Wikipedia: Hasan al-Sabbah حسن الصباح was an Iranian missionary and founder of Nizari Ismai'li who converted a community in the late 11th century in the heart of the Alborz Mountains of northern Persia. He later seized a mountain fortress called Alamut and used it as the headquarters for a decentralized Persian insurrection against the dominant Seljuk Turks. He founded a group of fedayeen whose members are often referred to as the Hashshashin, or "Assassins". -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.