Central European Journal for Contemporary Religion is a scholarly journal published both by the Hussite Theological Faculty of the Charles University and Karolinum Publishers, which aims to serve as a publication platform for Comparative Religion and related disciplines. It focuses mainly on contemporary religious phenomena with special (but not exclusive) focus on Central and Eastern Europe. It should serve both as a source of information on te religious life in the region and as a supply of scholarly studies focused on contemporary lived religion at large. It is published semi-annually both in print and online (free access). Its goal is to bring thought-provoking contributions related not only to current established religions and religious movements new and old, but also to contemporary spirituality in its wider context, including the New Age milieu, Neopaganism and pop-cultural spirituality. The journal also covers the latest theoretical and methodological trends in Comparative Religion, Ritual Studies and other disciplines. The editorial board consists of scholars from most Czech Comparative Religion departments, as well as experts on the most important religious traditions across the globe.
CENTRAL EUROPEAN JOURNAL FOR CONTEMPORARY RELIGION, Vol 2 No 1 (2018), 57–76
A Feeble Folk to whom No Concern is Accorded. “Apocalyptic Responses” to ISIS and their Contextualization
Bronislav Ostřanský
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14712/25704893.2018.3
published online: 28. 05. 2018
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.”
keywords: ISIS; apocalypse; millennialism; jihadists; Sufis
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A Feeble Folk to whom No Concern is Accorded. “Apocalyptic Responses” to ISIS and their Contextualization is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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