ISIS, which has conquered vast portions of Syria and Iraq, has now declared itself to be the new Islamic caliphate. There has been no caliphate (an Islamic state led by a "successor" to Muhammad) since 1916, after the end of more than 400 years of Turk-enforced rule over a resentful but helpless Arab world.
Since then, most Sunni Muslims have informally recognized the legitimate successor of the prophet Muhammad to be the king of Saudi Arabia, whom they call the "Guardian of the Two Holy Places."
But in recent years, many rival factions have risen across the Islamic world, each claiming to be the one to bring about the legitimate succession.
The Muslim Brotherhood, supported by Turkey and Qatar, is one faction.
Al-Qaida, and particularly Osama bin Laden at one time, had also hoped to be recognized as such.
But now, a far more bloodthirsty group has upstaged those and many other Islamic factions. What was first known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), but lately just calls itself the Islamic State, has declared itself to be the rightful caliphate and is now commanding the allegiance of all other smaller factions.
No comments:
Post a Comment