What a thought! It's true that contemporary Islam would be severely handicapped without Semtex.
I know I'm being repetitious but Islamic political and military doctrines adore assassination as a tool of war. Tool of politics. Muslim assassinations are as old as Mad Mo' who ordered three of them.
Car bombs, suicide bombs and other explosives are a favorite tool of Muslim assassination these days. Makes it a lot easier than in bygone years when the Jihadist scumbag had only a dagger and was often caught + killed after doing the deed.
The Assassins' cult is a good example of the diversity of unconventional means to reach and build a parallel political power of a certain magnitude. Hassan Sabbah was neither prince nor king. He didn't rule over any country or nation in particular, he was just the leader of an islamic religious cult: the Ismailis. Even though the origin and the base of his power are not a nation-state, the Old Man of the Mountain and his Assassins will have a great influence in the Middle East from the XIth till the end of the XIIIth century.
It is first through its organization as a secret society that the Ismaili Cult becomes a possible instrument of Power conquest for Hassan ben Sabbah. In Persia around 1090, Hassan gives a purpose, a new form and impulse to the sect. Its new name (Assassins) is derived from the Arabic <<hachachin>> (smokers of hashish), then Hassan will have all his enemies assassinated by faithful disciples intoxicated with hashish.
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