Salmān ibn Muḥammad al-Baṣrī, the Bāṭinī, head of the Nizari daʿwa.

He was cultured and accomplished, conversant with philosophy and the chronicles of peoples, and endowed with daring, craftiness, guile, and deep insight. One of his couriers, Saʿd al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Karīm, relates: “Shaykh Sinān said, ‘I travelled to Syria, passed through Aleppo, and performed the ʿAṣr prayer at a shrine outside Bāb al-Jinān. There I found an elderly shaykh and asked him, “Where is the shaykh from?” He replied, “I am one of Aleppo’s youths.”

“I then said: The Nizari daʿwa (1) is ascribed to Nizār, son of the Fāṭimid caliph al-Mustansir (2). His father appointed him heir-apparent (3) and sent out missionaries on his behalf. Among them was Ṣabbāḥ, forefather of the lords of Alamut—one of the devils in human form, dignified in bearing, silver-tongued (4), affecting humility and asceticism—and he gathered followers.

“He entered Syria and the coastal districts around the year 480 AH, but his design did not come to fruition. He therefore moved on to Persia and addressed the mute and the deaf (5); many answered his call. He stripped them of their religion, refashioned them, and their numbers swelled. They made the dagger their trade and set upon the notables.

“Next he turned to the fortress of Alamut in the district of Qazwin—an impregnable stronghold held by brave yet ignorant and destitute men. He told them, ‘We are but a company of devout paupers…’”