ABSTRACT
Sinan died leaving his people with ample memories of his greatness, wisdom and heroism. A very capable successor was needed to fill his place, but it seems from the scanty materials recorded by historians on the post-Sinan period that the Isma‘ilis did not again enjoy strong leadership like that of Sinan. This did not, however, seriously handicap their efforts to preserve their independence for more than half a century to come. The main objective of the Isma‘ili Muslims was to maintain some sort of balance of power between the Franks and the Sunni Muslims, which they were able to do until finally they were obliged to submit to the Mamluk Sultan al-Zahir Baybars. Among the sources that deal with the activities of Sinan’s successors, the general Arabic histories are mainly occupied with the many problems which followed the death of Saladin arising from internal difficulties in the Ayyubid kingdom and from the revival of the power of the Franks and their new attempt to consolidate their grip on the Syrian coast-lands; consequently they hardly mention the activities and names of Sinan’s successors. Fortunately, the names of some of them have come to us through a new source, namely inscriptions found on buildings in the various Isma‘ili centres. These inscriptions and the general Arabic histories, especially a historian from central Syria known as Ibn Wasil and the author of al-Tarikh al-Mansuri, provide us with the bulk of the available information on this period. 1
