Per capita, Belgium has sent more fighters to join ISIS than any other nation in Europe. Michael Delefortrie was one of the first, and he lived to return to his home in Brussels. Many of his friends, he says, “went to Paradise.” As part of its upcoming hourlong documentary on extremism in Europe, Fusion’s investigative team sat down with the former altar boy to discuss his views on Islam and jihad.

Just weeks before the Brussels attacks, Delefortrie told us his dream to “live under an Islamic caliphate” would soon become a reality in Europe. ISIS’s brand of militant Islam would not be denied, he said, because “ISIS is not a group, it’s an ideology.”

Asked about terror attacks against civilians, he suggested there was a logic behind them. “If you spit in the air,” he said, “there’s gonna be a moment when the spit is gonna fall in your own face.”

Delefortrie is currently serving three years’ probation for his connections with terror groups.