Jihad Watch Board Vice President Hugh Fitzgerald explains why it is wise not to dwell too long on the jihadist aspiration for a worldwide caliphate:
“The men [Douglas Streusand and Harry D. Tunnell IV] also want officials to stop using the term “caliphate” as the goal of al Qaeda and associated groups. The Caliphate came to refer to the successors of the Prophet Mohammed as the political leaders of the Muslim community. ‘Sunni Muslims traditionally regard the era of the first four caliphs (A.D. 632-661) as an era of just rule, the men wrote. ‘Accepting our enemies’ description of their goal as the restoration of a historical caliphate again validates an aspect of their ideology.'” — from this article
Robert Spencer makes the point in his comments on this article that, however, restoration of a Caliphate in fact mentioned as a goal and to pretend that it is not, convinces no one that the goal does not remain, for many, a vividly immediate one.
However, it is also a goal so impossible of achievement at this moment (and we immediately think not of the West as barring the way, but rather of a powerful, self-assured East Asia doing so, especially China — which itself is a telling commentary on how Westerners have lost faith in their own ability to resist) that there is another and good reason for de-emphasizing this “caliphate” business.
All the relevant authorities should today be attempting to educate large numbers of Infidels, many of whom will not read the texts, will not read the relevant history, will not follow the examples of Muslim behavior today around the world toward non-Muslims, but instead will wish to deny the menace and believe, whatever it costs, that Islam in the West will somehow be “reformed” and somehow Muslims will lose their hostility, will jettison or come to permanently ignore much of what Islam inculcates (and pass down such ignoring to their children, in a remarkable late validation of Lamarck), and will fit right in, just as if they were Andean Indians, or Indian Hindus, or Buddhists from Vietnam or Thailand. That is, Islam would be an alien creed, at that point, but not an alien and a hostile creed. There is no evidence to support this, no logical reason why it should come to be. If Islam could have been reformed, surely over the past 1400 years someone would have managed to reform it — especially during the last two centuries. But no one has, not in the slightest. In fact, the Islam that is practiced and preached is more aggressive, more violent, than it has been since Europeans first entered the modern Middle East in 1798, and second and third generation Muslims in Europe’s Infidel lands are far more militant than the first generation. Should one ignore this, or worry about it?
Talk about the “caliphate,” however, should be limited because it fails to convince. It seems so crazy, so far-fetched. And it is crazy, and it is far-fetched. What is not crazy, and what is not far-fetched, is the inexorable islamization of the countries of Western Europe and possibly even of Canada. It is proceeding apace, through clever use of the money weapon, through sustained and well-financed and cleverly targeted campaigns of Da’wa (directed at prisoners, and college students, and certain immigrant groups — all seen as vulnerable to the appeal of Islam as a vehicle of protest, expressing alienation, falsely hinting at “social justice”) and demographic conquest (there are about 2 million Muslims now in America, but suppose there were ten or 20 million? Imagine what it must be like in France or Germany today, with that rising Muslim population, and you, a citizen, not knowing how to stop it, how to urge others to halt and reverse this disturbing, unsettling, expensive, dangerous presence).
In order to instruct people, one must have their attention. Invoking plans for a “worldwide caliphate” simply loses an audience. It is not necessary. It gives more than a whiff of the empty alarmist. For that reason, but only for that reason, that goal of a worldwide caliphate should be infrequently mentioned, and then in a way that quietly introduces the theme.
For example, one can say that the texts of Islam clearly impose a duty of Jihad on all Muslims, whether an active or passive duty of support depends on the circumstances. Jihad is merely the “struggle” to remove all obstacles to the spread of Islam throughout the world, so that Islam may rule and Muslims dominate. And at that point, one may add that some Muslims dream of a worldwide caliphate, and certainly those in Al-Qaeda do. However, that is not the main worry, because it seems so unlikely. What does worry, what is realistic to worry about, are the gains to be made on the path to attaining that seemingly unattainable goal.
And there, what is happening in Western Europe is most disturbing, and most in need of attention.