assassin [ME] During the Crusades political and religious leaders were targeted for murder by the fanatical Naziri sect of Ismaili Muslims led by Hassan-i-Sabbah, known as the ‘Old Man of the Mountains’. Members of the sect were said to prepare themselves for these deeds by smoking or chewing hashish or cannabis, and were accordingly known in Arabic as ḥašīšī, ‘hashish-eaters’, which was filtered through French and eventually became our word assassin. In fact, the Old Man of the Mountains was a folk tale, and ḥašīšī was probably a derogatory nickname given to the Naziri by other Muslims because of what they regarded as their erratic behaviour.