Jubair al Hakim

"I too, was making a small sacrifice. It matters little now. Your deed is done, and so am I."

―Jubair's dying words to Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, 1191.

Jubair al Hakim (c. 1150s – 1191) was the Chief Scholar of Damascus, located in the city's Middle District, and a secret member of the Levantine Templars. He was the eighth of the nine men eliminated by the Assassin Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad as part of his mission assigned by Al Mualim.

Biography

The learned scholar

"Is it not ancient scrolls that inspire the Crusaders? That fill Salāḥ ad-Dīn and his men with a sense of righteous fury? Their texts endanger others, bring death in their wake."

―Jubair to Altaïr, 1191.

Also known as the head of "The Illuminated", Jubair al Hakim served in the court of Salāḥ ad-Dīn and led his fellow Damascan scholars. Away from the public's eye, he joined the Templar Order and aided their efforts to conquer the Holy Land so they may "liberate" it from violence and ignorance. He also became one of nine Templars who guarded the secrets of an Apple of Eden.

In time, the Templar ideology caused Jubair's view of literature to turn into hatred. Rather than seeking knowledge, he influenced the scholars to begin hunting down and incinerating all sources of written knowledge within Damascus, believing the documents to be the source of evil and hatred in the world. This in turn led them to blame the war between the Saracens and the Crusaders on written documents, as it was the Qur'an and the Bible that drove the Crusades. In truth, the Templars wanted to replace all written works with their own once they were purged as part of their plans for a New World Order.

Jubair had disdain for the works of many writers such as Plato and Socrates. He was a ruthless man, with little tolerance towards any who opposed him. He believed that the illness of learning had to be eliminated because it fixed people in their ways, preventing them from finding their true calling. While most of his followers shared his beliefs and worked to spread his message, a few were more reluctant, including Jubair's own wife, who tried to hide some of the books her husband planned to burn so that they may be spared from the flames.

Death

"Am I not unlike those precious books you seek to save? A source of knowledge with which you disagree? Yet you're rather quick to steal my life."

―Jubair to Altaïr in his final moments, 1191.

In 1191, the Assassin Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad made his way to Damascus to take the life of the Chief Scholar. After several investigations, he learned about Jubair's planned book burnings and that the Templar would be meeting with his fellow scholars at the Madrasah Al-Kallāsah.

Altaïr observing Jubair and his fellow scholars inside the madrasah

Infiltrating the madrasah, Altaïr witnessed Jubair and several of his followers in a courtyard, adding scripts to a roaring fire, which disgusted the Assassin to the point that he had to restrain himself from intervening, since the destruction of knowledge was abhorred by the Assassins and their Creed. While the rest of his followers added fuel, a man began to argue with Jubair, claiming the scripts to be gifts, not curses. Jubair asked the man if he truly loved his books, to which the scholar responded that he did.

In a fit of rage, Jubair pushed the man onto the pile of burning scripts and watched him die. After asking the rest of his followers if anyone wished to join him, the scholars set out to conduct bonfires throughout the city.

Altaïr had to track down the actual Jubair among dozens of his followers wearing the same uniform, though eventually he found his target in a small courtyard guarded by two soldiers. Unsuspecting and unaware of the nearby Assassin, Jubair was swiftly slain by Altaïr with his Hidden Blade. With his dying words, the Templar claimed that he merely sought to free people from the books, which he believed made them ignorant and foolish, so that they could think for themselves again.

Personality and traits

"They do not learn, fixed in their ways as they are. You are naive to think otherwise. It's an illness, for which there is one cure."

―Jubair to Altaïr, 1191.

Jubair was a man of strong beliefs who had faith in his cause, as well as that of the Templars'. Believing people to be too dependent on scriptures, he decided to burn all written texts in Damascus, intent on freeing the people of their ignorance.

Jubair burning the dissident scholar

Despite his plans to burn all of the literature, Jubair was an intelligent man. He did not follow orders simply because they were given to him, but he acted on his own thoughts, having given the subject adequate thought. He justified his actions by stating the war between King Richard and Salāḥ ad-Dīn had been started by ancient scrolls, and that the world would have been better without them.

However, Jubair was also a violent man, who was easily angered and would not allow anything to get in his way. As exemplified when one of his disciples doubted his actions, Jubair didn't hesitate to throw him onto the pile of burning books, and he even went so far as to watch how his former companion suffered a painful death in the flames.

Behind the scenes

Jubair al Halim is a character created for the 2007 video game Assassin's Creed, where he is voiced by American actor Fred Tatasciore. While fictional, Jubair's character may have been inspired by the Arab-Spanish geographer, traveler, and poet Ibn Jubayr.

Out of all the targets in Assassin's Creed, Jubair is the only one not featured in its mobile adaptation, with the game even specifically stating that there were eight Templars instead of nine. However, Jubair might have been originally intended to appear in the game, as Tamir has two levels about Altaïr hunting him in Damascus while every other target only received one level. As Jubair would have also been based in Damascus, this could suggest that Tamir's extra level originally revolved around Jubair.

Jubair is one of the five targets in the original game that have personal bodyguards; the others are Tamir, Abu'l Nuqoud, Majd Addin, and Talal. Jubair is also the first assassination target in the series to use multiple decoys who are dressed identically to him, requiring the player to identify the real Jubair and eliminate him. A similar concept would later be used for Hetepi's assassination in Assassin's Creed: Origins and for Ingeborg's assassination in Assassin's Creed: Valhalla.

Etymology

Jubair (جبير) is an Arabic masculine given name meaning "mender, unbreaker". Derived from the root ج_ب_ر (j-b-r), it can also mean "force, compulsion, coercion" which may refer to his actions through force. Al Hakim (الحكيم) is an Arabic nishbah meaning "the wise one".

Gallery

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  Jubair and his fellow scholars burning the books
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  A scholar arguing with Jubair
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  Altaïr assassinating Jubair
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  Jubair's final moments

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: The Secret Crusade

References

de:Jubair al Hakim es:Jubair al Hakim fa:جبیر الحکیم fr:Jubair Al Hakim hu:Jubair al Hakim it:Jubair al Hakim nl:Jubair al Hakim pl:Jubair al Hakim pt-br:Jubair al Hakim ru:Джубаир аль Хаким uk:Джубаїр аль Хакім