| Episode number | MB10 (Part 10 of 42) |
|---|---|
| Original air date | March 1, 1993 |
| Broadcast | Hour of the Time, WWCR shortwave |
| Chapter title | The Assassins |
| Primary text read on air | A History of Secret Societies by Arkon Daraul (1961) |
| Listen | Stream the series on archive.org |
Episode Summary
Episode 10 of the Mystery Babylon series aired on WWCR shortwave on March 1, 1993, one day before episode 11 continued the narrative. The entire broadcast is a reading from Arkon Daraul’s 1961 A History of Secret Societies, with Cooper’s interjections woven throughout. It is the most narrative-driven episode in the series to this point, following the rise of Hasan ibn Sabbah from expelled courtier to master of the mountain fortress Alamut and founder of the Order of Assassins.
The episode opens in 1092 at a fortress in the Persian mountains, where Hasan ibn Sabbah demonstrates his power to an imperial envoy by signaling a guard to throw himself from the battlements two thousand feet into the torrent below. The opening scene, taken directly from Daraul, establishes the episode’s governing question: how did one man obtain that degree of control over human beings?
To answer the question, the reading goes back to the organizational roots of the Assassin movement in the Abode of Learning in Cairo. This institution, Cooper explains, was founded by the Fatimid Caliph of Egypt in the Shia tradition. Its external form resembled an ordinary Arab university, complete with endowments, manuscripts and scientific instruments. Its internal purpose was the total transformation of the student’s mind through nine degrees of initiation, the same number, Cooper notes, as the York Rite of Freemasonry. In the first degree, instructors threw students into doubt about all conventional ideas through false analogy and every other argumentative device. The goal was to make the student lean entirely on the teacher. In the second degree the Imams were revealed as the only true sources of knowledge. By the seventh degree the Great Secret was disclosed: all creation is one, an androgynous god. The eighth degree taught that all religion, philosophy and ethics were fraudulent. The ninth and final degree held that there is no belief, only action, and the only authority for action is the chief of the sect.
Into this framework stepped Hasan ibn Sabbah. As a young man he attended an orthodox school alongside Omar Khayyam, the poet, and Nizam-ul-Mulk, who would become a grand vizier. The three made a pact: whichever rose to power first would assist the others. Nizam fulfilled the pact, securing Hasan a place at court under Sultan Malik Shah. Cooper interrupts to observe that this method, mutual advancement through covert brotherhood, survives to the present day as a means of infiltrating government, military and civil society. Hasan repaid the patronage by attempting to displace Nizam through a financial audit. The attempt backfired, and Hasan was exiled. His recorded reaction upon hearing of his downfall, quoted from Daraul, was to vow revenge with as few as two truly devoted followers.
The account of how Hasan built that devotion through the artificial paradise is the episode’s centerpiece. Drawing on Marco Polo’s description of the valley, the broadcast describes a garden of palaces and conduits flowing with wine, milk and honey, staffed by beautiful women, accessible only through a hidden passage in a fortress. Hasan would drug young men between the ages of twelve and twenty and transport them into the garden while unconscious. Upon waking they believed they had entered the actual paradise described by the prophet. After several days they were drugged again and returned. Hasan then informed them that only death in his service would grant the key back to paradise. Cooper adds a further trick from the Arab text The Ancient Art of Imposture: Hasan would place a trusted follower in a concealed pit so that only his head and neck appeared above the floor, arrange a plate around the neck suggesting a severed head, and pour fresh blood on the platter. He would command the man to describe paradise to the recruits, and then, having demonstrated the apparent miracle of the reanimated dead, would behead the man in earnest. The combination of theater and actual murder, Cooper observes, produced obedience that never failed once.
Hasan secured the fortress of Alamut in 1090 by a combination of legal cunning and political pressure. He purchased from the local governor the amount of land that could be enclosed by an ox-hide, then cut the hide into thin thongs and encircled the entire castle. When the governor refused to honor the bargain, Hasan produced a written order from a highly placed official who was himself a secret follower. Within two years the Vizier Nizam-ul-Mulk had been stabbed by an Assassin, and the Emperor Malik Shah, who sent troops against the fortress, died under strong suspicion of poison. Cooper notes that the Assassins fought both sides in the Crusades, allying with and against the Knights Templar as circumstances required, and that it was during those contacts that many Templars were initiated into the Mysteries.
