Posted on 12/01/2006 3:49:39 PM PST by charlesja
The Third Totalitarian Movement: Caliphism
I was watching FOX News a few nights ago and they were talking about the present dilemma in Iraq. Alan Colmes was talking to some guest about whether or not Iraq was in a state of civil war, and whether or not we should pull out from the war-torn country. At one point during the interview, Alan said (I’m paraphrasing here) “what are we fighting for? Who are we fighting against?”
Alan Colmes, like most Americans is ignorant about what the “War on Terror” is about. Over five years after the September 11th attacks and no one, even the well-informed can really seem to pin down just who and what we are fighting in the Middle East. This is an extreme failure by the makers of foreign policy throughout the world, for we are witnessing the rise of the Third Totalitarian Movement in human history–Caliphism.
I call them Caliphists, and I want this word to get into every American’s lexicon because this is the kind of state all of the world’s Sunni terrorists are seeking—the restoration of the Islamic Caliphate toppled by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1924. This institution which began with the first successor to the Prophet Muhammad, Abu Bakr, was the central office within Islamic Civilization. The authority of a medieval Muslim Caliph synthesized the power of the Roman Imperator/Caesar with that of the Pope; in him, civil and religious authority was combined.
This is what all of the world’s Sunni Muslim “terrorist” organizations want. It is totalitarian because the Caliphist state is ruled by Shariah, a kind of law that covers every aspect of human life. It is totalitarian because the idea is presented in opposition to Western notions of pluralism, capitalism, etc—the Caliphist state is the only legitimate state. And it is also totalitarian because it is the source of an utterly dichotomous worldview of non-Muslims versus Islam—the Caliphist state cannot co-exist with non-Caliphist states. And so the Caliphate is, in essence, the balm of the Islamic world; it is the ideal which is supposed to be the highest expression of Islamic civilization; and the world’s terrorists all pay homage to it.
The Hamas Charter makes reference to the Caliphate. Al-Qaeda’s internet media broadcast opens each time with the words, “Sout Al-Khilafa”—the voice of the Caliphate. Yet our foreign policy makers are either completely ignorant of this idea or they are willfully ignoring it. I hope that it is the former and not the latter. As every year goes by I get more and more frustrated by the utter obliviousness of Americans to realize what this is all about.
That frustration I feel is because the Caliphate, if established (and I have no doubt that if things continue as they are that it will be established) will be as great a calamity for humanity as the establishment of the Soviet State in 1917 or the election of Adolph Hitler to the Chancellery in 1933. If the traditionalist Islamists in the Middle East establish a Caliphate they will use this office as the instrument it served as in medieval times—a catalyst for waging aggressive warfare against the non-Muslim world until all of this sphere, dar al-Harb/Kufr (the House of War/Unbelief), is under Islamic rule or is dar al-Islam (the House of Islam). This is because the Caliphate is totalitarian in nature; like the personage of the Caliph, it encompasses every aspect of human life from worship to war.
Remember this. Any person who wants to see a Caliphate wants to see it established throughout the whole world. This is the totalitarian nature of Caliphism. Just as the Communist of yesteryear saw the world as a dichotomy made up of the Socialist World and the Capitalist World, the modern day jihadist sees the world made up of the House of Islam and the House of War or Unbelief. And like the old Communist believed in the eventual destruction of the Capitalist realm, so it is for the Caliphist; he believes that the House of War will be eventually subjugated by Islamic government and it is incumbent upon him as a good Muslim to bring about that subjugation.
I am convinced that the West is going to fail to realize this ideology—Caliphism—for years, maybe decades to come. What people fail to see is how powerful the Khilafah is to the traditionalist Muslim. Too many people think this is a joke, just like people thought Marx and Engels were a joke in the 19th century. Right now the Caliphists are too disparate, like modern day Bolsheviks and Mensheviks they cannot agree on the subtleties of their ideology. Just give it time though; eventually they’ll get their act together and the West will berate itself for failing to see what is so evident—just as it berates itself today for failing to see the monstrous goals of Hitler in the 1930’s.
What will be done when the West wakes up? Hopefully the West will deal with Caliphism in the same way that it dealt with the Soviet Union. It will actively root out and deport all agents who profess the ideology. If it takes a new round of Palmer raids, then that’s what it will take. There are, I have no doubt, already many Muslims living in America who want nothing more than to see the Caliphate established and Shariah made the law of the land. Woodrow Wilson would have described them as, “hyphenated Americans who have poured the poison of disloyalty into the very arteries of our national life.” He would have gone on to say, “Such creatures of passion, disloyalty and anarchy must be crushed out.” On the foreign stage, Caliphism will be easier to confront than Communism, for like Nazism it is a bigoted ideology. Luckily, 4/5ths of the world is non-Muslim and this community has the most to lose from living under Caliphist rule (Don’t believe me? Just look at what happened to the Zoroastrians in Iran, they have virtually ceased to exist.). But just watch out, as Europe is Islamized, the world is being set up for another bloodbath. As the Islamic world, whose only real resource today is oil, inherits the wealth, technology and infrastructure of Europe, an Islamic Caliphate in 2050 or 2060 could be a real and potent threat to the West and the world at large.
I believe the excuse the liberals used for us to withdraw from Vietnam that it also was a 'civil war'
The West should look to fostering Zoroastrianism back into the Middle East. Maybe when Iran's theocracy falls it will come back in resurgance like when the Shah was in power.
How would you fit the Shiites into this given the situation with Iran encroaching upon Iraq?
Good post!
BTT
But if there is ever a leader that can bring all the sects together, he will be very dangerous.
Charles, what you are saying has a lot of merit.
What we are seeing now is the different tentacles of Islamic power trying to morph into something more coherent, and that is The Caliphate. Once that happens, I agree with you that The Caliphate will provide the moral imperative and direction, as well as resources, for the Islamists to fulfill their appointed mission--to subjugate the world. Russia and China are not out of this mix. A prostate Europe and a morally weakened defeatist USA will not offer much of a resistance in the future if we do not get ahead of this curve.
You can almost sniff in the air that big events are coming. War is looming. Iran will have to be hit, but will we have the will to do it. If we don't, Iran will become as powerful as Nazi Germany or Communist USSR on the world stage--hitting us at home and abroad.
And for all of our treasure and sacrifice that we have paid for the last 60 years to keep the world stable and free, once we fall, no one will come to help us.
Well done. Victor Mordecai was on Michael Medved today in the second hour. I would commend all to listen to him if Medved archives his shows, which I think he does. It is chilling...
Not to minimize the danger of radical islam, but the Nazis and Soviets were different in that they were modern economies and industrial nations capable of building and organizing a modern army. The muslims will never have an effective army vs. the west. Only hopes for the bomb, which is exactly what we must prevent.
Good one, but how? My suggestion is replacing "Die Valkyrie" as the helicoptors ride to "Thus spake Zarathustra." A real Straussian finale could accompany the climax!
Here's what I think: I think there are far too many people over analyzing the whole thing. The "West" is suffering from analysis paralysis. The media really wants it to continue at a mutually agreeable level of violence so they have something to yak about, and the rest of us just want to be left alone. We spent enormous amounts of time, money, and energy trying to justify our position or our actions, or trying to win "hearts and minds". It ain't gonna happen. Nobody is going to change their mind. Either we die or they die. Period. Git'r done, and shut up about it. I'm tired of the bullshit.
Better yet Bush has hired some real smooth talkers and they
want us to talk to Iran, we are going to talk the heck out of them Ill just bet and if we keep talking long enough
they are going to surprise attack us, but dont worry Bush
will look great when he visits the next ground zero and
hell talk a tough game.
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