Saladin, greatly alarmed by these repeated attacks, determined to destroy the Assassins, or at least drive them out of Syria. In 1177, after peace was established with Mosul and Aleppo, he advanced with a large force and blockaded Massiat which was built on an almost inaccessible peak commanding a deep ravine. Moslem historians assure us that he would have captured this all-important fortress and thus ended the Order in Syria had not his uncle, Shihab ed din, Lord of Hamath, begged him to make peace on the assurance of Sinan that the king would thereafter be protected from Assassins. Other historians assert that he was terrified by the threats of Sinan and relate how on a night Saladin awoke and found by his bed some hot scones of a size and shape peculiar to the Assassins. Near them, pinned down by a dagger, was a paper containing a threat and a warning. Whatever the cause may have been Saladin withdrew to Damascus without capturing the Assassin stronghold. Then leaving Turan Shah in command of Syria he returned to Cairo after an absence of two years. Thereafter Saladin campaigned both in Egypt and Syria, took possession of the principal cities held by the Crusaders, and won the Holy Land for Mohammedans, but was never again attacked by Assassins. Mohammed II died at Alamut in 1213 from poison, as is stated, leaving a son, Jelal ud din Hassan, who was twenty-five years of age at that time. From boyhood he had been opposed to the practices of the Assassins. As years passed this opposition became so intense that father and son feared each other and when Mohammed died suddenly suspicion rested on Jelal. As soon as the new Grand Prior assumed command he announced his return to the true tenets of Islam, and gave notice to the Kalif at Bagdad, the Kwaresmian Shah and the Governor of Irak of this change in the teachings at Alamut, undertaking at the same time to bring all Ismailians to follow his example. Belief seems to have been given to these assurances, for when his wife and mother went on a pilgrimage to Mecca they were received with distinction at Bagdad and the party of pilgrims who marched under the banner of the Alamut ruler preceded all others. He lived only twelve years after coming to the throne but during those years he built mosques, established schools and called in learned men to teach his people the true faith. Some historians consider Jelal ud din a shrewd politician rather than a reformer and assert that he remained an apostle of atheism. Be this as it may he did for a short time suppress assassination but it reinstated itself quickly when poison removed him and his son, Alai ed din Mohammed, a boy nine years of age, reached the throne. During Alai ed din’s reign women of the harem ruled at Alamut. Every law established by Jelal ud din, his father, was abolished and atheism and the dagger held sway as in the days of Hassan Ben Sabah. When nearing manhood Alai