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The REAL STORY!!!
- Thread starter Skulnik
- Start date
Q: What is an apocalyptic belief?
A: It?s a belief that the world will end or be renewed, usually with catastrophic events or battles pitting the forces of good against evil. Apocalyptic views are found in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, while communism and Nazism are sometimes cited as secular examples.
Q: Why does it involve violence?
A: Apocalyptic believers desperately want to cleanse what they see as a corrupt and sinful world. While they are not all violent, the more imminent the apocalypse is believed to be, the more potential for destructive actions, says Richard Landes, the former head of the Center for Millennial Studies at Boston University. ?Apocalyptic thought is unbelievably disruptive,? he says. The title of Robert Jay Lifton?s book about the Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo, which hoped to provoke Armageddon with a 1995 nerve gas attack on a Tokyo subway, was: ?Destroying the World to Save it.?
Q: Which apocalyptic views are found in Islam?
A: The hadith ? the Prophet Muhammad?s sayings as recounted by others ? includes accounts of a final reckoning and a struggle between the forces of al-Dajjal, the Great Deceiver, and the Mahdi, a Muslim messiah (which in some interpretations is Jesus). The Quran itself does not mention these messianic figures but does emphasize a final reckoning between the righteous and the wicked.
Q: How has apocalypticism been viewed by Muslims traditionally?
A: Imam Sayyid M. Syeed of the Islamic Society of North America says Muhammad warned of the prospect of cataclysmic events, not because they would necessarily happen, but ?for us to reform our society and make sure we don?t allow them to happen.? But many extreme jihadists believe they are in the midst of an apocalyptic struggle against Christians and Jews. And Landes says this view has been gaining ground, first among Shiite Muslims after the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979, and spreading to Sunni Muslims with the Palestinian intifadas and the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Q: How does ISIS use apocalypticism?
A: Its name, for one. The ?Islamic State? refers to the caliphate, a Muslim state headed by a kinglike caliph, which is what the group?s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, calls himself. It has a magazine called Dabbiq, also the name of a northern Syrian town where one controversial hadith places the end-times battle.
William McCants, a Brookings Institution scholar and author of The ISIS Apocalypse: The History, Strategy and Doomsday Vision of the Islamic State, says the group?s end-times fixation distinguishes it from other groups, including al-Qaida, and is key to its relative success.
?They stir messianic fervor rather than suppress it,? McCants writes of ISIS. ?They want God?s kingdom now rather than later. This is not Bin Laden?s jihad.?
Worse, he says, is that other groups, eyeing ISIS? successes, may adopt their end-times focus. ?My worry is we are in for some pretty dark days ahead.?
Q: Why is it such a good recruiting tool for ISIS?
A: Many young people facing what they feel are dead-end lives find the idea of restoring Islam to its past glories irresistible. McCants has also said the lure of sex cannot be ruled out ? ISIS promises young men who join its army concubines and wives. The power struggles in Syria, Egypt and other places in the Middle East may also be interpreted as the prophesied backdrop of Islam?s end-times scenario.
ISIS? apocalyptic vision is ?a big selling point with foreign fighters, who want to travel to the lands where the final battles of the apocalypse will take place,? McCants says. ?The civil wars raging in those countries today lend credibility to the prophecies.?
Q: How should the West respond?
A: The West has a tradition of disregarding apocalyptic ideology, even on its own soil. Remember David Koresh and his Branch Davidians? Some scholars say that if law enforcement officials had taken their apocalyptic ideology seriously, the 1993 standoff in Waco, Texas, might not have ended with the deaths of 76 men, women and children.
Now, a growing number of scholars say ISIS? apocalyptic vision is crucial to combating it. Alternative interpretations of Islamic ideology must be presented, by both Muslims and non-Muslims. Writing in The Atlantic last March, Graeme Wood said: ?Muslims can reject the Islamic State; nearly all do. But pretending that it isn?t actually a religious, millenarian group, with theology that must be understood to be combatted, has already led the United States to underestimate it and back foolish schemes to counter it.?
A: It?s a belief that the world will end or be renewed, usually with catastrophic events or battles pitting the forces of good against evil. Apocalyptic views are found in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, while communism and Nazism are sometimes cited as secular examples.
Q: Why does it involve violence?
A: Apocalyptic believers desperately want to cleanse what they see as a corrupt and sinful world. While they are not all violent, the more imminent the apocalypse is believed to be, the more potential for destructive actions, says Richard Landes, the former head of the Center for Millennial Studies at Boston University. ?Apocalyptic thought is unbelievably disruptive,? he says. The title of Robert Jay Lifton?s book about the Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo, which hoped to provoke Armageddon with a 1995 nerve gas attack on a Tokyo subway, was: ?Destroying the World to Save it.?
Q: Which apocalyptic views are found in Islam?
A: The hadith ? the Prophet Muhammad?s sayings as recounted by others ? includes accounts of a final reckoning and a struggle between the forces of al-Dajjal, the Great Deceiver, and the Mahdi, a Muslim messiah (which in some interpretations is Jesus). The Quran itself does not mention these messianic figures but does emphasize a final reckoning between the righteous and the wicked.
Q: How has apocalypticism been viewed by Muslims traditionally?
A: Imam Sayyid M. Syeed of the Islamic Society of North America says Muhammad warned of the prospect of cataclysmic events, not because they would necessarily happen, but ?for us to reform our society and make sure we don?t allow them to happen.? But many extreme jihadists believe they are in the midst of an apocalyptic struggle against Christians and Jews. And Landes says this view has been gaining ground, first among Shiite Muslims after the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979, and spreading to Sunni Muslims with the Palestinian intifadas and the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Q: How does ISIS use apocalypticism?
