Esmaeelian , Kharazmshahan, and Mongol Attack

One of the branches of Islam is called Esmaeeli. From the beginning of Sultan Mahmoud’s reign, they were living in concealment because the Turkic rulers were very prejudice sunnies who believed that Esmaeelis are heretics. During the reign of Malek Shah, one of the Esmaeeli leaders called “Hassan-e Sabbah”, started a revolt (around 1080 AD), and because he wanted to protect his followers, he took refuge in a grand and out of reach fort in northern Iran. This fort was called “Alamoot”. Hassan orders his followers to capture the forts throughout the country, and when they did, he organized a system called “Esmaeeli brotherhood”, better known to westerners as “Assassins”. This organization was the first establishment to use murder and terror as a weapon to reach its goals.

Hassan and his followers made a country within a country. Esmaeeli forts and castles were independent from the government and they had a better and most successful economy than other parts of the kingdom, selling herbal medicines and armors. Although they were great in making herbal medicines, it is a myth that Esmaeelis were under drug use when they did their murders, it was only the power of Hassans will and their faith that guide them through their assignments.

Hassan’s successors continued to rule Iran until the Mongol attack, when the last Esmaeeli ruler, Khoor Shah, was executed by Hologu Khan. Another branch of Esmaeelis in Syria were active players in Crusades, where they killed Baldwin II of Jerusalem.

Kharzmashahans, the dynasty that ruled northern and eastern Iran after the Saljuqs, were also from Turkish descend. The last of Kharazmshah’s, Alaa ol-Din Mohammad, was living in 13th century. He is most famous for his encounters with the great Mongol conqueror, Ghenghis Khan. Ghenghis(pronounced “Chan-geez” in Iran), invaded Mohammad’s country in 1219. He and his successors sacked Iranian cities, killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people, and ruled the country for over three generations.

The most famous Mongol ruler in Iran, after Ghenghis himself, is Hologu Khan, the founder of Il-Khans. He became Mongol ruler of Iran in 1256, after his brother Guyuk was elected as great Khan of all Mongols. Hologu’s descendants ruled Iran until 1342, when their last ruler, Abu-Saeed was killed by his commander. Mongols accepted Islam, and defused in Iran’s culture, but they also left their influence in Iranian’s soul, eternal fear! An Iranian historian wrote something that is the best way to describe Mongol attack “They came, they killed, they sacked, they burned, and they took, and they left!”.