A couple weeks ago I talked a bit about the origin of the English word "thug".  I want to again take apart a word that we use quite frequently (although hopefully not TOO often) that also has its roots in an older "gang".  The words "assassinate" and "assassin" are derived from a group operating in the Near and Middle East throughout the Crusades, reaching their peak during the Third Crusade.

The word "Assassin", for which the group was named, is derived from either "Hashshashiin" meaning "hash users" or "Hassasiin" meaning "followers of Hassan".  It is quite possible that both terms were in fact used.  The assassins were followers of a man named Hassan i-Sabbah.  Hassan was the ideological heir of a splinter group of Shi'a Islam based out of Cairo.  When the vizir of the Fatimid Empire in Cairo staged a palace coup and installed the younger son of the Caliph as head of the Empire, skipping over Nizar, the eldest son, Nizar and his followers moved to Alexandria.  After Nizar was executed, his followers, called Nizaris, went with Hassan to the area now known as Syria and established bases in the towns of Alamut and Masyaf.  This is where the Nizaris became the Assassins.  As a group, the Assassins knew that they could never be large enough to mount a full-scale offensive against their enemies (among whom were the Seljuk Turks, the Saracens, and the Knights Templar).  Instead, they took on a method of stealthily killing and intimidating high profile targets.  The Assassins were a very secret order and had members hidden in all levels of society in many large cities throughout the region.  Often, the Assassins did not even have to kill their target.  A well-guarded vizier who wakes up to see an Assassins dagger on his pillow is unlikely to be convinced of the invincibility of his position.  Members of the group were also believed to be completely unafraid of death.  In one story passed down, supposedly from Marco Polo, Hassan asked an Assassin to leap from the top tower of a fortress in Masyaf in order to prove to an observer the loyalty of his order.  The Assassin made the leap onto the rocks below without a moment's hesitation.  The term "hash user" was probably a derogatory term used by the enemies of the Assassins.  It is believed, however, that when new members were initiated into the order, they were given a strong draught that may have contained opiates, waking up in a lush garden surrounded by a feast and beautiful women.  The leaders would use this method as an illustration of the experience of death and of heaven.  Followers, in theory, would cease to fear death if they believed this to be what the experience would consist of.  The Assassins political ideology meant primarily trying to maintain a balance between varying groups in the region.  Assassinations were often performed to this end, helping to keep that balance.

While no longer active as a practicing political sect, having been disolved by Mamluk invaders, the Assassins continue to exist as Shia Imami Isma'ili Muslims.  Legend speaks of the group re-emerging upon the return of the 9th Imam, it is unlikely, however, that they remain in existence in any organized fashion.