Caliphate

The Vatican has called on Muslim religious leaders to condemn “unspeakable criminal acts” by militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), citing the abolishment of the caliphate by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founding father of the Turkish Republic.

The main opposition party has submitted a motion of no confidence against Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu on the basis that he has failed to fulfill his responsibilities over the Turkish hostage crisis.
 

The declaration of a “caliphate” by Islamist militants in Iraq lacks legitimacy and their death threats to Christians are a danger to civilization, the head of Turkey’s religious authority has said.

The Islamic State, an armed group that has captured territory across Iraq, declared its leader, Ibrahim al-Baghdadi, “caliph” last month. 

The title above might sound silly to some readers. Because the Caliphate (or the “Successorship” to Prophet Muhammad) is certainly an “Islamic” institution if by that we mean the fourteen centuries of Muslim experience.

The leader of the Islamic State of Syria and the Levant (ISIL), Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, purportedly ordered all Muslims to obey him in a video released July 5 on social media.

The hitherto elusive Baghdadi, who on June 29 proclaimed a "caliphate" straddling Syria and Iraq, made his appeal in a sermon delivered on Friday in the militant-held northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

The notorious ISIL, or “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant,” which has made a name for itself by chopping off heads and crucifying opponents, has recently made global news by declaring a “caliphate.”
 

“Listen to your caliph and obey him. Support your state, which grows every day,” said Abu Mohamed al-Adnani, announcing the rebirth of the Caliphate in the broad territory between Aleppo in northern Syria and Diyala province in eastern Iraq.
  

President: Any news on the hostage crisis?

Foreign Minister: President, remember, our diplomats are not being kept hostage, they are merely being interned. No one should test our patience and…

President: Stop it, will you? Where are they now?

Foreign Minister: They have been safely transferred to a location in our southern neighbor.
President: Syria?