BEIRUT: The surprise declaration of a “caliphate” by Islamic State (IS) jihadists accused of committing atrocities in Syria and Iraq has provoked an outcry even among Islamists who dream of a state under Sharia law.
The caliphate, an Islamic system of rule, was abolished nearly 100 years ago, although many Arabs and Muslims still associate it with a golden age.
But this week’s announcement of a caliphate by the radical IS group appears to only appeal to fanatics.
“All Islamist groups want the caliphate,” said Mathieu Guidere, who teaches Islamic studies at France’s University of Toulouse.
But IS, which operates in Syria and Iraq and was formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, “is equated with terrorism and massacres; it has a bad track record,” Guidere told AFP.
IS’s widely publicized brutality, including public beheadings and crucifixions, “give a very bad image of Islam... tainting the (caliphate) project, which Islamists view as an ideal.”
IS chief Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi’s designation as “caliph” — or leader of all Muslims, and successor to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) — has shocked most Muslims, even jihadists, who have rejected the idea outright.
Al-Azhar, a leading authority of Sunni Islam, “believes that all those who are today speaking of an Islamic state are terrorists,” its senior representative Sheikh Abbas Shuman told AFP.
“The Islamic caliphate can’t be restored by force. Occupying a country and killing half of its population... this is not an Islamic state, this is terrorism,” Shuman added.
Sunday’s announcement by IS comes amid a major offensive it is spearheading in Iraq, capturing large swathes of territory from government hands.
The group has also secured fresh gains in Syria, where it is firmly in control of areas in the north and east of the war-torn country.
'Null and void'
Islamist rebels in Syria, who are fighting both IS and President Bashar Assad’s regime, have branded the caliphate announcement as “null and void.”
Baghdadi, whose group was once allied to Al-Qaeda, embarked on a collision course last year with its leader, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, who anointed another group, the home-grown Al-Nusra Front, as its franchise in Syria.
Abu Maria Al-Qahtani, Al-Nusra’s authority on Islamic law, has accused IS on Twitter of “excessive zeal” and branded it “a disaster for the Islamic nation.”
In Iraq, the influential Association of Muslim Scholars said IS had “consulted neither residents of Iraq nor Syria.”
And Lebanon’s Jamaa Islamiyeh, which is the local branch of the widely influential Muslim Brotherhood, lashed out at the announcement and called it heresy.
The group also said IS’s acts “are a deformation of Islam, that disgusts the people of the region.”
Even more hard-line Salafist Muslims dismissed the call.
“We want a caliphate; it is at the core of our ideology,” said Daii Islam Al-Shahhal, founder of Lebanon’s Salafist movement.
“But such a state should be founded on several criteria, which have not yet been met.”
IS has among its ranks thousands of well-armed fighters, many of them foreigners.
Its bid to annihilate all those who refuse to pledge allegiance to its project has raised the wrath of most other fighters.
“They believe they are the only Muslims,” said Radwan Al-Sayyed, who teaches Islamic studies at the Lebanese University.
But thanks to their “capacity to destroy, they will last for (only) months,” he told AFP.
Bygone golden era
The caliphate lasted for 14 centuries until it was abolished by Turkish ruler Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1924.
For many Arabs, it was synonymous with legendary caliphs like Harun Al-Rashid, and of scientific and commercial development.
The era also reminds many of literary giants like Abu Nawas — “the poet of wine and revelry” — and architectural beauties like the Alhambra palace in Granada, Spain.
But “after a century of colonialism and Arab nationalism,” most Arabs and Muslims do not actually want the caliphate to be restored, said Guidiere.
“As for people in the West, all they know (about the caliphate) are (stories from) the 1,001 nights,” he added.
Nonetheless, for a small minority of Arab or European jihadists, the idea remains appealing.
“The utopia is very attractive. The jihadist project draws people who challenge the system, as was the case with communism in the 1960s,” said Guidiere.
But unless IS is stopped in its tracks, the group will only gain strength, thus “making more enemies,” said Sayyed.
Even if IS’s days are short, it will only disappear “after horrible massacres, and more destruction,” he added.
Caliphate declaration ‘heresy’, say Muslim scholars, groups
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If there is anything to be learned from the events of the past few weeks in Iraq and Syria is that politics makes strange bedfellows! The enemies of yesterday could easily become the allies of today, albeit until the winds change direction again. The United States, Iran an even the beleaguered regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad are scurrying to help the troubled government of controversial Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki. Even Russia’s Vladimir Putin is stepping in by supplying used SU-25 fighter planes and experts to the distressed Iraqi Army, if only to spite the American administration, which is yet to decide if it will sell F-16 jets to Iraq.
