Besides his skill in propaganda, he was a great military leader and was able to capture many important places in Adharbayjan and Syria. He also seized the castle of al-Firdaws in Quhistan where he founded a school for the Ismailis from which more than 30 000 are said to have graduated; this castle had been built be one of the Saljuq Sultans. In the early years of the sixth century A.H., his Da'is took possession of a number of castles in Syria, among them al-Qadmus and Banyas, and in Persia Shirkuh, Qa'in and others. During his life, many Persian princes embraces Ismailism and when the Saljuq Malik Shah saw that Ismailism had spread through the "length and breadth" of the country, he feared for his sovereignty and began warring against the Ismailis. The war continued under Malik Shah's successors and in the course of it Abd al-Malik ibn Attash met his death.