Timbuktu (2015)
March 6, 2015 - The Atlantic recently published an article by Graeme Wood entitled “What ISIS Really Wants.” In it, Wood argues that the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), the vicious group of Sunni militants that has captured the world’s attention through its knack for barbarity and publicity, is first and foremost a religious institution, drawing ideological sustenance from a well-established millenarian vision.
“The reality is that the Islamic State is Islamic,” he writes. “Very Islamic. Yes, it has attracted psychopaths and adventure seekers, drawn largely from the disaffected populations of the Middle East and Europe. But the religion preached by its most ardent followers derives from coherent and even learned interpretations of Islam.”