"The Jihadist Preachers of the End Times: ISIS Apocalyptic Propaganda" Bronislav Ostřanský (Edinburgh University Press, 2019)
Looks at how ISIS employs a millennial agenda within the presentation of its ideas.
- The first comprehensive study of ISIS primary sources, previously only discussed as part of the background to broader interpretations of the ISIS campaign
- Introduces and analyses the key topics of ISIS propaganda
- Places particular manifestations of ISIS apocalypticism in a consistent and meaningful framework
- Based on a coherent critical approach to the primary sources, both in Arabic and Western languages, including new media and social network sources
- Interpretations are interspersed with extensive quotations from ISIS sources, providing the reader with the specifics of the Jihadist approach to apocalyptic rhetoric
- Includes an appendix containing an ISIS ‘apocalyptic reader’ of primary source material
Focusing on apocalyptic manifestations found in ISIS propaganda, this book situates the group’s agenda in the broader framework of contemporary Muslim thought and explains key topics in millennial thinking within the spiritual context of modern Islamic apocalypticism.
Based on the group’s primary sources as well as medieval Muslim apocalyptic literature and its modern interpretations, the book analyses the ways ISIS presents its message concerning the Last Days as a meaningful, inventive and frightening expression of collectively shared expectations relating to the supposedly approaching the End Times.
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Title: The Jihadist Preachers of the End Times: ISIS Apocalyptic Propaganda
Author: Bronislav Ostřanský
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Year: September 2019
320 pages
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Table of contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
Note on Names and Transliteration
Introduction
Anchoring the Subject
The Current State of Research
Structure and Methodology
Chapter 1: The Quest for the Portents of the Hour
Key Apocalyptic Terms and Notions
Main Players of the Muslim Apocalypse
Apocalyptic Sources and Historic Manifestations
Chapter 2: Muslim Preachers of the Approaching End
From Dusty Bookshelves to Spiritual Blockbusters
Modern Muslim Apocalyptic Creativity
The Jihadist Fuse and the Millennial Charge?
Apocalyptic Messengers and Forerunners
Chapter 3: The Topography of the Last Days
From the East to Jerusalem
Symbolism and Imagery of the Apocalypse
Chapter 4: The Spark Has Been Lit Here in Iraq
The Apocalyptic March
From Dābiq
To Rome
Chapter 5: The Countdown to the Apocalypse
They Plot, but Allah Also Plots
The Islamic Armageddon
How to Sell the Apocalypse?
Chapter 6: A Feeble Folk to Whom No Concern is Accorded
The Apocalypse as a Battlefield
Sunni ‘Apocalypses Light’
Doomsday Visions of the Shiites
Chapter 7: The Hour as Goal and Vehicle: A Summary of ISIS Apocalypticism
Appendices
1. A Brief Glossary of Muslim Apocalyptic and Eschatological Vocabulary
2. A Comprehensive Chronological Overview of the ISIS Phenomenon
3. An ISIS ‘Apocalyptic Reader’
4. Overview Map
Bibliography
Index
