HAVOC 155was divided among his various sons and grandsons, who continued the
holocaust. The core of the Muslim world fell into the hands of Chengez's
grandson Hulagu, and since not all of this territory had been conquered
yet, Hulagu took up where his grandfather had left of£
A curious footnote to the Mongol holocaust occurred in 653 AH (1256
CE), when Hulagu was passing through Persia. A Muslim jurist near Ala-
mut complained to the Mongol khan that he had to wear armor under his
clothes all the time for fear of the Assassins headquartered nearby. A short
time later, two Fedayeen (suicidal Assassin agents) disguised as monks tried
to kill Hulagu-and failed. They might as well have tried to pluck out the
man's beard. The cult that could kill anyone met the army that could kill
everyone. Hulagu took time out from his westward drive to storm Alamut.
He then did to the Assassins what the Mongols had done and would do to
many others: he destroyed them physically; he destroyed their stronghold;
he destroyed their records, libraries, and papers-in that moment, the
menace of the Assassins came to an end.^9
After Hulagu had annihilated the Assassins, he marched on to Bagh-
dad. There, he posted a threatening letter to the last Abassid khalifa, in
which, according to the historian Rashid al-Din Fazlullah, he said, "The
past is over. Destroy your ramparts, fill in your moats, turn the kingdom
over to your son, and come to us .... If you do not heed our advice ...
get ready. When I lead my troops in wrath against Baghdad even if you
hide in the sky or in the earth, I shall bring you down. I shall not leave
one person alive in your realm, and I shall put your city and country to
the torch. If you desire to have mercy on your ancient family's heads,
heed my advice."
The Abbasid khalifate, however, had been showing signs of life recently,
and an occasional khalifa had even bid for real power, at the head of actual
troops. The khalifa in place at this moment was one of the cocky ones. In
his pride, this khalifa wrote back to Hulagu: "Young man, you have just
come of age and have expectations of living forever. You ... think your
command is absolute .... You come with strategy, troops, and lasso, but
how are you going to capture a star? Does the prince not know that from
the east to the west, from king to beggar, from old to young, all who are
God-fearing and God worshipping are servants of this court and soldiers