High Middle Ages · Middle East · Religion

1130

Hassan II born into the Nizari Ismailis

1130

In the mountain fortress of Alamut, a child was born to the line of Persian missionaries known to Sunni neighbors as the Assassins. He would grow up to proclaim the Day of Resurrection from the ramparts and abolish the outward observance of Sharia for his sect. The proclamation scandalized the Islamic world, as Hassan II declared that the inner spiritual truth of Islam rendered its external legal requirements obsolete.