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Paperback
First published May 15, 1994
1) There are no access to Nizari sources, since they were a secretive sect, and after Mongol attacks all historical evidence were burnt. Hence, there are no sources inside the sect to support or disprove these legends.
2) At that time, there were many sects in Islam, each contradicting ideologies of others. In the case of Nizaris, the Fatimid state were their worst ideological enemy. The Nizari state was also in conflict with Seljuk Empire. As a result, these 2 states started spreading false stories about the Nizari sect, and branded them with hateful names.
3) Europeans who visited Middle-East during the Crusades, have no knowledge of Islamic faith, almost no direct interaction with Nizaris, and no access to correct information about them. They believed what they heard from their contacts mostly in the lands of Nizari's opponents.
4) By investigating the historical texts of that time, author realized that older European sources do not support the myths. These legends started to evolve along the years, each time an author added a new myth to the assassin legends. In addition, in reliable Islamic sources during their time there were no mention of these myths.
5) He contradicts some of these myths by using reason. For example, their use of narcotics (hashish). He contradicts it by saying these assassins had to wait for a long time for opportunities and these situations needed high amount of concentration and attention. Therefore they could have not used narcotics for these mission.