ISIS - Prophesying the End-of-Days

(aka "The World of the Delusional")

"How the Islamic State group justifies brutality with an apocalyptic vision" PBS NewsHour 11/2/2015

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  The Islamic State militant group is taking advantage of chaos and upheaval in the Middle East to recruit fighters by prophesying the end of days, says William McCants, an early Islam historian.  McCants joins chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Warner to discuss his new book “The ISIS Apocalypse: The History, Strategy, and Doomsday Vision of the Islamic State.”

GWEN IFILL (NewsHour):  Now another addition to the NewsHour Bookshelf.

As the U.S. steps up military efforts against the Islamic State in Syria, a question persists:  How did this extremely brutal group emerge so rapidly?  A new book offers one answer, “The ISIS Apocalypse: The History, Strategy, and Doomsday Vision of the Islamic State.”  Its author is early Islam historian William McCants, senior fellow and project director at the Brookings Institution.

He spoke recently with chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Warner.

MARGARET WARNER (NewsHour):  Will McCants, welcome.

You suggest right at the beginning of the book that it was triggered in a way by a question your father asked, which is, why do they do that?  Is that what this book is, an answer for that?

WILLIAM MCCANTS, Author, The ISIS Apocalypse:  That’s right.

My dad is 85 years old.  And like most Americans, he watches the news and he can’t understand why a group like the Islamic State is so brutal to people and why they would be so extreme in their actions.  So, it’s for him that I — and people like him that I wrote this book.

MARGARET WARNER:  So, you, as your title says, chalk that up to its apocalyptic vision.  What is that vision?

WILLIAM MCCANTS:  That’s right.

The Islamic State believes that the end of the world is approaching and it believes that it has also reestablished God’s kingdom on Earth.  And that kingdom is going to wage an epic battle against the infidels before it all comes tumbling down.

MARGARET WARNER:  And that drives them, what, with a special sense of urgency?

WILLIAM MCCANTS:  Gives them a special sense of urgency, but also has been terrific for recruiting.

They have been able to attract a lot of foreigners to their cause and many of the foreigners, based on interviews with journalists, say that the main reason they’re there is because they believe that the world is coming to an end and the Islamic State is a fulfillment of prophecy.  So, they’re traveling there to do their bit.