Following his expulsion from Egypt over his support for
Nizar ibn al-Mustansir, Hassan-i Sabbah found that his co-religionists, the Isma'ilis, were scattered throughout Persia, with a strong presence in the northern and eastern regions, particularly in Daylaman,
Khorasan and
Quhistan. The Ismailis and other occupied peoples of Iran held shared resentment for the ruling
Seljuks, who had divided the country's farmland into
iqtā’ (fiefs) and levied heavy taxes upon the citizens living therein. The Seljuq
amirs (independent rulers) usually held full jurisdiction and control over the districts they administered. Meanwhile, Persian artisans, craftsmen and lower classes grew increasingly dissatisfied with the Seljuq policies and heavy taxes. The early part of Muhammad's rule saw a continued low level of conflict, enabling the Nizaris to acquire and construct a number of fortresses in the
Qumis and Rudbar regions, including the castles of Sa’adat-kuh, Mubarak-kuh, and Firuz-kuh. Only two years after his accession, the Imam Hasan, apparently conducted a ceremony known as
qiyama (resurrection) at the grounds of the
castle of
Alamut, whereby the Imam would once again become visible to his community of followers in and outside of the
Nizārī Ismā'īlī state. Given
Juvayni's polemical aims, and the fact that he burned the
Ismā'īlī libraries which may have offered much more reliable testimony about the history, scholars have been dubious about his narrative but are forced to rely on it given the absence of alternative sources. Fortunately, descriptions of this event are also preserved in
Rashid al-Din’s narrative and recounted in the Haft Bab-i Abi Ishaq, an Ismaili book of the 15th century. However, these are either based on Juvayni, or don't go into great detail. No contemporary Ismaili account of the events has survived.
Ismaili version of the Alamut history What little we know about the Imamate at Alamut is narrated to us by one of the greatest detractors of the Ismailis, Juvayni. A Sunni Muslim scholar, Juvayni was serving Mongol patrons. While he then could not openly celebrate the Mongol victories over other Muslim rulers, the Mongol victory over the Nizari Ismailis, who Juvayni considered heretics and “as vile as dogs” became the focus of his work about Mongol invasions. According to the Ismaili version of the events, in the year following the death of the Imam-Caliph
al-Mustansir, a
qadi (judge) by the name of Abul Hasan Sa'idi travelled from Egypt to Alamut, taking with him
Imam Nizar’s youngest
son, who was known as al-Hadi.
The Mongol invasion and collapse of the Nizari Ismaili state (1256), depicted in the Jami' al-tawarikh'' by
Rashid-al-Din Hamadani Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Département des Manuscrits, Division Orientale. The expansion of Mongol power across Western Asia depended upon the conquest of the Islamic lands, the complete seizure of which would be impossible without dismantling the ardent Nizari Ismaili state. "Khitayan" meant Chinese and it was a type of arcuballista, deployed in 1256 under Hulagu's command. Stones were knocked off the castle and the bolts "burnt" a great number of the Assassins. They could fire a distance around 2,500 paces. The device was described as an ''ox's bow''. Pitch which was lit on fire was applied to the bolts of the weapon before firing. Another historian thinks that instead gunpowder might have been strapped onto the bolts which caused the burns during the battle recorded by Juvayini.
After the Mongol invasion It was assumed that with the initial siege of the Alamut Castle in 1256 the Nizari Ismaili presence in the area would have been obliterated. Though the damage was extensive, Nizari forces were able to recapture the Castle in 1275. Evidence of another wave of destruction in the
Safavid period has been found by archaeological studies in 2004 led by Hamideh Chubak. Further evidence suggests another Afghan attack on the castle. ==Defense and military tactics==