In June 2014, the Islamic State announced their intention to establish a caliphate within
Syria and Iraq.
Since that time, their controlled territory has expanded to include more than 10 million
people, and they have already begun to implement various aspects of a caliphate.
So, what exactly would an ISIS caliphate look like?
Well, a caliphate is simply an Islamic-based state, ruled by a single leader called a caliph.
The caliph is considered a direct successor to the Muslim Prophet Mohammed, and the leader
of all Muslims.
In fact, the most important schism within the Muslim world is on the basis of how to
select new caliphs.
Sunnis treat the selection as a democratic voting process, although once a leader is
chosen, they almost always continue the line of caliphs through a hereditary monarchy.
Shias, instead, leave the choice to God, and only allow caliphs picked from Muhammad’s
direct descendants.
Within ISIS, which is a Sunni Muslim group, their caliph is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Throughout history, a number of Middle Eastern and North African regions have claimed to
be Muhammad's “true” successor, and thus the “true” caliphate.
Similarly, ISIS has made it clear that they seek a quote “worldwide caliphate”.
Historians have described this goal as leading to a global political order where all live
under Muslim rule.
It is closely related to the idea of a worldwide “jihad” or “struggle” for dominance,
which has also been called a “holy war” against non-believers.
Besides ISIS, other groups like al-Qaeda and Hamas have also discussed a worldwide caliphate
as their ultimate intention.
So far, it is easy to see how ISIS intends to run their caliphate.
The Quran fairly specifically dictates its laws, which are known as Sharia.
However, there IS some leeway in terms of severity of punishment, or whether something
is actually criminal in nature.
Thus far, ISIS has crucified children for breaking the Ramadan fast, thrown gay men
off a building to their deaths, and beheaded people for alleged spying.
Clearly, the ISIS caliphate is violent and overwhelmingly strict.
More specifically, ISIS has released a number of directives that give a better sense of
their brutality and beliefs.
Stealing is to be punished by amputation, all drugs, alcohol and tobacco are banned,
and graves or shrines are also prohibited.
Additionally, women are not allowed to leave the home unless absolutely necessary, and
if they do they must be completely covered.
Sharia law-based rules like these are relatively common to varying degrees in a number of Middle
Eastern countries, although the only one still beheading people like ISIS is Saudi Arabia.
Essentially, ISIS’s long term goals for establishing a caliphate are not entirely
dissimilar from previous, historical caliphates created in the years after Muhammad’s death.
While they control millions in Iraq and Syria now, Western forces have pushed back and recaptured
some lost territory.
Still, ISIS has been doing considerably better than any other terror group in recent history,
and while the prospect of there actually being a worldwide caliphate is slim, its defeat
has been much harder than expected.
Besides killing innocent people, ISIS has been successfully damaging ancient archaeological
sites.
To learn more about this destruction, watch the video above.
Learn more about their strategy of using suicidal shock troops over at Seeker Daily.
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