World Watch Special: Islamic Fundamentalism and the New Caliphate- What is the Threat?

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     In my post on 10 May 2006, I discussed the threat of the establishment of a new Islamic caliphate by the forces of Islamic fundamentalism within Islam. That discussion centered on the argument that it does not take a large number of Islamic fundamentalists to achieve the goal of establishing the caliphate. That discussion assumed that everyone understands what the new Islamic caliphate would be and why it is a threat, an assumption that may have been incorrect. This post seeks to redress that assumption.

     In order to understand the New Caliphate, it is necessary to understand the history of Islam, a significant portion of which was the Old Caliphate. Additionally, it is important to understand that the issue of the caliphate is what originally and still truly divides the major sects of Islam to the present day. Within this history and division, the story and the threat of the New Caliphate plays out.

     First, some history. In 632, Muhammad died, leaving the issue of who was to follow him as the leader of the newly established Islamic religion and state still very much undecided. The followers of Islam at that time were divided into two decidedly different camps, one camp that believed that the caliphate, that is the leader of Islam, should be someone who was related to Muhammad. The other camp believed that the leader of Islam should be selected from faithful Muslim leaders by the agreement of the rest of the leaders. This split eventually became one of the defining divisions between Shi’a and Sunni Islam.

     To make a much longer and more complicated story short, the second camp essentially won the debate, and from 632 until 945, the Caliph rules over Islam, at least nominally, as its religious and political leader. It was during this time that the greatest period of Islamic expansion, virtually all of it through military conquest led by Arab Muslims, took place.

     At the height of the Old Caliphate, the Muslim conquests spread from Spain in the east to India in the west and from modern day Yemen in the south to Southern France in the north. Within this sphere of conquest, the Persian Empire was completely destroyed and the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire lost control of Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. This conquest included the modern nations of Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Israel, and Jordan, 2/3rds of whose population were arguably Greek-speaking Christians who were punished into conversion to Islam through excessive taxation, persecution, and slow integration of their cultures into Muslim society.

     Modern Islamic fundamentalists see the age of the Old Caliphate as the golden age of Islam. In the Old Caliphate, they see an Islam of strength, able to spread the word of the Prophet by the force of righteous arms to the infidel world. Nearly every modern fundamentalist sect of Islam appeals to the Old Caliphate as a model for how Islam should be organized, regardless of other differences. This idea can be found in Qutbism, Salafism, Wahhabism, Iranian Shi’ism, and other fundamentalist Islamic sects.

     How does this history and belief apply to the idea of a New Caliphate? All of these sects believe that the only way to return Islam to the dominance it achieved during the Old Caliphate is to reestablish that caliphate again. This News Caliphate will not just be an attempt to unify the Muslim world, but also to empower the Muslim world to continue the spread of Islam as it was spread under the Old Caliphate.

     Therein lies the threat. Under a New Caliphate, Islamic fundamentalists believe that they can achieve a political, economic, and military unity that can allow Islam to resume its Futuhat (conquest of infidels) worldwide. Granted that many modern Islamic fundamentalists, particularly Salafis, understand that these new conquests cannot be entirely military, but the concept of being able to use the resources of the entire Muslim world to forcibly spread Islam still fulfill the ideals of the caliphate.

     In fact, these fundamentalists have already begun their conquest through the active expansion of Islamic fundamentalism around the world. The fastest growing sects of Islam are the fundamentalist ones, and the growth of those sects is witnessed in the reality that Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. This growth can be seen in a variety of ways, from the militant expansion of Islam and Sharia law in Africa to the sudden explosion of militant Islam in the Far East and Pacific Rim to the massive influx of and conversion to Islam currently evident in Europe and North America.

     In this expansion, the seeds of the New Caliphate are being sewn. As the influence of fundamentalist Islam grows, so do the chances that these fundamentalist sects can successfully bring about the revolutionary changes that will be necessary to achieve their goal of reestablishing the caliphate and renewing the Futuhat in earnest.

     And that chance is not just being supported by growth outside the Islamic world. Indeed, the current conflicts with nations like Iran, the political turmoil in Lebanon, and the recent ascension to power of the terrorist group Hamas in Palestine are all part of the greater effort to establish the necessary unity for the New Caliphate to become a reality.

     Further, consider the point of the post that prompted this one, and that is that it does not take that much established unity and power to bring the reality of the caliphate into being. The simple presence of fundamentalist governments in a majority of predominantly Muslim countries supported by the will of a minority of fundamentalist believers may well be enough for the idea to become a reality.

     The truth of this threat will be borne out in the continued spread of fundamentalist Islam coupled with the actions of fundamentalist sects within Islam to solidify their positions of leadership. These efforts will manifest themselves in continued terrorism, attempted coups of fundamentalists against non fundamentalist governments, and in general unrest throughout the Muslim world.

     These events will find themselves played out in nations like Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, and Sudan. These events will find their way to the restless Muslim populations of nations like Britain, Canada, France, Italy, and Spain. The truth of this threat will be borne out by its progress, a progress that is ignored to great consequence.

DLH