What is "assassins"

n. (plural of assassin English)

Assassins (from Hashashin) is the name used to refer to the medieval Nizari Ismailis. Often characterized as a secret order led by a mysterious "Old Man of the Mountain", the Nizari Ismailis were an Islamic sect that formed in the late 11th century from a split within Ismailism, itself a branch of Shia Islam. In time, the Nizaris began to pose a military threat to Sunni Seljuq authority within their territories by capturing and inhabiting many unconnected mountain fortresses throughout Persia (and later also Syria) under the leadership of Hassan-i Sabbah (who is typically regarded as the founder of the Assassins), therefore founding the so-called Nizari Ismaili state with Alamut Castle as its headquarters. Asymmetric warfare, psychological warfare and surgical strikes were often an employed tactic of the hashashin, who would draw their opponents into submission rather than risk killing them. In the modern era, the legend of the assassins continues to motivate insurgencies and terrorist cells throughout Western Asia, which seek to replicate the methods and tactics developed by the Assassins.

While "Assassins" typically refers to the entire medieval Nizari sect, in fact only a class of acolytes known as the fida'i actually engaged in assassination work. Lacking their own army, the Nizari relied on these warriors to carry out espionage and assassinations of key enemy figures, and over the course of 300 years successfully killed two caliphs, and many viziers, sultans and Crusader leaders. Under leadership of Imam Rukn-ud-Din Khurshah, the Nizari state declined internally, and was eventually destroyed as the Imam surrendered the castles to the invading Mongols. Sources on the history and thought of the Ismailis in this period are therefore lacking and the majority extant are written by their detractors. Long after their near-eradication, mentions of Assassins were preserved within European sources such as the writings of Marco Polo, where they are depicted as trained killers, responsible for the systematic elimination of opposing figures. Ever since, the word "assassin" has been used to describe a hired or professional killer, paving the way for the related term "assassination", which denotes any action involving murder of a high-profile target for political reasons.

The Nizari were feared by the Crusaders, who referred to them collectively as Assassins. The Crusader stories of the Assassins were further embellished by Marco Polo. 19th-century European orientalist historians such as Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall also referred to the Nizari collectively as Assassins and tended to write works about them based on biased accounts by medieval Sunni Arab authors, which they often took at face value.

The name "Assassin" is often said to derive from the Arabic word Hashishin or "users of hashish",(which can be used as a derogatory term in Arabic and it is the equivalent of "drug addict", in this case, "hashish addict") was originally applied to the Nizari Ismaelis by the rival Mustali Ismailis during the fall of the Ismaili Fatimid Empire and the separation of the two Ismaili streams, there is little evidence hashish was used to motivate the assassins, contrary to the beliefs of their medieval enemies. It is possible that the term hashishiyya or hashishi in Arabic sources was used metaphorically in its abusive sense relating to use of hashish, which due to its effects on the mind state, is outlawed in Islam. Modern versions of this word include Mahashish used in the same derogatory sense, albeit less offensive nowadays, as the use of the substance is more widespread.

Assassins is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by John Weidman, based on an idea by Charles Gilbert, Jr. It uses the premise of a murderous carnival game to produce a revue-style portrayal of men and women who attempted (successfully or not) to assassinate Presidents of the United States. The music varies to reflect the popular music of the eras depicted.

The musical first opened Off-Broadway in 1990, and the 2004 Broadway production won five Tony Awards.

Assassins: Assignment:Jerusalem, Target:Antichrist is the sixth book in the Left Behind series. It was written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins in 1999. It was released in August 1999 and was on The New York Times Best Seller List for 39 weeks. It takes place 38–42 months into the Tribulation.

Assassins is a 1995 American action thriller film directed and produced by Richard Donner, written by Lilly and Lana Wachowski and also rewritten by Brian Helgeland. The film stars Sylvester Stallone, Antonio Banderas and Julianne Moore. The Wachowskis stated that their script was "totally rewritten" by Helgeland, and that they tried to remove their names from the film but failed.

"Assassins" is the 145th episode of the ABC television series, Desperate Housewives. It is the eleventh episode of the show's seventh season and was broadcast on January 2, 2011.