ISIS changes name, declares Islamic ‘caliphate’

June 29, 2014 — Haaretz reports: “An offshoot of Al-Qaida which has captured territory in Iraq and Syria has declared itself an Islamic ‘caliphate’ and called on factions worldwide to pledge their allegiance, a statement posted on Islamist websites and Twitter said on Sunday.

The move poses a direct challenge to the central leadership of Al-Qaida, which has already disowned it, and to conservative Gulf Arab rulers.

The group, previously known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and also known as ISIS, has renamed itself ‘Islamic State’ and proclaimed its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as ‘Caliph’ – the head of the state, the statement said.

‘He is the imam and khalifah (Caliph) for the Muslims everywhere,’ the group’s spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani said in the statement, which was translated into several languages and read out in an Arabic audio speech.

‘Accordingly, the ‘Iraq and Sham’ (Levant) in the name of the Islamic State is henceforth removed from all official deliberations and communications, and the official name is the Islamic State from the date of this declaration,’ he said…” (A caliphate must be instituted by the Muslims of the 57 Islamic nations. This caliph has set himself up without the approval of all Muslim nations. In reality, this ruler, he has defied Shariah Law which namely proclaims a death sentence to the man who sets himself up as the unelected leader. Let’s see what happens to the self-proclaimed caliph. See the next five reports.)

ISIS chief appears in first video

July 5, 2014 — BBC News reports: “Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Islamist militant group Isis, has called on Muslims to obey him, in his first video sermon.

Baghdadi has been appointed caliph by the jihadist group, which has seized large swathes of Iraq and Syria.

The video appears to have been filmed on Friday during a sermon at the al-Nouri Mosque in Mosul, northern Iraq.

It surfaced on Saturday amid reports that he had been killed or wounded in an Iraqi air raid.

It was not clear when the attack was supposed to have taken place.

In the sermon, at Mosul’s most famous landmark, Baghdadi praised the establishment of the ‘Islamic state’, which was declared by Isis last Sunday.

Experts say the reclusive militant leader has never appeared on video before, although there are photographs of him.

‘Appointing a leader is an obligation on Muslims, and one that has been neglected for decades,’ he said…”

Self-Proclaimed ‘Caliph’ Orders All Muslims to Move to New Islamic State

July 2, 2014 — Voice of America News reports: “The self-appointed leader of the newly proclaimed Islamic state in Iraq and Syria is demanding that all Muslims emigrate there and take up arms.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi posted an audio message on Islamist websites Tuesday, saying the new state is for all Muslims, regardless of skin color or nationality. He said Syria is not for the Syrians and Iraq is not for Iraqis.

Baghdadi said the holy month of Ramadan is the perfect time for all Muslims to take up weapons and flight.

Sunni extremists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant proclaimed a sovereign state for Muslims earlier this week. ISIL has seized much of northern Iraq and is one of the rebel groups fighting to topple the Syrian government…”

ISIS Issues a ‘Passport’ for its ‘Caliphate’

July 8, 2014 — Israel National News reports: “The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) declared itself an Islamic ‘caliphate’ last Sunday, and now apparently has begun issuing ‘passports’ to further establish its Jihadist state.

ISIS members this week circulated photographs of the supposed passport, which reads ‘State of the Islamic Caliphate’ at the top and at the bottom states ‘the holder of the passport if harmed we will deploy armies for his services,’ reports Al Arabiya.

Regardless of the likelihood that the passport will be accepted by foreign states after ISIS conquered vast portions of Iraq and Syria, ISIS has said it will distribute the document to 11,000 citizens living in cities near the border of the two countries…”

Several Salafi Groups Oppose ISIL’s Islamic Caliphate Announcement

July 2, 2014 — The Fars News Agency reports: “Several Salafi-Takfiri groups active in Syria in a statement voiced their opposition to the so-called ‘Islamic caliphate’ newly declared by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) Takfiri terrorist group.

‘The conditions are not set for the creation of an Islamic caliphate, specially if this caliphate will be set up by the ISIL,’ part of the statement by the Takfiri groups said.

The Salafi groups headed by the Islamic Front affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood of Syria said that the announcement by the ISIL is shrugging shoulder from the savage crimes committed by them.

Baghdadi, who was a detainee at US Bucca prison in 2005, has announced himself as the caliph of the Muslim world…”

Leading Sunni scholar says jihadist caliphate violates sharia

July 6, 2014 — SpaceWar.com reports: “Prominent Sunni Muslim scholar Yusef al-Qaradawi said on Saturday that the declaration of an Islamic caliphate by jihadists fighting the governments in Syria and Iraq violates sharia law.

Last Sunday, the jihadists of the Islamic State group declared a caliphate in areas they control in Iraq and Syria and ordered Muslims worldwide to pledge allegiance to their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, under the name ‘caliph Ibrahim’.

Qatar-based Qaradawi, seen as a spiritual guide of the Muslim Brotherhood in his native Egypt, said in a statement that the declaration ‘is void under sharia.’

‘We look forward to the coming, as soon as possible, of the caliphate,’ Qaradawi said, of the form of pan-Muslim government last seen under the Ottoman Empire.

‘But the declaration issued by the Islamic State is void under sharia and has dangerous consequences for the Sunnis in Iraq and for the revolt in Syria,’ he added.

The influential cleric said the declaration and nomination of Baghdadi by a jihadist group ‘known for its atrocities and radical views’ fail to meet strict conditions dictated by sharia.

The title of caliph, he said, can ‘only be given by the entire Muslim nation’ not by a single group…”