On this occasion one of the voyagers asked Hassan: “What is the reason that I do not see thee disturbed?” Hassan answered: “It is because the Múláná, that is, the Imám, revealed to me that no misfortune will befall the passengers of the ship.” At the same moment, the tumult was calmed. On that account, love for Hassan gained the hearts of the whole company, and the vessel went to one of the towns of the Nazaréens. Hassan from thence embarked in another ship, and arrived at the frontier of _Shám_ (Syria), where he landed. From thence he hastened to Haleb (Alep),[639] and then satisfied his desire to go to Baghdad, from which place he betook himself hastily to Khózistan, which country he left for Isfahán: in this way he travelled, concealed and clandestinely, in the countries of Irak and Azerbáíjan, and invited the people to the doctrine of the Ismáílíah, and to the Imámate of Nazár; he sent _dáâis_,[640] “missionaries,” to the fort _Almút_, and to other fastnesses and cities of Rúdbár and Kohistán, that they might invite the people to the true faith: in a short time, a great number of men adopted this religion. Afterwards, having fixed his abode in a place near Almút, he devoted himself entirely to a religious life, to rectitude and the submission to God, which was his very nature.[641] The inhabitants, having heard his followers, were converted to his doctrine, and in the month of Rajeb (December) in the year of the Hejira 484 (A. D. 1091), a troop of the inhabitants of Almút brought this personage into the fort.[642] Finally, when he had entered the fort, a chief, Alí Mahdî by name, who, under the authority of Sultan Malik shah, was governor of this province, found himself bereft of power and was obliged to submit. The adversaries of the Ismâlíah say, that one day Alí Mahdî asserted, “deception in law is allowable,” and gave an account of some deceptions in religious law; but our Sáid declared that, the centre of law being rectitude, deception is not permitted, and all those who practise deception, shall be brought to account for it by God. Some time after it, Hassan said one day to Mahdi: “Sell to me for three thousand dinars as much of the ground of this fort as a cow-skin will be able to embrace.” Mahdi, having agreed to the bargain, our Sâid made the cow-skin into thin stripes, which he joined together and surrounded the whole fort. He then wrote an order to the Ráis Mazafer, who held a command at the foot of the mountains of Dámâan, and was a follower of his doctrine, to that effect: “The Ráis Mazafer (may God Almighty guard him!) shall pay to Alí Mahdî three thousand dinars, as the price of the fort Almút. Blessing upon the prophet and his descendants; God suffices to us, and it is good to trust our interests to him.” Having written this, he delivered it to Mahdi, and brought him out of the fort. The latter, some time after, pressed by indigence, presented the writ to the Râis Mazafer, and received three thousand dinars in gold.