Edward Stourton has produced a really useful overview of the origins of IS and the appeal of a caliphate. It is concise and full of interesting detail. Stourton notes that IS has skilfully exploited the elements in the caliphates history which best serve its purposes… the black uniforms and flags deliberately echo the black robes the Abbasids adopted as their court dress in the 8th Century, thus recalling Islams Golden Age. And their original title — the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant — harks back to the days when there was no national border between the two countries, because both territories were part of the great Islamic caliphate. I liked the story of the demise of one of the great Islamic leaders — the Abbasid caliphate lasted for half a millennium before coming to a brutal end in 1258. “When Baghdad fell to the Mongols, the last of the citys caliphs was rolled in a carpet and trampled to death under the hooves of Mongol horses — this was, bizarrely, a mark of respect, as the Mongols believed that people of rank should be killed without their blood being shed.” bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29761018
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 09:05:44 +0000