Hassan ibn Sabbah planned to take possession of the fortress, in which, with his adepts, he could hide from the persecution of the Seljukids and prepare forces for further struggle. He stopped his choice on the fortress of Alamut, located not far from the rich trading city of Qazvin, located in Western Persia, in the same mountainous area of Deilem, in which his sermons were such a success.
Dais chose Alamut for three reasons.
First, the Alamut fortress was located at a sufficient distance from the capital of the Seljuk sultans, Isfahan.
Secondly, many adherents of the Ishmaeli doctrine lived in the villages surrounding the Alamut fortress;
Thirdly, Alamut was truly an impregnable stronghold.
This fortress, which later became the most important fortification of the Nizari order, was erected on a high cliff near one of the peaks of the western Elburs (the sacred mountain of the ancient Aryans), rising 3689 meters above sea level, stood in an inaccessible mountain valley, the cliffs on the sides of which were additional fortifications. The fortress itself saddled a sheer cliff more than 200 meters high, which rose in the center of the valley, where there were several villages inhabited by newly converted Ishmaelites. There was a fresh water source in the fortress.
It was almost impossible to take by storm Alamut, guarded by even a small garrison. According to the Iranian chronicler Rashid ad-din Fazlullah ibn Abu al-Khair Ali Hamadani (usually referred to in abbreviated form as Rashid ad-din Fazlullah Hamadani), the author of the famous "Collection of Chronicles" ("Jami at-tavarih"), the Mongolian khan of fortress Hulagu after exhausted by the long siege of the Nizari Mongol-Tatars in 1256, went upstairs to inspect Alamut and "from the greatness of that mountain bit his finger of amazement with his teeth" (Rashid ad-din Fazlullah Hamadani. Jami at-tavarikh, III, 37, M.-L., 1946).
But all this happened much later, but so far the year 1090 from the birth of Christ was in the yard.
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First of all, the Nizari began to process the commandant of the Alavi fortress. At the same time, the assistant to Hassan ibn Sabbah engaged in secret, but very active agitation among the rank and file soldiers of the garrison.
The commandant of Alamut, who heroically tried to remain faithful to the oath, hesitated for some time, but when he was promised 3000 full-weight gold dinars and the right to free exit from the fortress, he decided to surrender Alamut. It was rightly said in the Gospel: "You cannot serve God and mammon" …
Among the Nizari, admitted to the fortress by the commandant who could not resist the temptation of wealth, was Ghassan ibn Sabbah himself, disguised as a poor artisan - a quiet, modest, laconic man.
He gave the commandant a note, according to which he was to receive 3000 dinars in gold in the city of Damagan from a wealthy merchant (by an amazing coincidence, he turned out to be a secret Nizari). Alavi doubted that according to the note of such a "low man" he would be paid such a colossal amount, But the modest artisan only smiled and reassured the commandant. "Little faithful, why did you doubt …"
Alawi was the last person on Earth who saw Hassan ibn Sabbah disguised, hiding, persecuted and wary. From now on, he became "the king of the mountain."
The money-loving commandant, meanwhile, went to the trading city of Damagan. The merchant, to whom Hassan directed him, led Alavi into the back room of his house, sent the servants away and asked to see a note.
Recognizing the handwriting of Hassan ibn Sabbah, the merchant reverently kissed the note, put it to his forehead according to the general Muslim custom and … a few minutes later handed the guest a weighty bag with 3000 gold dinars.
There is, however, another version of the seizure of Alamut, according to which seven Nizari "Dais" (including Hassan ibn Sabbah) got into the confidence of the commandant of the fortress, forcibly twisted him when he treated them (thereby committing an outrageous crime in terms of Muslim hospitality, raising their hand against the hospitable host, who broke bread with the guests, that is, shared a meal with them), and let their supporters into the fortress.
The news of the fall of Alamut alarmed Sultan Malik Shah. He was even more worried by the news that the Nizari had herded local farmers to build other fortresses in the vicinity of Alamut.
As the Iranian chronicler dispassionately reported, "heeding good and evil with indifference":
“Having conquered Alamut, Hassan strained all his forces to seize the districts adjacent to Alamut, or places close to it. He mastered them by deceiving them with his preaching. As for those places where they were not deceived by his speeches, he took possession of them with murder, war and bloodshed. Wherever he found a cliff suitable for strengthening, he laid the foundation of the fortress."
Hassan ibn Sabbah behaved completely incomprehensible to those in power (both spiritual and secular). Nobody has behaved like that in the Islamic world. Usually the prophets went from city to city, hiding from the authorities, and preached in secret. This one was sitting in an impregnable mountain fortress and from the height of its formidable towers openly challenged all the rulers of the earth. From all over, not only the Seljuk sultanate, but the entire immense Islamic world, more and more supporters flocked to him. Leaving for Alamut, man became beyond the control of the kings of the earth. As for his afterlife bliss in a better world, Hassan ibn Sabbah took care of this entirely.
It should not be forgotten that for a man of the Middle Ages (and not only a Muslim!), Heaven and hell were no less real concepts than the earthly reality surrounding him.
