Having conquered much of Syria and Iraq, the terrorist army known as ISIS has proclaimed the restoration of the Islamic caliphate. The group’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is the new Caliph, to whom, as the successor of the Prophet Muhammad, all Muslims must submit. ISIS [Islamic State of Iraq and Syria] has changed its name to the Islamic State, which will eventually include all Muslim lands.
This Messianic proclamation will undoubtedly inspire jihadist terrorists, but it is also a declaration of war against all other Islamic nations, who, presumably, must be conquered and brought into the “Islamic State.”
From Militants making headway in Iraq and Syria declare creation of formal Islamic state – The Washington Post:
In an audio statement posted on the Internet, the spokesman for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria announced the restoration of the 7th-century Islamic caliphate, a long-declared goal of the al-Qaeda renegades who broke with the mainstream organization early this year and have since asserted control over large areas spanning the two countries.
The move signifies “a new era of international jihad,” said the spokesman, Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, who also declared an end to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, as the group had called itself.
Henceforth, ISIS will simply be known as the Islamic State, in recognition of the breakdown of international borders achieved as a result of the group’s conquests, he said. ISIS’s chief, an Iraqi known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, will be the caliph, or leader, of the new caliphate, and all Muslims worldwide will be required to pay allegiance to him. . . .
The audio statement declares Baghdadi to be the “Emir of the Momineen,” or “Prince of the Believers,” a title that effectively endows him with the legacy of the leadership of the prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam. . . .
“This could potentially risk the Islamic State’s overall position within the Sunni uprising in Iraq,” Lister said.
The state will cover lands now under Islamic State control, stretching from the northern Syrian province of Aleppo to the eastern Iraqi province of Diyala, the statement said, adding that eventually it will grow to include the entire Muslim world. The militants have already asserted a de facto Islamic state in those areas, establishing their own courts, schools and services. The effort has received a big boost in the past three weeks from the vast quantities of weaponry the militants have taken from Iraqi army bases and the millions of dollars they have seized from banks in the towns and cities they have overrun.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In