By The following excerpts from an award winning book contain rare insights into the mysterious world of the archetypal terrorist of all times and the kind of ideological spell that drives his followers. These selected quotes from the book reveal a spine-tingling picture of a wicked movement and its fanatically single-minded leader.
The book describes the chosen fortress of this exiled dissident as:
“… a rock six thousand feet high in a countryside of bare mountains, forgotten lakes, sheer cliffs and narrow passes. The greatest army could only reach it in single file and the most powerful catapults could not graze its walls. The Shahrud River, nicknamed the ‘mad river’, dominated the mountains, swelling up in springtime with the melted snow of the Elburz mountains and snatching up trees and stones as it sped down its course. Woe to him who dared approach it! Woe to the army who dared pitch camp on its banks.”
It speaks of the leader’s creed:
“Rather than try and convert princes, he would forge a fearsome instrument of war which would bear no resemblance to anything which mankind had known…”
He would brainwash his disciples that:
“It is not enough that we kill our enemies. We are not murderers but executioners. We must act in public as an example. By killing one man, we terrorise a hundred thousand. However, it is not enough to execute and terrorise, we must also know how to die, for if, by killing, we discourage our enemies from undertaking any action against us, by dying in the most courageous fashion, we force the masses to admire us, and from their midst men will come to join us. Dying is more important than killing. We kill to defend ourselves, but we die to convert, and to conquer. Conquering is the aim we are seeking; defending ourselves is only a means thereto.”
The book depicts the deeds of his men:
“So unreal were the scenes that it was often said that [his] men were drugged. How otherwise could it be explained that they went to their deaths with a smile? … However, we must go by the evidence, in spite of the tenacity and allure of tradition: [they] had no drug other than straightforward faith, which was constantly reinforced by the intense instruction, the most efficient organisation and the strictest apportionment of tasks.
It reflects on the source of his terror:
“He had, one could say, the ultimate defensive weapon. With his devoted killers, he also possessed the ultimate offensive weapon. How can precautions be taken against a man intent on dying? All protection is based upon dissuasion, and we know that important [targets] are surrounded by an imposing guard whose role is to make any potential attacker fear inevitable death. But what if the attacker is not afraid of dying, and has been convinced that martyrdom is a short-cut to paradise? What if he has imprinted in his mind the words of the Preacher: ‘You are not made for this world, but for the next. Can a fish be afraid if someone threatens to throw it into the sea?’ “
It gives glimpses from his world:
“… having forged the most perfect tools of war imaginable, [he] installed himself in his fortress and never left it again. … Morning and evening he was there, sitting cross legged on a mat which his body had worn out but which he never wished to change or have repaired. He taught, he wrote, he set his killers on to his enemies, and, five times a day he prayed on the same mat along with whoever was visiting him at the time.”
It provides insights into his society:
“What reign is worse than that of militant virtue? The Supreme Preacher wanted to regulate every second of his adherents’ lives. He proscribed all musical instruments; if he discovered the smallest flute he would break it in public and throw it into the flames; the transgressor was put in irons and given a good whipping before being expelled from the community.”
It tells of his self-inflicted solitude:
“To loose himself from the world, create a void around his person, surround himself with walls of stone and fear – such seems to have been [his] demented dream. However, this void started to stifle him. The most powerful kings have jesters or jovial companions to lighten the oppressive atmosphere which surrounds them. The man with the bulging eyes was incurably alone, walled up in his fortress, shut up in his house, closed to himself. He had no one to talk to, only docile subjects, dumb servants and awestruck disciples.”
The book also mentions the roots of the name of his organisation:
“… [he] likes to call his disciples Assassiyun, meaning people who are faithful to the Assass, the ‘foundation’ of the faith.”
The word ‘foundation’ can also mean the ‘base’, or in Arabic, Al Qai’da.
However, the leader of this cult of trained killers is not Ousama bin Laden. He is Hasan bin Sabbah, the founder of the infamous Ismaili sect of the Assassins. He lived not in the 21st century but in the 11th and 12th centuries. The fortress of Alamut from which he reigned was not in Afghanistan, but very nearby in the equally unconquerable mountains of Persia, south of the Caspian sea. The above excerpts are from the spell-binding historical novel by Amin Malouf, “Samarkand,” published in 1992.
Although little is known about the sect of the Assassins – since their books and records were destroyed by Hulagu when Alamut finally fell to his Mongol armies in 1256, two years before he continued eastwards to destroy the Islamic Caliphate in Baghdad – we at least know that this enigmatic movement terrorised the Muslim world for nearly two centuries, also by proclaiming the most pious application of faith. But we also know that there are many significant contrasts between the beliefs, motives and methods of that ancient sect and our new breed of executioners. Indeed, the former wielded much more power in their days and instilled far greater fear in their enemies.
Nevertheless, the eerie parallels between the two ought to give food for thought for those intent on uprooting the modern version of this brand of terror. One thing is certain: it cannot be done by merely taking out one man.
