But the empire isn’t coming back

Posted by sepoy on March 26, 2006 · 1 min read

His Imperial Highness Prince Osman Ertugrul of Turkey and Princess Zeynep in NYC. And they want the caliphate to come back too!


COMMENTS


Tony | March 26, 2006

I couldn't tell if Osman was tongue-in-cheek when he said that the world would be a better place if the Caliphate were restored. Who knows, or better, who cares? My take from the article is that the the nostalgia among some for a Caliphate is a longing for some faraway time when Muslim communities were stronger in every way. That is essentially a longing for ancient Arab and Ottoman empires, with a trumped up religious rationale. That is not surprising considering the condition of these peoples today -- who wouldn't want a return to a mythic past? However, it would be mighty peculiar for me, a Muslim who is neither Arab nor Turk, to hope for such an empire.


Zak | March 27, 2006

Well in the sense of Sunni Islam ..the nominal Khilafat did provide some structure to the Muslim world..this fragmentation of fatwa makers can in a way be attributed to those days.