This story brought together the wazir Nizam al-Mulk, the poet Omar Khayyam and Hasan-i Sabbah in a childhood pact of blood brothers that the successful one amongst them would aid the others and that a betrayal of this by the Nizam led Hasan to convert to Ismailism.
The Conversions of Hasan-i Sabbah by Hajiani, Shiraz
Ilkhanid era chronicles of Juvayni (d. 1283), Rashid al-Din (d. 1318) and Kashani (d. ca 1337) record three very different narratives of Hasan-i Sabbah’s (r. 1090-1124) conversion to Ismailism. One of these accounts embedded in the story of the famed “three school fellows” is found only in the work of the last two historians. This story brought together the wazir Nizam al-Mulk (d. 1092), the poet Omar Khayyam (d. 1131) and Hasan-i Sabbah in a childhood pact of blood brothers that the successful one amongst them would aid the others and that a betrayal of this by the Nizam led Hasan to convert to Ismailism. This paper examines the different layers in each of the conversion narratives and what they add to the biography, perhaps the hagiography, of the founder of the Nizari Ismaili polity in Iran (fl. 1090-1256). A new analysis of the “three school fellows” story – previously believed to be spurious – suggests its purpose, dating and the nature of the original Nizari source. It also sheds fresh light on the factionalism among the Nizaris and their relationships with the equally fractious Saljuqs in a period of immense tumult, shifting alliances and brutal conflict.
Shiraz Hajiani is a PhD candidate at University of Chicago Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. He specializes in Shi`ism and the history of Iran. He has a Master of Theological Studies degree from Harvard Divinity School and an MA from the University of Chicago.
More on Shiraz Hajiani from Ismailimail Archives:
- Shiraz Hajiani, Khalil Andani and Shatha Almutawa to present at University of Chicago’s MEHAT Conference
- Event – October 16-17 | Chicago: First Ever “Ismaili Studies Conference” at University of Chicago
- Event – October 16-17 | University of Chicago: Ismaili Studies Conference
- The Conversions of Hasan-i Sabbah – Shiraz Hajiani’s Presentation at MESA 2014 Conference in Washington, DC
- Khalil Andani & Shiraz Hajiani to organize Ismaili Studies Panels at 2016 MESA Conference in Boston
About MESA:
The Middle East Studies Association (MESA) is a private, non-profit, non-political learned society that brings together scholars, educators and those interested in the study of the region from all over the world. MESA’s 48th annual meeting will be held in Washington, DC at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel.
Related Event:
All related MESA 2014, from Ismailimail Archives:
- The Neoplatonic Qur’anic Exegesis of Nāṣir-i Khusraw – Khalil Andani’s Presentation at MESA 2014 Conference in Washington, DC
- Echoes of the Gnostics: Incorporation of Mythic Cosmology into Ismāʿīlī Thought – Paul Anderson’s Presentation at MESA 2014 Conference in Washington, DC
- Rethinking the Kalām-i pīr and Its Role in the Central Asian Ismāʿīlī Tradition – Daniel Beben’s Presentation at MESA 2014 Conference in Washington, DC
- The Conversions of Hasan-i Sabbah – Shiraz Hajiani’s Presentation at MESA 2014 Conference in Washington, DC
- Realpolitik & Sectarian strife: A re-appraisal of Fatimid rule in Syria – Shainool Jiwa’s Presentation at MESA 2014 Conference, Washington, DC
- Esoteric Explorations of the Sharī‘a, the path to the Divine: A Fatimid Exposition – Nadia Eboo-Jamal’s Presentation at MESA 2014 Conference, Washington, DC
- A Newly Discovered Treatise from the Earliest Fatimid Period – Professor Paul E. Walker’s Presentation at MESA 2014 Conference, Washington, DC
- Event – November 22-25 | Washington DC: 2014 Annual Middle East Studies Association (MESA) Meeting with Ismaili Scholars
- Scholars from IIS, Harvard, and Indiana host panels on Ismaili History and Philosophy at MESA 2014
Earlier, Ismaili Studies, from Ismailimail Archives:
- Carleton University in Canada invites Papers for International Ismaili Studies Conference
- Governor Pat Quinn’s Welcome Letter for the Ismaili Studies Conference
- Reporting from Ismaili Studies Conference – University of Chicago
- Event – October 18 | University of Chicago – Logan Center for the Arts: Ismaili Studies Conference – Public Music Engagement – Silk Road Rising
- Event – October 18 | University of Chicago: Islamicate Studies Symposium
- Event – October 18 | University of Chicago: Ismaili Studies Conference and Islamicate Studies Symposium – Teaching Islam
- Event – October 16-17 | University of Chicago: Ismaili Studies Conference
- Khalil Andani’s Presentation in Chicago: Revelation in the Thought of Nasir-i Khusraw
- Event – October 16-17 | Chicago: First Ever “Ismaili Studies Conference” at University of Chicago
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