Muhammad III of Alamut

Alauddin Muhammad, also known as Muhammad III, was born in 1213.{{Contradict inline|date=January 2024|reason=Elsewhere, article claims 1211.}} At the age of nine, upon the death of his father, he became the ruler of the Alamut. However, his mother took over the administration of state affairs and governed Alamut for the next six years (1221–1227), making her the first woman to do so in Alamut's history. This period was a time of relative peace in Alamut, during which the Imam's mother seems to have deposed many incapable governors in Rudhbar and Kohistan, possibly due to suspicions that they had misused their powers.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}

When Alauddin Muhammad's mother died in 1227, he took full control of the Alamut at the age of 15 or 16. He dealt with the misusers of power strongly and firmly, causing most of them to turn against him and flee to Qazvin. In an attempt to cover up their wrongdoings, possibly including defalcation{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}, some of the governors spread rumors against the Imam, claiming that a physician's operation a few months before the death of his mother had damaged his brain and caused excessive blood loss. However, this opposition was quickly surmounted.

Under Muhammad III's reign, the Sunni conformity that had been initiated by his father was gradually and quietly reversed.{{cite book|author1=Farhad Daftary|title=Historical Dictionary of the Ismailis|date=2012|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=9780810861640|page=liv|edition=illustrated}} As a result, his community increasingly regarded itself openly as Ismaili Shi'ite.{{cite book|title=Holy People of the World: A Cross-cultural Encyclopedia, Volume 1|date=2004|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781576073551|editor1-last=Jestice|editor1-first=Phyllis G.|edition=illustrated|page=349}}{{cite book|author1=Daryoush Mohammad Poor|title=Authority Without Territory: The Aga Khan Development Network and the Ismaili Imamate|date=18 September 2014|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=9781137428806|page=234}}

He was assassinated by an unknown perpetrator on 1 December 1255, and was succeeded by his eldest son Rukn al-Din Khurshah in 1255.

Alāʾ ad-Dīn Muḥammad was an esteemed scholar who studied spiritual, philosophical, and jurisprudence sciences. He was well known for his mystical statements, which reflected his profound knowledge.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}} He established a special school to train da'is in the correct principles of inviting people to Nizari Isma'ili Islam.

He authored a seminal constitution for the Nizari Ismailis, entitled Murids. One of the da’is, Shams Alden Ibn Ahmad Ibn Yaqoub Altaibi (شمس الدين بن أحمد بن يعقوب الطيبي), documented that the treatise named The Constitution and the Call to the Believers to attendance (الدستور و دعوة المؤمنين إلى الحضور) was delivered to him by Da’i Nasir al Din al Tusi, who obtained it directly from Ala’ al-Din Muhammad.{{Cite book|last=Tamir|first=Arif|title=Arbaat Rasaeil Ismaileah, 2ed edition|publisher=Dar Maktabat Alhayat|year=1978|isbn=|location=Beirut|pages=49}} This treatise also mentioned that Ala’ al-Din Muhammad dictated to his hujja, Shams Alden Ibn Ahmad Ibn Yaqoub Altaibi, a document called The Constitution of Mawlana Ala'audeen, which displayed his high intellectual and scientific capacities.{{Cite book|last=Mustafa|first=Ghalib|title=A'alaam Al Ismailiah|publisher=Alyaqaza Alarabya|year=1964|isbn=|location=Beirut|pages=397}}

Alāʾ ad-Dīn Muḥammad offered special attention to the learned discussions and debates that took place in Alamut. He assigned one day per week to philosophical and doctrinal debates between da'is, guiding them to polish their skills for dialectical debating and offering pedagogical and argumentation techniques that made them proficient in dialectical discussions and arguments.{{Cite book|last=Muṣṭafā|first=Ghālib|title=History of Ismaili Da'wah from oldest ages to current generation|publisher=Alyaqza|year=1953|isbn=|location=Damascus|pages=221}}

