War and Peace and War: The Rise and Fall of Empires

by Peter Turchin

THE WILLINGNESS TO SACRIFICE LIFE in the name of the faith has been one of the enduring strands in the history of Islam. One of the best-known examples is the Hashishim sect, which existed from the eighth century until its suppression by the Mongols. The name Hashishim (“Assassins”), actually was what their enemies called them, because they allegedly used drugs to indoctrinate sect members. Their own name for themselves was fedayeen, which in Arabic means “one who is ready to sacrifice life for the cause.” The Hashishim were opposed to the Abbasid caliphs, whom they thought to be impious usurpers. They conducted a campaign of assassination directed mainly against the Sunni Muslim rulers (but they also murdered at least one crusader king in Jerusalem). Because the Hashishim disdained the use of poison or long-range weapons, and relied on the dagger, assassination attempts usually ended in the death of the assassin; these were suicide missions. The parallels with the suicide bombings happening in the Middle East today are palpable. Earlier I cited the words of Khalid ibn al-Walid, “I lead those who love death as you love life.” Fourteen centuries later, perpetrators of terrorist acts in Palestine, Madrid, Moscow, and Baghdad have used precisely the same words.