Amir (which means in Arabic "prince", "prince", "chief" - this title among the Türks corresponds to the more familiar word "emir" for our ear), who ruled the region in which Ghassan ibn Sabbah acted, the first of the Seljuk rulers of Iran set out on a campaign to eliminate the "hornets' nest" of the accursed Nizari. The campaign seemed to the Emir an easy matter: he had to deal only with a handful of heretic deceivers who had taken possession of the fortress by cunning.
Amir burned the villages in the valley, executed the Nizari who fell into the hands of his soldiers, and surrounded the fortress with a tight siege ring.
Hassan ibn Sabbah realized too late what a mistake he had made. He did not expect that the Amir would be so prompt, and did not stock up on grain on time. And now he had nothing to feed the garrison and the refugees who filled the fortress.
Then the fearless "dais" gathered the defenders of Alamut and informed them that a hidden imam had come to him last night and ordered the fortress not to surrender in any case. And such was the power of Ghassan ibn Sabbah's conviction that the hermetically cut off Nizari all as one swore to die, but not to yield to the enemy, Amir knew absolutely nothing about the situation in the fortress. In the besieged Alamut there was not a single traitor who would have informed him of this. Three days later he lost patience, lifted the siege and led his detachment out of the valley.
The next severe test fell to the lot of Ghassan ibn Sabbah exactly one year later. This time the Seljuk Sultan Malik Shah himself took up the matter. He sent his general at the head of a strong army, ordering him not to return until he uprooted the sprout of the infection.
Seljuk troops approached Alamut in March. Sowing work was just beginning in the fields. The Alamut Valley was devastated by the war. During the winter, Ghassan ibn Sabbah did not manage to accumulate the reserves necessary for the survival of the garrison and refugees in the besieged fortress. In addition, few people remained with him in the fortress - no more than 70 people capable of holding weapons in their hands. The siege of Alamut by the Seljuks lasted three long months. The besieged Nizari ate quite a bit, so as not to starve to death, and fought the besiegers.
When the besieged had no doubts that it was absolutely impossible to withstand the siege further, Ghassan ibn Sabbah secretly, on a stormy night, lowered one of the young guys on a rope, and he, safely passing the enemy's posts, got out of the valley. The next day, he was already in the center of the Deilem region - the city of Qazvin, where the local Nizari were anxiously awaiting news.
Then a general mobilization of all the Nizari in the city was carried out. In total, there were more than 300 people, fanatical and determined, ready to win or die for the glory of the hidden imam and his prophet.
The Nizari force entered the Alamut Valley at dusk. The Ishmaelites secretly advanced towards Alamut along the steep, wooded slopes, in complete silence, trying not to rattle their weapons. Wait for the night. The garrison of the besieged fortress had already been warned by the scouts who had penetrated into it from outside that help was near, and prepared for a sortie.
Hassan ibn Sabbah remained in his cell, which was built especially for him when Alamut was captured. The walls of this cell were as thick as the outer fortress wall. Only a small door led into the cell. A second door was cut into the fortress wall, and behind the door there was a small terrace - a ledge hanging at a height of 200 meters. The leader could step onto the ledge. From there, many farsangs (fields) opened a view of the valley over which Alamut ruled, None of the Nizari, who seemed to go to certain death, doubted that in the transcendental cell of his "eagle's nest" Ghassan ibn Sabbah talked with the hidden imam who was supposed to protect the champions of the true faith.
The sleepy Seljuk sentries were removed quickly and silently. They did not even have time to raise the alarm, And then a merciless, bloody massacre began. In complete darkness, stunned, taken by surprise, not understanding what was happening, the Seljuk warriors caught between two fires, caught under a double, combined blow of the Nizari (both from the side of the valley and from the side of Alamut), rushed between the camp tents. The horses whinnied wildly, the wounded screamed desperately, the carts creaked, overturning. The screams and clang of the crossing blades even flew up to the sky-high cell of Hassan ibn Sabbah.
The rout was complete. Only a small part of the Seljuk Turks taken by surprise by the Nizari were able to escape from the valley.
Rumors spread throughout the East: a mysterious prophet, apparently chosen by Allah himself to perform great deeds, settled in an impregnable mountain fortress. And no matter how tried and tested rati the Seljuk sultan sent against him, nothing and nothing could defeat him. Hassan was already called the Mountain Elder, although he was not at all old.
In subsequent years, the supporters of Ghassan ibn Sabbah managed to capture (most often without a fight, by cunning or bribery, like Alamut) or induce a number of fortresses in the Rudbar and Kumis valleys, several cities in the Kuhistan region, and also several heavily fortified castles - "ribats" - in the west, in the mountainous regions of Lebanon and Syria.
The Nizari of the Mountain Elder went down in history primarily as suicide terrorists. But Ghassan ibn Sabbah did not immediately come to the tactics of using suicide terrorists. There is a legend according to which he made such a decision due to the urgent need to kill the Wazir Nizam al-Mulk.
From the book: "Military Spiritual Orders of the East". Akunov Wolfgang