FROM HASHSHASHIN TO ASSASSIN
The adoption of assassination as a political weapon derives from the Islamic
world of the 11th century. A secret order of Muslims was founded in Persia in about
1090 by a man named Hasan-i-Sabbah. After gaining control of a mountain fortress
near the Caspian Sea, Hasan founded a sect to fight his political enemies by means
of murder. Hasan and his followers were known as Nizaris and belonged to the
Isma'ili branch of Shi'i Islam. For two centuries this secret organization terrorized the
Middle East. Hasan, who gained the nickname "Old Man of the Mountain" from his
fortress hideaway, is said to have given his followers a vision-inducing drug called
hashish, made from Indian hemp. The visions of Islamic paradise brought on by the
drug persuaded his disciples that they would have a glorious afterlife if they followed
Hasan's orders and killed his enemies. The killers were called Hashshashin, the
plural of an Arabic word meaning "one who smokes hashish." This name was
eventually corrupted into its present form, assassin.
E X E R C I S E 1: Find words or phrases in the passage which mean the same as:
COLUMN A COLUMN B
a) the taking up and using of something
b) a murder, usually of a politically important or
prominent person
c) trace something's origins from
d) kept from public knowledge
e) a group or class of persons set off from others
by some trait or quality
f) establish
g) get by effort; win
h) power over something
i) a fortified place
j) a subdivision of a larger religious group
k) a way by which something is done or obtained
I) make someone submit by filling them with fear
m) a substitute name, usually descriptive
n) a hiding place or secluded spot
o) having the power to cause hallucinations
p) in the Qur'an, a wonderful garden of delights
promised to the faithful after death
q) a follower of a leader or ideal, especially
religious, political, or philosophical
r) splendid; magnificent
s) life after death
t) finally; after a long period of time
u) made different from the original by errors or
alterations
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