The Legions Of A Neo-Caliphate
By Sazzad Hussain
11 August, 2014
Countercurrents.org
The weaving of ISIS flag by masked youth of Kashmir valley on the Eid day again reminds us the paradox of global Islamism or pan-Islamism in distant places, away from its epicentre—the rugged mountains Khyber or the sun-burnt deserts of oil-rich Middle-East. The pronouncement of certain orders and systems, associated with Islam in the past, by some self-styled custodians of the faith, backed by powerful states and financed by petro-dollars, makes its supposed audiences across the globe (read Afro-Asia) hysteric as they found them as an outlet to express their anger or reaction to the prevailing public discord affecting their lives. Now it becomes far easy and more effective in this age of pocket internet. However, its impact and repercussions, particularly in pluralistic societies like India, could be disastrous.
The Saudi backed Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (Syria)/Levant is the second attempt by the ultra-orthodox Wahhabi Sunni Kingdom to weight its leverage in the trouble torn Middle-East after its success with al-Qaeda. The Saudi kingdom’s aspirations to become the leader and authority in the Sunni world were complimented by Pentagon’s design to contain the Soviet Union during the Cold-War. It was also found to useful for the West to cash on that transnational agenda in favour of Israeli interests after the oil embargo by the kingdom in 1973-74 and the boom of oil price subsequently. The plan was simple, yet excellent: the US will arm Sunni fighters to wage a holy war (Jihad) against atheist USSR and the Saudi Arabia will finance them with the super-surplus oil revenues and the psychology to recruit foot soldiers for an Utopian Caliphate—where Islam of only one kind will flourish by liquidating all the diversity and local elements of that great faith. This was bound to create discord among the Muslims of different orientations—mostly the Shiites and Sufis. As this will occur, it will be Israel who will consolidate its position in the Middle-East despite its illegal occupation of Palestine and atrocities against them. Now exactly this is what is happening in Middle-East, and those who want to establish a legion of that Caliphate in distant corners (read the Kashmiri youths on Eid day) never pause for a moment to understand this grand design of the west. This is what has been affecting the Muslims across the world since the modern day Caliphate was announced in the 1960s in Egypt by Syed Qutb, the founder of Ikhwan-al-Muslimeen (Muslim Brotherhood)
The idea of Caliphate came into being following the death of Prophet Mohammad when the question of succession had come. The responsibility for guiding the fortunes of the newly formed community in the difficult times following the death of the Prophet fell on Abu Bakr and Umar, two of his most senior aides. It was Abu Bakr who became the Caliph (successor) to the Prophet. After Abu Bakr, Umar succeeded him and the new community consolidated territorially and by the third successor Osman reined in, the territory extended from Indus valley to the Iberian Peninsula. The succession did take a dynastical turn after Caliph Osman culminating in the tragedy of Karbala following which the Umayyads formed the Caliphate from Damascus (661-750 AD). It was followed by the Abbasids of Baghdad who ruled the Caliphate for five centuries (750-1258 AD) and its last de facto Caliph Al Mutawakkil III, based in Cairo under the Sultanate of Mamluk formally surrendered the title of Caliph and its emblems, the sword and the mantle of the Prophet to the triumphant Ottoman Sultan Selim I in 1517. The Ottoman Sultans, who prevailed as the Caliph from Istanbul for the Muslims until 1923, were largely symbolic in nature and imposed no religious authorities in its legions in its vast Sultanate stretching from the Caucasus to the Maghreb. Remember, Ottomans were non-Arabs and under their rule, though ruthless in enforcements in occupied territories, were largely liberal on religious matters where non-Muslims, mostly Jews and Christians lived without any trouble and the Islam was diversified—a kind of rich Islamic tradition which had entered India via Persia. Now how a mass killer al-Baghdadi, promoted by petro dollars could claim to succeed the Apostle of God, Mohammad—to become the Caliph?
Interestingly, Indian Muslims, educated in the colonial system of western secular academics, started the Khilafat Movement (1919-1924) for the continuation of the Turkish Caliph in the post-WW-I scenario when the defeated Ottoman Turkey was reeling under the authority of the victorious British and Allied forces. But the nationalist movement spearheaded by Ata Turk Kemal Pasha made Turkey a republic after the Ottoman empire was abolished to create most of the present day Arab states including Palestine, which were given to the protectorate of various Allied forces—mostly Britain and France.
After WW-II, Israel was carved out from Palestine most of the allied occupied Arab states were given political independence by transforming the power to handpicked royal families, tribal chieftains and clan leaders from Iraq to Morocco. Only Algeria had to fight a bloody liberation war with France till 1960s. Army officers of these new Arab states, who were western educated, overthrew most of these monarchies to create socialist republics in Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya and formed a popular secular Arab nationalism whose pivotal point was the liberation of Palestine at the cost of Israel. The popular resentment in the Arab streets by Christians and Muslims (Nasserism), the oil-blockade and the spread Communism up to Afghanistan and the rise of the Shiite Iran after the fall of the Shah (1979) made the western powers to harp on old Islamist movement of establishing a Caliphate for the sake of Israel and the energy demands. The Afghan Mujahideen (1980-89), the al-Qaeda, the Taliban etc. were all the examples of this design which got amplified in other conflict zones like Chechnya, Bosnia, Somalia, the Philippines and in Kashmir also. Till the fall of the USSR, Islamist militancy was successfully used by the west to serve their interest. But though Communism was defeated, Islamism destroyed the diverse, pluralistic, tolerant and liberal elements of Islam in all the areas where it triumphed—Pakistan, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
The anti-American regimes of Iraq, Libya, Syria remained the only threat to this grand designs where Islamist forces were never given any chance to surface. But the invasion of Iraq and the killing of Saddam Hussein, the humiliating murder of Gaddafi, the western backed civil war in Syria have been opening the floodgates of the Islamist militants that want to establish a Caliphate based on homogeneity. ISIS/L is the latest of all these.
The centre point of global Islamist Jihad is the liberation of Palestine. But so far none of them—the al-Qaeda, Taliban, Boko Haram, ISIS/L have struck at any Israeli target. It was the various Muslim and Christian militias under the umbrella called PLO that fought armed battle with Israel. Shiite groups like Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah of Lebanon, though Islamic in nature, never call for a Caliphate or Sharia system and are inclusive accommodating Christians and Sunnis. But they are labelled as terrorists and put along with al-Qaeda and Co. simply because they attack Israel. One should remember that Islamist Hamas was created by Mossad to derail the peace efforts launched by Yasser Arafat.
India has a strong and categorical policy for the independence of Palestine along with the existence of Israel. For long the PLO chairman Arafat was a close ally of New Delhi. However when Washington began to broker the peace talks after the 1993 agreement, the Palestinian leaders engaged them more with the west than India. Thus it does not mean that New Delhi has changed its policy towards Palestine. On the other hand Indian Islam was one of the strongest and rich versions of that great faith which flourished in an inclusive form in centuries. It was the Indian scholars that started academic pursuits on Islam in the modern times. Those who want to establish outposts of the neo-Caliphate should know about all this.
The writer is a freelancer based in Assam
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