The Syrian Nizārī author {{Ill|Qays bin Manṣūr All-Dādīkhī|ar|قيس بن منصور الداديخي}} (1201–1257) was his da'i to Syria. He had important philosophical treatises as Risālat al-asābīʿ, ed., ʿĀrif Tāmir, in his Khams rasāʾil Ismāʿīliyya (pp. 057–079),{{Incomprehensible inline|date=January 2024}} which discussed esoteric exegesis (taʾwīl) of certain Quranic verses and Ismaili theology related to the number seven.{{Cite book|last=Daftary|first=Farhad|title=Ismaili literature: A Bibliography Of Sources And Studies|publisher=Institute of Ismaili Studies|year=2004|isbn=978-1-850-43439-9|location=|pages=111}}{{Cite book|last=Tamir|first=Arif|title=Khams rasāʾil Ismāʿīliyya|publisher=Alinsaf|year=1956|isbn=|location=|pages=18–25}} All-Dādīkhī was a talented poet; in the presence of Alāʾ ad-Dīn Muḥammad and his son Imam Rukn al-Din Khurshah, he expressed a poem titled "Degree of the Fatimid Imam is glorified" (قدر الإمام الفاطمي معظم), the verses of which affirm the Fatimid origin of Alāʾ ad-Dīn Muḥammad.

More recent studies have revealed that intellectual life flourished during the long reign of Alāʾ al-Din Muhammad and was bolstered by an influx of outside scholars who fled the first waves of Mongol invasions and found refuge in the Nizari fortress communities of Persia. Foremost among such scholars who availed themselves of the Nizari libraries and patronage was Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, a polymath who made major contributions to Nizari Ismaili thought of the late Alamut period during his three decades of residency. As elaborated in his spiritual autobiography, Sayr va suluk, al-Tusi converted to Ismailism sometime during his prolonged association with the Nizari Ismailis.{{Cite book|last=Daftary|first=Farhad|title=Historical Dictionary of the Ismailis|publisher=Scarecrow Press|year=2012|isbn=978-0-8108-6164-0|location=Plymouth, UK|pages=44}}

Alāʾ al-Din Muhammad was very inclusive and pluralistic in his outlook.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}} He granted patronage and shelter to various scholars from surrounding countries destroyed by the Mongol invasion. He granted access to libraries and offered all kinds of support. Nasir al-Din al-Tusi was one of his prominent da'is who contributed to Ismaili theology.

Alāʾ al-Din Muhammad's alliance with the larger Muslim community enlarged Nizari's political boundaries. The grand vision of world domination returned for a time. Purely local squabbles were replaced by ambitious diplomatic activities in lands as far away as Europe and Mongolia, while a Nizari religious mission was firmly established in India. Financial tribute for their safety was received from political leaders as distant as Germany, Aragon, and Yemen.{{Cite book|last=Daftary|first=Farhad|title=The Ismaili Imams: A Biographical History|publisher=Bloomsbury I.B. Tauris|year=2020|isbn=9780755617982|location=London UK|pages=135–141}}

Besides his missions to create a Christian–Muslim coalition in anticipation of the Mongols' invasion, Alāʾ al-Din Muhammad was among the first to send peaceful messages to the Great Khan Guyuk in Mongolia in full collaboration with the Sunni Abbasid Caliphate.{{cite book|last1=Willey|first1=Peter|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RTyTn4ErwRIC|title=Eagle's Nest: Ismaili Castles in Iran and Syria|date=2005|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic|isbn=978-1-85043-464-1|location=|pages=75–85, 289|language=en}} The relationship with Abbasid Caliphate during his leadership was friendly and cordial.{{Cite book|last=Daftary|first=Farhad|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/820126490|title=A short history of the Ismailis – Traditions of a Muslim community|date=1998|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|isbn=978-0-7486-7128-1|location=Edinburgh|oclc=820126490}} Additionally, he sent da'is to Sind to establish Nizāri Ismāʿilī Islam in the Indian subcontinent.

Maymūn-Diz (Persian: میمون دز‎) was a major castle with a unique construction style built during the reign of Alāʾ ad-Dīn Muḥammad on a high rock with a sharp cliff. It played an important role for the Nizari Ismailis of the Alamut period, which is well-captured historical records.

