I. B. FROM QIYĀMA TO HASAN III




Between 1124, the year of Hasan as-Sabbāh's death, and 1162, two of his successors ruled over the Alamūt fortress. Already before Hassan II took over the leadership in 1162, it was evident that he differed markedly from his predecessors. A learned man, Hasan II had studied philosophy and Sūfī ideas, and he seemed to harbor heretical views regarding the strict enforcement of the sharī'a.

About a year and a half after assuming the leadership, Hasan II incited a revolutionary event, the proclamation of the "Great Resurrection", the Qiyāma. On the day tradi- tionally commemorating the death of 'Ali, on the seventeenth of Ramadān 1164, Hasan II summoned the believers from his territories. His speech to the audience, however, contained a message previously unparalleled. ln the words of Rāshid al-Dīn. "He mounted the pulpit, which faced toward the Qibla... and declared to the comrades: someone had come to him in secret from the leader, that is the supposed imām, who was missing and nonexistent, and brought an address, for their enlightenment, setting forth the doctrine of their faith. Then from the top of the pulpit he presented a clear and eloquent epistle, and at the end of the addross he said, The imām of our time sends you blessings and compassion, calling you his specially selected servants. He has lifted from you the burden of the obligation of the sharī'a ...and has brought you the Resurrection." (3)

Hasan's declarations meant a thorough break with previous interpretations of the religion and its practices. Hasan, witnessing to the Imām who was hidden somewhere, was clearly the hujja. (Later, his son declared Hasan himself to have been the Imām, but at the time of Hasan's proclamations his speech had no such implications). The Qiyāma proclamation inaugurated the end of the period of the law, sharī'a. This startling, novel dogma had immense consequences for the believers. External law and its authoritative position was abolished: in the words of the unknown author of Haft Bāb-i Bū Jshāq, "The ties and chains of Sharī'at restrictions were taken from the necks of the faithful. (4) One may assume that not everybody feItready to give up the ethical and ritual foundations of their religious life. But Hasan reacted violently against disobedient ones who wanted none of this new liberty; as Rāshid al-Dīn reports: Hasan maintained both by implication and by clear declaration, that just as in the time of the Law if a man did not obey and worship but followed the rule of the Resurreclion that obedience and worship are spiritual, he was punished and stoned and put to death, so now in the time of the Resurrection if a man complied with the letter of the Law and persisted in physical worship and rites, it was obligatory that he be chastised and stoned and put to death. (5)

As an illuminating example, Hasan himself showed the disregard for the shari'a on the occasion of his declaration by flagrantly breaking the Ramadān fast that same early afternoon, inviting the people to eat with him. Shari'a had belonged to the epoch of the prophets, while the revelation of the law of truth, haqq, invoked a new era. Here, yet another pair of oppositional terms appears: the prophet-related sharia vs. the Imam-related revealed truth. As noted, after his death Hasan was understood to have been the Imām, in fact, as the last and most elevated of them all, the Qā'im. But as Qā'im he must have been the judge, too, since he inaugurated the Paradisial state, the new age. Hasan then surpassed the prophet Muhammad as well as all previous Imāms; in fact, the prophet came to be seen as just one of the six preceeding prophets who had foretold the coming of the Qā'im.

The proclamation also symbolized the end of taqiyya, the permission to maintain secrecy of one's religious identity. The Nizāris had virtually always taken such precautions. Times of persecution being more prevalent than periods of peace. Now, in the Resurrection, there was no need to conceal one's beliefs.

In addition, Hassan bin-Sabbāh's old doctrine of authoritative teaching (talim) acquired a more profound significance. According to the new interpretation the authoritative teaching was not derived from a temporal Imam any more, but from the Qā'im, the eternal Imām whose divine features completely outdid his human ones. The juridical implications of the presence of the Qā'im meant, furthermore, that the deadline for conversion had suddenly come into effect. Those who had not by now attained to the ranks of the Truthful, had lost their chance to be counted among the saved. In Paradise there were no places for 'potential' believers.

Less than two years after Hassan II's proclamation, however, he was murdered, and Muhammad II mounted the throne of Alamūt. Reigning for forty-four years, Muhammad confirmed and developed his father's teachings. The new lord of Alamūt declared himself to be the Imām, and, in contrast to the previous lack of concern for genealogies, Muhammad introduced Alid-descendancy for both himself and for his father. The Qiyāma continued.

But, during the long rule of Muhammad the Nizāris seemed to grow susceptible to the outside world. Apparently, the paradisial state of affairs could not prevail forever, not even at Alamut. The believers appeared to grow weary of spending thier Time reaping the furits of Paradise. And, obviously, the next Imām in line. Muhammad II's son, Hassan III, showed signs of disinterest in the Qiyāma; as Hodgson observes, "The heir to infallibility was turning to the world just proclaimed non- existent." (6) Introducing- his rule (from 1210-1221) Hassan III cursed his ancestors, burned books and made friends with former enemies of the Nizāris. ln addition, he intensified the military campaigns and imperialistic activities. Radically reinterpreting the situation, Hassan demanded adherence to the Shari"a, to the Sunnī shari'a, even, in Nizāri eyes the most base and blatant version of the ritual law. Punishment awaited those who did not comply immediately.

One may assume that many a Truthful one had trouble adapting to this turn-around. But, how did the people in the outside world react? After initial suspicion of this sudden turn of minds and events, leaders in the surrounding Moslem world finally recognized Hassan's new orthodoxy. To prove his sincerity, Hassan sent his mother on a pilgrimage to Mecca, letting her perform charitable works on the way. In addition, he invited Sunni learned men to the Alamūt library on a search- and-destroy mission against heretical books.

During the centuries from Hassan bin Sabbah's invasion of Alamūt in 1090 to the Mongol conquest in 1256, then, the Nizāris on Alamūt experienced extreme upheavals and reversaIs even within a single generation What was the logic behind these new interpretations and abrupt reinterpretations? Answers may be sought, first, in the Ismā'ili applications of the principle of external ys. internaI meaning, zāhir-bātin.



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