al-Hakim al-Munajim

al-Hakim al-Munajim ( Arabic الحكيم المنجم, DMG al-Ḥakīm al-Munaǧǧim  'the wise astrologer'; † May 1103 ) was the leading missionary of the Ismailis / Nizarites ( Assassins ) Shia in Syria in the late 11th and early 12th centuries. His personal name is not known, in the traditions he is only mentioned under his surname, including alternatively "the Batinite astrologer".

The astrologer was apparently active as a missionary ( dāʿī , "caller") of the Ismaili doctrine ( daʿwa ) in Syria since the late 11th century . So he belonged to the Shia of the Ismaili imams, who also ruled as caliphs in Egypt (see Fatimids ), for whom he recruited new followers in Syria, which at that time was already under the rule of the Sunni Seljuks . He came into an influential position at the court of the Seljuq emir Radwan of Aleppo († 1113), whom he was apparently able to win for the Ismaili doctrine. At least Radwan allowed him to set up a mission house (dār ad-daʿwa) in Aleppo and also set up a protection force consisting of Ismailis who were used to guard the city walls. When the Ismaili schism broke out in 1094, the astrologer initially seems to have committed himself to the new Imam-Caliph al-Mustali , because in August 1097 Radwan concluded a formal alliance with Egypt and included the name of the Shiite caliph in the blessing the weekly Friday sermon ( ḫuṭba ) . However, the emir had to quickly withdraw this measure after increasing pressure from his brothers.

Around the turn of the century, the astrologer and with him his community fell away from the Imam-Caliph and professed to support the Shia of Prince Nizar , who was killed during the schism , and which was led by Hasan-i Sabbāh, who resided in the Persian Alamut . To this end, he also adopted his already successfully practiced strategy of political murder . On May 1, 1103, the Emir of Homs , Dschanah ad-Daula , was overpowered by three assassins and stabbed to death by three assassins on his way to prayer in the great mosque of Homs. The act probably took place in the presence of the astrologer and the perpetrators were referred to as "Persian Batinites", which underlines the turn of the Syrian Ismailis to the Shia Nizars. As an avowed Sunni, the victim was an opponent of the Ismaili religious doctrine and also a former tutor of Radwan, who had apparently approved the act. This first assassination attempt by the Syrian Nizarites, who later became known to the Christians of the Crusader states as "assassins", led to a lynching of the angry crowd in Homs against Ismailis and Persians who were present but not involved in the act.

The astrologer died in the same month as the Emir of Homs, or was murdered. The leadership of the Syrian Nizarites was taken over by the Persian Abu Tahir al-Sa'igh (“the goldsmith”).

literature

• Farhad Daftary , The Ismāʿīlīs: Their History and Doctrines. Cambridge University Press 1990, pp. 332-333.
• Heinz Halm , caliphs and assassins. Egypt and the Middle East at the time of the First Crusades 1074–1171. Munich 2014, pp. 128, 131.
• Heinz Halm, The Assassins. History of an Islamic secret society . Munich 2017, pp. 43–44.

swell

• Abū Yaʿlā ibn Asad ibn al-Qalānisī , “Continuation of the story of Damascus” (Ḏail taʾrīḫ Dimašq), ed. and translated by Hamilton AR Gibb, The Damascus Chronicle of the Crusades. London, 1932.
• Shams ad-Dīn Abūʾl-Muẓaffar Yūsuf ibn Qızoġly ibn ʿAlī Sibṭ ibn al-Ǧauzi , “Mirror of the times with regard to the history of eminent personalities” (Mirʾāt az-zamān fī taʾrīḫ al-aʿyān), in: RHC, Historiens Orientaux , vol. 3 (1884), p. 549.
• Kamāl ad-Dīn ʿUmar ibn Aḥamd ibn al-ʿAdīm , “The cream of milk from the story of Aleppo” (Zubdat al-ṭalab min taʾrīḫ Ḥalab), in: RHC, Historiens Orientaux, Vol. 3 (1884), p. 590– 591.