Silver coins were used in Seljuk Iran for the first time in 618 AH (1221 CE), in the early period of Alāʾ ad-Dīn Muḥammad's rule.

File:Coin of 'Ala' al-Din Muhammad III, Nizari Ismaili Imam.jpg

There is academic evidence that many citations about Alāʾ ad-Dīn Muḥammad reflect the religious bias of Atâ-Malek Juvayni,{{Cite journal|last=Virani|first=Shafique N.|date=2003|title=The Eagle Returns: Evidence of Continued Ismaili Activity at Alamut and in the South Caspian Region Following the Mongol Conquests|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3217688|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|volume=123|issue=2|pages=351–370|doi=10.2307/3217688|jstor=3217688 |issn=0003-0279|via=}} who alleged that his rule was described as "cruel, imperious, sadistic, alcoholic, and unpredictable".{{cite book|author1=James Wasserman|title=The Templars and the Assassins: The Militia of Heaven|date=1 April 2001|publisher=Inner Traditions / Bear & Co|isbn=9781594778735|pages=124–5}} Juvayni was an important Sunni official of the Mongol empire which invaded and destroyed the Ismaili state.{{Cite journal|last=Virani|first=Shafique N.|date=16 April 2018|title=Alamūt, Ismailism and Khwāja Qāsim Tushtarī's Recognizing God|url=https://brill.com/view/journals/ssr/2/1-2/article-p193_5.xml|journal=Shii Studies Review|language=en|volume=2|issue=1–2|pages=193–227|doi=10.1163/24682470-12340021|issn=2468-2470}}

File:Alâ al Dîn Muhammad droguant ses disciples.jpeg)]]

Marco Polo's fantastical description of Alāʾ al-Din Muhammad III, the penultimate Lord of the Alamut, was copied by other European writers without verification; though it caught the imagination of many readers, it lacked historical authenticity. The contemporary historian al-Juwayni—an avowed enemy of the Nizaris who accompanied the Mongol leader Hulagu to Alamut in 1256 and carefully inspected the fortress before its destruction—does not report discovering any "secret gardens of paradise" as claimed in Polo's popular account.{{Cite book |last=Daftary |first=Farhad |title=The Ismailis, Their History and Doctrine |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-521-61636-2 |edition=2nd |location=New York, USA |pages=18}}{{Rp|page=18}} Even though Juwayni mentions that he selected many "choice books" from the famous Alamut library for his purposes, he unfortunately burned the books that he did not like.{{Rp|page=305}}

• Aga Khan
• Fatimids
• List of Ismaili imams

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.ismaili.net/histoire/history06/history630.html Alauddin Muhammad (618–653/1221–1255)]
• [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ala-al-din-mohammad-b-jalal ʿALĀʾ-AL-DĪN MOḤAMMAD or Muhammad III of Alamut]

{{s-start}}

{{s-hou|branch=Clan|name=‘Alā’ ad-Dīn Muḥammad III
of the Ahl al-Bayt|Banu Hashim|1211|C.E|1255|C.E.|Banu Quraish}}

{{s-reg|}}

{{s-bef|before = Jalālu-d-Dīn Ḥassan III }}

{{s-ttl|title = 7th Ruler of Nizārī Ismā'īlī state
and Commander of Alamut Castle|years =1221–1255}}

{{s-aft|after = Rukn-ud-Dīn Khurshāh }}

{{s-rel|sh}}

{{s-bef|before = Jalālu-d-Dīn Ḥassan III }}

{{s-ttl|title = Imām ‘Alā’ ad-Dīn Muḥammad III
26th Imām of Nizārī Ismā'īlīs|years =1221–1255}}

{{s-aft|after = Rukn-ud-Dīn Khurshāh}}

{{s-end}}

{{Nizārī}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ala ad-Din Muhammad 03}}

Category:Nizari imams

Category:1211 births

Category:1255 deaths

Category:13th-century Ismailis

Category:13th-century Islamic religious leaders