Marco Polo and the Old Man of the Mountain The origin of the modern day suicide bomber

Marco Polo and the Old Man of the Mountain
The origin of the modern day suicide bomber

The Assassins (from Arabic: حشّاشين Ḥashshāshīn) is the name used to refer to the medieval Nizari Ismailis, particularly those of Persia and Syria. Often characterized as a secret order led by a mysterious "Old Man of the Mountain," the Nizari Ismailis were an Islamic sect that formed in the late 11th century from a split within Ismailism, itself a branch of Shia Islam...

...Assassinations were primarily carried out with a dagger, which was sometimes tipped with poison. Due to being immensely outnumbered in enemy territory, the hashashin tended to specialize in covert operations.

The origin of the organisation's name is unclear. Maalouf follows a number of Ismaili sources in affirming that "assassin" is derived from the Arabic assass (foundation), via assassiyun (fundamentalists); they were simply believers in a purer and more basic form of Islam. A more highly-coloured derivation, favoured by Western writers, points to the Arabic hashashshin (eaters of hashish) to explain both the name of the Assassins and their fanatical devotion to their leader, the Old Man of the Mountain: their sanguinary tactics were fueled by narcotics.

That inspired teller of travellers' tales, Marco Polo, fuses together these two explanations to form one: he ventured into a region which he calls Mulehet, south of the Caspian sea, in which the Assassin stronghold of Alamut stands. On his return home, he claimed:

Mulehet, the name given to heretical Saracens, is also the name of the famous place where the Old Man of the Mountain used to live. This is the story of the Old Man just as it was told to Marco Polo by many people.

According to legend, the Old Man was called Alaodin. He had made, in a valley between two mountains, the biggest and most beautiful garden imaginable. Every kind of wonderful fruit grew there. There were glorious houses and palaces decorated with gold and paintings of the most magnificent things in the world. Fresh water, wine, milk and honey flowed in streams. The loveliest girls versed in the arts of caressing and flattering men played every musical instrument, danced and sang better than any other women. The Old Man had persuaded his men that this was Paradise. The Prophet Mohammed had taught that those who went to Paradise would find as many beautiful women as they wanted, rivers of wine, milk, honey and fresh water. So the Old Man of the Mountain had his garden built like Mohammed's Paradise and the Saracens really believed it was Paradise.

Marco Polo goes on to explain how this belief was maintained. Young men who were being trained for a mission of assassination were given a sleeping draught and then taken into the garden while unconscious. When they awoke, their ravishing surroundings naturally persuaded them that they were in Paradise itself. They remained in this happy state until a victim was designated, when they would once more be drugged, and were removed, still asleep, from the garden. The certainty, born of experience, that Paradise existed and would be their reward, not only strengthened their determination to succeed in their task, it also removed all fear of failure - knowing what awaited them in the next world, they did not fear death. In other words, the Old Man won the devotion of his agents both by administering drugs and by exploiting their simple piety.

Despite his taste for colourful detail, Marco Polo was also a realist. He ends his description of the Assassins with the comment that:

Many kings and barons paid tribute to the Old Man and cultivated his friendship for fear of being murdered. The Old Man was aided in this by the fact that the kings were always quarrelling amongst themselves and were not united under one power.

Like the Sand Dancers, the Assassins were a rogue force in the fragmented policies of Outremer; unlike the Sand Dancers, who saw the Ghost Walker as a weapon to drive the invaders from the land, the Assassins were as hostile to the Sunni Moslems as they were to the Christians. They formed a faction to be reckoned with, with their own policies, alliances and castles, initially in Persia but soon spreading into Egypt, Iraq and Syria.

Jordan's King Hussein presented President Obama with a gift of a "royal weaponry set," including four daggers and an axe. Because nothing says "peace" like instruments of war! Last year, Abdullah gifted Defense Secretary Robert Gates with a steel dagger, and Bahrain gave him a $3200 Arab knife.

MR. GREGORY: And finally, a lot of attention on gift-giving right now as the president travels overseas. He gave DVDs and he also gave an iPod to the queen of England. You came here bearing a gift that was very interesting. You gave the president a royal weaponry set complete with four different types of daggers and an ax. Are you preparing the president for battle here, Your Majesty?

KING ABDULLAH II: I think the president is prepared for battle, and basically he knows that he has somebody standing next to him on his right and helping him through this.

KING ABDULLAH II: I think the president is prepared for battle, and basically he knows that he has somebody standing next to him on his right and helping him through this.

I originally thought that the weapons were to use against Obama (the traitor), now I know they were for use against the next president.

Genesis 16:11 And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold, thou art with child and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the Lord hath heard thy affliction.

12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

2 posted on 05/23/2017 5:17:35 PM PDT by Fiddlstix (Warning! This Is A Subliminal Tagline! Read it at your own risk!(Presented by TagLines R US))

"He talks with the birds when he's lonely
He sleeps with the stars for a tent.
And he'll eat you up when he's hungry,
And it won't cost him a red cent."

The Old Man of the Mountain--Waring's Pennsylvanians

Funny, I learned about the Old Man of the Mountain from a film starting Mick Jagger called Performance... That was soooo trippy

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