Chapter 7 Matching Exercise

Credibility

(viziers, singular vizir): usually a reference to government ministers, typically in Abbasid times a high ranking political official.

Parcels of land in varying sizes awarded by the central government to military commanders—and sometimes administrators. The iqta holders would be responsible for local governmental duties such as tax collection, and also commit to providing a certain number of troops when called upon by the central government. This would relieve the central treasury of the burden of paying for a salaried or standing army.

A relatively small Nizari Ismaili sect who, from the eleventh to the mid-thirteenth century, became infamous for their guerilla tactics of singling out enemy leaders (typically Sunni Muslims) and killing them. The term “assassin” is an English corruption of the Arabic word “hashishiyyun,” those who smoke or ingest hashish, which the Assassins were said to do before going on their missions.