Tabas Gilaki, 'Tabas of the dates', is an oasis town of palms and orchards in the desert between Quhistan and Yazd, a station on the caravan roads across the Great Desert.
It was a Nizari centre from the 1090s; Seljuk forces besieged it and pulled down its walls in the early twelfth century. Not to be confused with Tabas Masinan ('Tabas of the jujubes') near Birjand.
Who holds it
- Title
- Muhtasham of Quhistan (for the imam)
- Since
- Nizari since the 1090s (likely)
- Confidence
- medium
Lord in 1200
The Nizari muhtasham of Quhistan for the imam (likely)
How things stand that morning
Nizari (likely).
Charter
None in the usual sense: a Nizari town governed for the imam under the regional chief (muhtasham) and the da'is.
Council
Nizari officers and notables (not named).
Communities
Persian townsmen, largely Nizari.
Fairs and markets
Daily markets (suq) and caravanserais; no fair days recorded.
Militia
Townsmen's young men's associations ('ayyarun) existed in the towns of Persia; nothing specific is recorded here for 1199-1200.
Walls and castle
Citadel; walls slighted by the Seljuks early in the twelfth century, state in 1200 not pinned.
Trade and crafts
Dates, citrus, desert caravan trade to Yazd, Kerman and Nishapur.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Nizari holding inferred from its place in Nizari Quhistan; no document for 1200.
Primary sources for Nizaris of Alamut
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The Complete History, Izz al-Din Ibn al-Athir (about 1200 to 1231, at Mosul). The widest Muslim narrative for the years 596 to 597 AH (1199 to 1201): al-Adil's entry into Cairo and his taking of the sultanate from his nephew al-Mansur Muhammad early in 1200, the quarrels of the Ayyubid princes at Damascus, Aleppo and Hama, the Nile failure and the great famine of Egypt, Mosul under Nur al-Din Arslan Shah and the Jazira under Gokbori and the Artuqids, Baghdad under the caliph al-Nasir, the Khwarazmshah Tekish's death in 1200 and Muhammad's accession, the Ghurid wars in Khurasan, the Eldiguzids and Georgia, the Almohads in the west, and the Seljuks of Rum in passing. Read online
- History of Tabaristan, Ibn Isfandiyar (Baha al-Din Muhammad ibn Hasan) (begun 1206, extended about 1216; continued anonymously to 1349). The local history of the Caspian province and the only account of the Bavandid kings of Tabaristan: Husam al-Dawla Ardashir (reigned 1173 to 1206) at Sari and Amul, his dealings with the Khwarazmshahs Tekish and Ala al-Din Muhammad, the Nizaris of Alamut, the Eldiguzids and the caliph, and the marriages, feuds and raids of the Daylamite and Gilaki lords. Read online
- The History of the World Conqueror, Ata-Malik Juvayni (1252 to 1260). Written for the Mongols but with a long retrospective on the powers they destroyed. Read online
- Compendium of Chronicles, Rashid al-Din Fadl Allah Hamadani (1300 to 1311, at Tabriz). The official Ilkhanid history, compiled from Mongol oral tradition and the lost Altan Debter. Read online
- The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela, Benjamin of Tudela (about 1173). A generation before 1200 but the only survey of its kind: the Jewish communities and their heads from Navarre through Provence, Italy, Constantinople and the Aegean, Antioch, Tyre, Jerusalem, Damascus, Mosul and Baghdad to the Persian Gulf, with notes on rulers, trades, the exilarch at Baghdad, the Assassins of Syria and Persia, and hearsay on India, Ceylon and China. Read online
Sources and studies
- G. Le Strange, The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate (1905), chs. on Tabaristan, Gilan, Jurjan, Qumis and Quhistan
- F. Daftary, The Isma'ilis: Their History and Doctrines (2nd ed., 2007), ch. 6 (the Nizaris of the Alamut period)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.