“ISIS is at the door, warns Italy.”
by Ralph H. Sidway
In addition to using their savage beheadings and subsequent videos to try to “hotwire the apocalypse,” as Islam historian and Mahdi specialist Timothy Furnish calls it, in the most recent ISIS video, showing the beheading in Libya of twenty one Coptic Christian men, the narrator proclaimed an ominous goal.
According to a report by Jordan Schachtel of Breitbart News:
The Islamic State’s Al Hayat Media, the group that has published the previous beheading videos in the Middle East, produced the Libya video titled, “A Message Signed With Blood To The Nation Of The Cross.”
“All praise is due to Allah the strong and mighty,” said an ISIS jihadist dressed in military fatigues in American-accented English. “And may blessings and peace be upon the ones sent by the sword as a mercy to all the worlds,” he added...
After the ISIS leader finishes speaking, his fellow terrorists then commence the beheading of the 21 Egyptian Christians. “And we will conquer Rome, by Allah’s permission, the promise of our Prophet, peace be upon him,” The militant leader says after his comrades slaughter the Christian hostages.
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| ISIS sets it sights on Rome from Libya. |
Raymond Ibrahim reports that the narrator also adds: “We will fight you until Christ descends, breaks the cross and kills the pig” (all eschatological actions ascribed to the Muslim “Christ,” Isa).
This is not the first time a Muslim group or leader has stated its intent to conquer Rome. Rome is, after all, one of the biggest prizes for Islam, and there is a long tradition of such Islamic braggadocio, with numerous examples especially since the jihad attacks on New York and Washington D.C. of 9/11. The first Muslim to hang a bulls eye on Rome was none other than Muhammad himself, the founder of Islam, as related by the most prominent imam in the world, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi:
“The Prophet Muhammad was asked: ‘What city will be conquered first, Constantinople or Romiyya?’ He answered: ‘The city of Hirqil [i.e. the Byzantine emperor Heraclius] will be conquered first’ – that is, Constantinople”¦ Romiyya is the city called today ‘Rome,’ the capital of Italy. The city of Hirqil [that is, Constantinople] was conquered by the young 23-year-old Ottoman Muhammad bin Morad, known in history as Muhammad the Conqueror, in 1453. The other city, Romiyya, remains, and we hope and believe [that it too will be conquered]. This means that Islam will return to Europe as a conqueror and victor, after being expelled from it twice – once from the South, from Andalusia, and a second time from the East, when it knocked several times on the door of Athens.”
Just last October, Timothy Furnish reported specifically on the Islamic State’s obsession with Rome in his analysis of the group’s magazine Dabiq, Issue 4, titled “The Failed Crusade,” the cover of which depicts the black flag of ISIS flying over the Vatican:
The relevant hadiths (too long to reproduce here) are explicated thusly: “Muslims will be at war with the Roman Christians….the Christians of Europe and their colonies….There will be a pause in this war due to a truce….During this time the Muslims and Romans will fight a common enemy [presumably the “Safawis,” or Twelver Shi`is of Iran and Iraq]….These events all lead up to the final, greatest, and bloodiest battle—al-Malhamah al-Kubra—between the Muslims and the Romans prior to the appearance of the Dajjal and the descent of al-Masih [Jesus]. This battle ends the era of the Roman Christians, as the Muslims will then advance upon Constantinople and thereafter Rome, to conquer the two cities and raise the flag of the Khilafah over them.” But according to IS exegesis, they won’t stop there. The new caliphate, either before the Mahdi comes or, perhaps, after his arrival, also will conquer Jerusalem and eventually “destroy the filthy house called the White House.” Along the way the armies of jihad will “break your crosses and enslave your women.”
In June 2014, the Islamic State’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi issued a statement calling upon all Muslims around the globe to support ISIS, promising that if they did, they would soon “conquer Rome and own the world, if Allah wills.”
But this most recent mass beheading and the threat to Rome in the ISIS Libya video is far more ominous than previous statements by al-Baghdadi and other ISIS and Muslim leaders. In this video, the ISIS narrator specifically draws attention to the geographical significance of the beheadings, declaring, “Today, we are on the south of Rome, on the land of Islam, Libya, sending another message.”
They are saying, in effect, “Today, North Africa and Al Sham [Greater Syria], tomorrow Rome.”
The big question is, will any Western leaders heed these warnings?
