What's a Caliphate? ISIS Announces Restoration of a Supreme Islamic State

NPR: PARALLELS
By Gregory Myles

An Iraqi Turkmen fighter looks at an icon of seventh century Imam Ali bin Abi Talib,
Islam's fourth caliph and cousin and son-in-law of Prophet Muhammad.

The Islamic caliphates had a long and glorious run, but in the 21st century, they seemed consigned to history. Simply put, a caliphate is an Islamic state led by a supreme religious and political leader, and it has existed in one form or another for most of the 1,400-year history of Islam. But on Sunday, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria declared it was re-establishing a caliphate that will be headed by its shadowy leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. It's a bold propaganda ploy, because a caliphate seeks dominion over the world's Sunni Muslims, who make up the vast majority of the roughly 1.5 billion Muslims around the globe. Re-creating a caliphate has been a goal of fundamentalist Sunni groups for decades, including al-Qaida. [link]