Caliphate: a question

[DonCoquixote]

admittedly, I direct this question to many of the Muslim Duers, not that I am trying to put anyone on the spot, but because I think the good thing about the internet is that instead of hearsay, you can get info from the source, people who can speak about themselves for themselves. Of course, DU has no shortage of smart people, so if anyone else can answer the question, by all means, and if anyone is offended, apologies are offered in advance.

and to those who say this should be in the religion section, as this is about ISIS, it is also political. Religion and Politics bleed together, in part because the people involved do NOT think of them as separate things.OK, with that out of the way:

When Al-Bagdaddi, leader of isis/daessh makes a claim to be a caliph, does he have to fit certain requirements to credibly make that claim?

Can there be more than one Caliph? Is it a one person titular position, like the Pope, or Archbishop of Canterbury?

If he is claiming to be the Caliph, and somehow does not qualify, is he a heretic?

I ask this because in the Mormon faith, this sort of despite has happened. There are most Mormons/LDS, who follow "the prophet" based in Utah. There was a branch that broke off because they did not want to follow Brigham Young, and they are based in MIssouri. And of course, there are various cults like what Warren Jeffs tried to do. All of them say there can only be one leader.

[840high]

1. kick for interest

[alcibiades_mystery]

2. This caliphate seems less an archaism than many are making it out to be

It seems to be really about denying the Western-drawn borders. Granted, DAESH are despicable fucking horror shows, but there's no need to pretend they're stupid. As long as we mistake the "caliphate" as an archaic medievalism rather than seeing it as a very real political position, we'll keep misunderstanding DAESH. Think of it less as a religious idea and more as a political idea about borders.

[DonCoquixote]

3. well that is why I asked

Because I know that to the Mormons, or for that matter, to Catholics and Anglicans, there can be only ONE leader. The IRA can tell you that the Catholic/Anglican division is still quite political, as the pope and Bishop are indeed very real positions. So, the questions remains, can Al Baghaddi be a caliph, and can there be only ONE caliph.

[JCMach1]

4. The idea of the Caliphate and Andalusia has been bubbling around Islam for a number of years...

Think of it as the same kind of Romanticism that the Republicans have for the 1950's, or Ronald Reagan.

These ideas spread along the same arteries that the Saudis have pumped extreme Wahhabism across the globe.

A couple of points we liberals need to take from this... ISIS' dream includes Spain and large parts of Eastern Europe. Secondly, the theology (if not the ideology) that supports ISIS continues to be spread by the Saudis. The Saudis directly support thousands upon thousands of mosques around the globe... including right here in North America. If you have a mosque in your neighborhood, is a pretty good chance they receive some of their funding from the KSA.

What makes the above so messed-up is that Saudi fundamentalist and extremist messages get spun around the globe, but as the same time those ideas land in a vacuum without orthodoxy. The only orthodoxy in Islam is the Koran itself. This allows peeps like Al-Baghdadi to make all the claims they want with little chance of their being any real challenge as long as they are following the fundamentalist and extremist path.

[LuvNewcastle]

5. From what I've read, the Sunnis are

comparable to Protestants and the Shia to Catholics. The Shia have a lot of traditions that they add to the practice of Islam, while the Sunnis stick to the Koran. The Sunnis in Saudi Arabia are like fundy Christians in that they believe in literal interpretations of the Koran and look at other Muslims who don't as heretics. The Salafist Muslims of ISIS are much like the Wahabbis of S.A.

The fundy Muslims believe in a caliphate because that was the political system that Muhammad put in place, and they believe that it is desirable to follow Muhammad's example as closely as possible. They have that apocalyptic view of the future like fundy Christians do as well.

Not many Muslims agree with the fundies of their religion, it's just that the Muslim fundies are causing all the headaches, and their views are the ones that get the most attention. Fundamentalism is a plague on the Earth, and I wish we knew of a way to cure that mental disease. Why do people believe so strongly in certain books that they're willing to see the world ended so that their particular book can be fulfilled? I think the reason is so they can have bragging rights about who was right all along. That makes the most sense to me, and it's so pathetic.