Wondering if there may be a connection between Fatima and ISIS.

Fatima. Apparitions of the Angel (1915—1916)

I'm not sure how and Our Lady never mentioned Islam at Fatima, but it seems to me what is unfolding in the Middle East today must be related to the Fatima revelations.  I just don't know how exactly.  The Blessed Virgin appeared in 1917 promising WWI would end soon, but a worse war would follow - if people did not amend their lives.  After WWII things got worse - especially after 1960.  At least twice the world came close to WWIII - nuclear war - in the 1960's and early 1980's.  Now we are left with a world in chaos.

Sometimes we can forget there were 'pre-apparitions' at Fatima.  The first event occurred in 1915.  The children saw the figure of an angel.  Later, in 1916 Lucia and her cousins saw the angel again.  This time he spoke, teaching them how to pray.  These events were in preparation for the apparitions of Our Lady the following May.  Each year, the encounters began in the spring.

Apparitions of the Angel

Although I cannot give the exact date, it seems to me that it was in 1915 that the first Apparition took place. As far as I can judge, it was the Angel, although at that time he did not venture to make himself fully known. From what I can recall of the weather, I think that this must have happened between the months of April and October in the year 1915.

My three companions from Casa Velha, by name Teresa Matias and her sister Maria Rosa, and Maria Justino, were with me on the southern slope of the Cabeço. We were just about to start praying the Rosary when I saw, poised in the air above the trees that stretched down to the valley which lay at our feet, what appeared to be a cloud in human form, whiter than snow and almost transparent. My companions asked me what it was. I replied that I did not know. This happened on two further occasions, but on different days.

This Apparition made a certain impression upon me, which I do not know how to explain. Little by little, this impression faded away, and were it not for the events that followed, I think I would have forgotten it completely.

The dates I cannot set down with certainty, because, at that time, I did not know how to reckon the years, the months, or even the days of the week. But I think it must have been in the spring of 1916 that the Angel appeared to us for the first time in our Loca do Cabeço. - Source

I recalled these apparitions while researching ISIS, when I came upon the sect's intentions and purpose to establish a pure Islamic State.  Reportedly, their immediate goal is to eliminate the modern borders which exist in the Middle East.  These borders, which divided the Ottoman Empire, were established in May of 1916 by the Sykes–Picot Agreement:

The Sykes–Picot Agreement, officially known as the Asia Minor Agreement, was a secret agreement between the governments of the United Kingdom andFrance,^[1] with the assent of Russia, defining their proposed spheres of influence and control in the Middle East should the Triple Entente succeed in defeating the Ottoman Empire during World War I. The negotiation of the treaty occurred between November 1915 and March 1916.^[2] The agreement was concluded on 16 May 1916.^[3]

The agreement effectively divided the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire* outside the Arabian peninsula into areas of future British and French control or influence.^[4] The terms were negotiated by the French diplomat François Georges-Picot and Briton Sir Mark Sykes. The Russian Tsarist government was a minor party to the Sykes–Picot agreement, and when, following the Russian Revolution of October 1917, the Bolsheviks exposed the agreement, "the British were embarrassed, the Arabs dismayed and the Turks delighted." - Source

[Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a July 2014 speech at the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul vowed that "this blessed advance will not stop until we hit the last nail in the coffin of the Sykes–Picot conspiracy"] 

The Sykes-Picot agreement was negotiated between 1915-1916 - and concluded in May of 1916.  We should keep in mind that with Fatima, dates are significant.  Most people seem to be aware of the fact the October Revolution took place in October of 1917 - the month of the promised miracle of Fatima.

It seems to me the dates of the preparatory apparitions line up with the planning and implementation of the Sykes–Picot Agreement  - is this significant?  The establishment of the Islamic State of Iraq to undo the Sykes-Picot Agreement was formally announced on 13 October 2006.  Does it demonstrate a connection between Fatima and the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire along with current attempts to restore an Islamic State?  I don't know.

*The history of the Ottoman Empire is too complex and involved to go into here, but it was in steep decline at the turn of the 20th century, ultimately collapsing in 1918.  A concise history can be found here.  Nevertheless, it is only a superficial glance - as is this post - which is mere speculation at best - and I may be way off.   I have no expertise in these areas and such musings need the proper discernment of qualified historians and Fatima experts.  I'm not convinced there is anything significant to my theory - except maybe to remind us to pray the rosary every day for peace.

"War is a punishment for sin."  Our Lady to Bl. Jacinta



UPDATE 9/4/14:

A friend sent me a link to a post on "The collapse of the Sykes-Picot borders".  The article offers some perspective on what is going on politically.  H/T PML.