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"The Templars and the Assassins: The Militia of Heaven" is a frequent cite on these two blog posts.
I have read "The Templars and the Assassins: The Militia of Heaven" twice and certainly will again. The book is a good read; one of the few admitted Freemasons I have known and one of two ever met under 40 in age, borrowed the book and I gave him that copy and purchased another.
Jim Wasserman, author of "The Templars and the Assassins: The Militia of Heaven" is a heavy weight OTO member and author of long standing (40 years).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_WassermanFrom Amazon:
• An examination of the interactions of the Christian Knights Templar and their Muslim counterparts, the Assassins, and of the profound changes in Western society that resulted.
• Restores the reputation of the secret Muslim order of the Assassins, disparaged as the world's first terrorist group.
• Dispels many myths about the Knights Templar and provides the most incisive portrait of them to date.
A thousand years ago Christian battled Muslim for possession of a strip of land upon which both their religions were founded. These Crusades changed the course of Western history, but less known is the fact that they also were the meeting ground for two legendary secret societies: The Knights Templar and their Muslim counterparts, the Assassins.
In The Templars and the Assassins: The Militia of Heaven, occult scholar and secret society member James Wasserman provides compelling evidence that the interaction of the Knights Templar and the Assassins in the Holy Land transformed the Templars from the Pope's private army into a true occult society, from which they would sow the seeds of the Renaissance and the Western Mystery Tradition. Both orders were destroyed as heretical some seven hundred years ago, but Templar survivors are believed to have carried the secret teachings of the East into an occult underground, from which sprang both Rosicrucianism and Masonry. Assassin survivors, known as Nizari Ismailis, flourish to this day under the spiritual leadership of the Aga Khan. Wasserman strips the myths from both groups and penetrates to the heart of their enlightened beliefs and rigorous practices, delivering the most probing picture yet of these holy warriors.
http://www.amazon.com/Templars-Assassin ... 1RSY6V5SPCTo this day, the Nizari Ismaili are led by a figure titled the Aga Khan who supported militarily and politically the British Empire in the Far East during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The Aga Khans were luminaries in 20th century British, French, and American thoroughbred horse breeding and racing.
Here is wiki for current Aga Khan IV. His bio is not what one would expect of a Islamic Iman.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aga_Khan_IVPrince Shah Karim Al Hussaini, Aga Khan IV, KBE (Persian: شاه کریم حسینی، آقاخان چهارم, Urdu: شاه کریم حسینی، آقاخان چهارم; Aga Khan is also transliterated as Aqa Khan and Agha Khan[1]) was born on 13 December 1936, in Geneva, Switzerland. He is a British[2] business magnate,[3][4][5][6] racehorse owner and breeder,[3][7] as well as being the 49th and current Imam of Nizari Ismailism, a denomination of Ismailism within Shia Islam consisting of an estimated 20-30 million adherents (about 20 % of the world's Shia Muslim population).[6][8][9][10] He has held this position of Imam, under the title of Aga Khan IV, since 11 July 1957,[11] when, at the age of 20, he succeeded his grandfather, Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah Aga Khan III. The Aga Khan claims to be a relative of the Islamic prophet Muhammad through Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, Ali,[12] considered the first Imam in Shia Islam, and Ali's wife Fatima az-Zahra, Muhammad’s daughter from his first marriage. In 1986 the Aga Khan ordained the current version of the Ismailia Constitution – an ecclesiastical decree[13] affirming to Nizari Ismailis his "sole right to interpret the Qur'an and provide authoritative guidance on [all] matters of faith"[14] and formalising his sole discretion, power and authority for the governance of Nizari Ismaili jamats (places of worship) and institutions.[15]
Forbes describes the Aga Khan as one of the world's ten richest royals with an estimated net worth of US$800 million (2010). Additionally he is unique among the richest royals as he does not rule over a geographic territory.[16] He owns hundreds of racehorses, valuable stud farms, an exclusive yacht club on Sardinia,[17] a private island in the Bahamas,[18] two Bombardier jets, a £100 million high speed yacht Alamshar, named after his prize racehorse,[19] and several estates around the world, with his primary residence at Aiglemont estate in the town of Gouvieux, France, north of Paris. In 2008, the then French President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged that the Aga Khan, a British citizen, would be let off all 'direct taxes, stamp duty, and wealth tax' by the country of France - saving the Aga Khan an amount estimated to be in the billions of Euros.[20] The Aga Khan's philanthropic institutions spend about US$600 million per year – mainly in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.[21]
Among the goals the Aga Khan has said he works toward are the elimination of global poverty; the promotion and implementation of secular pluralism;[22] the advancement of the status of women; and the honouring of Islamic art and architecture.[21][23][24][25][26] He is the founder and chairman of the Aga Khan Development Network, one of the largest private development networks in the world. The organisation has said it works toward improvement of the environment, health, education, architecture, culture, microfinance, rural development, disaster reduction, the promotion of private-sector enterprise and the revitalisation of historic cities.[23][26][27][28][29][30] Since his ascension to the Imamate of Nizari Ismailis in 1957, the Aga Khan has been involved in complex political and economic changes which have affected his Nizari Ismaili followers, including the independence of African countries from colonial rule, expulsion of Asians from Uganda, the independence of Central Asian countries such as Tajikistan from the former Soviet Union and the continuous turmoil in Afghanistan and Pakistan.[23] Aga Khan IV became the first faith leader to address the Joint Session of the Canadian Parliament on 27 February 2014.[31]