Islamic End Times' ideology meaning behind ISIS' real name, says terrorism expert

Counterterrorism expert Sebastian Gorka believes understanding the real meaning behind the Islamic State terrorist group's name is crucial as this translates to the Islamic End Times' ideology.

The chair of Military Theory at the Marine Corps University shared his thoughts during this year's The Bridge conference for the persecuted church, which was held Saturday, July 9 and hosted by Christian watchdog International Christian Concern.

Gorka pointed out the relevance of what the terrorist group calls themselves and ruled out confining the group to its Western name of "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)" or "Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL)."

The New York Times bestselling author, who wrote "Defeating Jihad: The Winnable War" and also teaches at Joint Special Operations University and at Georgetown University for national security, said that the Islamic State militants call themselves the "Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham," referred to in the Arabic acronym of DAESH. 

In this name, Gorka focuses on the term "al-Sham" which does not only point to the geographical territories of greater Syria and the Levant but also, more importantly, to the Islamic End Times belief of a "final jihad."

"Prior to that judgment, there will be a series of battles in al-Sham. The pivotal jihad, the last jihad will occur in this territory," said Gorka, as reported by The Christian Post.

He explained further, "They are sending a simple message: 'Have you ever wanted to be a jihadi? Have you toyed with the idea of salvation? Guess what? Look where we are — on the site of the final jihad. If you don't come now, you are going to miss guaranteed salvation.'"

This is what the intelligence community don't understand, observed Gorka, and also what 86,000 found appealing among jihadist groups, with 36,000 originating from outside the states of Iraq and Syria and 6,000 from the West.

The professor also commented on the Orlando terror attack in June to stress the significance of the jihadi ideology.

"It's not about guns, it's about jihadi ideology," he said during an interview with "Sunday Morning Futures."

He added, "You can ban every gun in America, and jihadis will still get them and they'll still kill Americans. Let's focus on what the threat is."