Since the Nizaris hated the Abbasids and relished their own fearsome reputation, it wouldn’t have been in their interest to deny the story. In fact, the Assassins may have been a convenient scapegoat for Mas’ud, who couldn’t kill the caliph himself without risking religious unrest. Historians are skeptical that this could have happened without Mas’ud’s cooperation. The Assassins then apparently infiltrated Mas’ud’s army and brutally murdered al-Mustarshid. When Caliph al-Mustarshid rebelled against the Seljuks, he was defeated and captured by Sultan Mas’ud. Although theoretically the leader of Sunni Islam, the caliph in Baghdad had actually been reduced to a puppet of the Seljuk Turks. Key to the Assassins’ infamy is the dubious claim that they murdered two of the Abbasid caliphs. Completely drunk, he was unable to keep his story together and accidentally gave away the local Assassin safe house. When an Assassin was captured trying to kill Fakhr’s brother Ahmad, the Assassin was forced to drink a huge quantity of wine. Unfortunately for the Assassins, the family learned from their mistakes. The Assassin had killed them by proxy with his lies. The men were put to death, but it was later discovered that they were innocent. According to the chronicler Ibn al-Athir, the petitioner was captured and tortured but made a false confession, implicating several of Fakhr al-Mulk’s closest followers. While the vizier was looking it over, the petitioner pulled out a dagger and stabbed him to death.
He was walking to evening prayers when he was approached by a weeping man with a petition.
His son Fakhr al-Mulk, also a powerful vizier, was killed in 1106. The death of Nizam al-Mulk sparked a lengthy feud between his family and the Assassins.
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