naturalplastic wrote:
Hmmm....
The word "assassin" derives from the word "hashishin" (someone pumped up on hashish).
In the Arab world in the middle ages assissins would get lit on hashish in order to do their assassinations.
So maybe some strains of modern weed in this new world of legal pot unintentionally mimic the ancient strains of weed smoked by the original "assassins".
Quote:
The word asas in Arabic means "principle". The Asāsiyyūn (plural, from literary Arabic) were, as defined in Arabic, the principle people. The term "assassin" likely has roots in hashshāshīn ("hashish smokers or users"), a mispronunciation of the original Asāsiyyūn, but not a mispronunciation of Assasiyeen (pronounced "Asāsiyyeen", the plural of "Asasi"). Originally referring to the methods of political control exercised by the Assasiyuun, one can see how it became "assassin" in several languages to describe similar activities anywhere.
The Assassins were finally linked by the 19th-century orientalist Silvestre de Sacy to the Arabic word hashish using their variant names assassin and assissini in the 19th century. Citing the example of one of the first written applications of the Arabic term hashish to the Ismailis by 13th-century historian Abu Shama, de Sacy demonstrated its connection to the name given to the Ismailis throughout Western scholarship. Following de Sacy's account, various popularizers of the "Hashishi myth" -- including self-proclaimed Sufi scholar Idries Shah (who, in fact, never belonged to any Sufi tariqa nor even graduated from any university) -- continue to pejoratively describe the Assassins (and, by extension, Ismailis in general) as 'druggers' who used hashish "in stupefying candidates for the ephemeral visit to paradise". However, the first known usage of the term hashishi has been traced back to 1122 when the Fatimid caliph al-Amir bi-Ahkami’l-Lah, himself later assassinated, employed it in derogatory reference to the Syrian. Used figuratively, the term hashishi connoted meanings such as outcasts or rabble. Without actually accusing the group of using the hashish drug, the caliph used the term in a pejorative manner. This label was quickly adopted by anti-Isma'ili historians and applied to the Isma'ilis of Syria and Persia. The spread of the term was further facilitated through military encounters, whose chroniclers adopted the term and disseminated it across Europe. To Crusaders, the Fedayeen concept of valuing a principle above your own life was alien to them, so they rationalized it using myths such as the 'paradise legend', the 'leap of faith' legend, and the 'hashish legend', sewn together in the writings of Marco Polo.
...
The name "Assassin" is often said to derive from the Arabic word Hashishin or "users of hashish", which was originally applied to the Assassins Isma'ilis by the rival Mustali Isma'ilis during the fall of the Isma'ili Fatimid Empire and the separation of the two Isma'ili 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. The term hashashin was (and still is) used to describe absent minded criminals and is used derogatorily in all the Muslim sources referring to the Assassins as such.
It sounds like the connection with hashish is largely a slander from their opponents, with the original meaning being closer to 'the principled', but also unfortunately sounding just like 'the hash smokers'.
It'd be like saying that teabaggers (Tea Party supporters) were named after their fondness for teabagging, when really no, that's just what all of their opponents started making jokes about as soon as they heard of those folks using that name for themselves.
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Watching liberals try to solve societal problems without a systemic critique/class consciousness is like watching someone in the dark try to flip on the light switch, but they keep turning on the garbage disposal instead.
戦争ではなく戦争と戦う
29 Jan 2024, 9:53 pm
