I’ve read various accounts of what happened when Hulegu came to the Nizari stronghold of Alamut. Some stories like to say that the Mongols came in there and really got the job done, unlike the weaklings who had tried before. It seems more likely that the Ismaili network was weakened already.
Imam Aladdin Muhammad III, who restored its Shi’ite theology, ruled for 25 years and tried to both expand Ismaili belief into Pakistan and form alliances with Sunnis and Christians to the west. He was a scholar in the Shi’a tradition and he even wrote a constitution for the Nizari state. But ultimately, the Nizaris never really controlled their territory and were too dependent on the loyalty of each of the 50 castles. Some of these misused tax money and Aladdin Muhammad III’s attempts to reform and punish them probably made one of them assassinate him in 1255.
Even before the Imam’s death, Hulegu had begun a campaign against Nizari castles. The new Imam, Rukn ad-Din Kurshah, faced a dwindled power base and Hulegu’s demand to submit to the Mongol yoke. Without strong alliances, Imam Kurshah saw no alternative, so he agreed to submit with reluctance. He was not at Alamut at this time, but at another fortress, Maymundiz.
Hulegu got frustrated with the slow pace of submission. Catapults surrounded Maymundiz and began to bombard. Kurshah could only wave the white flag again, seeking safety for his family. He came down from the fortress with his Grand Vizier and surrendered. Messages went out to the other Nizari fortresses that the Nizari state was no more. Mongols in other parts of Iran helped destroy other Nizari fortresses, Alamut among them.
Rukn ad-Din Kurshah lived as a Mongol hostage for about a year. When most of the Nizari fortresses had surrendered, he asked to travel to Karakorum and submit to the Great Khan in person. Hulegu allowed him to go, but when he arrived in Mongolia, Möngke Khan refused to receive him, saying two fortresses had yet to surrender. Kurshah’s value as a hostage had declined, with the campaign’s success. Somewhere in Mongolia, on the way back, his guards executed him on Möngke’s order. Mongolian royals executed each other by breaking the spine, but they executed other royalty by rolling them in a carpet (to catch the blood) and crushing or beating them.
Nizaris in Syria survived, but their political power dramatically declined without Iranian support. They became a semi-autonomous region within the Mamluk Empire. One son of Rukn ad-Din Kurshah survived, so he became the Imam. He lived his life in hiding and left succession to two sons, but both of their lines also lived in hiding for a long time. Nizaris in both Syria and Iran learned to hide their identities and govern themselves in a very decentralized way. Many Eastern Nizaris took on the identity of Sufis, who were more acceptable among Sunni Muslims.
Today, Nizarism is an association with adherents all over the world. They are still ruled by an Imam descended from one of Rukn ad-Din Kurshah’s grandsons. Since 1814, the Nizari Imam uses the Tatar-Mongol title “Agha Khan”. The Agha Khans have directed their followers to be very peaceful and focus on charitable projects. Nizaris don’t like to be associated with assassins, but they are also offended by the notion that their killers ever needed hashish to work up courage.
- A Short History of the Ismailis, Farhad Daftary