2020-12-01 Tue

Ala al-Din Muhammad III was the 26th Nizari Ismaili Imam. Son Jalal al-Din he ruled from 1221 to 1255. His reign witnessed the beginnings of the Mongol devastations of Persia and the eastern Muslim world.

However, upon succession he was initially too young, so Hassan III's vizier controlled the state. His mother was a Sunni woman and a daughter of one of the princes of Gilan. The administration of the state affairs had been governed by his gifted mother for about six years, which was the first instance when a woman administered at Alamut. The period of six years was very peaceful in Alamut, during which time the Imam's mother seems to have deposed many incapable governors in Rudhbar and Kohistan.

Under Muhammad III's reign, the Sunni conformity initiated by his father was gradually and quietly reversed and his community increasingly regarded itself openly as Ismaili Shi'ite. His rule was described as "cruel, imperious, sadistic, alcoholic, and unpredictable.

He was murdered under suspicious circumstances and was succeeded by his eldest son Rukn al-Din Khurshah in 1255. Depicted here is a Coin of 'Ala' al-Din Muhammad III. The Obverse of a coin depicts the inscription Ala' ad-Dunya wad-Din (a respectful variant of the given name Ala ad-Din). The reverse of a coin inscribed The Great Lord (or The Grand Master).

Image Source: Wikipedia.org