The Eagle Returns: Evidence of Continued Ismaili Activity at Alamut and in the South Caspian Region following the Mongol Conquests
Keywords: Mongol, Isma‘ilis, Alamut, ta‘limiyya, Juwayni, Gilan, Mazandaran, Saljuqs, Hulagu, Maymundiz, Khwarshah, Tarkiya, Kiya Sayf al-Din, Qazwin, Mar‘ashi, Ilkhanids, mulhid, wajibat, da‘wa, Ginan, Nizaris, Hasan Sabbah, Nusayris, Nasai’ih-i Shah-Rukhi, Uljaytu.
This article by Dr Shafique N. Virani focused on how Persian historians, following Ata-Malik Juwayni's eyewitness accounts in The History of the World Conqueror, record the complete annihilation of the Shi'i Ismaili community, centred at Alamut, in the thirteenth century Mongol invasions that devastated the Muslim world. While modern research reveals that the community had, in fact, survived, its continued activities at Alamut and the south Caspian region have been underestimated. Inconsistencies and exaggerations in Juwayni's testimony are analysed for a correction of his narrative based on other historians, including Rashid al-Din.
