one day to Mahdi: “Sell to me for three thousand dinars as much of the ground of this fort as a cow-skin will be able to embrace.” Mahdi, having agreed to the bargain, our Sâid made the cow-skin into thin stripes, which he joined together and surrounded the whole fort. He then wrote an order to the Ráis Mazafer, who held a command at the foot of the mountains of Dámâan, and was a follower of his doctrine, to that effect: “The Ráis Mazafer (may God Almighty guard him!) shall pay to Alí Mahdî three thousand dinars, as the price of the fort Almút. Blessing upon the prophet and his descendants; God suffices to us, and it is good to trust our interests to him.”
Having written this, he delivered it to Mahdi, and brought him out of the fort. The latter, some time after, pressed by indigence, presented the writ to the Râis Mazafer, and received three thousand dinars in gold.
Thus at last the affairs of our Sáid were carried, after many difficulties, to the possession of the castle Almút, and in a short time the whole country of Rúdbár and Kohistan fell into his fortunate hands; within thirty and six years, he rose to great prosperity and power. After him seven of his followers held the government, and the duration of the prosperity of this sect was eighty and one years.[643] Our Sáid strove at perfection of rectitude and piety, and the zeal of this lord in upholding the law was carried to such a degree, that he drove out of the fort an individual who played the flute, and in spite of the intercessions of many persons in his favor, never gave him entrance again. During the time of his government, he went no more than twice to sit upon the terrace of his house, and never was seen out of the fort, always occupied with the direction of the affairs of the state and of religion. In his time the fedáyís (his devoted followers) destroyed a great number of the great and noble adversaries of his sect.[644] At last death transported our Sáid from this world of vexations to the gardens of paradise, in the fourth month of the year (September, the beginning of autumn) of the Hejira 518[645] (A. D. 1124-5).
His appointed successor was Kia Buzerk umíd.