ALAMUT - The sacred secret

Before I begin to review this book, I would like to establish a few pointers in order to avoid any backlash or unacceptable criticism:

• This is a historical FICTION, based on religion and sects. Hence, please be tolerant and if you are not then you should not delve into reading it at all

• In case you think, this book, by any means, has tried to harm Ismaili Muslims, then that is not the case. You can use this whole plot on any sect, and the outcomes will be the same

• Hassan ibn Sabbah and his Assassins are not fictitious in the course of history. There are many books which you can read in order to have a better understanding

I loved it!

Bartol wrote this novel in 9 months, back in 1938, far from Iran at the foothills of the Slovenian Alps. One would be surprised by his imaginative curiosity and character building. He did enough research work before he sat down to write this masterpiece which explains a lot of our modern terrorism.

The books will begin with the details of the castle of Alamut, located in northern Iran, governed by Hassan ibn Sabbah. These details will include the development and nurturing of Fidayeen – whom we know as Assassins – followed by the intricate explanation of “paradise”.

Bartol has cleverly avoided using word Assassins in his novel and instead calls them Living Daggers. There are certain theories and evidence, outside the novel, which indicate that the actual term was Assassiyoon which meant “people who are faithful to the foundation”. This term was turned into Assassin or Hashashin given their use of hash pellets.

In this novel, you will not find any Fidayeen/Assassin to work in a way that we have seen in movies or have heard so. Instead, the description reminded me of listening to the recovered children from our Pakistan Army operations. Those children were sent into rehabilitation and army also found a fake “Jannat” which had an enormous number of inappropriate movies, and literature to lure the youth.

The use of word Infidel highlights the fact that how easy it is to create warriors in any era of human beings. Bartol has also used the color coding in accordance to the basic belief of black & white where Ibn Sabbah is always in a white cloak and his army has a white flag, whereas the opposition has it black.

The character of Hassan ibn Sabbah and his detailed conversations with his aides are exemplary and mentally challenging. They might provoke your inner Muslim, but it is actually meant to give you food for thought. The way Bartol has to draw the character of Ibn Sabbah, you can put any Molvi or Bin Laden for that matter in that sketch and everything will fall into place.

My favorite part of this novel is Ibn Sabbah’s last conversation with one of his fidayeen Ibn Tahir. 

Last but not least, the title cover of this book!

Image by Shireen Neshat
Poetry by Forough Farrokhzad

"No one is thinking about flowers.
No one is thinking about the fish.
No one wants to believe that the garden is dying,
that the garden is slowly forgetting its green moments."

The way I have understood the role of women in this novel, I believe this is the most appropriate piece of poetry. As we all know, no paradise is complete without the “Houris”, Ibn Sabbah also ensured to have the most beautiful ones in his paradise. The character of one of the houris is called Miriam, and her image and lifestyle along with other houris explain that a cage is a cage even if it is made of gold. The ending of the novel includes his belief about the women living in his paradise which is in line with this piece of poetry.

ALAMUT is 5/5