The Idea of the Caliphate

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What is a caliphate? What ideals does such an Islamic state embody - and how could or should it be implemented? Analysis consults a range of voices to explore how the concept has evolved and has been expressed over the centuries. Edward Stourton talks to historians, religious scholars and political thinkers who offer their perspectives on caliphates of the past, the revivalist rhetoric of the present and the beliefs shared by many Muslims about its future return.


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BBC Radio 4 - Analysis The Idea of the Caliphate

 

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Where does it stop?...

End of Islamic State Could Be Start of Larger Anti-Terror Fight
June 22, 2016 - Slow, steady progress by U.S. and coalition backed forces against the Islamic State terror group in Iraq and Syria could mean little in the wider war against jihadist organizations bent on striking at the West.

This grim outlook, according to military and intelligence officials, stems from several factors, from poor governance and pervasive instability to the alienation of certain segments of populations. Combined, they say, these factors have undone long-standing cultural bonds and allegiances, turning parts of the Middle East and Africa into terrorist incubators. “More and more individuals, because of their feeling of being disenfranchised from their governments, are now identifying with subnational groups, whether it be with an ISIL, a Nusra, a Boko Haram or others,” CIA Director John Brennan warned lawmakers last week. “They’re not identifying themselves as Somalis, Nigerians or Yemenis.”

Members of al Qaeda's Nusra Front ride on a pick-up truck mounted with an anti-aircraft weapon in the town of the northwestern city of Ariha, after a coalition of insurgent groups seized the area in Idlib province​

Complicating matters further is the feeling that military power alone, no matter how overwhelming, is not enough to deliver a decisive blow against IS or any other deep-rooted terror organization. “It’s not as though we’re looking at a happy ending in Iraq and Syria,” said Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “Defeating ISIL does not defeat jihadism.” “Momentum is in favor of the global jihadist movement,” he said.

Al-Qaida retrenches

In some ways, the rapid ascension of IS and its bid to become the preeminent global jihadist organization have actually strengthened its competitors, most notably, al-Qaida. “Al-Qaida has prioritized [Jabhat al] Nusra as an affiliate,” a U.S. intelligence official told VOA on condition of anonymity. The official noted that the group has used the last two years to “retrench and rebrand,” emerging with greater strength on the battlefield in Syria and with more credibility, as well. Intelligence officials estimate Jabhat al Nusra currently has several thousand fighters at its disposal, rating the group’s capabilities as “formidable.”

Military vehicle wreckage belonging to Islamic State militants is seen in Falluja, Iraq​

And even though Jabhat al Nusra’s parent organization has suffered setbacks in Afghanistan, a one-time safe haven, analysts like Daveed Gartenstein-Ross warn it is a mistake to underestimate al-Qaida’s resources or reach. “People overstate the way al-Qaida is kind of a virtual entity – it’s not. They control territory, and people aren’t complaining about it,” Gartenstein-Ross said. “They’ve embedded with local populations in Yemen and in Syria and Libya and in Mali.” Thanks to its rebranding efforts, al-Qaida’s appeal even seems to be expanding. “Al-Qaida has managed to capture the echelon of Salafi jihadis who were repulsed by ISIS’ brutality but still have the ideology and want something that is just a half-step down,” said Jessica McFate, a former U.S. Army intelligence officer now with the Institute for the Study of War.

IS Demise boost for al Qaida

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With its Caliphate Faltering, Islamic State Rushes to Indoctrinate Children
June 20, 2016 - Despite stinging military defeats and enormous financial strains, Islamic State (IS) is working to imprint a lasting legacy on children through increasing in-classroom training in areas it controls and an aggressive social media campaign.

In its self-proclaimed caliphate, IS is schooling thousands of children in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and other places in radical, anti-Western thought and ways of terror, VOA has found in interviews with activists, local officials and analysts. IS bombards the internet and social media with propaganda aimed at children and uses dozens of languages and a vast array of social media tools to spread its message. This goes to the heart of the IS mission, analysts say: to ensure IS’s radical message endures beyond the group itself.

A year-end ceremony for school children at an Islamic State-run school.​

In the long run, the IS indoctrination of children will likely have a chilling reverberation for years to come, experts say, way after IS has been removed from the cities it now controls. “The next generation will be more radicalized regardless of continued (IS) presence in Syria and Iraq,” said Wajiha, a female teacher who used to teach elementary school students in the city of Deir Ezzor, Syria, which is currently controlled by IS.

IS ideology

The Syrian teacher who works at a school in a refugee camp in southern Turkey told VOA that IS aims to “invest in children for a long-lasting influence, because this is about its ideology and not just about recruiting them.” She asked that her last name not be published. Day after day and with little break, IS oversees crowded classrooms in its de facto capitals of Raqqa, Syria; Mosul, Iraq, and Nangarhar province in Afghanistan – as well as IS pockets that stretch as far as Indonesia. It operates camps for children known as “Caliphate Cubs.” “The Islamic State is mobilizing children and youth at an increasing and unprecedented rate,” researchers at Georgia State University wrote in a report earlier this year on how IS negatively influences children. IS runs at least eight schools and religious seminaries where children and teenagers are taught extreme ideology in Nangarhar.

Elementary school children receive training in Raqqa, Syria.​

According to local residents and officials who spoke to VOA on the condition of anonymity, IS operates two high schools and a religious seminary in the Kot district of Nangarhar. Local sources told VOA that IS teaches a self-styled curriculum based on radical Islam. Girls are allowed to attend school but at different times from boys. Most of the teachers at the IS-run schools are on the payroll of both the Afghan Ministry of Education and IS, sources said. Afghan education officials told VOA that they are aware of the IS schools but would not comment on reports that the teachers continue to be paid by the Afghan government while teaching at IS schools. In Achin district of Afghanistan, where IS runs five religious seminaries, children are forced to attend IS-run classes. IS has imposed fines on parents who decide against sending their children to its schools, locals told VOA.

IS education model