A Feeble Folk to whom No Concern is Accorded. “Apocalyptic Responses” to ISIS and their Contextualization Cover Image

A Feeble Folk to whom No Concern is Accorded. “Apocalyptic Responses” to ISIS and their Contextualization
A Feeble Folk to whom No Concern is Accorded. “Apocalyptic Responses” to ISIS and their Contextualization

Author(s): Bronislav Ostřanský
Subject(s): Theology and Religion
Published by: Univerzita Karlova v Praze, Nakladatelství Karolinum
Keywords: ISIS; apocalypse; millennialism; jihadists; Sufis

Summary/Abstract: Apocalyptic rhetoric has become a symptomatic expression of the so called Islamic State (hereinafter ISIS). This article provides the reader with a quite different perspective on the apocalyptic visions of ISIS than usual. “A Feeble Folk to whom no Concern is Accorded” (this title is a borrowed quotation from an apocalyptic prophecy recorded by Nuʽaym ibn Hammad in his Kitāb al-Fitan) discusses, above all, how the activities of ISIS are placed into an apocalyptic context by their Muslim opponents. Perhaps it is not surprising that such opposing perceptions can be found mainly within the contributions belonging to those Muslim groups and strands that currently feel mortally threatened by the ISIS inspired terror, namely Shiites, Sufis, liberals, etc. This paper elaborates pivotal Sunni patterns as well as specific examples of such a fighting against ISIS “in eschatological terms.”

  • Issue Year: 2/2018
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 57-76
  • Page Count: 20
  • Language: English