ABSTRACT
After the conquest of Northern Syria and Damascus by the Saljuqs (Al-Salajiqa), which was completed between AD 1071 and 1079, and the collapse of the Isma’ili Fatimid Empire in Egypt in AD 1171, the followers of Shi’a Isma’ili Islam in Syria no longer had a powerful government to protect them. The most vigorous branch of the Isma’ilis now came to be that of the Nizari Isma’ilis who, under the leadership of Hassan al-Sabbah, founded a community and a state at Alamut in Northern Iran, whence they challenged the political domination of the Saljuqs and the spiritual domination of the Sunni Muslims. From Iran, fearless and highly intelligent da’is (missionaries) carried the Nizari teaching to Syria and quickly won over the local Isma’ili communities to the new movement.