The June 10 surprise fall of Iraq’s second biggest city, Mosul, to Sunni insurgents, infiltrated by fighters of the notorious Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), has upset regional and international priorities. ISIL and its Sunni tribe allies had stormed at least three Iraqi governorates and vowed to march on Baghdad to topple the Al-Maliki government. The autonomous region of Kurdistan did not hesitate to dispatch troops to take over the disputed oil-rich province of Kirkuk. And Shiite religious references have called on Iraqis to protect holy sites in the south from invading Sunni radicals. Meanwhile, Iraqi leaders are squabbling over a political formula to dislodge Al-Maliki’s eight-year grip on power. The latter has resisted local and international pressures to step down or form a national salvation government.
But the regional agenda has changed. Suddenly foes and allies are coming together to confront the perceived threat of ISIL in both Iraq and Syria. This has set a new dynamics with the list of winners and losers being rewritten almost every day.
For the time being here is a look at who appears to have gained, and who may have lost, as a result of latest events.
Assad emerges as a likely winner as regional and international attention shifts from war-torn Syria to distressed Iraq. The international community has failed to come up with a political solution to Syria’s civil war and the Syrian president has secured a third term in spite of worldwide condemnation. His forces have made important gains lately and the rise of ISIL has only cemented his claim that he is fighting radical militants on behalf of the West. As regional and international powers focus on Iraq, pressure on the Syrian regime will decrease noticeably.
Iran too is making gains, for now, as it proves once more that it is an important regional power broker. There are reports that it had dispatched advisers from the elite Republican Guards and the Jerusalem Force to Iraq under the command of Maj-Gen. Qasem Soleimani, who has been active in Syria as well. It is ironic that the US, which has sent 300 Pentagon advisers to Baghdad, and Iran are both working for what appears to be the same objectives in Iraq.
Perhaps the biggest winners are Iraq’s Kurds who are getting closer to achieving their historic dream of declaring an independent Kurdistan. President Masoud Barzani has said that Iraq has changed since the Sunni insurgency broke out and that Kurdish forces will never leave Kirkuk, adding that the file of disputed territories between Kurdistan and Baghdad has been closed. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that his country backs Kurdish independence. The breakdown of Iraq and Syria and the creation of ethnic and sectarian states and enclaves will only bolster Israel’s insistence that it be recognized as a Jewish state.
ISIL, this mysterious organization that shot up in the last three years, is likely to make political and territorial gains in the short term. Symbolically it announced the creation of an Islamic caliphate in areas under its control and has renamed itself “Islamic State” and proclaimed its leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi as caliph. This development will send waves across the region, especially in the jittery Gulf countries. It will surely bring together foes and allies to confront this new menace. The Sunnis of Iraq, who say they are fighting to regain their rights, will soon challenge the new ISIL state leading possibly to internecine wars. The birth of a Sunni enclave between Iraq and Syria may be considered as a victory, but it will have deep geopolitical repercussions on its neighbors.
Al-Maliki is a likely loser. He has lost the support of most Shiite coalitions, not to mention the Kurds and Sunnis, in addition to the important backing of Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani. Iraqi leaders are trying to find an acceptable alternative; one who, according to Muqtada Al-Sadr, will address the legitimate grievances of all, including the Sunnis. Al-Maliki’s political fate will also be decided in Tehran, which so far supports him, but his intransigence will almost certainly suck Iraq into the vortex of sectarian war. Iraq as a country may still disintegrate.
Another loser is the Syrian opposition, which is now being asked by Washington to join the fight against ISIL in Iraq. President Obama has said that no moderate Syrian opposition was able to unseat Assad. But he has asked Congress for half a billion dollars to arm and train the Free Syrian Army (FSA) which has been engaged in bitter fighting against ISIL in eastern Syria. The US is attempting to repeat the experiment of Iraq’s Awakening forces in Al-Anbar by shifting the focus of the FSA from the Syrian regime to ISIL.
One more loser in all of this is Al-Qaeda, which had disowned ISIL only to see its influence increase in the past few months. Already some members of Jabhat Al Nusra, an affiliate of Al-Qaeda, have joined ISIL in Bou Kamal in Syria. The more radical ISIL is today the biggest regional challenge.
One potential loser, in the long run, is the United States, which under President Obama has seen its regional influence recede even among its own Gulf allies. For now alliances are shifting and new ones are emerging and the ISIL factor has made this happen. The outcome of this political and military reshuffle will dramatically reshape the region.
Email: alsharif.osama@gmail.com
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