A: Its name, for one. The ?Islamic State? refers to the caliphate, a Muslim state headed by a kinglike caliph, which is what the group?s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, calls himself. It has a magazine called Dabbiq, also the name of a northern Syrian town where one controversial hadith places the end-times battle.
William McCants, a Brookings Institution scholar and author of The ISIS Apocalypse: The History, Strategy and Doomsday Vision of the Islamic State, says the group?s end-times fixation distinguishes it from other groups, including al-Qaida, and is key to its relative success.
?They stir messianic fervor rather than suppress it,? McCants writes of ISIS. ?They want God?s kingdom now rather than later. This is not Bin Laden?s jihad.?
Worse, he says, is that other groups, eyeing ISIS? successes, may adopt their end-times focus. ?My worry is we are in for some pretty dark days ahead.?
Q: Why is it such a good recruiting tool for ISIS?
A: Many young people facing what they feel are dead-end lives find the idea of restoring Islam to its past glories irresistible. McCants has also said the lure of sex cannot be ruled out ? ISIS promises young men who join its army concubines and wives. The power struggles in Syria, Egypt and other places in the Middle East may also be interpreted as the prophesied backdrop of Islam?s end-times scenario.
ISIS? apocalyptic vision is ?a big selling point with foreign fighters, who want to travel to the lands where the final battles of the apocalypse will take place,? McCants says. ?The civil wars raging in those countries today lend credibility to the prophecies.?
Q: How should the West respond?
A: The West has a tradition of disregarding apocalyptic ideology, even on its own soil. Remember David Koresh and his Branch Davidians? Some scholars say that if law enforcement officials had taken their apocalyptic ideology seriously, the 1993 standoff in Waco, Texas, might not have ended with the deaths of 76 men, women and children.
Now, a growing number of scholars say ISIS? apocalyptic vision is crucial to combating it. Alternative interpretations of Islamic ideology must be presented, by both Muslims and non-Muslims. Writing in The Atlantic last March, Graeme Wood said: ?Muslims can reject the Islamic State; nearly all do. But pretending that it isn?t actually a religious, millenarian group, with theology that must be understood to be combatted, has already led the United States to underestimate it and back foolish schemes to counter it.?
The son of a New York mob boss has given Islamic State a stark warning, saying if they are planning any attacks in New York, they will have to contend with the Sicilian mafia. The notorious crime syndicate say they want to do their bit to protect locals.
Giovanni Gambino, the son of a key figure in the Gambino mob organization, says the mafia is in a much better position than security bodies, such as the FBI or Homeland Security, to give New Yorkers the protection they need.
?They often act too late, or fail to see a complete picture of what's happening due to a lack of ?human intelligence,?? he said in an interview with NBC News, as cited by Reuters, adding that the mafia?s knowledge of individual movements and interaction with locals gives it the upper hand, even compared to the latest surveillance technologies.
Gambino, who is trying to carve out a career as a Hollywood screenwriter, says that, following the horrendous terror attacks in Paris on November 13, protection is more important than ever.
"The world is dangerous today, but people living in New York neighborhoods with Sicilian connections should feel safe," he said. "We make sure our friends and families are protected from extremists and terrorists, especially the brutal, psychopathic organization that calls itself the Islamic State,?
Gambino Jr, who was brought up in Torretta, a mountainous area overlooking Palermo, the capital of Sicily, says that Islamic State (formerly ISIS/ISIL) fear the Sicilian mafia, and this has been one of the main reasons why they have not tried to set up any underground cells in Sicily.
The Italian island has not suffered from any terrorist attacks and Gambino feels that the mafia can offer protection in New York to help curb the rise of the Islamist terror group and help people see the mob in a new light.
"The mafia has a bad reputation, but much of that's undeserved," says Gambino, who moved to Brooklyn in 1988. "As with everything in life, there are good, bad and ugly parts ? the rise of global terrorism gives the mafia a chance to show its good side."
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wish the US could have this protection
they have connections in the streets.
Giovanni Gambino, the son of a key figure in the Gambino mob organization, says the mafia is in a much better position than security bodies, such as the FBI or Homeland Security, to give New Yorkers the protection they need.
?They often act too late, or fail to see a complete picture of what's happening due to a lack of ?human intelligence,?? he said in an interview with NBC News, as cited by Reuters, adding that the mafia?s knowledge of individual movements and interaction with locals gives it the upper hand, even compared to the latest surveillance technologies.
Gambino, who is trying to carve out a career as a Hollywood screenwriter, says that, following the horrendous terror attacks in Paris on November 13, protection is more important than ever.
"The world is dangerous today, but people living in New York neighborhoods with Sicilian connections should feel safe," he said. "We make sure our friends and families are protected from extremists and terrorists, especially the brutal, psychopathic organization that calls itself the Islamic State,?
Gambino Jr, who was brought up in Torretta, a mountainous area overlooking Palermo, the capital of Sicily, says that Islamic State (formerly ISIS/ISIL) fear the Sicilian mafia, and this has been one of the main reasons why they have not tried to set up any underground cells in Sicily.
The Italian island has not suffered from any terrorist attacks and Gambino feels that the mafia can offer protection in New York to help curb the rise of the Islamist terror group and help people see the mob in a new light.
"The mafia has a bad reputation, but much of that's undeserved," says Gambino, who moved to Brooklyn in 1988. "As with everything in life, there are good, bad and ugly parts ? the rise of global terrorism gives the mafia a chance to show its good side."
.............................................................................
wish the US could have this protection
they have connections in the streets.
