The problem was that they no longer lived in a simple world of kings and dynasts. Mass movements and pressure groups had emerged around the Islamic world. Clergy, intellectuals and political activists all claimed a right to be heard. In a dawning age of mass global communication, different factions could debate and plot with others thousands of miles away. Egyptians plotted with Indians, Algerians with Palestinians. It was simply not possible to build a consensus on what the restored caliphate should look like, never mind who should be caliph…
It is not difficult to see why ISIS revived the caliphate. The extremist group wants to provide a visible symbol of unity for the world’s Muslims, whom they define in very strict terms. If you do not agree with ISIS, then you are simply not a Muslim.
Their problem is that by bringing the caliphate back into play, ISIS will certainly inspire others to make similar claims. If there is not one universally agreed caliph, as in the 1920s, there are bound to be rivals. Already, ISIS is literally at daggers drawn with al-Qaeda and other Islamists. Even before ISIS made its claim, extremists of different stripes were crucifying each other in Iraq and Syria. ISIS has vastly raised the stakes and conceivably made itself a target for some fanatical and well-armed enemies.
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