This thread seems to be going around and around, but I'm not sure if we've arrived anywhere. I think, if you have a fairly strong historical and philosophical grasp of the term, you may have trouble with some recent sociological developments in terminology. Still, after reading the article I'm posting about, there does seem to be an Islamic 'futurism' at work here.
That is: "Whereas Sabah failed to create an Ismaili state, bin Laden has helped to create the first Sunni obscurantist state committed to permanent revolution - the Afghanistan of the Taliban." (Prof. Ziauddin Sardar writes this.)
I thought this article might prove interesting. There is the link if you want to read the whole thing. What follows is an extract.
Charles Jannuzi
http://msanews.mynet.net/Scholars/Sardar/alamut.html
Clinton Provokes a Jihad by Prof. Ziauddin Sardar
Bin Laden had come down from the Afghan mountains, and he reminded me of another "Old Man of the Mountain". That was Hassan-e Sabah, the leader of the Nazri Ismailis, who founded the notorious "Order of Assassins" in the 11th century. In retrospect, that analogy has become even more pertinent. Like bin Laden, Hassan-e Sabah was fired by a simplistic faith and what he saw as the injustices of the Saljuq empire. Like Sabah, bin Laden lives an ascetic, abstemious life of religious piety.
There are important differences between the two men that are also worth noting. Whereas Sabah failed to create an Ismaili state, bin Laden has helped to create the first Sunni obscurantist state committed to permanent revolution - the Afghanistan of the Taliban.
In their killing of sovereigns, princes, generals and even scholars, the Order of Assassins relied on ordinary people who had nothing to lose and therefore "loved death more than life". There is no shortage of disenfranchised young men in Afghanistan and Pakistan ready to sacrifice their lives for a piece of paradise. Thus bin Laden is set to repeat history with a vengeance.