RASHID AD-DIN

born 1247 died 1318 Persian statesman and historian who was the author of a universal history, Jami' at-tawarikh. He belonged to a Jewish family of Hamadan but was converted to Islam and as a physician joined the court of the Mongol ruler of Persia, Abagha (126582). He became vizier to Ghazan in 1298 and served under his successor ljeit. Accused by his rivals of having poisoned his sovereign, he was put to death by ljeit's son Abu Sa'id. Rashid ad-Din's history covers a vast field even outside the Muslim world. His sources of information for Mongolia and China were high officials of the Mongol empire and the Mongol records, for India a Buddhist from Kashmir, for the popes and emperors a Catholic monk. There are important chapters describing the social and economic conditions of the Islamic countries under Ghazan (12951304) and the reforms introduced by this ruler on the advice of the author himself. Rashid ad-Din uses a great number of Mongol and Turkish terms, but his style is lucid and matter-of-fact. died 1192 in full Rashid Ad-din As-sinan leader of the Syrian branch of the Assassins (an Isma'ili Shi'i Muslim sect) at the time of the Third Crusade. He had his headquarters at a fortress in Masyaf, in northern Syria, and was known to Westerners as the Old Man of the Mountain. Feared for his practice of sending his followers to murder his enemies, he made several attempts on the life of the Ayyubid leader Saladin, who opposed the Isma'ili Shi'i sect.