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Prestige Without a Caliphate

Moe Afkham
@Afkham
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On one hand, one looks at the pro-Islamist mayors of two great Western cities, London and New York. One looks at the blunt antisemitism embraced by elites and Ivy League schools, at the portrayal of Israel in the mainstream media, and at the post-liberal discourse enthusiastically preaching the decline of the United States. Twenty-five years later, it is hard not to think that Bin Laden and company mostly won. Had someone shown them this outcome at the time, they would probably have considered their sacrifice a great bargain, costs included.


On the other hand, a global caliphate for Bin Laden and his circle meant an actual global caliphate, not merely the decadence of the liberal West. They did not get that. The Islamist who conquered Syria has, at least so far, gone out of his way to show that he is not trying to found a caliphate or an Islamic state. The last major Islamic state is on its last breath and these days looks more like a trapped cartel than a fundamentalist regime.


Yes, many of their talking points have become mainstream. Yes, the alliance between the left and Islamists is more pronounced than ever. Those talking points work mainly while the subject is criticism of the existing order. Once the work of destroying things is done, they cannot agree on a single thing to build.


Yes, there are Islamist mayors, and perhaps soon an Islamist senator. Yes, they are still on the rise. One can also say this looks like the ordinary price societies pay in times of rapid change. Twenty-five years later, after a recession, after a global pandemic, with allies who cannot pull their own weight, four years into the Russian war in Ukraine, with the dangerous rise of China, and in the middle of a great technological revolution, the state of the Union is strong. Zoom out, and there is still a good deal to be optimistic about.

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Discussion (36)

  • Zafar@Zafar

    Another pov, from which:

    Contemporary Islamophobia is focused on creating a narrative about Muslims and Islam from the outside. This is a strategic Islamophobia that aims to prevent Muslims from assimilating as equals into western populations. The narrative about Islam and Muslims fashioned by this strategic Islamophobia turns Muslims into objects to be constantly demonized as figures of suspicion who are assumed to want to “dominate,” and thus are labeled as “supremacists,” and much more. Mamdani refuses this; he claims a Muslim identity and asserts his pro-Palestinian politics, which challenges an important current of the existing world order —and hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers of all races and religions agree with him. It becomes easy to see why this is such a large threat to modern-day Crusader logic.

  • GLDIII Purveyor of Splendid Malpropisms@GLDIII
    ReplyingtoZafar

    Zafar (View Comment):

    Another pov, from which:

    Contemporary Islamophobia is focused on creating a narrative about Muslims and Islam from the outside. This is a strategic Islamophobia that aims to prevent Muslims from assimilating as equals into western populations. The narrative about Islam and Muslims fashioned by this strategic Islamophobia turns Muslims into objects to be constantly demonized as figures of suspicion who are assumed to want to “dominate,” and thus are labeled as “supremacists,” and much more. Mamdani refuses this; he claims a Muslim identity and asserts his pro-Palestinian politics, which challenges an important current of the existing world order —and hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers of all races and religions agree with him. It becomes easy to see why this is such a large threat to modern-day Crusader logic.

    Sorry Zafar, but when we can clearly see that Islam has undergone a reformation with respect to how to treat women, the equality of other religions, renounce jihad as an goal to subjugate all non muslins, an Islam that no longer accepts that subterfuge is an acceptable path to that subjugation, then I think we can have a conversation.

    So you can forget the soothing dialog about Mamdani, or El-Sayed's moderation. Not seeing it yet. I'm not saying they cannot practice their faith, just not in any country that wants to not include the basic tenets of Shira law.

  • Bob Thompson@BobThompson
    ReplyingtoGLDIII Purveyor of Splendid Malpropisms

    Zafar (View Comment):

    Another pov, from which:

    Contemporary Islamophobia is focused on creating a narrative about Muslims and Islam from the outside. This is a strategic Islamophobia that aims to prevent Muslims from assimilating as equals into western populations. The narrative about Islam and Muslims fashioned by this strategic Islamophobia turns Muslims into objects to be constantly demonized as figures of suspicion who are assumed to want to “dominate,” and thus are labeled as “supremacists,” and much more. Mamdani refuses this; he claims a Muslim identity and asserts his pro-Palestinian politics, which challenges an important current of the existing world order —and hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers of all races and religions agree with him. It becomes easy to see why this is such a large threat to modern-day Crusader logic.

    GLDIII Purveyor of Splendid Ma… (View Comment):

    Sorry Zafar, but when we can clearly see that Islam has undergone a reformation with respect to how to treat women, the equality of other religions, renounce jihad as an goal to subjugate all non muslins, an Islam that no longer accepts that subterfuge is an acceptable path to that subjugation, then I think we can have a conversation.

    So you can forget the soothing dialog about Mamdani, or El-Sayed’s moderation. Not seeing it yet. I’m not saying they cannot practice their faith, just not in any country that wants to not include the basic tenets of Shira law.

    And where are quotes stating their support of the American Constitution, assimilation into the existing mainstream American culture, and the proof of these things in their performance.

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