OVERVIEW

By 487/1094, Ḥasan Ṣabbāḥ, who preached the Fatimid da'wa within Saljuq dominions in Persia, emerged as the undisputed leader of the Persian Ismailis. Ḥasan already followed an independent policy against the Saljuq Turks. In fact, his seizure of the mountain fortress of Alamūt in northern Persia in 483/1090 signalled the initiation of an open revolt against the Saljuqs as well as the foundation of what was to become the Nizārī Ismaili state. It was under such circumstances that in al-Mustanṣir's succession dispute, Ḥasan upheld the cause of Nizār and severed his relations with the Fatimid regime and the da'wa headquarters in Cairo which had lent their support to al- Musta'lī. By this decision, Ḥasan Ṣabbāḥ had, in fact, founded the independent Nizārī da'wa on behalf of the Nizārī imam who then was inaccessible.

The Nizārī state, centred at Alamūt and with territories in different parts of Persia and Syria, lasted for some 166 years until it collapsed in 654/1256 under the onslaught of the Mongol hordes. This initial phase in Nizārī history was marked by numerous political vicissitudes. A capable organiser and dedicated to his cause, Ḥasan Ṣabbāḥ designed a revolutionary strategy aimed at uprooting the Saljuq Turks, whose rule was detested throughout Persia. He did not achieve his target, nor did the Saljuqs succeed in dislodging the Nizārīs from their mountain strongholds. But Ḥasan did manage to found and consolidate the independent Nizārī da'wa and state. By around 514/1120, a stalemate had in effect developed between the Nizārīs and the Saljuqs; and the Nizārī state survived despite the incessant hostilities of the Saljuqs and their successors until the arrival of the Mongols. At the same time, dā'īs dispatched from Alamūt organised an expanding Nizārī community in Syria. The Syrian Nizārīs, too, possessed a network of mountain fortresses, and pursued complex policies towards various Muslim powers as well as the Crusaders in politically fragmented Syria.

Ḥasan Ṣabbāḥ (d. 518/1124) and his next two successors at Alamūt ruled as dā'īs of Daylam and ḥujjas, or chief representatives, of the Nizārī imams who then were concealed and inaccessible to their followers. Subsequently, starting with Ḥasan ‘alā dhikrihi’l-salām, Nizārī imams emerged at Alamūt to take charge of the affairs of their state and community.