As your post observes, there is nothing unique in the using Islam to justify a utopian ideal.
There is nothing new here. The Christians did it if the 14th-17th centuries in Europe. The communists did it with ideology.One of the unfamiliar characteristics of these writings is the way religious sayings and symbols are used to address issues that in the West would not take on such religious aspects. It is reminiscent of the way the communist movement in the 20th century discussed almost every political issue in terms of “class struggle,” and in much of the Christian era, secular problems were debated in the language of church doctrine. Similarly, jihadis address contemporary problems in terms of their religious ideology.
To say that the Caliphate will be like no government on earth is just motivational speak. To govern, a theocracy has to have systems. Look at the Vatican - the ultimate theocracy. It has banks, police, PR people. And it only governs over a small space (and an large congregation). Iran is a theocracy and is very complex with its ruling Ayatollahs and its more secular government. There is nothing new under the sun. To say that Islam is somehow unique is to deny the rest of human history. So to approach it as a unique problem, a primarily religious problem, is to feed into its own propaganda.
More important to the current problem is al Baghdadi. He is more cleaver and pragmatic than a simple religious leader. He has managed to create a self funded movement that has succeeded in using alliances with less religious groups to gain and control territory. He is more of a rational actor than his followers whom he manipulates. He is a man who apparently has no issue with the luxurious west as he wears a Rolex. Yet he is willing to be Stalinistically vicious in order to control his followers.
Actually, it might be more appropriate to compare his to Stalin than to any Mullah or Ayatollah. He has taken a fundamentalist ideology and he it taking it over piece by piece. He will now consolidate his power. Kill his rivals and control the purse.
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