the same derogatory sense, albeit less offensive nowadays, as the use of the substance is more widespread. The term hashashin was (and still is) used to describe absent minded criminals and is used derogatorily in all the Muslim sources referring to the Nizaris as such. Idries Shah, a Sufi scholar using Arkon Daraul as a pen name, described them as 'druggers' that used hashish "in stupefying candidates for the ephemeral visit to paradise". The Sunni Muslims also used the term mulhid to refer to the Assassins, which is also recorded by the traveller and Franciscan William of Rubruck as . Military tactics In pursuit of their religious and political goals, the Isma'ilis adopted various military strategies popular in the Middle Ages. One such method was that of assassination, the selective elimination of prominent rival figures. The murders of political adversaries were usually carried out in public spaces, creating resounding intimidation for other possible enemies. Throughout history, many groups have resorted to assassination as a means of achieving political ends. The assassinations were committed against those whose elimination would most greatly reduce aggression against the Ismailis and, in particular, against those who had perpetrated massacres against the community. A single assassination was usually employed in contrast with the widespread bloodshed which generally resulted from factional combat. Assassins are also said to have been adept in furusiyya, or the Islamic warrior code, where they were trained in combat, disguises, and equestrianism. Codes of conduct were followed, and the Assassins were taught in the art of war, linguistics, and strategies. For about two centuries, the Assassins specialized in assassinating their religious and political enemies. While the Seljuks and Crusaders both employed murder as a military means of disposing of factional enemies, during the Alamut period almost any murder of political significance in the Islamic lands was attributed to the Isma'ilis. So inflated had this association grown that, in the work of orientalists such as Bernard Lewis, the Isma'ilis were equated with the politically active fida'is and thus were regarded as a radical and heretical sect known as the Assassins. The military approach of the Nizari Isma'ili state was largely a defensive one, with strategically chosen sites that appeared to avoid confrontation wherever possible without the loss of life. But the defining characteristic of the Nizari Isma'ili state was that it was scattered geographically throughout Persia and Syria. Alamut Castle therefore was only one