Erdoğan Is Already The Caliph Of The Muslim World

By Walid Shoebat

At times I find myself coming across as a pestering watchman who sees the sword coming. So I blow the trumpet with the same familiar sound saying that Turkey’s Ottoman revival as a Caliphate is imminent. I talk about a near future in which Erdoğan would ask Muslims worldwide to give him allegiance as Caliph. Bay’at, as Islam calls it, which is “giving allegiance”, is the hallmark of the Antichrist as John declared: “but the fatal wound was healed! The whole world marveled at this miracle and gave allegiance to the beast.” (Revelation 13:3)

So in order to convey my persistent message, this time I had thought to bring in watchmen from the source itself in Turkey. This way westerners can hear it from the horses mouth, from a land that many struggle the coming tyranny of Erdoğan. Today’s Zaman, a favorite of mine and a persecuted voice gives a similar perspective of what I have been trying to say, but hearing it, from the horses mouth if you will, can bring in credibility to my trumpet sound. Zaman says that Erdoğan is already a Caliph, that historically speaking, during the Ottomans “strong sultans did not actually depend on the title of caliph”. In fact, Caliph Erdoğan is sort of a nickname for the Turkish tyrant. Zaman says that the political war in Turkey between “political Islam” and “civil Islam” is over with Erdoğan being the victor. Erdoğan’s latest announcement, according to Zaman already has the hallmark of declaring Erdoğan as Caliph of the Muslim world. The Muslim scholarly powers has already asked the Muslim world to pledge allegiance to Erdoğan. So I included their article in full, added a few photos and underlined key lines. Here is the article:

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan asserts, “I am the leader of a political movement.”
Those who support him within the AK Party and the wider government also affirm that “he is the leader of a political movement,” thus bowing to his ultimate authority. The careful underscoring by the president of his being the “leader of a political movement” has come in the wake of authority-related problems in the ranks of the ruling party and the government. But Erdoğan’s statement has some very deep implications, and they are implications backed up by the chorus of voices seconding his words.

In calling himself “leader of a political movement,” Erdoğan is reaching out to a wide spectrum of people, one that stretches from moderate conservatism to radical Islam. He is using rhetoric that taps into the rich history and political traditions linked to Islam. The controversial theories of political Islam show us what we need to grasp from the phrase “leader of a political movement.”

According to the general theory of political Islam, the relationship between those who lead and those who are led is based upon a “contract of allegiance.” Those who are led declare, via their representatives, that they will obey their leader, thus surrendering all of their political rights — unconditionally — to said leader. And so the contract draws up the parameters for both sides: The leader will lead justly, while those who are led will be obedient. In the meantime, within the traditions of political Islam, those who use their power in this way are called “caliphs.” And a caliphate is, for leaders who rely upon religious references in the Islamic world, the name of the system that they will inevitably turn towards.

Sheikh Yusuf Qaradai, the spiritual head of the Muslim Brotherhood asking the Muslim world to give allegiance to Erdogan as Caliph

But is Erdoğan a caliph? This is not a question that has much relevance actually, outside of those searching for some sort of religious legitimacy to his role. At the same time, though, Erdoğan’s assertions of power and authority begin to take on greater meaning in light of the caliphate idea. In fact, if you replace the phrase “leader of a political movement” with the word “caliph,” all the stones seem to settle into their places.

Islam has its political as well as its civilian arenas, quite naturally. It is not surprising when a movement that exists in the political arena and uses religious references to legitimize itself winds up becoming radicalized. It is the political conditions in place that wind up determining the radicalization of political Islam. In the meantime, it is also a natural outcome of this situation that we see civil Islamic movements with no desire for political power spread through society as a balancing factor against the radicalization in the political arena. After all, political Islam is a threat to the arena in which civil Islam can survive and flourish.

When viewed in light of the natural balances between civil and political Islam, the current tension we see between the Gülen movement and Erdoğan makes much more sense. The war unleased by Erdoğan against the Gülen movement is at the same time a war unleashed by political Islam against civil Islam. By declaring the civil arena the enemy, Erdoğan has radicalized the political arena. And today, in order to wield power and authority that is not constitutionally his, Erdoğan has a need for strong Islamic models such as the caliphate.

Had he not decided to wage war on the civil arena, Erdoğan could have procured “religious consent” from society without having to use the strong religious references he now favors and reiterates regularly.

If there is any single reason we no longer view Erdoğan as a “moderate Islamic leader” the way we did in the past, it is because of his war against civil Islam. Only via the radicalization of political Islam in Turkey was it possible to portray the Gülen movement as the enemy.

Interestingly, history shows us that strong sultans did not actually depend on the title of caliph. In fact, Ottoman sultans began to use this title for the first time only when they lost control of Muslim Crimean lands in 1774.

Trying to fortify power by calling oneself the “leader of political movement,” or what we can understand as “caliph,” is just one more sign of weakening strength. It is also a move that brings with it the potential for increased radicalization in the near future.

SOURCES

Today’s Zaman