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Hasan II, ‘Ala Dhikrihi’l��Salam, Nizari Isma‘ili��Imam��and the fourth ruler of��Alamut��(557-61 AH/1162-66 CE). Born in 520AH /1126 CE,��Imam��Hasan II, whom the��Nizaris��address as ‘ala Dhikrihi’l��Salam��(on his mention be peace), succeeded to the leadership of the Nizari Isma‘ili��da‘wa��and state on the death of the third ruler of��AlamutFortress of the Nizari Ismailis in northern Iran, which fell to the Mongols in 654 AH/1256 CE., Muhammad b. Buzurg-Umid on 4 Rabi‘ I 557 AH/ 21 February 1162 CE.

Imam��Hasan is said to have developed an early interest in learning Isma‘ili doctrines as well as studying philosophical and Sufi writings. In particular, he became well-versed in���ٲ�’w����, or esoteric exegesis, which had been applied by the��Isma‘ilis��to Qur’anic passages as well as the commandments and prohibitions of the��shari‘a��(Islamic law).

Declaration of the Qiyama

Already in the time of Muhammad b. Buzurg -Umid (532-57 AH/1138-62 CE),��Imam��Hasan II had acquired followers who regarded him as the��Imam��promised by Hasan al-Sabbah, the first ruler of��Alamut. Left without a manifest��Imam��since��Imam��Nizar b. al-Mustansir’s death in 488 AH/1095 CE, the��Nizaris��had acknowledged Muhammad b. Buzurg-Umid and his predecessors at��Alamut��merely as���岹‘i�������Ի���hujjas, or chief representatives, of their hidden Imams.

The most important event of��Imam��Hasan II’s brief reign was his declaration of the��qiyama��(the Resurrection), which initiated a new phase in the history of the��Nizaris��of the��Alamut��period (483-654 AH/1090-1256 CE). After making careful preparations, in a solemn ceremony at��Alamut��on 17 Ramadan 559 AH/ 8 August 1164 CE, in the presence of representatives from different Nizari territories who had been summoned there,��Imam��Hasan II delivered a�����ܳٲ�����and passed on new instructions from the Nizari Imam; according to these instructions the��Nizaris��had now been brought to the��qiyama—the Resurrection was upon them. Soon afterwards, on 28 Dhu’l-qi‘da 559 AH/ 18 October 1164 CE, a similar ceremony was held at the castle of Mu’min-Abad to the east of��BirjandA city in Quhistan, in southern Khurasan in Iran., the local headquarters of the��Nizaris��in Quhistan. On that occasion��Imam��Hasan II’s new declarations were read out to the representatives of the��Nizaris��of that region by Ra’is Muzaffar, the��muhtasham,��or chief, of the Quhistani��NizarisAdherents of a branch of the Ismailis who gave allegiance to Nizar, the eldest son of the Fatimid Imam-caliph al-Mustansir (d. 1094) as his successor.. The ruler of��Alamut��had now also announced that, just as previously the Fatimid��Imam��al-Mustansir had been God’s��khalifa��on earth, so now��Imam��Hasan II himself was that��khalifa. In other words,��Imam��Hasan II had now also claimed the Nizari��Imamate��for himself, at least implicitly. Subsequently,��Imam��Hasan II in his epistles (fusul) implied more clearly that he was the��Imam, the son of an��Imam��from the progeny of��Imam��Nizar b. al- Mustansir, even though he had been considered to be the son of Muhammad b. Buzurg-Umid. The contemporary��Nizaris��accepted this claim, which was reiterated more explicitly by��Imam��Hasan II’s son and successor��Imam��Nur��al-Din��Muhammad. It fell to Rashid��al-Din��Sinan (d. 589 AH/ 1193 CE), the most famous of the Nizari���岹‘is in Syria and the original “Old Man of the Mountain” of the��CrusadersA term applied to Christian invaders who carried out numerous campaigns to capture Jerusalem and Palestine from the Muslims in the 11th and 14th centuries CE., to declare the��qiyama��to the Syrian��Nizaris��soon after 559 AH/ 1164 CE.

The Last Day announcement

By declaring the��qiyama,��Imam��Hasan II had in effect announced the Last Day, which was eventually interpreted to mean the manifestation of the unveiled truth (haqiqa)��that had hitherto been hidden in the��batin��or esoteric dimension of the Islamic message.

This was made manifest in the person of the Nizari��Imam, who, as the enunciator of the��qiyama, the “qa’im��al-qiyama,” held a rank even higher than that of an ordinary��Imam. As a result, the members of the Nizari community who acknowledged the Nizari��Imam��were now capable of understanding the true esoteric meaning of the religious laws, and as such, Paradise was actualised for them in this world.

Joveyni, Rashid��al-Din, and Kashani, who are the main authorities on the history of the Persian Nizari state, relate that, in line with the circumstances expected in the��qiyama, the final eschatological��dawr��(era of human history),��Imam��Hasan II also announced the abrogation of [blind observance of] the��shari‘a, which had been enforced rigorously by his predecessors at��Alamut.

Hasan II’s death and succession

In view of the absence of contemporary Nizari sources from the��qiyama��times and the negative bias of the non-Isma‘ili sources on the subject, it is difficult to know for certain how the declaration of the��qiyama��was actually perceived by the��Nizaris, who continued to regard themselves as Ismaili Shi‘i.

At any rate, Joveyni and other anti-Ismaili authorities, despite their hostile stances, do not report any instances of libertine and permissivist behavior amongst the Persian��Nizaris��immediately after the��qiyama, even though the Nizari leadership had now begun to stress the spiritual inner-interpretation of the law in preference to the blind observance of its literal meaning.

On Sunday 6 Rabi‘ I 561 AH/ 9 January 1166 CE, Hasan II��‘ala Dhikrihi’l��Salam��was stabbed to death in the castle of Lammasar (Lanbasar; west of Alamut) by Hasan b. Namavar, a brother-in-law who opposed his new policies.

Imam��Hasan’s son and successor,��Imam��Nur��al-Din��Muhammad, devoted his own long reign (561-607 AH/ 1166-1210 CE) to a systematic elaboration of the doctrine of the��qiyama.