Calculated Caliphate

http://www.lawfareblog.com/2014/07/the-foreign-policy-essay-calculated-caliphate/

Yeah, only jihadis look at caliphate as utopian, right.
NOT.
A lot of Islam is hoping for the return of the caliph.
Each faction, however, wants that caliph to be THEIR caliph!
J.M. Berger has pointed out, ISIS has also seen many declarations of support from grassroots sympathizers around the world.
ISIS’ caliph is obviously a lot of Muslims’ ideal of who a caliph should be.
Remember, ISIS already has gained billions of dollars in money plus other billions of dollars in military equipment!

Look at the demographics.
Young new recruits of jihad go to Syria where they mostly join ISIS.
And, while the USA has a median age of over 38, most Muslim countries median age is closer to 21.
See alphabetical chart here:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2177.html#nl
How romantic!
Reminds me of all the poets who went to fight in Spain not that long ago.

Power Struggles in Middle East Exploit Islam’s Ancient Sectarian Rift

Scholars and activists say that the sectarian violence gripping the Middle East is not simply the unleashing of religious rivalries once suppressed by the secular autocrats who ruled the region. Instead, they say, the religious resentments have been revived and exploited in a very earthly power struggle.

“There are forces that keep the tension alive in order to get a bigger piece of the cake,” said Sheikh Maytham al-Salman, a Shiite Muslim scholar who was detained for nine months and tortured by the Bahraini police in 2011 because of his support for the uprising…(snip)

…Citing such conflicting entanglements, conspiracy theorists in the Arab media now often suggest that Washington may welcome the sectarian mayhem. “It is becoming the dominant narrative,” said Lina Khatib, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut.

Secretary of State John Kerry recently flew to Baghdad to urge Iraq’s Shiite-led government to share power and eschew sectarianism, hoping that may relieve some of the resentment that has made part of the Sunni population receptive to the extremists.

In Bahrain, Shiite opposition leaders rolled their eyes. “We need to hear a similar message,” said Khalil al-Marzooq, a deputy chairman of Bahrain’s main Shiite opposition party, al-Wefaq, who was recently released from prison.

The split between Sunnis and Shiites began in the seventh century, after the death of the Prophet Muhammad. The dominant faction, which became Sunnis, argued that leadership should pass to Muhammad’s companion and father-in-law, Abu Baker. The faction that became Shiites argued for Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law, Ali.

Today Shiites comprise only about 15 percent of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims, although they form the majorities in Iran, Iraq, Bahrain and Azerbaijan and a plurality in Lebanon.

The theological differences are comparable to those dividing Catholics and Protestants, such as disagreements about the authority of clerics or the details of prayer rituals. Sunnis and Shiites have often lived together amicably and formed political alliances; intermarriage has been common.

But many Sunnis across the region still suggest Shiites are not true Muslims, while Shiites grumble of centuries of persecution.

Syrian Rebel Groups Release Statement Rejecting ISIS Caliphate as ‘Clear Breach of Islam’

Nine Syrian rebel and jihadist groups fighting against President Bashar al-Assad have issued a collective statement against the terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), with some leaders affiliated with al-Qaeda calling the declaration of an Islamic Caliphate in the region a “clear breach of Islam.”…(snip)

…Al Jazeera reports that nine groups, including both jihadists and Islamic scholars, wrote a letter in which they challenge the legality of establishing a caliphate under Sharia law. “The terms of the caliphate have not been realised at present, especially in terms of state organisations,” the statement reads, adding that such an announcement is “null and void… both legally and logically.”

Many of the signatories elaborated on their positions elsewhere. As the Long War Journal chronicles, leaders of terrorist jihadist groups like the Al Nusra Front rejected the caliphate under the argument that Sharia law does not permit the group to have authority to establish such power. Abu Sulayman al Muhajir of the Al Nusra Front explained on Twitter that such a declaration was a “clear breach of Islam” and that ISIS was merely using the declaration to establish a “stronger ‘Islamic’ justification for them [the Islamic State] to kill Muslims.”

Sami al Uraydi, another senior cleric affiliated with the Al Nusra Front, echoed those sentiments: the caliphate, he said, “is really a declaration of war against Muslims, rather than [the establishment of] an Islamic Caliphate.”