Hasan lived for thirty-four years after taking Alamut, rarely leaving his room, yet governing an organization that ranged from the Caspian to Egypt. He had both his own sons executed, one for carrying out an unauthorized murder and the other for drinking wine. Shortly before his death in 1124, he named two successors: Kia Buzurg-Umid to inherit the spiritual aspect and Abu-Ali of Qaswin to manage the military and administrative side. The episode ends mid-narrative with the second Grand Master, Buzurg-Umid, maintaining the system largely unchanged and the Assassins beginning to spread their network into Syria in contact with the Crusaders. Cooper promises the continuation the following night.
Key Claims Made in This Episode
- Cooper claims the Abode of Learning in Cairo used nine degrees of initiation, the same number as the York Rite of Freemasonry, establishing a direct structural link between the Ismaili Assassin tradition and modern Masonry.
- Cooper claims Hasan ibn Sabbah’s method of mutual advancement through covert brotherhood, whereby initiates raised into power then pulled their fellows behind them, survives to the present day inside secret societies and governments.
- Cooper claims Hasan ibn Sabbah created an artificial paradise using drugs, beautiful women, and an elaborate garden to program young recruits to give their lives willingly on his orders.
- Cooper claims the term Assassin derives from the Arabic word for guardians, guardians of the secrets, and that the Knights Templar carried those secrets to Europe.
- Cooper claims that during their pacts and battles with the Crusaders, many and perhaps most of the Knights Templar were initiated into the ancient Mysteries through contact with the Assassins.
- Cooper claims Hitler named his mountain retreat the Eagle’s Nest after the Assassin fortress Alamut, which was known by the same name.
- Cooper claims the ninth and final degree of Ismaili initiation taught that there is no belief and no ethics, only action, and that the only legitimate source of authority for action is the chief of the sect.
- Cooper claims the Assassin sect survives to the present day in the form of the Ismailis, whose chief is the Aga Khan.
Primary Sources Cited in This Episode
| Source | Status | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| A History of Secret Societies, Arkon Daraul (1961) | Not public domain; quoted on air at length, treated here under quotation only | Library copies; see our sources hub |
| The Travels of Marco Polo (c. 1300, various translations) | Public domain (medieval text) | Search archive.org scans |
| The Ancient Art of Imposture, Abdel-Rahman of Damascus (medieval) | Public domain (medieval text, quoted via Daraul) | Search archive.org |
Notable Quotes
That tenet has survived to this day. It is how they infiltrate all levels of society, military, and government, and then pull their brothers up into positions below them.
Cooper, MB10, March 1, 1993
It was during their pacts, their treaties, their battles with the Knights Templars that many, some say most, some few even say all, of the Knights Templars were initiated into the Mysteries.
Cooper, MB10, March 1, 1993
Historians’ View
Academic historians confirm the broad outlines of the Assassin order and the fortress at Alamut, and the Marco Polo description of the garden is well known, though modern scholars are skeptical that the garden was literally as described. The claim that the Assassins directly initiated Knights Templar into esoteric mysteries is speculative; the documented relationship between the two organizations was primarily diplomatic and military. The etymology of the word Assassin is debated among scholars, with the hashish derivation (from the Arabic Hashishin) being the most common scholarly view, while the guardian interpretation that Cooper prefers is a minority reading. We document Cooper’s claims here; we do not endorse them.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Mystery Babylon episode 10 about?
Episode 10 traces the founding and methods of the Order of Assassins under Hasan ibn Sabbah, from the nine-degree initiation system of the Abode of Learning in Cairo through the conquest of Alamut in 1090, the artificial paradise used to program devotees, and the early Crusader contacts. The story continues in episode 11.
When did episode 10 first air?
March 1, 1993, on the Hour of the Time over WWCR shortwave radio, the day before episode 11 continued the Assassin-Templar narrative.
What book does Cooper read from in episode 10?
The entire episode is read from Arkon Daraul’s A History of Secret Societies (1961), with Cooper’s commentary interspersed throughout. Daraul’s text draws on Marco Polo and the medieval Arab text on imposture for key scenes.
Where can I listen to episode 10?
The series is preserved on archive.org. We never host or distribute the audio ourselves; see our content policy.
Continue the Series
- Previous: MB09: Gnosticism
- Next: MB11: The Assassins and The Templars
- Topic hub: Knights Templar and the Assassins
- Related hub: Secret Societies
- Every dated claim from this episode appears on the series timeline
- Full index: Mystery Babylon Complete Episode Guide
- Background: Who was William Cooper?
- Books cited: Sources and bibliography
